Favourite 40 Mandopop Albums of 2021
Favourite 40 Mandopop Albums of 2021
the best Mandopop of the year, including albums of rock, R&B, and rap, from Omnipotent Youth Society, Julia Wu, RPG, and more
When I said Mandopop was just a loose term for a collection of other genres, I meant it, and yet, here, for my favourite albums of the year, I play with the term even more loosely. I cheat with the term “pop” and you’ll see things that could easily fit into it but others that completely sidestep the structure of pop music. Across these forty albums the only thing consistent is that all albums have at least two or three tracks that are mostly or completely in Mandarin—maybe one day I’ll end up breaking that rule as well.
Like the singles list, the albums list also attempts to capture a cross-section of Mandopop between December 2020 and November 2021, and this one you’ll note captures a slightly more experimental side. I think it provides a nice complement to the singles list, showcasing some things that didn’t quite have their moment with a big single and expanding on some others.
At the end, you can find a nice little chart of all the albums included here. You can also find a Spotify playlist with selections here. Finally, feel free to check out my list of Mandopop singles and music videos and Cantopop singles. Happy listening! See you next year.
40. Ame - An Album of Urban Jokes
An Album of Urban Jokes moves like a stop-motion film, watching an ordinary day of an ordinary pathetic man Ame’s liner notes describe as “a person so sad they become a joke.” He tries hard, wears a suit to work so that he can buy you the nicer things, and yet still ends up losing—the car he bought to please you just adds distance between you. The idea of urban life seems to grow less appealing, transforming from synths to a singer-songwriter affair while An Album of Urban Jokes’ narrator dawdles in between, searching for a punchline between its short clips, hoping for some purpose to his tragedy.
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music // Bandcamp // Spotify
39. The Diagon Alley - Give Me Your Hand
Made up of deeply romantic proclamations that ask you to cast aside all doubts, Give Me Your Hand is built like the climax of a drama. Take its title track, where the group offers their hand, leaving the rest still to be written and the Britpop group turns these moments into theatric shout-along anthems that shine like stage lights pointed at them.
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music // Spotify
38. Geng Sihan - Shell
Like the rest of us, Geng Sihan has spent the last few months trying to get back to whoever he was before the pandemic. There’s a ruggedness to his voice that conveys the struggle, as he flows through piano balladry, rock, and even a karaoke ending. Shell attempts to make amends with the past, trying to apologize to another on “Youth to You” and heal himself on the retro “Love Myself.”
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music // Spotify
37. Rain Lee - Works of the Creator
Rain Lee’s folk songs take new shape, heading in darker and colder directions. Works of the Creator creates from chaos, opening with the nu-metal “倒春寒” (“Cold Snap During Spring”), bringing in electronic textures on the “烈日柬” (“Scorching Sun”), and letting solitude carry change through the flute on “流鸦” (“Drifting Crow”). Through Lee’s intricate arrangements, the complexity of human nature is on full display.
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music // Spotify
36. Dizzy Dizzo - SKY
Much of Dizzy Dizzo’s confidence stems from her relationships, celebrating being a wifey and a mother. But there’s also assurance in what Dizzy Dizzo can do for herself, how she acts the knockout it-girl you turn notifications on for or the jet-setter in Dubai one weekend, Paris the next. SKY is a celebration of every aspect of herself, replete with rapidly rapped brags, Taiwan’s hottest young men relegated to just serve her, and party-ready trap beats that fizz like champagne.
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music // Spotify
35. Interesting CN - 十二时辰
十二时辰 (Twelve Divisions of the Day) builds a song for each of the traditional two-hour segments. It doesn’t quite follow through on that concept as each segment remains equally lively, but Interesting CN make good on their own concept: whimsical electronic dance music through traditional Chinese instruments supported by guest vocalists in harmony.
Find it on streaming here: Spotify
34. Various Artists - Nanguaq No. 1
ABAO used her big win at the Golden Melody Awards to showcase Indigenous music and by enlisting co-producer Huang Shao Yong, the pair helped polish songs by seven young artists of various Indigenous groups that dealt with identity in different ways. Crossing languages and genres from the unspooling electropop of Natsuko’s “fu’is” to the soulful jazzy R&B of Arase’s “spi andrigi na ico” to the dance-rap of Drangadrang’s “Life’s Pazangal,” Nanguaq No. 1 demonstrated that modern Indigenous music could be anything.
