任是无情也动人

Had fun yesterday. There is definitely a reason people want to hear LIVE performances in person. Though, I have to say that to me, Zhou Shen's voice is still very much him, and recognizably alike to his studio recordings. (I know this sounds like a non-sequitor, but I have heard claims from other fans who go to his concerts that hearing him in person is a lot different/better than digital recordings in many ways.) I do feel the extra energy coming from his live performance, and from the ambience in general, not to mention the extra volume due to the state of the art sound system plus his (pretty powerful) voice. Like, if he ever has another tour stop in California, I would definitely try to attend again. But, that said, I do still think studio recordings have their own charm, mostly in the area of repeated or relaxed enjoyment. Just sayin'.

Anyway, I recorded almost all of the performances except for the 邓丽君组曲, because my phone was throwing overheating warnings at me, and I had to give it a long-ish break. Ended up with over 25 GB of video files. I've uploaded them all to bilibili, because youtube and other US apps are much stricter with copyright.

Fair warning: Several of them involve sing-along bits, where you can probably hear my off-key screeching. =P During the performance, I couldn't actually hear myself due to the projection of the sound system (and hence didn't know how awfully I was singing :p). But my phone, being much closer to my mouth than the sound system, apparently picked it up just fine. At a cursory recall: 若梦, 小美满, 花开忘忧, 望, 灯火里的中国, Wala li longla, 好运来 all have bits of singalong.


Also, when recording 达拉崩吧 and 不想睡, I panned a lot into the audience, because I found that scene to be very interesting.

I didn't recording any of the talking and bridge sections, mostly to give my phone a bit of time to rest and cool. The talking bits were all really funny though, and I will probably look into collecting the full recap from other people's recordings.


On a different note, this trip to Las Vegas brought back deja vu from my trip there last year...

The hotel (Excalibur) was still pretty good. I had an even better time with it, because I figured out their app, and could do check-in/check-out remotely without having to get in the long lines at the lobby. Also, the app provides a digital room key, so I didn't have to hassle with physical keys that can lose their magnetism at the most inconvenient times. A recommend for anyone who is traveling to LV.

On the other hand, food and drink is still horrendously expensive for the portions offered. A small soda or juice charges like $6...ugh. In the future, I would like to check out the Chinatown in Vegas, because that's something I've only heard of this time when doing research on travel plans. Unfortunately, it was too far to visit this time, but I guess in the future, I'd like to check it out.

Zhou Shen's birthday livestream was awesome as ever. We actually got 5 songs of his album. The newest track 《虚构》 is threatening to break into my top 3, lol. Been also wandering around youtube and bilibili for the various Live performances of these tracks so far; here's hoping we get 《虚构》 at this weekend's Chongqing concert rounds. Though, for the most part, I actually prefer the studio versions of these songs over the Live versions. I guess it's because most of them are more suited for listening for details with headphones on.

That said, in my browsing, I did come across a lot of fanworks/remix/covers of these works that are pretty awesome. There are some seriously talented fans (or not even fans, just music lovers) out there.

First of all, here is a remix I saved in my memories folder all the way back when the first track came out. Using track 1's 《蜃楼》"Mirage" as BGM for a Wandering Earth 2 MV. The lyrics work really well with the digital life plot thread in the Wandering Earth series, and the editing is seamless. It also got a comment from the director of Wandering Earth in the comments section, so here's hoping Zhou Shen will get to collab with WE3 when it comes out.
Link: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Q1421U7Ah/

Being the oldest track out, this song also has several remixes with Honkai Star Rail. Of these, the first one is a slightly better quality edit IMO.
There's also a pure a capella cover which I found to be really well done.

Also from my saved folder is this half cover/half remix of 《Wala Li Longla》 and "Despicable Me". It feels... so very fitting. XDXDXD
Link: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1vFiMeaEaP/

There's also a remix of this song and Harry Potter.

