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Lay is the cover story of Nylon China's December 2021 issue. He discusses his new EP East, making music inspired by his country's history and culture, his thoughts on continuous self-learning and growth, and more.
Images: NYLON China
Translations: angelicsehun (reposted with permission), edited by The Xingmi Handbook
LIMITLESS AND FREE - ZHANG YIXING
“To be limitless and free within set boundaries." For a long time, this is the expectation Zhang Yixing has for himself in music, and is also one “death order” he has set for himself in his career. In regards to his music, this type of freedom means that he still has a lot of space to explore, and even more things he wants to express. In regards to his career, this type of freedom instead means that he has to persist in carving his own path.
01 - “To be limitless and free within set boundaries”
“Real Talk”, this is a phrase in hip-hop culture that means “sincere words”. In the entire process of the interview, Zhang Yixing repeated it several times.
“(I) won’t fake, let’s say the truth.” he said. This is a type of honesty directed towards oneself, and also honesty directed towards the world: When one person faces themselves, (they’re) extremely real, (and) when facing the world, similarly, there’s no need for covering up.
With regards to one person, (they) can completely be themselves, (and) this is one ability of “freedom”.
“To be limitless and free within set boundaries.” For a long time, this is the expectation he has for himself in music, and is also one “death order” he has set for himself in his career.
In regards to his music, this type of freedom means that he still has a lot of space to explore, and even more things he wants to express. In regards to his career, this type of freedom instead means that he has to persist in carving his own path.
Zhang Yixing’s new stop is Dunhuang, a city that has “(a) vast desert, the Gobi desert, sunrise, sunset, (and) Flying Apsaras”.
This is the oasis of the desert’s edge. Previously, east came and west left; the people of the fearless wind and sand walked through the long river and the setting sun; nomads, merchants, diplomats, and systematic learning inspectors assemble here, letting Dunhuang become the city of the east-west side’s economy, produce, and mutual blends. This is also the shooting location of Zhang Yixing’s <Flying Apsaras - visualizer>.
Dunhuang Flying Apsaras is a “name card” of the Mogao caves; In Zhang Yixing’s mind, it is a precious treasure that has been brought by “mutual blends”. Previously, ancient east-west civilization built a bridge and met here, he hopes that immediately, music can also become culture’s blend point, “(I’ll) constantly run into Chinese and Western collisions, and see if I can run into a Silk Road of music culture.”.
October, in Zhang Yixing’s newly released album <East>, 4 music works <Flying Apsaras> <Samadhi Real Fire> <Ascetic Monk> <Shepherd Boy>, when linked together, it tells an eastern story that belongs to him.
In <Ascetic Monk>, he played with beat(s), and reversed the accompaniment of a song in the previous music album, <LIT>, what he wants to say is that “LIT’s” reverse side is a scalding asceticism practice and is the path that ascetic monks walk on. In the story from the East, <Samadhi Real Fire> tells about his own practice and his elevation. <Shepherd Boy> is a person’s original dreams, with these original aspirations and practice, they can walk through a smooth main road; To him, this main road is <Flying Apsaras>.
Wanting to make music that is very Chinese has been Zhang Yixing’s goal all along; That's something that belongs to "the blood running through his veins".
02 - “Historical figures won’t ever appear again, but whatever Happens in history will always repeat itself”
“Wanting to do a Hip-pop song, I definitely cannot do it as well as those who have grown up in this kind of culture. But in expressing China’s traditional culture, I definitely can do it better than them. Whether it’s regarding the usage of traditional Chinese instruments, or the understanding of the pentatonic scale; I’ll be more familiar with it.” When he was young, reading those odd and absurd rare story collections in <The Classics of Mountains and Seas>, looking at the grandpas by the side of the streets of Hunan carrying Sanxian Pipas and performing storytelling, these are all of the memories he wants to keep and deliver through music.
He remembers when he was young, when he was doing English assignments, one phrase “Peking Opera” always appeared in the comprehension passage; he thought: that definitely represents that this thing called Peking Opera has a fixed weight in the foreigners’ mind. In the <LIT> MV, he let the king of Western Chu, Xiang Yu, appear with the image of facial makeup (similar to the ones in operas), “This will be an Image that will let people have vivid memories.”
He likes Xiang Yu, this romantic yet tragic character that has strong power, who breaks the cauldrons and sinks the boats [leave no room for retreat for oneself] , and lastly committed suicide at Wujiang. He likes that type of spirit Xiang Yu has in which he dares to go all out, and the energy which he’d rather die than surrender. Recently, he has been reading this book <The King of Chu>, and has a richer understanding of Xiang Yu’s strengths and flaws, “If you like Xiang Yu in a certain aspect, can you possibly go and fix some of his flaws, and let a hero truly stand towering on the historical stage?”
