We seem to be an entering an interesting new era of Chinese-International music collaborations.
Back in October 2015, the contemporary pop label PC Music signed a deal with Colombia Records to pursue what they called, and we quote, “A MULTI-TIER ATTACK EXPOSING THE RADICAL DNA OF CHART MUSIC.”
One of the faces of this radical DNA? Chinese pop star Chris Lee (Li Yuchun 李宇春), who released a big-budget music video for his new single ‘Real Love/Only You’, directed by Kinga Burza (who’s done work with Katy Perry, Lana Del Rey and others).
This is modern Chinese pop working with the upper echelons of international pop.
It’s refreshing to see a Chinese pop song treated as a sparkling little tune, and not shot through with national, ethnic or regional identifiers or any kind of orientalist exotic garbage. It’s a professional, creative collaboration that everyone involved seems to have enjoyed.
Earlier in the year, former EXO frontman Luhan’s debut digital album smashed sales records, and was produced by the veteran Djemba Djemba, who’s worked with Justin Bieber and Madonna. This fascinating interview with both Luhan and Djemba gives you a glimpse into how this collaboration worked, and this line in particular stands out:
Djemba Djemba: Luhan’s new songs “[are] a lot more modern-sounding than what you would hear in radios around the world.”
This signals quite an important shift in how contemporary Chinese music is perceived, at least by industry insiders – no longer a marginal, belated scene permanently playing catch-up to the US, but one with legitimate creative ideas and sounds on par with the biggest names in global pop.
In this regard, of course, Chinese pop is actually catching up with Chinese indie, which blazed the trail for a lot of these collaborations.
The earliest took the form of local bands just wanting to work with their heroes. Back in 2006, Beijing punk band Brain Failure (脑浊) collaborated with vocalist Dicky Barrett of ska-punk pioneers The Mighty Mighty Bosstones on a fun little tune called ‘Coming Down to Beijing’. Numerous indie and electronic acts have released ‘splits’ with bands they respect and enjoy around the world.
Gradually, that trickle has become a stream. Top-tier indie bands in China today have a soundly global footprint when it comes to engineering, production, mastering or pressing/distribution. P.K. 14’s latest album, 1984, was engineered by the legendary Steve Albini, while Carsick Cars’ new album, 3, was produced by Hamish Kilgour, drummer of influential New Zealand indie band The Clean.
Andy Gill of post-punk band Gang of Four recorded AV Okubo’s sophomore album, Dynasty, even collaborating with singer Lu Di and Hua Dong of Re-Tros on a new song, Broken Talk.
Here’s Splatter/Split Works MD Archie Hamilton on why that mattered (Full Disclosure: Split Works and Splatter are sister companies to the Radar):
“Broken Talk was an amazing example of what can happen when China meets the rest of the world and it was an important recognition of where Chinese music has got to in recent years. Even better was to come though. Lu Di departed and the band launched into their first ever single: Damaged Goods with Hua Dong from Re-Tros on vocals. One of the greatest songs in history, the band’s first ever single (back in 1979), refitted for 2013 with the singer of one of China’s best contemporary bands on vocals.”
All of this to say: more collaborations, please. Radar, for one, would love to see Mumdance working with Jolin Tsai.