That is EXACTLY what his goal is for his voice. He doesn't consider himself a singer. He composes songs and uses his voice like an instrument to complete the melody. So cool you guys picked up on that. On the song, you obviously haven't seen any of the Monkey King movies because if you had, this song and style would make much more sense. It's a battle in heaven so the dichotomy is to demonstrate that with his voice. Love you guys! Thank you!! 😚💕
Yes! The rap part is him, or the monkey king fighting against his fate. But I guess people have to understand a bit more about the movie or the character monkey king, the monkey king is a legend character in China, that's why Chinese people can understand it without any explanation. But thanks Sandy, for you comment
In huachenyu's travel diary, him and a few other celebrities traveled in Africa, like Morocco and the Sahara desert. He did sky diving and mixed with local people. He's very funny in that show, please please please consider it. I'm already excited even just thinking about watching it with you, Love you Sandy!!! 😄😄😄
He gave an interview and said that he feels the voice is no different than the drums, piano or guitar. He feels like the vocals are part of the instruments.
I love him soooooo much!!!!!! Please please watch him perform “dad I’m home” it is so moving..you guys will appreciate him even more... .cant wait to see your reaction to it...❤️❤️❤️❤️
I love you for finally react to this! No doubt he is one of the best. He won a price for this performance on singer, for the most votes in the showes history. And it has gonne on for some yeard now. In my opinion he should have won the show, easily, but his strenght, tvat he is so different, something unique, is also something many can not accept. But I am sure, given some years, he will really go far. Really far with his genius, natural for him, way if thinking about music. It is like music makes up his whole being. When he sings, it is when he is most comfortable, and when he eats, of course (something martians will know the meaning of 😅). I do not agree with you on the rapping part, cause that, imo, is exactly his style, mixing genres, challenging our way of thinking about music, by mixing all kinds of styles in one song. He usally does that. But not always rapp, of course. It can be opera, rock, pop, rapp, folk, you name it, it doesn't seem like he has any boundaries when it comes to music. He have told that when he don't find the exact sound in any musical intrument he thinks off for a song he is composing, he vecomes the instrument, to add the sounds he wants. Have you reacted to drinking alone? It is great.
Very, very well put! I totally agree with everything you said above. One of Hua's best traits is the fact that he is completely aware that many people might not like his songs but he still writes, arranges & performs them the way he wants to. They have to meet his own personal standards versus what he thinks the audience will or will not like. That's probably why he is able to write and perform songs across so many different styles & genera's versus allowing himself to be pigeonholed. They haven't reacted to Drinking Alone yet; hopefully they get around to it because it is definitely one of his best performances.
ryandwyer2000 drinking alone is awesome. The rap was so fast n yet so clear, this performance clearly show off his voice as musical instrument. The rapping cum singing matches so well n the flow was so smooth. I was drunk by the performance. Hard to believe this was produce in less than 24hrs.
The rap is a must cos is shown the struggle of the Monkey King n his anger n sadness. To me the rap spice up the song. If only u know the life of the Monkey King or the movie u can get his message. Thanks for sharing yr honest review. I enjoy yr reaction as always.
This is exactly why I stay up late, because I know something like this is gonna pop up in my notifications, gosh he's awesome, we need more and more !!!
Love your reactions, I always re-watch them for songs I like! This song is for a movie, one of the adaptation of the Monkey King story. This adaptation took an emotional route and the inner struggle of the all-powerful Monkey King. IMHO, the slow part: Monkey King feeling conflicted on how the universe works, the intertwine between love and hate, why there's life and death, the meaning of his own existence, what's good, what's evil. The feeling of an inescapable fate, played in the hands of gods. The rap part: When the gods try to suppress him, he burst into full beast mode, tears the heaven, fight against legions of gods, taking fate into his own hands, he becomes unstoppable, even the mountains and seas have to make way for him.
He is such a unique artist. This song is related to His encounter. He struggled to the mainstream of China. Most of his works are related to philosophy of life. I'm glad that he finally break through tradition then he gets a lot of fans loving him so much. This situation is still continuing to increase.