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music // Spotify
33. RPG - 風花雪月
Interspersed with guests and production notes, 風花雪月 (Romance is in the Air) is loungey and playful: record scratches blur into cat mewls on “你說你是最美的花” (“You Say You Are the Most Beautiful Flower”) while cheesy pick-up lines are used like RPG’s already won you over. 風花雪月 doesn’t bother holding itself to any time, from modern on “Oh Shit!” to lovey-dovey old-fashioned charm on “Northeast Monsoon.”
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music // Spotify
32. Xu Jun - Dreams Company
Xu Jun trades sharp edge for a rounder sound that’s more imaginative, informed by more influences and playing with more effects. The electronic elements added to his alt-rock give it a dreamy pull on the warbling beat of “崭新的一天” (“Brand New Day”) while the synthetic pulse folded into the heady “形容你” (“Describe You”) turns into a smothered guitar solo, like a secret pulled into the open.
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music // Spotify
31. Tie Yann - Eternity and One Day
Natural settings but also mundane urban ones—Tie Yann harmonizes with the waves and calls to the birds but also sings in the chilly air accompanied only by her own footsteps and hums a lullaby as she prepares for bed. Yann’s bare arrangements, often just her soft voice and an acoustic guitar, don’t layer over scenes but sing to them, informed by everything they have to offer.
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music // Spotify
30. Meng Huiyuan - Just Listen!
Meng Huiyuan’s songs are like diary entries, casual with warm intimacy. At times they’re giddy, as she laughs through the jazzy “植物学家的女儿” (“The Botanist’s Daughter”), other times, consumed with everyday worries, struggling to watch at a distance. At her most carefree, Meng recalls the same ease of Yerin Baek, losing herself to the brisk tempo and soft dance beat of “成全先生” (“Mr. Complete”).
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music // Spotify
29. Haezee - Love Maze
Haezee navigates through the corners of modern romance. On the bluesy title track, she spends a minute between thinking “time to let you go” and stating “I’ve moved on.” She seeks revenge on the funky “Yuh Right,” seduces you back on the smooth “A Lie,” and finally comes to terms with your leaving on the acoustic “Goodbye : (.” Love Maze is Haezee’s game, leaving you lost in its smooth R&B.
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music // Spotify
28. Osean - Sundial II
On Sundial II, the thick smoke-filled R&B mellows without obscuring, its textures and colours blurry but visible. Guitars carve its liquid tension, electronic drums support you like pillars to lean against, and Osean feeds you simple revelations as he makes self-care his priority.
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music // Spotify
27. Control T - Songs of Stories
Songs of Stories is four sketches of a couple trying their best to hold on. Through tender folk-pop, the pair can’t completely give in, reflecting on the gentleness of the past and hoping a pause will return what they lost. It still ends in goodbye, but with a satisfied sigh of one, knowing they gave everything while they still had the chance.
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music // Spotify
26. Young Captain - Young Captain’s Music World
Young Captain figures out his direction on Music World. There are currents of anxiety and fear in the subtle rock influence under his smooth R&B voice in “毛衣” (“Sweater”) or the expectations of “陌生人” (“Stranger”). These are songs for friends, expressions of thanks and the hope they won’t leave him just because he set out somewhere else. But mostly, they’re songs he’s using to chart his future.
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music // Spotify
25. Yo Lee - If Only You Could Love Me
There’s a light-hearted nature to much of Yo Lee’s love songs—the arguments of “Quarrel Love” are underlined with whimsy, while “Be With You” is starry-eyed acoustic singer-songwriter. But under his disguise, in the frenzied title track and the great triptych of videos for its opener, closer, and title track, it’s clear that Lee sees a fatality in loneliness.
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music // Spotify
24. Eve Ai - How Come I Still Remember All
In attempting to process the end of a relationship, How Come I Still Remember All flies through emotions. Ai’s biggest are released in the ballads, the lust for more on “Greed” and the sneaking inferiority that hung over the relationship on “Forgetful,” but elsewhere production drives emotions. Pop-rock elements drive the anger of opener “Remains,” jazz amps up the more sultry elements of “Love Taste,” and the reggae of “Sober” helps Ai move on from her longing.
