1990: Starting from Baojia Street

The couple exchanged glances as they finished singing the second line of the song.

René Angeli couldn't help but touch his chin. Although the song sounded soothing, the rhythm was not weak at all.

This is a 4/4 song, so it has the narrative sense of a 4/4 song, but the 4/4 of this song is a bit like 4/3.

A sentence has two bars and eight beats. It is not sung as one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, but one, two, three, one, two. This change makes the rhythm of the song stronger.

This is something that often appears in European and American pop songs, but whether you want to play it well depends on the level of the creator.

Some people may think that this kind of beat has both rhythm and narrative, so it is omnipotent and anyone can use it.

But in fact, there is nothing perfect in the world, and you gain what you lose.

You can say that this beat has both rhythmicity and narrative, or you can say that this beat is not as rhythmic as the conventional 4/3 beat, and not as narrative as the conventional 4/4 beat.

It may be that both ends are strong or both ends are weak.

The creator needs to balance the rhythm and narrative himself, otherwise what he writes is likely to be mediocre.

Many young creators in Europe and the United States are like this nowadays. They always want both rhythm and narrative, both dynamism and emotion, but in the end there is nothing and it is tasteless.

The key is to make a 4/4 song have a 4/3 rhythm. It is easy to fall into misunderstandings. When creating the melody, the creator wants a narrative sense at first, but finds that the rhythm is a mess. It is better to make it 4/3 from the beginning, or just 4/4 directly.

This song is obviously very well done, highlighting both characteristics and taking into account both the sense of rhythm and narrative.

Just when René Angeli was thinking about the narrative and rhythm of the song, the song entered the B section. As soon as the accompaniment melody of the B section came out, he felt something different.

This feeling is so obvious that you don't need any musical knowledge to hear it.

Compared with section A, section B has a much stronger sense of fluidity, and it has more of a pushing and accumulating effect, which is intended to lead out section C.

This section is not long, but it leaves the audience with a strong sense of anticipation. This sense of flow clearly tells you that section C will sound great.

This is also what most pop songs do, and this is the function of the B section.

Therefore, René Angeli had been looking forward to the appearance of segment C for a long time.

Soon, segment C appeared.

"'Cause all of me
Love all of you”

As soon as these two sentences came out, René Angeli patted his thigh. The previous preparations were not in vain. At this point, the love contained in the song burst out.

Especially when paired with simple and sincere lyrics, it gives people a very strong feeling.

As soon as René Angeli heard the first sentence of section C, he knew that this was another very successful song. Nothing else in the whole song was needed, just this sentence was enough.

He even felt that as a pop song, this song was more successful than "My Heart Will Go On".

"My Heart Will Go On" is certainly good, but if it wasn't a theme song from "Titanic" and if someone else sang it, it might not have caused much of a response in society.

It’s a good song, but it’s also very demanding.

But the song they are listening to now is different. It has all the qualities to become popular and is the kind of song that will still sell well even if someone else sings it.

The song is good and it’s not picky about who sings it.

The person singing the demo was obviously not a professional pop singer, and Renée Angeli heard a sense of drama in her voice.

Singing in this way will definitely not bring out the full charm of this song.

But even so, the demo is still very nice to listen to, and that's the power of the song itself.

After the C section ended, René Angeli was ready for the interlude and the second A section, but to his surprise, the C section was not followed by an interlude or A section, but by the D section.

Celine Dion also raised her eyebrows, she didn't expect that the song even had a D section.

In pop songs, the D section is not common.

After all, pop songs are all about simplicity and efficiency, so that they can convey emotions more directly. Therefore, the structure is often relatively uniform. Too many paragraphs will make the song lose its memorableness.

Generally, listeners don’t talk about section A or section B, they just say verse and chorus, or simply call the chorus the climax.

When most listeners hear a song, the first thing they can remember is just one or two paragraphs, or even one or two sentences.

For example, if a song has three sections, A, B, and C, listeners can often only remember section C when they first listen to it, because most songs put the emotional outburst in section C.

Most songwriters will pay more attention to the writing of the C section when writing songs. Some people even only care about the chorus when writing songs. As long as the chorus is memorable, the main song can be casually written.

With the development of the times, this situation is becoming more and more serious. This is the same both at home and abroad.

The same is true in the American pop music industry. The song structures released in recent years have become simpler and simpler, because no one will listen to songs that are a little more complicated.

In the D section of this song, the demo singer mainly uses falsetto to highlight an emotion immersed in his own heart, which is very sincere.

The singer who sang the demo used his falsetto very well, but it was too mellow and thus lost its flavor.

Moreover, at the beginning of the falsetto, the singer made a sound similar to a bubble sound, but it was not used very well. This is a problem that non-pop singers will encounter when singing pop songs. Their vocal systems are fundamentally different from those of pop singers. Their voices sound good, but when singing pop songs, they always feel not sincere enough.

For some systems, this type of sound is considered a pronunciation error.

After the D section, there is a bridge section, and the accompaniment used is the same as the chords in the B section.

This part is more like a summary, and it is also the highest-pitched part of the song. However, the notes of this song are not high for Celine Dion, and she can easily handle even the highest notes.

……

When the demo was finished, René Angell was the first to applaud.

“It’s really beautiful to hear.”

René Angeli showed excitement on his face, and this excitement was not fake, because he knew that Celine Dion might have another masterpiece.

Of course, the prerequisite is that Zhou Yan is willing to let Celine sing the song.

Zhou Yan smiled and handed the score and lyrics to Celine Dion. "First, listen to the demo a few times and study it. After half an hour, sing it for me, okay?"

Celine Dion took the score and nodded, "No problem."

"Well, I'll leave the recording studio to you guys first. I'll go to the office and come back in half an hour." "Okay."