To fully understand this song, you need to read the Chinese Classic Novel "Journey to the West" (西遊記). It is a novel written by Wu Cheng'en (吳承恩) in the 16th century during the Ming Dynasty. The novel is an account of the pilgrimage of the Tang Dynasty Buddhist monk called Xuanzang (玄奘). He travelled to the west (Central Asia and India) to obtain the Buddhist sacred texts (sutras). During his journey, the monk Xuanzang (玄奘) was escorted by three protectors who helped him as atonement for their own sins. The three protectors are Sun Wukong (孫悟空. The Monkey King. This is the mythical monkey figure this song is all about), Zhu Ba Jie (豬八戒. This is the mythical pig figure), and Sha Wujing (沙悟淨 or 沙僧. He was originally a general in heaven). In addition to the three protectors, Xuanzang (玄奘) was given a white steed to ride on (The White Dragon Horse, also known as Bai Long Ma 白龍馬). This song, Qi Tian (齊天), is a soulful cry of Sun Wukong (孫悟空, the Monkey King) for freedom and the atonement of his sins. Until his sins are completely forgiven and his freedom granted, he cannot escape the palm of the Buddha, which to him, is bigger than heaven and earth. The Golden Fillet around his head, which he cannot remove, is the magic headband designed to reign in his unruly, rebellious nature. Whenever he gets out of line, Xuanzang (玄奘) can make the headband constrict and cause Sun Wukong (孫悟空) tremendous pain. This is how Xuanzang (玄奘) keeps Sun Wukong (孫悟空) in line and under control. The rap parts of the song perfectly depict the chaos and violence during all the battles that he fought to protect Xuanzang (玄奘) from harm. I hope this little explanation helps you all understand the background and gain a better appreciation for the song, which is phenomenal. On a side note, the name of the song, Qi Tian (齊天), is rather oddly translated to "Equal to Heaven". Qi Tian (齊天) is normally used in Chinese culture as a form of blessing or to describe the wealth of a person. For example, you would say that a person is so rich that his wealth reaches up to the heaven, or that somebody's ambition is so high that it reaches up to the heaven, or that a mountain is so high that it reaches up to the heaven. The idea is to convey grandeur, something so majestic that it rises up so high that it touches heaven.
His vocal voice is so beautiful and incredible. With his great composing skill, singing skill and rapping skill, what I can say is just one word: Amazing!
Thank you Ryan for bringing this up! And it's good to hear from you guys that why you don't like the song. It's always good to have different opinions. Looking forward to your next video.
you guys are literally my fav reactors! Really appreciate your honest feel. For most who are not familiar with chinese folklore "Monkey God", it may be harder to understand or appreciate the switches the rap and the singing. But for those who are familiar, the switches are a brilliant way of showing the extreme and conflicting emotions of the legendary monkey god.
I thought it was fantastic and it reminded me of life. It starts out slow with this beautiful almost angelic melody, like someone at peace when you first wake up, and then everyday life hits with the rapping, then we're back home from work and it's evening where you're starting to finally relax as you were that morning. Hope that made sense, it did to me, but it's just one person's opinion.
I like that you are always genuine with your reactions. You said that he uses his voice as an instrument, and that is so true because Hua also mentioned himself that he consider himself as part of the band. He sings when he feel that instruments alone cannot express his music. As for the combining of slow singing and rapping-- like many commenters have explained, it is to depict the anger and doubts of the character Wu Kong. Hua Hua's music composition gradually evolved to have a story telling aspect. In the short format of a song that traditionally only tells about the emotion of an character at one moment, a lot of his newly composed songs would tell a journey of the character. So, in a sense, they are like mini-musicals with different parts. In Qi Tian, the character Wu Kong went through tough fights with the Heaven's palace, and so he is someone who's full of anger and doubt at one point of time. The slow part tells his story in a more contemplative mood, because the character is also full of wisdom and insight. The whole musical expression is like an novel about the character, unlike traditional songs which are more like essays about a person's life in one episode. I would think that this is rather a new art form that he is creating.
Thank you for your reaction. If you know the story of WuKong (Journey to the West) then it'll definitely help you understand why HuaHua added in the rap segment.
