By Denis Tse
Edited by Jocelle Koh
Chinese singer-songwriter A Si 阿肆 has returned with a new album of catchy indie-pop tunes, but this time she’s out to offend. Or rather, she was fed up with Mandopop hits being either inspirational anthems or love songs, and set about writing introspective songs that look “between the world and me.” The album, aptly titled Sorry, But I Will Start Offending 不好意思我要开始冒犯了, is about all those little moments in life where we feel offended, and how we are taught to bottle up those feelings in Chinese culture. The seventh track on the album “趕浪潮的人 Tide-Runners” sees the singer-songwriter at her most suave and flippant yet; a slight departure from her bright disco sound, while retaining the earworm melodies and warm vocals A Si has come to be known for.
The song opens with the sound of a shaker and a languid trumpet, and A Si hums quietly as if lounging by the beach, without a care in the world. The mid-tempo groove then kicks in, with its loose beat and arpeggiated synth providing lots of space for A Si’s vocals.
The melody is low-key, staying within a fairly narrow range, but the staccato and alliteration of her lyrics and syncopated accents help give a funky swagger to the track – listen to how the consonants pop on the second verse – A Si even breaks out a bit of rap at the bridge!
服裝搭配你聽歌的品味 /從 city pop 到 Y2K
Match your clothes to your music tastes/from City Pop to Y2K
Lyrically, the song is full of sly observations of those who chase trends (a pun on “tides” in Chinese), and starts off hot with “並不是土 這叫復古 / 時尚是搞輪迴的藝術,” which translates to “this isn’t tacky, this is retro / fashion is the art of cyclical revival”. A self-aware comment about how A Si uses old-school sounds and styles in her music? I think so. In the outro, we hear the sound of someone falling underwater, and then A Si admitting with muffled vocals that she too is a wave-chaser.
The production is impressive too, combining unlikely acoustic and electronic elements together for a refreshing sound, mixing close-mic’d acoustic guitar pickings and percussion with pad synths, digital hand claps and spacey bells. The result is an off-kilter, ‘stop-and-start’ vibe that keeps you hooked and chilled-out at the same time.
Other highlights on this album include “女字旁的她 She, Elle, Ella” and “此刻我靈魂深處想喝冰可樂 Ice Cola, Por Favor”, jazzy romps that showcase her knack for colourful rhythm and blues.
In an interview with Apple Music, A Si shares: “while you can never predict what the next wave of trends will be, I’m grateful that because of a certain quality in my songs, I seem to be able to ride the waves and catch the next one just as the tide shifts.”
Tide-Runners is testament to the strength of A Si’s forward-thinking creativity, four albums into her career: a song that is fresh and original, both in how it sounds and the story it tells. While the Mandopop scene may be dominated by romantic songs or stadium anthems, A Si continues to stand out with her groovy melodies and playful storytelling, charming us with her vibrant persona all the while.
Rating: 4/5
