What's so great about Dou Wei's music?

First of all, he is the father of a child, and then some people say that he is a psychedelic Dou Wei, who is always living in his own dreams. The innocence, passion and wildness of the Black Panther period was when he was making a big splash, and he left, and no matter what the reasons were, he left and never sang any of the famous songs of the Black Panther period, and that's also one of my regrets. After going solo, the black dream of Dou Wei's talent was shown to its fullest extent. His sensitive and silent character was nurtured in a psychedelic black gothic style, while still maintaining a certain degree of melodic popularization, becoming a flagpole in the history of China's development of new rock music And on the following album, "Sunny Day," Dou Wei once again demonstrated fascinating vocals, with few variations but a great deal of difficulty, and very rich arrangements. Dou Wei more fully utilizes the wide range of his voice, either deep or mellow, either whispering or shouting, either blunt or euphemistic, layers and layers of ups and downs of the pale voice, blended in the beautiful music, from which you can hear very much of the components of folk music, including the Beijing rhythms of drums, kunqu, and even the singing of Huangmei Opera - hidden! There is a kind of sadness that Jikang laughed and played Guangling in those years. 1998's Shanheshui follows Dou's consistent creative intention: the music or melody is supreme. In terms of arrangement and production, it is immersed in the power and omnipotence of MIDI. Dou Wei is in full display of his high level of instrument playing, with guitars, drums, and keyboards all smooth and fluid. However, the Western instruments (both acoustic and analog) throughout create a poetic atmosphere steeped in traditional Chinese culture. Ice cold drums, guitar running water like arpeggios, distant keyboards, exudes the poignant aura. Unfortunately a further weakening of vocals and lyrical meaning of the lyrics also begins to show.

And from Phantom Hearing to Rain Appeal, Dou Wei's music is getting more and more obscure, which wouldn't have been surprising. In his creative work, Dou Wei has never bothered with trends, fan preferences, or commercial selling points; he just immerses himself in his own spiritual world and entertains himself with music that expresses his thoughts. That's why I used to like him, but the worst thing is that I can't accept his "ravings" anymore. I have always thought that Dou Wei is one of the most likely masters among the new Chinese musicians, and he has given us a lot of extraordinary feelings. So, for a man who had his own fantasies about him, I really don't want to have such a spoiled ending.

I believe that many people will be like me more or less in the nostalgia for the "Black Panther" period of Dou Wei, that kind of bright, affinity style, the kind of anger, catharsis and interrogation of the lyrics are intertwined, but Dou Wei once said that he was only in that period of time in his expression of emotions in a way, and now there is no such a mentality. . He said that a musician's music should follow the changes in his mood, and that making music is a need for expression, not a fixed technique to please the audience.

And as for the meaning of the lyrics, Dou Wei's statement is: "Why the so-called song should be clear in the song to say a meaning, this is a set, I am wanting other possibilities. I am writing lyrics is the first pronunciation, and then go to find a word as interesting as possible. It's not like up and down and left and right and these specific words that don't mean anything. For example, it also means something so simple that a child would know it. It's too mushy and too much to say the meaning directly. Too much meaning doesn't mean much."

In fact, in Dou Wei's early work, he still wrote some great lyrics.

"Maybe there are too many things I don't understand, maybe it's my fault, maybe everything is already slowly missed, maybe there's no need to say .... Never thought you and I will end up like this, the heart does not grasp, just remember you and I promise each other, time and time again impulse ...... What you have is your body, tantalizingly beautiful. What I have is my memory, wonderful feeling ......" "Dont break my heart"

"Feeling there will always be such a day, looking at you have nothing to say... ...no longer dare to look directly into your eyes for fear that you will shed tears for yourself ...... No need to say Good-bye, let me look back in the darkness, my dreams have no color from now on. No need to say Good-bye, I will cherish that future, and your deep love that can't be taken away ......" "Fear of You Shedding Tears for Myself"

"For that beautiful wish, the heart is bitter and the road is difficult, I'm afraid that the dream will be hard to fulfill in the middle of the road again. Stormy weather, God changes its face. Often to say is that joy is born of bitterness, but joy is born of sadness, reason and since ancient times. Don't let me feel uneasy, it's hard to distinguish between right and wrong, the vicissitudes of the millennium, no longer have regrets ......"


These wonderful lyrics are one of the important reasons why I liked Dou Wei in the beginning, because, in my opinion, the rock music, the most important thing is the melody and rhythm and lyrics. But today, Dou Wei is less and less interested in using his vocals to express his musical ideas, and he's even using his vocals as an instrument. There are no lyrics in the liner notes of his latest album, Rain Appeal, and Dou Wei has no intention of publishing his lyrics, although he still sings some of the words out of several of the songs on it, but meaningful lyrics and meaningless ravings are already the same to him. Dou Wei once said in an interview, "Some people who came to see my concert said they didn't understand it, so could it be more colloquial? What do you mean you don't understand? Music has to be realized!" He also once said, "Music is like something that feels, you feel it, that's it."

It should be said that Dou Wei is a person who attaches great importance to his feelings, both in music and in love.

There are two things for which he deserves the most praise: his songwriting and his singing. But it was women who made him famous.

After the privacy of his emotions was magnified, the music was ignored, and Dou Wei was left far behind. But as a singer-songwriter, music was his soul. Dou Wei got the fame he didn't deserve - and it wasn't because people recognized his music - and Dou Wei's state of mind can be described as cold.

It is not appropriate to comment on a musician's private life, but this is an exception. Because I believe, for a musician like Dou Wei, who is so silent, sensitive and self-centered, he can keep his mouth shut about his love life to the media, but in his music, he will definitely reveal something.

Dou Wei and Faye Wong's separation is an absolutely normal thing, two equally sensitive and egotistical people, to be together all the time, is a very difficult thing. What's more ...... in the VCD of Faye Wong's concert, I saw the radiant Faye Wong coolly chanting in front of her, and in the gray backing band behind her, Dou Wei was silent and buying his way into playing the drums - a truly heartbreaking romance.

Unfortunately! Originally, I thought that Dou Wei, with Faye Wong, would change his increasingly disoriented, lazy and frustrated style of music - after all, he has a wife and child.

At that time, after the dust had settled, and after Faye Wong's new album Only Love Strangers was seen as a "docu-drama of the marriage change mentality", Dou Wei released the album Mirage Listening, whose overall musical style is dark, with no exciting rhythms, no relatable selling points, but more and more psychedelic. The whole album is just a thoroughly private dream, warm, fluttering, dim, decadent, uncertain, complacent ......

Decadence is addictive, not to mention adding fantasy and narcissism to the mix. I don't know how much repressed sensitivity, hurt and loneliness Dou Wei has inside him, but his music disappoints me, and I think the reason he's not more of a maestro is because he can't break through the limitations of his emotions. Everyone who is serious about music tries in their own way to slowly approach the soul of the music in an attempt to express something broader and deeper, and I hope that Dou Wei is attempting to do just that.

After all, he is a musician with masterful talent, and after all, I still have expectations for him still.