I agree, the combination of ballad and rap is somewhat strange. But i think it works better when you can understand the lyrics, as the lyrics actually do match the tone set by the styles of singing. For example, the lyrics of the rap portion of this song is a lot more confrontational and harsh compared to the ballad part, which is more sentimental and sad. it's like swinging through emotions as one's thought process progresses, from nostalgic, doubt, anger, sadness and finally rebellion. The lyrics are penned by the original author of the IP which this movie is based on, so it closely follows the emotional journey of the main character and since the movie is a action fantasy, the rap actually works well with the content. I think at the end of the day, it's a best song for the movie, but not necessarily a best song on its own without the proper context.
If you watch the official video for this song that shows clips from the movie the rapping part fits perfectly(during the rapping part they show epic fighting scenes between Chinese mythical heroes with super powers and weapons)Hua said that this song was written only for the movie and wasn’t intended for live singing,by the way I read that Qi Tian(Wu Kong) is now a song that people in China study in order to enter a music college,something like that,I can’t remember the college though,thanks for the reaction please react to “laputa castle in the sky+Quasimodo’s Gift+flute” live in Beijing it’s magical you will love it or “Giant Deer” a duet of Hua and Tian Yi
I think you guys might need to read the lyrics, the rap part is to express ‘Qi Tian’s’ life and anger about him struggling with the world and finally becoming a Buddha but lost his nature as a money. The ballad part is the emotion of sadness and desperation of what him gives up in order to became Buddha.
All his music is about expressing feelings, telling stories. Every time he chooses the elements or styles which he thinks is the best choice just for the sake of music and the story behind it, not for what he can show best. Sometimes he uses some contradict or conflict elements to express the conflicts or the fighting fate or mind of the protagonist in the story behind the music. Qi-tian is just one of these cases, as Hua Chenyu was invited to compose this song for a movie. He composed it according to his understanding after he read the story. Someone even commented that this song told the story in a better way than the movie itself. For some music, cultural background and personal experiences really matter a lot. Those gaps could limit your deeper understanding of the music but would never be an obstacle for you to judge the beauty or the artistic quality of the music. Thank you for appreciating this song as an artwork.
Thanks for your reaction. I agree rap should not be used randomly in a lot of songs, but In this case the rap is really justified. The slow part is almost like an internal monologue where the character Wokong ponders about the meaning and reason of his existence, and the rap part is a breakthrough, an external struggle with the powers to be (the heavenly gods and guards), violently trying to defy his fate. And I guess the last ethereal humming is an inner peace acquired through transcending the conflict, a rather zen moment.
You really got the meaning of the song (though you don't like it). It sounds conflit on the classical part and the rap. But it's exactly what he'd like to present on : the contradiction of fate for the Monkey King. (I'm not a fan of rap. But hua's rap sounds good :) )
It's a wonderful, unique and amazing song called "Wu Kong." Also called "Qi Tian".Love it sooo much!!! Please react to Hua Chen yu's"Bullfighting"&"Arrival” in 2018 Mars Concert.Thx.
So happy you guys reacted to this one. The reason that I think rap is suitable for this song is because this is also a song for a action movie and the main character is a very famous and legendary monkey king named Wukong in China. Wukong was very naughty and also a troublemaker so repressed by Buddha under a mountain for 300 years. In order to get out from the mountain, Wukong was given a chance by Buddha if he would become a bodyguard for a young moral monk who wished to learn Buddhism bible in India so they two with the other two bodyguards traveled from China to India. During the journey these three bodyguards protected the monk away from evils and eventually became the students of the monks and learned to be good in Buddhism way. Because of this famous story about Wukong who is very free and wild, the first and the slow parts of the song is Wukong questions the meaning of Buddhism and why did he need to be good, so the melody was more holy style but the rap part of the song shows Wukong is really wild as a monkey king with his faith. Hence I think the song is so well combining the story and the character of Wukong together. The song called equal to heaven is because Wukong was once competed with buddha who is the top in heaven.
The rap is fitting because this song is about the rebellious Monkey King. Before he was forced to wear the punishing gold headband, he alone fought the entire army of the "Heaven's court (with an emperor of the heaven, and various gods with special powers)". That is why he called him self "God who equals the heaven---Qi tian". Monkey King is from Journey to the West, a Chinese classic fantasy novel.