Speaking of Star Rail, there's one more crossover, an Aventurine-centric remix with《警报》 which I thought was very well edited.
Link: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1gD421V7Uj/


Furthermore...
There is a content creator who has several songs which are a mashup of Zhou Shen's and another artists, and the latest one is 《重启》crossed over with Taylor Swift's "Fortnight". Second in the same playlist is another mashup with 《少管我》 and disco.
Then, 《记忆商店》has a few remixes, with 【自杀专卖店】 and 【漫长的季节】.
After that, 《嗨》 actually had a really hilarious short video as BGM for Yunnan mushrooms on weibo. Alas, the original clip is gone and I haven't been able to find copies of it anywhere. Aside from that, there's also a really awesome cover in French, by a French fan.
Next, we have 《缝合》× 【三悦群像】, though the editing isn't as good as the other ones above.
After that, 《空壳》doesn't actually have any remixes. I expect the last song 《虚构》 to be the same, as these two songs are very very much a gift/dialogue between the artist and his fans. So there's not a lot of room to remix it into other contexts.
Anyways, next in the list is 《没关系》, which has a remix with Disney's "Soul". Unfortunately, the editing isn't all that great. Just including it for completionism's sake.
Finally, 《请我不改》 has a remix with Black Myth Wukong, which is decently edited. There's also a short remix with the military that made me lol.

Finally, returning to the topic of fanworks, here's one more that's unrelated to the album. It's a rewriting of the lyrics to 《北京欢迎你》 to celebrate his concert at the Bird's Nest. A lot of memes and in-jokes that I suppose only fans would get. The idea behind it is quite moving.

Linking for my own reference since this video apparently isn't found on youtube...

【星穹铁道生日会】寰宇记书 (best at .75x speed)


The older myriad celestia trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JruxFQurUDQ
Original release trailer/song: 星间旅行/Interstellar Journey

History analysis (focusing on Aeons), using lore as of 7/10/24: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1ym421G7Ru/
Summary of factions from Divergent Universe update (multi-Path factions): https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1n6421f7si/

Popular fanwork based on an minor side quest in the early game:


Robin's "album": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rDd9fQKI9A

Analysis of Dr. Ratio = parody of Socrates: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnJZMGz_SB8
Achievements: https://www.reddit.com/r/HonkaiStarRail/comments/198p0wj/dr_veritas_ratios_achievements/

Hahaha, guess I got distracted and forgot to recap Zhou Shen's performances for the CNY period. Compared to last year he had less performances in number, but more in...eh, status? Same number as in 2021, probably because both of these years he had a performance on the official CCTV gala, which means having to put aside a lot of time for rehearsals in the month leading up, and thus less openings to record for other galas.

Though compared to 2021 and 2022, there's no... I guess more comedically-toned performance this year. It's all srs bsns, but at least very beautifully performed srs bsns. However, there was one performance *before* the CNY galas, which was light toned, and that was in the episode that aired the Friday before for the Time Concert 2 show: 《好春光》. Very jazzy, very light hearted, well picked for the "new years episode".


Next up is my personal favorite among the CNY galas, a medley of 《望+故乡的云》. Now, 《望》 he's performed before and nothing new there, and besides only half of it features in the lead up to the real meat of the performance: 《故乡的云》. I really really liked his vocals in this one. *squee*


And then of course we have to mention the fact that Zhou Shen had his first solo performance on the CCTV CNY gala this year *clapclapclap*. (Actually this year I hear there are many more solo performances and by the younger generation of performers, than many recent years.) In addition, this solo performance is also of his single (no-OST, non-collab, non-dedication) 《花开忘忧》. (And then a few days later, CCTV also released an animated MV for the new edition; which even the original track didn't have, lol.)


And then there's the runner's up performances, which are still great but unfortunately can't compare to the above:
- Collaboration with 阎维文 of 《我的祖国》
- Performance of the OST 《人间星河》 for SMG, one of my recent favorites as well among his songs.

Happy New Year

(Video is more appropriate for CNY but by then I'll probably have newer videos for it.)

https://www.youtube.com/embed/tCMpPP_mSe4

It's past 10 AM on Dec 31 in China, so I don't think there's going to be any more last minute surprises (maybe?)... There's still the 跨年 live performances pending, so I'm just going to count up the official studio released songs.

( Total = 47 )

And if I were to give a list of my top 10 of the year right now, it would be the following. (A bit skewed towards the newer songs as the old ones have been looped so much they've gotten...old. =P）

请带着浪漫远航
流光
人间星河
田埂五月风 (填词版)
征途
我们一起远航 (collab)
我的答案
照耀星河
美美
一试有成

We're entering the part of the year where there's going to be a bunch of galas coming up. Had been posting some to wechat moments. Here's some more for your listening pleasure.

A short performance from a variety show back in June, in a totally new language/dialect! 《Karadaidu》


《请带着浪漫远航》 - OST from the animated movie《冲出地球》. Not to interested in the movie and the song didn't seem to make a huge splash compared to others that were released around the same time. But I really liked this song. Very grandiose romantic kinda feel.

