Qu Wanting’s artist profile
Personal profile
Chinese name: Qu Wanting (Goodmorning)
English name: Wanting ( Wanting)
Occupation: Singer/Songwriter (Original musician, composer, composer, performance and singer. Piano and guitar.)
Birthplace: Harbin.
Height: 165.5cm
Weight: 45kg
Qu Wanting’s music journey
As Canada’s top music company, Nettwerk In the 26 years since its establishment, it has never signed a Chinese singer. However, this history was rewritten by a 26-year-old Harbin girl at the end of last year: In November 2009, Qu Wanting, who came out of Harbin, officially signed a contract with Nettwerk. Immediately afterwards, three songs composed by her, including "In My Singing Voice", were selected by Mercedes-Benz and played around the world; after listening to the songs she composed and sang, the famous domestic musician Zhang Yadong also intends to work with her in the second half of this year. cooperate. A few days ago, the reporter interviewed Qu Wanting on the phone in Vancouver, Canada. When you hear the name "Qu Wanting", your first impression is that she is a gentle and quiet girl. During the communication process, the reporter felt more of her independence. Because he was busy working on a new album and performing in New York and other places, interviews could only be conducted here and there, sometimes in the early morning and sometimes at midnight. However, Qu Wanting has obviously become accustomed to this busy life, and she does not feel bitter at all. In her words: "Compared with the efforts I made for music before, this is not worth mentioning." Interview. During the process, Qu Wanting shared with reporters every detail of her music journey.
When I was a child: I would hum a song before I understood what I was saying
Judging from the photos sent by Qu Wanting, in her Vancouver home, the small room was filled with all kinds of things. musical instruments. Qu Wanting said that this has been her dream since childhood - to be a singer when she grows up, with a house full of musical instruments, and she can create and sing at any time when she is inspired. There is still a joke among Qu Wanting's family members: when she was only two or three years old, the TV station was broadcasting "Plain Clothes Police". Every time when little Wanting woke up, before she even opened her eyes, she would First, she sang "How many times of wind and rain, how many times of spring and autumn", and then everyone in the family knew that she was awake.
When she was 6 years old, Qu Wanting owned a piano. Speaking of this, she said with a smile that she was grateful for her good ears, "Since I was a child, I have never forgotten the melody of the songs I heard. Once my mother took me to her friend's house to play, and when they were chatting, I climbed up on the stool and played randomly on the piano, and as I was playing, the song "Little Stars" came up, which is the familiar song "Twinkle, twinkle, the sky is full of little stars." My mother was very special at that time. Strange, I asked how I did it, and I said I had listened to this song many times. My mother was so happy that when I was 6 years old, she lent me money to buy a piano and enrolled me in piano classes. "
But it was when Qu Wanting was studying at No. 69 Middle School in Harbin that she really realized the charm of music. "One time our school held an art festival at the Workers' Cultural Palace, and three classmates and I went on stage. When singing "My 1997", I sang a long, high-pitched part. I found that the longer the sound, the more intense the applause was. I was very happy, and secretly decided that I must find this feeling again. " Qu Wanting said.
After going abroad: Known as the "Chinese girl who can sing"
In 2000, Qu Wanting began to study in Canada. Although her studies were stressful, she never gave up music. On the contrary, this trip abroad gave her the opportunity to appreciate foreign music styles. When Qu Wanting first came here and heard foreign Hip-pop and R&B, her first reaction was: Why is the melody so flat? However, an accidental competition she participated in in 2004 made her realize that music has no borders. "At that time, the Canadian Music Television Channel held a music competition in a shopping mall in Vancouver, and the judges were the audience. There were seven contestants per day. Interested audiences can also sign up. I happened to pass by and gave it a try, singing "Thank You" by Dido. Unexpectedly, the audience from a foreign country I had never met gave me the warmest applause, and I won. Wanting said. In 2005, Qu Wanting began to try to write her own songs, expressing her most honest feelings through lyrics and melodies.
She still remembers that her first song was "To Markus" written for her ex-boyfriend. "Looking at the lyrics now, the lyrics are quite straightforward, but they are my true feelings." After that, Qu Wanting began to slowly Try to compose and sing to your friends. What still impresses many friends is the song "Hide Away" she wrote for her father. According to a friend of Qu Wanting in Vancouver, in this song, there is such an image of a father: he is usually taciturn and never expresses his feelings to his daughter or says I love you, but he takes action all the time. to express. "When I heard Wanting sing this song, it reminded me of the image of my father depicted in Zhu Ziqing's "Back" and I felt the greatness of father's love. Every time Wanting sings this song, tears fill the eyes of those who listen to it. What is particularly worth mentioning is that when Qu Wanting sang this song on stage, many foreign audiences in the audience were moved to tears and gave Qu Wanting warm applause after the performance. Speaking of the original intention of the creation, Qu Wanting said: "I composed this song on November 11, which was my dad's birthday. After I called him and wished him a happy birthday, I couldn't stop. I miss him, I think he doesn't like to talk much, he is very honest and kind, he has a tolerant heart, and he never speaks ill of others. I also think of the feelings between some of my friends and their fathers, so I wrote this. This song. I am very proud that I can use my own creation to prove that music has no borders and is a universal language.”