Thanks for all your Hua Chenyu reaction videos. You are the best. Still waiting for you to react to Huas SCREAM and the quite different MICE like RICE.
As you know, Hua is commonly hired to compose for tv shows, advertising and movies. This is the case, this song was made for a movie and has to be like the story itself. I hope you look for the lyrics, are very meaningful and justified the composition.
Hua Chen Yu compose this song for a movie "Monkey King". Thanks for another great reactions! His use lots of humming as he beliefs human voice is part of the music.
I was totally impressed by his soul of Buddha-nature in life. I want to live without any worries, just like him. But until today, I still don’t know how can do that. I also love rock and classical music. Those are the reasons why I love his music so much. Although I am Chinese, I couldn’t understand the character of WuKong.
This was HuaHua's first appearance on the show. This song won most popular song of the whole season! I thought yo had reacted to all his performances on the show. You should see the video he and Aska Yang did for the King and Begger. Awesome song and video.
I love how he uses his whole body in this. The soft singing facing one way the turning to the other side when his rapping starts. Helping to show the duality, almost like a conversation with two people instead of an internal monologue. Beautiful.
Also prefect reaction u guys done. Holy enjoy and love it! Btw there are two songs I highly recommended for u. One of it called “For forever” which is a Hua’s original ENGLISH SONG! And another one is called “Shout” which is from Singer 2018 episode 12 and it is a fully ROCK SONG! I am pretty sure that you guys would love them! They r gonna kill u!
These are great songs by Hua Hua...but MAP Productions once said they don't read the RU-vid comments and the best way to request is through their Twitter account.
You ´ve got him, he is always telling a story.. Please react to Jackdaw Boy, tho official MV, which is a soundtrack to a movie.. I love when Hua mix rap and ballads, but taste is different.. as long as we all agree he is sooo good! I like your actions, v very honest and sincere.. and your are fun too!:)
Thank you for making a reaction video on QiTian!! I love your comments, and I just want to say something about the rap part from a cultural perspective. So QiTian is a song about the Monkey King, and there's a great conflict in this character - good and evil, indifference and passion, lonely and friendship... etc. And the two rap parts are featuring two famous fight scenes in the story. Although they may sound absurd out of the atmosphere of the other parts of the song, I think the raps are quite essential and are inseparable from the story of the Monkey King, because the emotions of being arrogant, stronger, lost, doubtful, themselves are mixed up. If we look at the lyrics and follow the storyline, the rap parts will seem much more reasonable. Also in traditional Chinese drama, when there is a fight scene or a war scene, artists on stage begin to move rapidly, circling the entire stage, and the band brings in percussion instruments to illustrate the tension. Here it is similar -- the song transitions from a slow tempo with melody to a faster tempo with rap, and if we listen carefully, we can hear the traditional Chinese percussion instruments in the background; and Hua himself added in his body language and moved faster to better convey the feelings and plots.
Hello! Please don't mind, in my opinion, the rapping parts do suit this song, at least in this song. Why? Because the lyrics are actually the monologues of the Monkey King, the main actor of that movie. The background story of the lyrics is about the period during the naughty Monkey King was suppressed and isolated in the mountain of five elements by Buddha. Having a forced-to -wear gold hoop over the Monkey King's head, the gold hoop would be getting narrower and he'd feel headache if he got any bad idea in mind (e.g. when he wanna escape from that mountain). The whole lyrics are the mental journey of the Monkey King. The rapping parts are the emphasized monologues that perfectly interpreted the aggressive and sophisticated emotions of the Monkey King at that moment.
Anyone has learned the Monkey King's story and his fate, would totally understand the Singing Part and the Rap part, which stand the monkey king's fate and his fight ....the song is perfect for describing Monkey king's whole life```
Hua Chenyu did mentioned that he wanted his voice just to be a kind of instrument that fits into the music. So he actually achieved his goal. Love to hear your comment without knowing this. About the music, he composes it for the movie, which means that he was trying to make the song fits the theme. Though I do agree that without the rap part would be better.
he wrote this song because of a famous movie called 大话西游（A Chinese Odyssey Part One: Pandora's Box）in 1995. It's a story about the Monkey King. the lyrics are about Monkey King and his faith and destiny. It's a good movie and a bit hard to understanding if you only watch it once, hope you would like to watch it :) btw, sorry I didn't find this movie in youtube
Hooold up I disagree with what you said about the rap. In this particular song, the rapid rap expresses pressure and resistance by delivering a pack-ful of lyrics and beats. This song describes the powerful monkey king and his hopeless struggles against his faith of being manipulated. In this plot, rap is the one powerful form of performance that fits. If you look at other HCYs performances, the similar idea of using rap also applies.
