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Best Chinese Albums of 2022

Written by YumCha! Editorial Team Tell a Friend

Our editors' picks for the best physical Chinese albums of 2022 include releases in Mandarin, Cantonese, Taiwanese and Hakka!

anpu – 9522
anpu - 9522
anpu relives her teenage days in a 16-track release richly filled with the Taiwan singer-songwriter's childhood memories and sentiments dating back 27 years. Spanning from 1995 to 2022, 9522 channels the moody and pure emotions of youth in stirring, sweet-sounding tunes performed in her present-day mature and emotional vocals. The album records yearning for a genuine love in the acoustic idiot, coping with grief and loss in Miss missed Love, and looking back on the past in "a flash and how it lasts." There’s also the upbeat silence of desire, the playful yet empowering "kungkung workbook," the bossa-nova "hocus pocus," the folksy train to heaven, the sentimental "in the midst of what makes us beautiful," the retro disco-vibe deserts ride and the lyrically beautiful "medicine woman among the preys." anpu's refined songs and stories effortlessly give off a sense of comfort, transporting listeners back to the springtime of life when we experienced a lot of "first times."





Crispy – Take It Slow. I Will Be There
Crispy - Take It Slow. I Will Be There
Crispy gives us butterflies in the stomach with heartfelt romantic tales in their fourth full-length album. Take It Slow, I Will Be There captures eight lessons in love with silvery folk and rock tunes mixed with pop, synth and electronic elements. After kicking off with the comforting theme song "I Will Be There," the album touches hearts with "Sorry X 100" that sweetly declares "it's us against the world." The Taiwan indie duo cutely reveals the fear of losing someone in "Chase! Chase! Chase!" and the misery of growing up in "Heading North." The somber "Easier Said" is about wistfully lingering around after a split-up before tidying up the "Old House" and clearing minds for a fresh start with a mellow and motivating composition. Another theme song Take It Slow provides the warm finishing touch and "happily ever after" ending.





Enno Cheng – Mercury Retrograde
Enno Cheng - Mercury Retrograde
As mercury enters retrograde, delve into different aspects of communication with Enno Cheng's fourth planet-themed album. Mercury Retrograde is also her first completely Taiwanese-language album, and one of the best of her career. Working with producer Chunho, the singer-songwriter has crafted an ambient and dreamy alternative album that defies typical expectations of Hokkien pop music. Drawing from Wu Ming Yi's same-titled story, "How the Brain Got Language?" unfolds a dream-like soundscape about the desire and determination to speak, like a newborn bird spreading its wings. "Daughters" encourages women to fly in an equally gentle and mesmerizing synth-wrapped melody. Mercury Retrograde continuously impresses with its details – whether it's the sensuous bassline of "Before Dawn," the emotional buildup of the Taiwanese-style ballad "Dear." or the beautifully layered vocals of the jazzy "Distance" featuring deca joins – that signal the great musicality of this ambitious work.





E.so – Earthbound
E.so - EARTHBOUND
After making a strong solo debut in 2020 with Outta Body, MJ116's E.so goes farther and harder in his sophomore work. The album explores the conditions of Earthbound people from the vantage of someone looking upon this fallen planet from outer space in the future. The hip-hop record samples sounds and music styles from around the globe while laying down observations and indictments of how things are on Earth. The themes are most evident in Way Up, which crashes rousing African-inspired music against aggressive beats and rhymes, and the positively searing People which rails against mob mentality. Blending in a touch of old Shanghai, Married to the Game starts with the iconic opening line of Ming Ri Tian Ai before tearing into society's hypocritical, money-minded game with spitfire rap. The album's softer mid-section sings about relationships and rendezvous, peaking with the catchy Mei Mei that professes interest in a rhythmic blend of fluid beats and silky-sweet lyrics. Though the Earth is broken in many ways, at least this musical Earthbound voyage is well worth taking.





Janice Vidal - daughter
Janice Vidaldaughter
Since the start of the year, Janice Vidal has been continuously dropping digital singles for this concept album, a project telling women's stories in different styles of music. The songstress lends her ethereal voice to nine mellifluous pieces from a female-centered lineup of songwriters, including Serrini, Sophy Wong, Kiri T, Wong Lok Yee, Robynn Yip, Chung Suet, Yoyo Sham, Eman Lam, SHIMICA and cehryl. Setting a healing mood with the opening track "Be Still," daughter guides listeners on a mind-freeing journey to explore and connect with our own hearts. The ambient pop song "In The Wind" is about taking over the world with one's own charm, "My POV" depicts the point of view of living as a woman, and the soft "Love 101" inspires us to love sensibly. Also on the album are the rhythmical Little Miss Janice, the sweet and romantic "Signal," the English ballads Ribbon and Ghost, and the beautifully arranged sshhh…, which wraps up the album on a calming note.