From the douyin concert that I wanted to get an account to watch... 《追赶春天的人》, 《Rubia》. (The replay/recording on youtube is a bit lackluster for some songs/parts, but these two were pretty good).

CCTV Qixi gala: 《如愿》 - The song is pretty, the dancers are pretty, and the overall stage reeks of money. XD


CCTV summer gala: 《星鱼》, 《贝加尔湖畔》 impromptu duet, 《兰亭序》 (awesome operatic...rap?)

《田埂五月风》填词版 - Original version of this song was release last year and consisted of non-lexical vocables (I think that's what the english term is?). The new version has lyrics, and I think I prefer this one.

This show is nearing the end, just 4 episodes left. Zhou Shen didn't perform in EP4, so that leaves 4 performances in EP 5-8...something of a halfway mark, so I figure I'll put up another post now rather than leave them all til the end.

First, a small look-back:
EP2 《算你狠》 just recently hit 1M views on youtube, which is really good progress.
EP3 《玫瑰少年》 is close to hitting the 2M mark on youtube, which is outstanding! Its numbers on the various music apps are also pretty consistent after all this time. Just goes to show the haters water army that popped up on weibo when it released certainly had good predictive abilities, lol.

Newer songs:

EP5 《哭砂》 is probably the song that had the lowest scores on various platforms, and the most criticism surrounding it. A lot of the response is that the two singers don't match well together. I thought it was fine. A pretty standard fare work that didn't sound bad, but isn't outstanding either. But then, it's infeasible for every work to be top, so eh.

EP6 《冷酷到底》 had better marks but also some mixed reviews. The part at the climax where they sing two stanzas in 16 sec without taking a breath is a spectacle to watch, but just for the first few times. I liked the bit of gothic overtone in the first half of the song better; pity that changed into soft rock later on, and the overall piece does feel a bit short at only 3 and a half minutes.

EP7 《调查中》 trended on bilibili for about 2-3 days, though partly because the trending board doesn't support special characters, so "周深 胡梦周《调查中》" became "周深 胡梦周 调查中" and attracted all sorts looking for gossip, lol. Partly also because it's an OST from 《开端》 which was pretty hot, including on bilibili. It's too early to tell what the long term numbers will look like on the various music apps, but I'm optimistic since it's a good collab of a song that was catchy to begin with. After all, this was originally just an instrumental piece in the show, that got lyrics written for it by fans, which was then bought by the production team and officially released as OST companion piece, and now re-sung by the guy who sang the show's actual main theme (yes, referring to Zhou Shen =P). Also, want to add Zhou Shen's studio's Behind the Scenes VLog for this ep, for the bel canto segment at 3:55, which is much more clearer than the official release.


EP8 《City of Stars》 is the most recent performance, and IMO one that is better watched as video rather than just listening to the audio. I guess it's partly because singing in English isn't something that wows me personally, and Zhou Shen had sang this before on his birthday livestreams, which isn't too different from how he sang this time, so the vocal part didn't really have any surprises. But the performance, especially the small dance bit near the end, is... *adorable*! ^_^

And just to further express my love for the dance segment, here's also the Behind the Scenes VLOG from Zhou Shen's studio for EP8. Complete with the dance tutorial, and various official & unofficial rehearsal scenes. *squee* Also squee-worthy is his interaction with his collaborator, who just entered the Chinese entertainment industry in last year's Chuang2021, where Zhou Shen was one of the proctors and vocal tutor. So yeah, a rare time he's partnered with a younger person where he's in the mentor's role.

This is the music variety show that Zhou Shen is currently participating in. There's 12 episodes total, recorded in batches of 3. Two recording sessions have already been completed (6 eps), and 3 have been broadcasted. The next recording session scheduled for the middle of the month (running a little tight there). Zhou Shen is one of the permanent cast members this season, meaning he gets 1 performance per episode (except for sitting out on ep 4, due to scheduling issues). All of the songs on this show are collaborative stages, and the songs are mostly covers of other well known or popular songs.

The first batch of 3 eps are predicted to be the better works of the season, by dint of the fact that the temporary cast members who participated are of higher quality (and higher fees/position in the industry, which is why they're all going first). So I figure I'd do a listing of the first 3 songs now.

EP1.《克卜勒》 (aka "Kepler") - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIEY-zmrRVs
Very pretty song and a good opener. Zhou Shen creates the imagery of "outer space" with his voice very well, with previous well known works in the genre like 《末日飞船》 and 《卡西尼/Cassini》. Though, I guess it's precisely because he has excellent (I would even say, better) works in the style, that this one feels a little...standard fare, I suppose. It still stands alone very well as a good song.