I jumpped into your reaction when it popped up to my page~lol.thanks for sharing and your comments! well I guess it doesn't link to your heart since the meaning of "QiTian" is quite unfamilier to western audience but its the key. this is Hua's own work and I was blown away the first time I heard it a few months ago. he wrote the song dedicated to a movie of Monkey King "Wukong" who is a most beloved superhero in Chinese culture, Hua focused on the tragical side of his life: his war with the power of heaven.the classical vocal parts show his self-doubt and how he questioned the god about the meaning of life,whereas those fierce rap parts represent his desperate fights with the gods and seek to be free from rules. yes you got right feeling,these two part contradicts with each other,like two powers mingle in a fighting from inside to outside:slow and rapid, gentle and violent,"yin" and "yang". it's about the Mondey King and also about Hua himself.he chooses to express with such mixed style which is he trying to explore in his music.that's why I like him, he never play safe. maybe you may try something else next time if you ,like" Idiot"(mixed classical and edge style,you'll be amazed),or "Wayfarer".thanks guys!
When I first heard this song,I am not like the song actually,but one day I listen to the song again,I think its so sad and so beautiful. The song is describing the monkey king,he has so much power but lonely,thats why the song include rap and soft rhythm.
His rap is awesome in all his songs...difference of opinion....cuz he's Bruce Lee of Chinese Music....It's wa short A...not Who wa...You guys are still the Best...Dimash and HuaHua are the best singers in the world...My opinion...Thanks for the Reaction...
Your welcome! A new Patreon requested Wayfarer back in October & they said they would get to it when they can. That was right around the same time that I requested Child & Wukong so they probably did all 3 reactions at the same time & are just spreading out the postings of them.
It's hard to understand how beautiful this song is if you don't understand the meaning of the rap or the Chinese culture or the movie in which the song as an ending although the movie is not good enough as this song is.
I love this song. Some producer or director ask him to compose this song for the movie of Wu kong. We have a different taste of music, maybe you didn't like it. But this song has a million views and Hua Chenyu received an award for the most viewed song for the whole season of Singer 2018. And beats Jessie J. He ranked as no. 1 for this performance. He is really genius about composing and arranging notes/songs. He is a totally performer. A beast!!! (sorry for the grammar i hope you understand😉)
I think it because different culture. this song is about the monkey king, who is a soldier Buddha, he is brave, strong, naughty and confident,but at the same time he is soft and kind. the monkey king birth from the stone, he do not have parents and no one love him at the beginning, even the Chinese god want to kill him and every monkey support him since the monkey is too strong that can not be controlled. The monkey king is a good guy but everyone want to bully him and kill him, the Chinese god destroyed his home mountain, they told him that it is fade, “ you are wired strong monkey you are different, you have too much power which is dangerous for us,you can’t survive, please follow the rules.” But the monkey king ask why he can not decide his fade by himself? so once the god soldier catch him, he will fight with them, he don’t want others to decide how should he spend his life, he hate the world but he love the world, but he knows that he should do something, he continue fingering with the bad rules, the Chinese god ask soldiers to punch him, kick him, the monkey king keep fighting until he will die, he said “ I came here, and I combatted, I’m the monkey king, sun wu kong”. Then the Buddha knew this and ask him to protect a human to find Buddha book for helping the world, Buddha taught him to be a kind person, then the monkey king fight with bad monster for protecting people, he only kill bad guy but he protect the world, he do everything for protecting the world, so he become soldier Buddha finally. I think the slow part can show how soft and kind the monkey king is, and the rap part encourage people to fight for ourself, to decide our fade by ourself, do not follow stupid rules and do not let other’s influence us, everyone can be king in their own life. The monkey king personality combined kind, soft, cute, naughty, confident, brave, strong and tough together, but he is also strict to bad guy, so this song have two different part to show the story. The reason why this song name is “Qi tian” equal to the heave is the monkey king is a person who have same power with the heaven, about love, about kind, about tough. But as a king he must experience painful and happiness, love and hate, it’s ambivalent but it’s him. just want to share with my fiends, thank you~~~
There is a genre that u havent see before .. its in hua chenyu performance "dad I'm home" ( pls use eng sub .. its needed for this song) .. the other one is cancer 😁 ..