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music // Spotify
23. Cao Fang - The Short Spring
Opening with the sounds of the waves, the wind, and the birds, The Short Spring is a retreat from everything urban expansion has touched. The rest of Cao Fang’s acoustic performances are illuminated by tiny rays of light, shining onto scenes of nature and the undisturbed seclusion of closed villages. The Short Spring is a spring breeze grazing you, one that leaves you chasing after its warmth.
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music
22. J-Fever, Zhou Shijue & Eddie Beatz - 心愈频率
At the height of the pandemic, J-Fever found himself stuck in Japan unable to communicate in his native language for two months and making 心愈频率 (Heart Healing Frequency) became a way of reconnecting himself with home. Eddie Beatz’s jazz production suspended J-Fever and Zhou Shijue as they exchanged verses of soulful conscious rap—心愈频率 was a reminder of the healing power of home and conversation.
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music // Spotify
21. Tan Weiwei - 3811
Each of the eleven songs on 3811 are named after women, strangers passing by, sharing their stories. Her aunt, Zhang Cunxian, whom time has taken its toll upon, or A-Guo, a young girl learning the pain it means to be a woman. In haunting melodies, Tan Weiwei can be personal, reflecting on who she would have been on “Tan Yanmei,” or she can be the collective, the leader of the protest march “Xiao Juan.”
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music // Spotify
20. Neci Ken - The Place I Don’t Belong to
On The Place I Don’t Belong to, the folk-pop duo Neci Ken stand at the edge of the world, wondering in their slow and gigantic songs if they should take the leap. Harmonies often sound like screams echoed back at you, drums sound like crashing waves. The need for another never disappears, and neither does the sense of detachment, but on closer “我想再擁有自己” (“I Want to Have Myself Again”), Neci Ken manage a step back.
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music // Spotify
19. Young Jack - Stardust
Through Stardust, Young Jack is refracted through styles—his raps burst in different directions: club-rap, melodic ballads, and pop-rap explosions. He’s at his best on the clubbier tracks, like the nimble flexibility of the flirtatious “Attraction” or the deeper and heavier raps of the thumping “Trust Nobody.” He’s a thrill-seeker, launching himself at every new style with animalistic desire and a rush of adrenaline.
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music // Spotify
18. TRASH - Holy Trip!
Some of it is still the old TRASH, heavy thrashes of pop-rock and pop-punk that just simmers in darkness, but there’s also expansion to something resembling reason in their newer styles, lighter acoustic numbers that take time and pop-rock that races towards its goal. Holy Trip! is a reflection on what the band wants to be, leaving behind previous violent imagery with non-stop growth and a statement of purpose in “LOVE.”
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music // Spotify
17. The 尺口MP - It’s ok
Slacker rock or leisure pop, The 尺口MP make the musical equivalent of laying in the grass and watching clouds drift across the sky. They define themselves as bystanders, a role that lets them relax into the background of the scene but also charges them with a restlessness they can’t quite shake. Will you sink into the floating rhythms or run with their punchier riffs? School’s out from its first sounds, the choice is yours.
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music // Bandcamp // Spotify
16. HUR - Revelation
Revelation is a constant onslaught of noise: bleeps and bloops of synths, vibrant surges of the cosmos on “Weirdo,” and the whirring blender of “Pain Killer.” The six members are revelling in youth, sneaking out their parents’ house on “Get Through the Night” or just bragging about themselves, like on “One Way to the Highway,” where member Sizi raps in Mongolian or the dumb goofy fun of “Gaia.”
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music // Spotify
15. deca joins - Bird and Reflections
On “The Night Crawled By Slowly,” the loneliness becomes restlessness, and the creeping feeling of sleep evading you fills its album with smoke. deca joins’ bluesy rock creates a hazy atmosphere that leaves you feeling powerless as it overtakes you. It drains everything from you—frustration, weariness, and anger all seeping out of you. As the simmer opens on “Outro,” the blue of the sky shows letting you sink into a peaceful rest.
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music // Spotify
14. Lexie Liu - GONE GOLD
Lexie Liu tends to vision the future as apocalyptic, but where her former work felt downcast by the prospect, GONE GOLD treats the apocalypse as anything goes territory, working in hints of everything she can grab her hands on: dance-pop sure, but also classical, synthwave, rock, and a haunting Gregorian chant that arises from the throbs of “SHADOW.” Her words are like spiritual chants, nonsensical pieces that situate her atop its dystopia.