After Zhou Yan left, René Angeli leaned over to take a look at the music score and lyrics, and then couldn't help but sigh, "Y's talent is really amazing. We made the right decision this time."

Celine Dion was of course very happy to see the good song, but she was still cautious and said, "Y hasn't decided to let me sing this song yet, so I have to perform well now."

"Don't feel too stressed. Since he allowed us to come here, he must have thought your voice is suitable. As for your singing skills, there will definitely be no problem with you."

"Well, I'll study it first."

Celine Dion took the score, played the demo again, and studied it carefully.

René Angeli didn't disturb her and got up to walk around the recording studio.

When they came over just now and saw the dilapidated exterior wall of the studio, René Angeli was a little disappointed, thinking that Zhou Yan's studio was not very professional.

He didn't expect that the studio would be so good.

Compared to those top-notch recording studios, this studio might be a little inferior, but there is absolutely no problem with its professionalism. It is better than many recording studios they have used before.

Just by looking at the structure inside and the equipment used, you can tell that this recording studio cost a lot of money.

You don't need to try it to know the effect will be good.

Come to think of it, he had just heard on the road that Zhou Yan’s recent albums were all produced in this studio, so the recording quality here must be good.

Otherwise, it would be impossible to record those pure music albums. The recording requirements of those albums are much higher than those of ordinary pop songs.

The studio should also have a large recording studio capable of recording symphonies. René Angeli wanted to visit it, but unfortunately the timing was not right.

Celine Dion did not start singing immediately, but listened to the demo carefully three or four times. When she came across important parts, she would play it repeatedly.

Although the singer who sang the demo song's interpretation of the song lacked some feeling, everything that needed to be conveyed was conveyed, which is also the responsibility of the demo singer.

The purpose of demo singers is not to make the song sound good, but more to let the singers know how to sing the song.

For example, in the middle part, the singer used falsetto, which probably explains Zhou Yan's idea. Celine Dion herself also tried it and found that it was indeed better to use falsetto in this part.

There is also the bubbling sound at the beginning of the falsetto, which singers are not good at singing, but Celine Dion was inspired and used a similar sound with very good effect.

With the demo singer's interpretation, Celine Dion saved some time in exploring the music herself.

……

Half an hour later, Zhou Yan came back on time.

"Can we start?"

"Okay, I'm ready."

Zhou Yan nodded, walked over and picked up the headphones, "Just go in and sing, it's like a formal recording, I've already prepared the accompaniment."

"Ok."

After entering, Celine Dion made an OK gesture to the outside, Zhou Yan nodded, and let the accompaniment in.

Looking at Celine Dion who was listening to the accompaniment attentively, Zhou Yan also showed an expectant expression.

Although he invited Celine Dion to sing this song, he didn't know what it would feel like when Celine Dion sang it.

The original singer of this song "all of me" is Brother Chuanqi. He has a deep voice and is very emotional when singing this song.

In order to make this song suitable for Celine Dion, Zhou Yan made some changes to the song. After the changes, he asked Teacher Song from the Vocal Department to help record a version, which he thought was pretty good.

Soon, Zhou Yan heard Celine Dion's voice from the headphones.

When the first sentence came out, Zhou Yan couldn't help but nodded.

So strong.

Before, Zhou Yan thought that Teacher Song sang very well, but now when he heard Celine Dion singing, he could clearly feel that Teacher Song’s singing lacked some flavor.

Some things don’t seem to matter if you don’t compare them, but once you compare them you can see the difference.

In fact, after the recording, Teacher Song told Zhou Yan that her singing was not very good and that this song was not suitable for her to sing because her singing style was folk, which was not the same as pop.

Of course Zhou Yan knew that pop and folk music were not in the same system, and he also knew that Teacher Song was not good at singing pop songs, but he didn't expect there was such a big difference.

At least in the singing of this song, Celine Dion crushed Teacher Song in all aspects.

Of course, Celine Dion is indeed too strong, and she is not comparable to ordinary pop singers.

Zhou Yan had always thought that Celine Dion's style was relatively simple, but now after hearing her voice, he found that her singing style is mature and varied, and her voice conditions are also very good.

The reason why people have the impression that her style is relatively single is probably because her song styles are not varied enough.

Especially the treatment of sections C, D and the middle bridge made Zhou Yan's eyes light up. The hoarse throat sound before the falsetto in section D was just right, fresh and not greasy, and very penetrating. This was probably the effect that Teacher Song wanted to achieve but failed to achieve.

In this segment, Teacher Song's singing was very realistic, while Celine Dion's singing was part realistic and part imaginary, and the sense of narrative was obviously stronger.

For example, when listening to the version sung by Teacher Song, you can feel that Teacher Song is standing on the stage, while when listening to Celine Dion's version, she seems to be right next to the audience's ears, as if she is talking to them.

Listening to Celine Dion's voice, Zhou Yan couldn't help but sigh, what a good singer she is.

Celine Dion has almost no shortcomings, as she understands music theory, has good singing skills, a wonderful singing melody and a strong voice. And as far as Zhou Yan knows, Celine Dion has good living habits that can ensure that her voice remains stable.

This is very important. Many pop singers cannot do it. For example, Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston, the two most popular female singers in the United States, can each maintain good living habits.

In fact, Celine Dion also has shortcomings, that is, after Eb5, her function will be insufficient, and she can only make up for it with pharyngeal sound technique.

The timbre of pharyngeal sound is very fixed and lacks flexibility.

But that doesn't matter, Celine Dion's performance in this song is perfect.

Zhou Yan believes that this song, which topped the Billboard singles charts in many countries more than a decade later, will surely shine after Celine Dion's reinterpretation. (End of this chapter)