The song really suits the rebellious and unpredictable nature of the Monkey King Sun Wukong, and his struggle against the rules of society, so I feel that viewing the song with this in mind might help to better understand the switch between the singing and rapping. It ends with very tragic sounding humming, signalling the feebleness of one person's fight against a whole societal construct of rules and traditions. Coming into existence > Barging into the celestial palace and getting subdued + fighting against it > Inner conflict > Struggle > Sense of tragedy after realisation of feebleness. The film it was made for was a mess...poor plot. But the song was thought to have been better than the film in expressing the entire story (at least among the critics and general audience in China). It was said that what the film failed to successfully convey, the song more than made up for it.
@@nocturnalowl5867 Btw, the struggle against societal rules was said by Hua himself, smth abt 社会体系and it was such a sharp point. m.jiemian.com/article/1553689.html
@@nocturnalowl5867 From the interview: “我在前面用了很长一段古典钢琴旋律作为铺垫，表现他内心的爱恨情愁；后面用饶舌--我把他用力量的方式写出来，代表‘大闹天宫’的场景；结尾再用一段非常安静的、假声的吟唱，还原一个孤独的感觉。”华晨宇仔细解释他的创作思路，“孙悟空，我想每个人都是有共鸣的吧。” “孙悟空最终成佛，放下执念，找到了让自己自在的方式。但我觉得他很孤独，是一个悲剧人物。”华晨宇说，“这挺讽刺的。孙悟空天生有一个动物的本性，他本身就是自由的。他可以一直由着自己的方式，随性地做一些事。但他最后还是被另外的逻辑框架给打败。” “那个词应该叫做……社会体系！”华晨宇试图找准一个词语，去解释那个打败了齐天大圣的确切事物。当“社会体系”脱口而出时，他觉得这个词用力过猛，不好意思地笑了出来。他往沙发里缩了缩，一只手在挡在空中，像是试图挥去刚才的失误，眼睛眯成两弯缝。 “哎，你们，太严肃了。这么严肃干什么。”经纪人桂红姐站起来，拆开桌上的糖果、虾条，招呼大家一块儿吃点儿。 Really similar to what I felt from his song even before I read this interview.
@@the50-person some societal rules can be the bane of our life 😁. Thanks for the link but wasted on me as I can't read Chinese. Google translate will provide a comical version 🤣
"It is very ironic. He was free originally. But in the end, he was defeated by another framework of logic. That thing should be called....societal rules!" Everything else before the last part is basically what i wrote, so i was amazed to see how similar my thoughts were to Hua's.
This is a theme song he specially wrote for the monkey king movie (Wukong), in this movie, this monkey king is different, he's unique, he's confused, he fights, he wins the world, finally he back to be lonely.
I love Qi Tian... 2 years later and saying... he is playing himself as an instrument... sooooo true. But your comments about the rap is still off... always pays off to know the lyrics/message 🤣
Can you pleeeeeaaassse, with cherry on top, react to Hua Chen Yu’s mountain and Sea??! It’s my favorite song/performance of his besides Fake Monk. I love your reactions but more importantly I appreciate your analysis which differentiates you from many other boring reaction vids.
I think for Chinese people who know the original story about WuKong well, the rap part will be more reasonable. WuKong fights against the destiny, the class, the authorities, the rap part expresses the story and the emotion well.
Another song about Monkey King. The movie’s name is ‘Wu Kong’ (2018). Great movie by the way. Qi Tian has the meaning of same or equals to god. Lyrics says ‘My fate/destiny is controlled by myself, not the god.’
