Hello Tuan Cry! Perhaps we should start today's conversation with a very familiar question, what are your feelings about when "the child of a spirit" has created a buzz and can be said to be one of the most successful songs of Vietnamese music in early 2025?
- To be honest, in the past few days, I have not been relieved, and in the first few days I still feel dizzy. I am a new artist, not yet positioned in the Vietnamese music industry but was pushed up to Top 1 by Hoa Minzy and artist Xuan Hinh on the Vietnamese Youtube trend, so I confess that I also "not eating well, not sleeping well"... for fun.
After "Bac Bling" aired, many people came to me to congratulate me, both compliments and encouragement made me feel lucky and grateful to everyone. It has been more than a week since I started to get used to the feeling that my song has been played in many places and is well received by everyone.
It can be said that "Bac Bling" is a milestone in your musical journey, how long did Tuan cry take to complete this song and did you have any difficulties when filtering the lyrics to include in this song?
- It took me 5 days to think of the name "Bac Bling" and 2 days later I finished this song. Of course, to learn about the culture of Kinh Bac as well as to find a touchpoint for the song, it took me a long time, probably about a year.
After coming up with the name, I developed the lyrics slowly from what I had researched to become "Bac Bling" as you have heard. Perhaps the most difficult period is when we have to find a touch between traditional and modern music. If they are too academic, young people will not be able to listen, but if they are too young, old people or old men or women will not be able to listen.
Therefore, it is imperative that I find an intersection between the two generations. At first, I also wondered about combining Rap and then a little Cheo and a little Xam singing and thought that no one but artist Xuan Hinh was the best one to express this.
When I find a touchpoint, it is like solving a difficult problem, like finding the key to open the door, as a premise for the next interesting things. I am very happy that the Rap part of artist Xuan Hinh or the whole song is well received and responded to by the audience.
Many people think that with "Bac Bling", Tuan cry has risen to fame, however, if you follow your journey, you can see that you have been in the arts for quite a while. Are you saddened, as it was not until now that Tuan cry's name attracted much attention?
- I think I don't feel sad at all, as a musician I will write a song for a performing singer, so I have prepared myself mentally for standing behind is normal. The first time I collaborated with Hoa Minzy through the song "Khen ca chon canh", seeing Hoa putting a lot of effort into her song, I felt happy but not sad at all. Because Hoa helps me spread the things I am passionate about and I also get more attention from everyone.
Honestly, I am very grateful to Hoa Minzy for giving me great favor, so that I can Rap with a veteran artist like Xuan Hinh and become more known by everyone. I think that is a premise for further development on the artistic path in the future.
Your starting point is a social media phenomenon with parody music. After a while, you returned to more mainstream music but still haven't received much attention. Do you think you are struggling in the journey from a social media phenomenon to a true artist?
- It was definitely a struggle. My first starting point was in 2018 when I sang "Nguoi Duoc oi" with a Northern sound, humorous comedy. At that time, I just did it for fun, I couldn't think of many people paying attention and asking questions like that. Then in 2019, I covered the song "Anh nha Cau Giay" again and it was once again shared a lot by everyone.
However, at that time, I also wondered whether I really wanted to build an image that was purely entertaining or not because of funny things for fun, then the audience would quickly forget. And I decided to explore and switch to images with more value. I want to write songs that are more valuable and last longer than just being famous as a social media phenomenon.
I still remember an artist who told me that the phenomenon of social networks that only take off once in the morning will immediately go off. That is a sentence I have carved into my heart, for the past 8 years that sentence has always been in my mind to motivate me to be more determined, not to prove anything but just to improve myself.
As you have just shared, starting from entertainment songs, but only when you find more professional main songs can you succeed. Have you ever thought about why I didn't make these songs earlier?
- I think no, I believe in fate and the saying "if there is enough sunshine, the flowers will bloom". I think I am lucky and grateful to have met Hoa Minzy right at the time when I wanted to do more. I spent a lot of time learning and mastering knowledge of folk culture to incorporate into music and at the right time met the person I needed to meet.
So I think I can't hope for earlier, because earlier, there are not necessarily cooperation as you see and I can't do well as I do now.
So it seems like starting from a composition by Tuan Cry to a folk music by Tuan cry is the right decision for you, and why did you decide to pursue folk music?
- I think it is very true and perhaps if not now, there will be no time that is more reasonable. As for choosing a music genre with a folk sound, I have to thank music producer Masew for inviting me to participate in the project "Invitation for a betel" and from there, I found this to be a suitable color for me.
At that time, I thought that I was in Bac Ninh, where there were many cultural beauty, but I did not dig deeper to learn but just went out to look for places. From then on, I decided to seriously explore the colors of Vietnamese folk culture and pursue this music genre.