He heard one sentence that he approves of; Historical figures won’t ever appear again, but whatever happens in history will repeat itself. When reading Xiang Yu’s story, he feels that this person’s story and his own story found resonance at certain points. “Looking in the mirror”, this is how he described his feelings of reading history. In the MV, when they met at a certain time and space, Zhang Yixing and one dragon were looking at each other, and it was as if he was asking: “Is what you are doing correct? Is this what you want? If you want to become this kind of person, how are you going to do it?”
He has had one dream all along, to lead Chinese music towards the world. No matter what the outside noises are like, that is what he dares to say out loud, and the expectation he has for himself. “I believe that it’s good enough if a person maintains their capability of making progress, maintains their personal integrity, and within set boundaries, be limitless and free. Right, become a good person like this.”
03 - “A day where you can open up your mind and field of vision, that is a perfect day.”
This year, allegedly, this kind of condition became influenced just a little bit. In the variety show <Back to Field>, he understood the slow paced life of using an entire day to prepare one meal, after the show, this type of “slowness” also faces his real life, and it sept into (his life) just a little bit.
Only in Zhang Yixing’s standards, this type of slowness is interpreted as: a few subtractions in work, and more time left for himself to study.
I have been constantly taking lessons, and learning all types of curriculum. Including history, economics, management, everything. All of the things I’m especially interested in, I love learning all of them, and want to understand all of them. ‘(I’m a) curious baby~’, he ended.
“There’s too many blind areas”, this was his feelings then. Virtual idols, 2D worlds, metaverses…… Every day, everything around him changes in unpredictable ways; things in every dimension, he has a desire to explore and a curious heart. His staff said, the night before the photoshoot, he took an online class that lasted till the wee hours of the morning.
“Learning is too important. I feel that one person, really, everyday (needs to) take out 2-3 hours, and seriously go and read up on a few things, it might subtly help you. This type of help isn’t instantaneous , but it definitely will help. I’ll put my words here at this point. I really hope I can influence everyone, ensure that you have an hour’s worth of studying in one day, it will continue to accumulate from there.” He gave a series of recommendations.
During National Day, it was a period of time where he could move about freely and was the most relaxed, (but) in those periods, he had a similar destination: To take lessons.
What about leisure? What about entertainment?
He searched in his brain for a short while, saying: “Possibly when on the go, (I) play games, (or perhaps) watch short videos.” Other than that, there’s no appearance of leisure and entertainment. <Ascetic Monk>’s lyrics can almost become a depiction of his personal life, “Roughly about the same, it’s like that. Pretty boring. Young people probably cannot accept the type of life I have.”.
We explained to him, being a present-age worker/professional, they should learn to fight with their boss and hold on to personal rest time. Surprised, he lamented a “Woah”, and seriously asked, “It’s possible to argue (with bosses)?”
Being an artist, he’s used to giving the identity of “Zhang Yixing” to someone else to take care of, because others can be “relatively impartial”. But a lot of times, he’s again that person who isn’t that impartial and will push himself a lot. In this media shooting that just ended, he was drenched in man-made “rain” as he posed for his shots in the studio, and a lot of people were worried that he was drenched for too long; after a while, someone came by with a message: Zhang laoshi said, the rain can be a little bigger.
We didn’t give up and recommended to him: You could try having a free and unrestrained life like in swordsman fiction. He didn’t take the bait, “Who said that? All of the swordsman fiction I’ve seen are all about the stories of adventurers. People who are in the rivers and lakes all have very risky conditions. If I just wanted to have a free life, then what have I been doing for all these years?”
Regarding his own way of life, he looked into it for a very long time, sometimes he would also talk to himself, asking himself, is it because you’re facing too much stress? In the end, he felt that wasn't the kind of reason at all. “I probably am this kind of person, so I want to live this way.”
A person concluded, the 90s generation mode of growth is, you grow under strict surroundings, and you have to learn to reconcile with yourself. Zhang Yixing seems to constantly find himself in that type of strict surroundings. Till now, he feels that being a public figure, being looked at a high level, and living with high expectations, besides such a large amount of “foam [emptiness/imagination]” , he’s also willing to keep his original aspirations in this career, this is a person who’s willing to anticipate for the future. “I still see hope. Being a person who’s deep in this field, I’ll definitely get good development.”
As for reconciliation, he feels that he’s unable to do that. “I feel that I’m unable to make sense, and unable to reconcile with myself, and I also do not wish to reconcile with myself. Actually, every time, life will give you a reconciliation exit, but you just don’t exit from that exit. You actually don’t need to make it that way anymore, but why do you still want to make it that way? It’s that kind of situation. You have so many good routes to take yet you don’t walk on them, so why do you want to choose a very difficult path? It seems to be this way from when I returned back to China until now.”
Will you envy those who take the path that’s easy to walk on?
He completely denied it, “I won’t, if I envied them, wouldn't I have walked on that path already?”
Talking till the end, we talked about what the mind thinks is a perfect day. Zhang Yixing says, having work, having studies, having outputs, having inputs, and also exercise; A day where you can open up your mind and field of vision, that is a perfect day.
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