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music // Spotify
13. June Pan - Every day is a battle
The city runs through Every day is a battle, shaped in its synth textures, built into its lyrics’ imagery. June Pan sings about those new city experiences—romance, dancing, and loneliness—with starry-eyed romanticism, her synthpop taking on EDM on the Dizparity-produced “Lingering Night,” New Jack Swing flavour on opener “電梯下樓” (“Elevator Downstairs”), and funk on “Mannequin.” The textures are constantly changing like she’s hopeful that they’ll never stop sounding new to her.
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music // Spotify
12. Lai Meiyun - Go, Wonderland!
In her constant motion, Lai Meiyun ventures everywhere she can. Relationships are associated with their scenery, like the love she imagines across the four seasons in a cafe on “Love & Seasons,” the friends she camps with on the racing title track, and the relationship that sees a difficult end at the frigid peaks of “Troposphere.” Lai journeys through genres, stepping into the typical EDM and ballads, but also dancing her way through bossa nova and ripping through power-pop, constantly exploring more.
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music // Spotify
11. oaeen - Strange Pool
On the more mature side of Strange Pool, oaeen recalled their past, building moving crescendos and gorgeous melodies in the farewells of “Sorry for Youth” and “Start from the End.” But the more ambitious side of Strange Pool reinvented the band, taking them back in time to be more childish—“I’m weird” lived up to its title, “I Will Always Hate You” was joyously petty, and “I’m an Unpretentious Bassist” used a playful joke to spotlight one band member. Strange Pool showed that oaeen’s creative spirit wasn’t lost with the name change, that it was merely the start of something new.
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music // Spotify
10. Omnipotent Youth Society - Under the Cable Temple
A trip through the Taihang mountains shaped Omnipotent Youth Society’s second album. Coming ten years after their debut, the prog-rock group creates around destruction, waving a white flag in the midst of the land’s natural and spiritual deterioration—concrete factories erected where nature once roamed wild. Brass runs through like rivers of death, cold and harsh, while any sections of jazz you might hear on “绕越” (“Bypass”) are bulldozed by static, whether they come in an instant or over course of its run. Hints of something hopeful arise in the flutes of “山雀” (“Chickadee”), but more often Omnipotent Youth Society seems to just be waiting for their end, the final trumpet of “採石” (“Quarrying”) like a funeral signoff and surrender over its mechanical destruction.
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music // Spotify
9. Treasure Hill & L1STALLDO - 宝藏山中
Production duo Treasure Hill and rap trio L1STALLDO feels like they’re constantly checking to see if they’ve still got your attention. L1STALLDO are constantly trying new things, switching flow and rotating members to see if you’re still focused while Treasure Hill throws everything they have at you. On opener, “你有一条新消息” (“You Have a New Notification”), they bomb you with notifications while L1STALLDO rap hard and heavy. Midway through, they drop the commercial in “畜生社会” (“Animal Society”). Are you paying attention? The music so often feels instructional, like the title track that asks you to wait until you hear your city called or “花” (“Flower”) which works you into a sweat on their aerobic exercise.
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music // Spotify
8. Shi Shi - Where Is SHI?
Amidst a break-up, Shi Shi dyed her hair back to black and got bangs. She finds herself eating dinner and watching a movie alone. She just can’t help but want you despite her best efforts, finding substandard copies of you in the men she tries to move on with or the too much space on the sidewalks she walks alone. The Shi Shi on Where Is SHI? knows that even the most loving relationship can still end. She knows what she’s capable of too, traversing across different forms of R&B, from rock-inflected need (“Not Enough”) to tender soul (“Midnight Movie”) and while there’s still playfulness in the shuffles of “La-Li-La-Ta” or the dreamy “Empty Track,” most of the time Shi Shi is more grounded. There’s still neediness in some of it, but Shi Shi often manages to catch herself, to let want be want, the next one she meets a future desire rather than a requirement.
