Pop/Review Adai Song - The Bloom Project
Adai Song (also known as her EDM persona ADÀI) is an internationally acclaimed singer, producer, songwriter, and DJ based between New York City and Beijing. A Berklee alum and former faculty member at Berklee NYC, she is also a Recording Academy voting member and a New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA)-funded artist. Her work explores the future of C-pop by blending Chinese and Pan-Asian musical roots with bold electronic production and feminist storytelling.
“The Bloom Project,” Adai Song's full-length album, is more than just a musical release; it's a daring act of cultural reclamation and a forward-thinking outlook on international pop. Here, the singer, producer, and DJ, also known as ADÀI, who is based in Beijing and New York City, fully embraces her groundbreaking approach to C-pop by fusing the contemporary pulse of electronic production with Pan-Asian and Chinese musical traditions.
The album's central theme is a feminist reworking of Shanghai's glitzy "shidaiqu" of the 1920s, which formerly combined Western jazz with Chinese folk songs to usher in a golden age of contemporary Chinese pop. Adai Song respects the past while advancing it, substituting intense bass lines, glistening synths, and club-ready sounds for smokey lounge memories. Her arrangements skillfully incorporate traditional instruments such as the erhu, pipa, and guzheng, which celebrate reinvention while firmly establishing her sound in culture.
The album's lyrics focus on metamorphosis, feminine identity, and empowerment. Every song adds to the story of developing and blossoming into strength, a topic that the album's title aptly captures. Her vocals exhibit a profound comprehension of genre and performance as they effortlessly transition from sensual jazz-inspired phrasing to polished electropop melodies.
“The Bloom Project,” which is already garnering notice as a Grammy contender for Best Global Music Album, represents a turning point for Chinese-influenced music globally. It is a dynamic, inventive, and cinematic album that confidently and artistically crosses time, space, and identities.