With this motivation, in 2005, Wanting and several Friends formed "The Wanting Band" (Wanting Band). To this day, Wanting still remembers the scene of her first performance, "It was a performance in a coffee shop. We started preparing for the evening performance early in the morning. At almost 12 o'clock in the middle of the night, it was finally our turn to perform. Because there were still people left. I didn’t get much, and the response wasn’t very strong. I was a little frustrated after I got off the stage. But this performance also made me realize that singing at home is different from singing on stage. Only with more experience will I be able to sing on stage. I was nervous, and the rock style didn't suit me, so after a while, I took the initiative to disband the band and start working on my own. Because I often performed locally, everyone knew that there was a Chinese girl in this city who could sing. "
To study music: I worked as a "cleaner" for two years
Having a pair of good ears is a natural wealth for musicians. From this point of view, Qu Wanting is lucky. ’s: Thanks to her excellent hearing, Qu Wanting was able to compose beautiful songs even though she had not systematically studied music theory before going to college. What made her determined to study music systematically was a problem she encountered during creation - how to present the songs she created to her collaborators in written form. Qu Wanting said: "I used to teach myself how to play guitar. I can remember the songs I created once I play them once, but there will be problems when communicating with other people because I can't write music and can't write music for my collaborators. So. I just wanted to study music theory systematically."
In order to earn the tuition and money to buy CDs, Qu Wanting started her working career. "I was only a student at the time and didn't have a work visa. I went online to read posts about hiring people. Then I saw that a rich man held parties at his house every Saturday and needed someone to clean it every Sunday, so I volunteered to clean it from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. , including wages and money from selling wine bottles, I can earn an average of 100 Canadian dollars per week. Although it is very tiring, I feel that it is worth it when I use the money I earn to pay for tuition and buy CDs. I can do this job well. "Two years."
Compared with the physical effort, Qu Wanting said that for a period of time, her mother's lack of understanding made her even more uncomfortable. "My mother always wanted me to study business and didn't want me to take music as my main career. After learning that I started composing music, my mother was very angry and did not contact me for three years. I once sang an English song "Shell" (Shell) to her on the phone, which she probably didn't even know. What was I singing? In fact, I was crying when I sang it. After listening to it, she said, "Put your mind on studying." It wasn't until later that I achieved some results and my mother's friends praised me, that we started singing. Start making contact slowly.
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Talk about achievements: 5 years of creation in exchange for industry favor
The first big turning point in Qu Wanting’s music journey should be meeting the CEO of Canada’s top music company Nettwerk— —Terry, the internationally famous singer Avril Lavigne, and many world-renowned musicians such as Sarah Lockland who played and sang at the opening ceremony of this year’s Winter Olympics, are all created by this company. On her acquaintance with Terry, Qu Wanting said: "Before signing the contract, I met Terry twice. During the second meeting, I took the initiative to run up to Terry and briefly introduce myself. Qu Wanting said that she had no stage fright at all, "I told him that I had not recorded the songs I composed at that time, and I would go to him when I was ready." He gave me a business card, shook my hand and said, ‘When you’re ready, send me an email’. That was in 2005, until last year, I gave him the album "Love I Am" I recorded, which contained 8 songs I composed. He liked it very much and found me soon after, saying that I could compose Chinese and English songs, that the melodies and lyrics were very touching, and that I could sing very well. He hoped that I could become the first Chinese singer-songwriter signed by him. I was so excited at the time. Think about it, I was still singing Dido's songs in 2004, and five years later, we became artists in the same company. "With professional guidance, Qu Wanting is even more comfortable in creation. So far, she has composed more than 40 songs. What surprised the industry is that just some time ago, Qu Wanting composed "Everything In The World" ", "Life is Like a Song" and "Jar of Love", the Chinese song "In My Song" was selected by Mercedes-Benz and put on a CD with other singers' songs, and 50,000 copies are now sold in Mercedes-Benz cars. Qu Wanting's songs can be heard on websites, and in the CDs provided with various automobile newspapers and magazines. Among them, "Everything In The World" is very popular. The reporter saw on the Internet that in just three days. , the song demo has more than 30,000 clicks on the Internet
After returning to China: Zhang Yadong applauded and left a message for her
As the first Chinese female singer signed by the company, the company gave her Qu Wanting's positioning is to enter the Asian market and the North American market together. Since this year, Qu Wanting has also been in frequent contact with domestic musicians, and the one who impressed her most is the famous domestic musician Zhang Yadong.
Qu. Wanting said: “When the company arranged for me to meet Zhang Yadong in Beijing, I didn’t even know who he was. At the scene, I sang two of my songs to him. The first one was "drench" which I composed myself. During the singing process, he stood beside me the whole time. After singing, he suddenly took two steps back. Just as I was wondering, he suddenly clapped vigorously, and his assistant and the staff downstairs also clapped. Later, he asked me to sing a Chinese song "In My Singing Voice". He applauded again and said that he liked the feeling of my singing. When he was about to leave, he told me that he hoped to have the opportunity to hear more songs I wrote. He also believed that I would have great development in China and that there might be a collaboration between us in the second half of the year. He also gave me a bunch of records produced by him, and left a message on them: "To Wanting: write good songs to warm us, Yadong."
Next step: plan to hold a world tour
Qu Wanting’s QQ personal signature column once wrote, “The dream is being realized step by step.” Nowadays, she is busy creating and performing every day. "After a while, I will select more than 10 songs and release my second album. Although I am very busy and tired, I will not complain at all, because I The dream is being realized step by step. What I also want to say is that I hope my songs can bring some thoughts or a little touch to the audience. Even if only one person likes my work, I will be happy." Qu Wanting. It was revealed that she will go to New York and other places to record songs in the near future, and her world tour is also being planned. Some companies in Beijing, Shanghai and other places have sent her invitations, hoping to host her first concert in China. Next, Qu Wanting also plans to visit some music schools in New York to experience different music atmospheres...