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music // Spotify
7. Chen Jingfei - Chen Jingfei
The obvious comparison is to Lana Del Rey, both of whom sing in dragged-out drawls and create old-fashioned cinematic atmospheres with their sweeping instrumentals. But unlike Lana Del Rey, whose storytelling is resigned to her past, Chen Jingfei wants to change her fate, to ensure that her future isn’t so lonely. On the upbeat opener, “我的孤独忍住你的孤独” (“My Loneliness Recognizes Yours”), before her world turns frosty, she attempts to get closer to another. She pleads and begs a partner to give her one more night on “今晚” (“Tonight”). And on “深蓝” (“Deep Blue”), she commands him, calling him to get close, her voice pulling with such force that it’s impossible not to find yourself enraptured on her set.
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music // Spotify
6. Accusefive - Easy Come, Easy Go
Recorded on analogue tape, there’s a naturalness that pervades Easy Come, Easy Go, giving it the kind of rough feeling of being on the road despite its polish. In its search for stability, it seems to bloom open, those brassy riffs that decorate it less attack and more warmth as the band begins to settle. The cool accusatory intensity of opener “Mischief” gradually turns to warm breeziness on the lighter acoustic title track. Their trip crosses through heartbreak on the enormous collapse of ballad “Where I Lost Us” or hides its lessons in the fairytale romance of “溫蒂公主的侍衛” (“Princess Wendy’s Bodyguard”). By its end, Accusefive grow accustomed to the road, blowing stability up with their most frenetic track, treating it as a tiresome dream, the journey their preferred destination.
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music // Spotify
5. waa wei - Have A Nice Day
Around the mid-section of Have A Nice Day are a pair of bold tracks that offer a welcome contrast to waa wei’s usual kindness: the flurry of “Transformers” that takes on a slight rock-edge as she likens the role of her own motherhood to that of a robotic hero and the electronic chaos of “Pretty Woman” where she thrashes in drums, distorted vocals, and plunging runs to assert her womanhood. “Transformers” and “Pretty Woman” offer a more complete picture of waa wei, a fuller person, so the gentleness of early tracks sounds kinder and the resignation of closer “Small Small” sounds more meaningful. Have A Nice Day is a multifaceted view of waa wei, not just in the sides of herself she paints, but in the way she leaps across genres, Shibuya-kei and bossa nova on “Merci beaucoup,” sophisticated yet buoyant jazz on “Champion.” She’s a woman, a mother, a girl who wants her grandma to stay happy and healthy forever, an award winner who still has to brush her teeth the next morning. She’ll get explosive if you suggest otherwise, but offer you a kind hand if you need it. And she’ll save time for herself, letting the breeze blow on “Aroma” or staring at a handsome stranger in “My Type.”
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music // Spotify
4. Jo’s Moving Day - Itinerary
Itinerary sweeps in like a storm, howling wind filling every space of the opening track. But like any windstorm, it eventually blows over, and within minutes leaves nothing but the dreamy washes of “Clouds,” the sky reborn as the band stake their home in its dream-pop. Throughout Itinerary, questions of leaving and staying are suspended in its instrumental, leaving you digging through to uncover their meaning. “Should I ask you to stay?” they ask on “Summer Storm,” the real question already posed as the instrumental lightens up, yet still forcing you to meet them halfway. Later on “For Puppy,” they’ve already drifted away. At their core, Jo’s Moving Day soak in dream-pop, an ethereal glow around the guitars that swirl around vocals leaving them feeling like there’s an infinite number of chances as they start anew. It’s the shoegaze elements that convey the anxiety of reality, coming in waves at just the right moments, like the dark clouds that conceal the sun on the summer day of “Clouds” or the wall of guitar that buries the twinkling lights of “The Night” to leave Jo’s Moving Day hidden in its shadows.
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music // Bandcamp // Spotify
3. Jiao Maiqi - Alien
“You say you just want to go far” Jiao Maiqi sings, taking a line from his debut, but then morphing it, stuttering like a faulty tape and zooming out on two robotic voices. Alien opens weirder and more experimental before it settles, a concept album of aliens who attempt to learn about being an adult by using Jiao Maiqi as a test subject, similar to what he did two years ago on 我的名字 (My Name). Tracks like “在外星人眼中我是他们的人” (“In Alien Eyes, I’m Their People”) are eerie and oftentimes, silly, their exploration of human nature riddled with confusion. The back half of Alien returns to Jiao’s perspective, leaving a bit of a compromise as it loses some of its more experimental elements to drift in softer sounds. Jiao’s too concerned with his own human problems—on the synthpop “介意我们一起跳舞吗” (“Do You Mind If We Dance?”), Jiao tries to ignore the onlookers as he musters the courage to ask another to dance while on the ballad “世界没有不好就好” (“The World Isn’t Bad, Just Good”), he sings: “the world is often bad, but when you’re by my side, it’s okay.” When Alien zooms in on Jiao Maiqi’s world, it finds someone who just wants to be liked, who doesn’t really want to be so alone anymore—someone just as human as the rest of us.
