Illusion and Reality (虚幻与现实)
Be included in Hua Chenyu’s 5th album “Hope Forget”.
1. About the song
- Hua Chenyu writing about his creation of “Illusion and Reality”:
The song “Illusion and Reality” is actually a summary of my album, and it is also my first attempt to use operatic techniques to compose.
The content of this song is relatively complicated, so I started to sort out the long Weibo post a month ago, writing and deleting it in the middle, until I published this song today. It’s a bit long, and interested friends can take a look.
The whole song is switching back and forth between “illusion” and “reality”, and the verses are mainly divided into three parts:
The first part’s lyrics start from the very beginning till “that tenderness is not pretended”. This is written from the first-person perspective, and it talks about the self-contradictory state of understanding and not understanding the world through indoctrination during the growing-up process. Because when people are confused, they don’t know how to talk about their own life, or what appearance, expression, and language to use when facing different types of people, so it’s easy to start thinking about how to solve the conflicted feelings when they are alone.
In terms of music, from the beginning of the first section, the bass and the harmonies appear and stop at the same time, and then the dry voice of a person stands out alone, just to highlight the effects of repeatedly switching between “illusion” and “reality”. When the person sings, the harmonies come in suddenly. It’s like when you are thinking about yourself, sometimes a lot of voices suddenly appear in your head to comfort you, but then they suddenly disappear.
The second part is the rock chorus section in the middle. This section is more complicated. I may talk about its content while combining it with music. First of all, it’s narrated from the second-person perspective, that is, the perspective of others, the feeling that a bunch of people talking to you. From the word “pretended” at the end of the previous paragraph, the word “pretended” gradually changed from a normal human voice to a distorted human voice, and then to the appearance of an alarm-like sound that tells you that the “reality” is coming. But the distorted human voice is virtual, so it also highlights the question of whether is it reality or illusion. The whole paragraph roughly means that many people are using their moral standards to examine you and demand you, but in fact, they may not be able to meet these standards themselves. So the way the drums are played in the music part of this section has the feeling of a marching army. The chorus represents a group of people coming to tell you that the world is actually like this, it should be like this, and it must be like this. In fact, I struggled with how to record this chorus for a long time, because I wanted a feeling similar to marching. At first, I wanted to find a choir to record with bel canto, but then I felt that many old battle songs were not taught. People sing such songs to boost morale, so they don’t sing battle songs with the standard vocal method, instead, they will sing them while mimicking the feeling of bel canto. So it sounds free and the momentum will feel stronger. It’s hard to control this kind of semi-bel canto-like singing style. After repeated discussions with my producer, I came to the conclusion that only I can record this chorus by myself because only I know which kind of voice is the best. I probably altered my vocals and recorded nearly a hundred tracks to sing out this kind of chorus-like momentum, so it could sound like justice is about to come.
The third part returns to a quiet part at the end, and this part has changed back to the first-person perspective, which roughly means that in the face of all this, I start to absorb what’s going on with myself, start to try slowly to resolve conflicts and accept all the good and the bad, and then keep moving forward, even if I may still encounter occasional setbacks in the middle and start to get confused and want to be saved. But life is such a process of constant repetition. As long as you are willing to accept it positively in your heart, you can live well.
So many times what you think is real, the reality will tell you it is illusory, and what you think is illusory, the reality will be disguised so well that people still can’t find the answer. I am the same, I still do not know what the answer to life is, and I will struggle repeatedly, which may become my normal state in the future, but I still have to work hard to learn to accept the good and the bad.
Many people like to use morality to restrain others, to teach you to do things from the highest ground of morality, and if they find out that you are wrong, they will rush to attack you and slander you as if they’ve grasped your lifeline. Can they represent justice? But those who attack you under the guise of justice may have made a mess in their own lives. So, sometimes you will fall into confusion, start to question life, and start to shrink back and escape. If everyone can truly lead a life by example while asking others, then this society may become more virtuous.
We have learned to undo ignorance through higher education, but kindness can take a lifetime of life experience to gain. May each of us continue to learn to treat others with self-examination and kindness in our lives.
2. Videos
Mars Concert 2023
3. Lyrics Translation
Lyricist: Lyu Yiqiu |
| 虚幻与现实 | Illusion and Reality |
|---|---|
| 做讨厌潮汐的稚童 | As a naive child who hates the ebbs and flows of tides |
| 祈祷月球失踪 | I pray for the moon to disappear |
| 昼夜辗转到失重 | Tossing and turning incessantly till I’m weightless |
| 床垫塌陷成黑洞 | The mattress crumbles into a black hole |
| 一望无际多迷人 | Look at the endless space, how charming it is |
| 在粉墨自我的时空 | In a spacetime of self-disguise |
| 赤裸才更庄重 | Exposing oneself is more respectful |
| 但世界一派从容 | Yet, the world continues undisturbed – |
| 浓妆艳抹是天生 | Putting on caky makeup is ingrained |
| 也许不止一个人 | There may be more than one person |
| 高尚 到卑劣地伪装 | Who are so “noble” that they use abject disguises |
| 再坦然地接受 | Then they easily accept |
| 多少人曾幻想被拯救 | the crowd’s salvation fantasies |
| 疯长 在华丽的梦乡 | Growing wildly in a gorgeous dreamland |
| 但无眠的时候 | Yet, in times of sleeplessness |
| 徒留一个空洞在胸口 | It only leaves an empty hole in my chest |
| 梦会枯 | Dreams will wilt |
| 毕竟夜有尽头 | because night will eventually end |
| 醒来后开怀享受腐朽 | After waking up, I indulge in the decay |
| 每天都有个我化作乌有 | Every day, a side of me varnishes |
| 提醒着 那些洗礼 | Reminding me of those purifications |
| 那几句问候 | those few greetings |
| 那份温柔 没作伪 | and that tenderness that were not pretended |
| 看 这里鲜花盛开 | Look here, the flowers are blooming |
| 草木从不会枯萎 | The greenery will never wilt |
| 看 不如赠你几朵遮一遮丑陋 | I might as well give you a few flowers to cover up the ugliness |
| 从来没有 任何蛮荒之地 | Never has there been a wild land |
| 能与这桃源媲美 | which is comparable to this paradise |
| 也绝不存在满身泥泞 仓皇的野兽 | where any muddy and frightened beasts could ever exist |
| 多少人都 生来纯洁完美 | How many people were born with pure goodness |
| 心底从不染漆黑 | and hearts that were never stained by darkness |
| 才成为光芒四射真挚的歌手 | Then they can become radiant and genuine singers |
| 就算没有 任何人能看清那株灿烂的花蕊 | Even if nobody can clearly see that splendid stamen |
| 也应该放声歌颂赞美鲜红的玫瑰 | Yet they shall still loudly sing praises to that bright red rose |
| 梦未枯 | The dream has not wilted |
| 就算夜有尽头 | even if the night will end |
| 醒来后开怀享受所有 | Once awake, enjoy everything wholeheartedly |
| 那坚守某一刻化作乌有 | That guard was let down at some point in time |
| 却还有那些洗礼 那几句问候 | Yet, those purifications, those few greetings |
| 那份温柔 | and that tenderness still remained |
| 将某个我拯救 | which redeemed a certain side of me |