Adai Song, the Beijing-born, NYC-based multi-hyphenate artist, shatters musical and cultural boundaries with her breathtaking album The Bloom Project, released in 2025. A Grammyยฎ candidate for Best Global Music Album, this record sees the electropop producer, DJ, and singer reimagining early 20th-century shidaiqu, the glamorous fusion of Chinese folk and Western jazz born in 1920s Shanghai, through a modern, feminist lens. Blending Chinese instruments with EDM, trap, and cinematic electronic soundscapes, Adai transforms nostalgia into rebellion, merging history with futurism and creating a delicate and daring soundscape.
The album opens with โA Lost Singer,โ a haunting reinterpretation of Zhou Xuanโs 1937 classic โTianya Genu.โ Here, Adaiโs voice twists and slithers through a kaleidoscope of EDM beats and cinematic strings, intertwining with the erhuโs wailing tones and withering violin melodies. Itโs a sonic evolution, from wandering to self-ownership, where strength replaces sorrow. Then comes โNight Shanghai,โ where guzheng strings glide over neon-drenched house beats, capturing the loneliness of city lights that never sleep. The rhythm pulses with nostalgia and defiance, a love letter to the restless hearts of modern metropolises.
โMake Wayโ flips the iconic 1940 hit โRose, Rose, I Love Youโ into a bold anthem of female agency. โMy thorns hold up my pride,โ Adai declares, as pipa, koto, and shimmering synths bloom into a riot of sound. The centerpiece โCarmen 2025โ then fuses Bizetโs motifs with Chinese percussion and electronic swells, crafting an operatic powerhouse thatโs sensual and revolutionary.
By the time the ethereal โRiver Runโ closes the album, with guzheng, yangqin, and basslines flowing like water, The Bloom Project is a cultural renaissance, a fearless reclamation of identity. Listen to it on Spotify.
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Review by: Naomi Joan