Chris Lee Yuchun: “For the first time, I wrote the lyrics for an entire album and when I sing them here tonight, I am sharing with you my life,” says she of her latest album.
Chris Lee says latest album — her ninth — offers fans a slice of her life
One of the rarest things in Chris Lee Yuchun’s live show happened by mistake. “I am sorry. Let’s do it again,” Lee says to her band while apologizing to her fans. This happened with her song, Accent, during a recent show in Beijing.
The song talks about Lee’s reflection on her life after moving to Beijing from her hometown, Chengdu, Sichuan province.
There were no complaints as fans screamed and applauded, which made Lee smile shyly and take a deep breath.
The show was a preview of Lee’s latest album, Liu Xing, or Pop, which attracted hundreds of fans on a chilly night.
“This is my ninth album and it really made me nervous,” says Lee.
“For the first time, I wrote the lyrics for an entire album and when I sing them here tonight, I am sharing with you my life,” she says during the show.
It has been more than a decade since the 33-year-old Lee, an unknown music student won the singing show Super Girl in 2005.
The TV show attracted a nationwide audience of 400 million and fans voted for the young singer with a neutral style and deep, soulful voice.
Her powerful individuality then made her a phenomenon in the country.
More than a decade later, she has grown into one of the best-selling female pop stars in the country.
She has also expanded her career into movies and fashion.
In recent years, she has starred in big-budget movies, such as Hong Kong director Tsui Hark’s The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate, which features Jet Li and Zhou Xun. And she collaborated with American fashion designer Alexander Wang on costumes for her national tour last year.
According to Tencent Music Entertainment Group, which is under China’s internet giant, Tencent, since the album, Liu Xing, was released on Nov 7 via QQ Music, the online music streaming service of Tencent, it has sold copies worth more than 16 million yuan ($2.4 million ).
Lee’s last album, Growing Wild, in 2016, grossed over 32.8 million yuan and achieved China’s highest digital music sales since QQ Music released the first Chinese digital album, Taiwan pop icon Jay Chou’s Aiyo, Not
Bad, in December 2014.
Speaking about her work, Lee says: “I’ve asked myself many questions like ‘How is pop culture defined today?’ ‘What do we get from a pop music album? How do we interpret pop culture from different perspectives?’
“I wrote lyrics for the 10 songs to authentically express my views and answers.”
The title song, Liu Xing, explores how people deal with the information shaped by social media networks.
Lee’s song Firework, which was inspired by the explosion at an Ariana Grande pop concert in Manchester on May 22 this year.
The last song in the album, titled
Yi Tang, refers to the journey of life, “once and only” as Lee puts it.
She considers the song, Yi Tang, as the soul of the album. The song, with lyrics written by Lee and composed by producer Chen Weilun, borrows the famous line from Haizi, the pen name of the late Chinese poet Zha Haisheng (196489).
“You only live once. You should look at the sun and walk on the street with the one you love,” wrote the poet.
“When I wrote the song, lots of young people I’ve seen appeared in my mind, from those drunk young men in London’s subway station to the young people walking fast in Tokyo. This is not an ambitious song. I am not talking about dreams or very big issues. I just don’t want to live my life in vain,” says Lee.
According to songwriter and producer Chen, who worked with Lee on her last album, Growing Wild, the song, Yi Tang, was born after Lee sent him a piece of sound from a bell tone.
“The sound is deep and lasting, which later became the beginning of the song, Yi Tang.
The bell tone, mixed with contemporary sounds like electronic music and dance music, makes the song very unique,” says Chen.
He also says that the process of producing the album was not smooth for Lee since she looked for a song, which represents her attitude to music.
“We did a dozen demos but she decided to cancel all of them. She knew what she wanted and she was persistent,” says Chen.
Lee will launch a national tour in 2018 to promote the album.
This is my ninth album and it really made me nervous. For the first time, I wrote the lyrics for an entire album and when I sing them here tonight, I am sharing with you my life.” Chris Lee Yuchun, speaking to her audience during a show previewing her latest album, Liu Xing, or Pop