EP2. 《算你狠》- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlGn6ifnXg4
Or as I'd like to think of it: "The Artist While Drunk", LOL. This was obviously a work where ZS went in to play with music, and you can tell he had fun. There's so much elements crammed into it, but none of them feel like they're out of place. The small opera portion skyrocketed in popularity on douyin. The parts where he sang in Guizhou and Hunan dialects makes me just a little jealous cuz I can't even speak in Nanjing dialect anymore. On first impression, you'd think this was a one time curiosity stage performance, but surprisingly the underlying music is very catchy too, and I was able to enjoy listening to just the pure audio of it on loop.


EP3. 《玫瑰少年》- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGc7N1oQJF4
The most meaningful performance to the artist himself, and possibly the biggest challenge to his skills. Zhou Shen's rap ability is...self-admittedly mediocre, but he managed a lot of improvement here. I didn't think I would enjoy this, since I'm not a fan of rap in general. And just watching the stage performance at the time of the broadcast, I did think it was just ok. But later on, again, started looping the audio on QQ and...it was pretty good.


Unfortunately, the last performance seems to raised something of a storm of controversy...( gossip )

So I gave it a few days but it doesn't look like certain official channels are going to be updating with videos anytime soon. (Looking at you, BRTV) So I'll just post this now, and update links if the situation changes in the future.

From 1/25 - 2/1, Zhou Shen participated in 6 galas that are New Year related (he also appeared in some other awards or TV/movie related galas, but I'm only counting the CNY related ones here). Just to list them:

01.25 央视网络春晚《说声你好》
01.26 湖南卫视春节联欢晚会《生活总该迎着光亮》
02.01 百花迎春《生活总该迎着光亮》合唱
02.01 东方卫视《RingRingRing + 把门开开 + 茉莉花》《和光同春》
02.01 江苏卫视《雪花落下》《错位时空》
02.01 北京卫视《你看起来很好吃》

In my opinion, the best overall song & performance among these is 《错位时空》, a collaboration with 杨洪基 as well as the 清华大学上海校友艺术团 & 江苏大剧院爱乐合唱团. The performance is very obviously themed around the dialogue between generations and the passing of the torch. And the contrast between Yang Hongji's low baritones and Zhou Shen's high countertenor is very striking. Jiangsu TV does really great music. Unfortunately, they also have like no overseas presence, certainly none on youtube. -_-

The second song I'll put here is《和光同春》, the COP15 theme song composed by Tan Dun, and probably the most expensive performance of the list due to the CGI elements in it. SMG does have a great youtube presence, so tada!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1u9YqTfGts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIUzBTfMPtk

Of course, in a lot of people's minds, I think BRTV's 《你看起来很好吃》, "won" the competition on 2/1, due to definitely being the most surprising performance that'll have you laughing. Not sure how expensive the set was, but it probably took the longest to film, definitely. The end result though is perfectly suited for the festive holiday season. The fact that the music of the song is a medley of classical pieces also makes it a surprisingly high quality display of singing skill, tactfully hidden behind all the silliness of lyrics and costume. Unfortunately, BRTV is a slacker both on youtube (and bilibili, apparently)... So I can only go with a fan recording.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0dag9OyQ5c


Of the other performances, 《生活总该迎着光亮》 has had a LOT of live performances, so it's nothing new at this point. SMG's other performance 《RingRingRing + 把门开开 + 茉莉花》 is also very lively and festive; I feel like Zhou Shen had a lot of fun collaborating with Da Zhangwei, who he supposedly "grew up listening to"... Jiangsu's other performance 《雪花落下》 is also quite beautiful and might've been a competitor for first place if not for, well, the other song.

Then lastly, also gotta give props to CCTV for quality with 《说声你好》, also a beautiful performance. I didn't think too much of this song when it originally came out, but this live performance went on my playlist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EGDPnZg0rE


ADD1: Saw this comment somewhere today. Essentially if you put all of Zhou Shen's performances over this holiday period together, he's basically got all the features of a mini-traditional CNY gala all by his lonesome! After all, his performances encompass: patrotic themes (错位时空), winter Olympics (雪花落下), opera (把门开开 + 茉莉花), traditional style (和光同春), comedy skits (你看起来很好吃), group song with a bunch of actors (生活总该迎着光亮)... the only thing that's missing is magic tricks and acrobatics. =P