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music // Spotify
2. Julia Wu - 2622
The relationship of 2622 collapses in sand as Julia Wu’s ex leaves quietly before she gets a chance to question it. What lingers is a blur, a timeline where together bleeds into apart, so much so that when looking back, the former just feels like waiting for the latter. On opener “感情都有期限” (“Feelings Have Time Limits”), she wonders “who would’ve thought I’d get you,” less as wonderstruck disbelief, more as defeatist doubt, as if having you was reaching too high for herself. “感情都有期限” is gorgeously arranged, tiny little ripples of synths in its placid water adorned with Wu’s breathy voice, the vision of what her romance was during its best moments. She stops herself from asking it, but there’s a second question underneath, wondering where exactly she lost you. The rest of 2622 similarly pulls beauty out of confusion. “uncertainty” loses herself in light EDM waves, while on “don’t know how to write anymore,” she loses a language, only able to sing in simple English on its finger snaps and darkly-lit ambiance. She’ll sing about how you wasted her time on the lone banger “better off without you” but lose herself a track later in her memories on “混亂的台北” (“Chaos of Taipei”), wanting to go back. And on “floaty shit,” she’ll bury herself in the captivating swirl of its strings. At its end, Wu is left alone, still able to see the beauty of the world, but despite all the confusion you left, still wishing you were standing there too.
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music // Spotify
1. FloruitShow - What Can I Hold You With
If uncertainty hung over our heads this year like a dark cloud, well, then it left death in its path like a torrent of rain. If it wasn’t the number of cases constantly rising, it was natural disasters, preventable accidents, mass shootings. The death toll kept rising, until the numbers meant nothing and once the shock subsided, all you felt was a creeping numbness. There wasn’t time to grieve before the next shock came.
On FloruitShow’s debut album, What Can I Hold You With, death looms over the triplet sisters. Before loss even happens, they cling to one another on the title track, pleading with one another, begging a higher entity, hoping there was some way to stop them from impending separation. Their heart-wrenching ballads move slow and build to glorious heights, in rich harmonies and flurries of keys, strings, strings and percussion. Expressing their grief, and importantly, expressing it together, becomes a way of moving forward. Each sister pushes forward in whatever way they know how: Du Binger’s voice masked in autotune, Du Xueer’s harp playing in attempt to restore the beauty of the world, and Du Feier’s percussion pounding in succession, hoping it’ll give the push that restores something like normalcy.
Across What Can I Hold You With, the trio run through grief in different ways: apologetic for missing you on “马” (“Horse”), in denial as the world moves on without them on “春暖花开去见你” (“Spring Flowers Bloom to See You”), and on the album’s centrepiece, slowly painting a memory a memory of their late grandmother they hope to engrave in their hearts, sketching the scene in the gradual build of “玉珍” (“Yu Zhen”). While its grief is often cold, like the electronic textures of “超度我” (“Save Me”) or the glassy walls that hold back those ugly emotions, there are also temporary bright spots. “春暖花开去见你” swallows the fireworks whole but its ending is a hopeful prayer, that if they miss you, you’ll change the world for them, and that if they miss you enough, they’ll never forget.
“玉珍” stands in the middle, the perfect reminder of who they lost, only her most beautiful moment at their centre. Grief might manifest itself in ugly ways across the rest of the album, in guilt and stabbing pains of regret, but “玉珍” is one beautiful reminder, the way they’d like to remember her. FloruitShow continue to soldier on in “心静自然凉” (“A Calm Heart Keeps You Cool”). Death can be numbing. Some of that’s there in the frosty exterior, but with What Can I Hold You With, the trio let us into the warmth and show us that by taking the time to commemorate and honour those lost—processing the ugliest emotions and centering the brightest memories—by properly grieving, then can we move forward.
Find it on streaming here: Apple Music // Spotify
Find a selection of highlights from each on Spotify.1
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