Sheng Xiang & Band – Kafka on the Rivers-and-Lakes
Sheng Xiang & Band - Kafka on the Rivers-and-Lakes
One of Taiwan's most unique bands, Sheng Xiang & Band blends traditional and contemporary music elements and themes into an idiosyncratic folk and roots rock sound. Influenced by The Metamorphosis, the Hakka band's fourth album sends its protagonist on a Kafkaesque pilgrimage through the legislative jianghu. Starting with the wild, weeping notes of "Fate is a Mad Dog," the thorny road leads to the disillusionments of the deceptively gentle folk tune "Make Your Nests in Safety" and the dilemma of being between a rock and a hard place in the bluesy "Kafka on the Rivers-and-Lakes." "Before the Night" pierces the heart with the lonely thoughts of the rootless drifter – "How many roads can you gamble away before you know you're afraid?" – while the absurd hardships of life are captured in the playful satire of "Inquiry into Monkey Chatter in the Legislative Chamber" and the joyous horns of Baka. With the poetic lyrics of Chung Yung Feng and the creative compositions of Lin Sheng Xiang and Hayakawa Toru paving the bumpy road, Kafka on the Rivers-and-Lakes is a bold, meditative and thoroughly grassroots album that excites the ears and the mind.





Terence Lam – MEMENTO
Terence Lam - MEMENTO
Terence Lam packs jolly and bluesy summer memories in this MEMENTO comprised of five chart-topping hits. While still participating in most of the song production, this time the Hong Kong singer-producer also seeks synergy through collaborations with other songwriters, including Crowd Lu, Lin Xi, Christopher Chak, Wyman Wong and Oscar. Terence soothes souls while wandering different Hong Kong landmarks in the acoustic-based doodoodoo, and celebrates the joy of summertime in the colorful and refreshing "Summer." Falling into summer blues, the award-winning single "Regression" lingers in glum thoughts relating to an old friend. "Remember," Terence's own version of a song he composed for Eman Lam, recollects a past relationship in a whole new arrangement. Closing track "Encore" expresses the bittersweet and nostalgic feeling after an encore, inspiring us to treasure and value the process.





Vincy Chan – Dark light of the soul
Vincy Chan - Dark light of the soul
Vincy Chan has long been praised as one of the best and most distinctive female Cantopop singers of her generation, and this year we finally got the representative album that best defines her powerful and airy vocals. As the title says, this atmospheric album dives into the darkness of the human psyche. Soaring melodies, hauntingly grand arrangements and the rich lyricism of Chow Yiu Fai conjure and connect the journey of inner darkness, from swimming in the painful "Sea of Thorns" in the heart, to swimming in the "Gutters" while looking at the stars, to "Diving" and sinking into a consuming love. Evocative interludes bookend different chapters that carry listeners from the anguished and extreme mindset of "Wild Magnolia" to the cold warmth of the cathartic "Glacier." It's rare for an album with three years' worth of singles to be so conceptually cohesive in sound, themes and lyrics, but Vincy Chan, Chow Yiu Fai, composer Vicky Fung and the other producers have turned this dark three-year journey into an emphatic creative breakthrough for the singer.





Yoyo Sham – Home is…
Yoyo Sham - Home is…
Returning to the Cantopop music scene, Yoyo Sham dwells on home and a sense of belonging in her first Cantonese EP. Home is… shares feelings on departing, longing, drifting and coming home again. The singer works with Panther Chan and Chan Wing Him for "Letter" which reminisces of friends who are now separated. Terence Lam and Chan Wing Him's "Come What May" – which won awards for Top 10 song at Ultimate Song Chart Awards Presentation 2021 and Best Female Vocal Performance at the 2022 CASH Golden Sail Music Awards – poetically renders the capricious shape of life, reminding us to keep the faith while going with the flow. Yoyo sings about following the heart and finding a home in the dynamic "Being Here," and embracing freedom in "Born on 00.00.00" written by Chow Yiu Fai and Eman Lam. Despite her Cantonese enunciation sounding slightly awkward, Yoyo resonates through her unique, soothing vocal tone and her stories of home, drifting and farewell during unsettling times.





Zooey Wonder – Nomadland
Zooey Wonder - Nomadland
After exploring Wonderland in her last album, Zooey Wonder wanders through Nomadland in her second full-length album. The Taiwan singer-songwriter goes minimalist with clean, clear and emotive folk pop songs of self-discovery. The first song grabs attention right away with the question "Give it up or don't give up" that echoes the reflective feeling of the entire record. Perhaps we can all hear a bit of ourselves in the gentle notes and soul-baring lyrics of the album's songs. Are we "The Hedgehog" who puts up defenses but yearns for a connection? The "Iceberg" floating through the city hoping to reach shore? The broken-hearted person who pretends to be fine but doesn't "Dare to Be Happy"? The depressed soul with "Dark Clouds in My Room" and clothing messily strewn everywhere? Through these self-examining stories, Zooey Wonder also comes upon moments of light and healing. Nomadland may not offer any surprises, but it shows Zooey Wonder at her soulful best with stripped-down ballads and lulling pop-inflected melodies that strike a chord with urban nomads looking for a way back to themselves.





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Published December 26, 2022


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