Oh, I love this shit. Oh, and he's so handsome.

Holy crap. I think this is the first time since I've been reviewing Chinese singers that I've heard a Chinese singer sing in English first and then sing in Mandarin, I assume.

Does that... I have to give Chinese singers that it really... those... I could be wrong, but it seems to really hamper the ease.

Like just... he's having to fight for it a little bit more now.

Just around the vowels. Do you not see that? Do you not agree?

Yeah, I agree. Chinese is much harder to sing.

Wow, like hearing him flow vocally just as a singer, and then hearing him have to do these syllables and vowels. Wow.

So, so. Got a little yodel in there.

Man, you just don't hear chord changes like this anymore in pop or R&B or whatever we want to call contemporary genres right today.

You just don't hear these more... I don't know, what would you call them?

More like jazz-influenced changes or like what would you call that? Gospel? Gospel-influenced changes?

Yeah, that's pretty gospel. Yeah, yeah.

Forever love, forever love 我只想用我这一辈子去爱你 从今以后你会是所有

He uses his head voice pretty liberally.

He also, though, is pretty comfortable, confident and easy, moving into staying in the thicker place in his voice on higher notes.

So I think stylistically, as a part of the times,

I'm sure this is still probably 90s, if not early 2000s.

He still, he definitely chooses to stay in that heady place sometimes, as opposed to always belting or always kind of mixing thick.

幸福的理由

Even his vibrato, it's shifted a bit.

In what way?

It's thicker.

Thicker than before?

Yeah, but I think it's part of the influence.

Listen.

But he is capable of shallow vibrato.

Oh, absolutely. I'm saying he may be trying to suit this market.

He may be trying to suit the Asian song, the Asian market, the writing, the influence of whoever was in on the writing and composition of the song.

He wrote the song.

Well, then it must be to suit the...

I don't know. When we think of different genres, for me, I don't speak many languages, but when I think of different genres, it definitely influences the stylizations I put in.

And so maybe for him, when he is singing an English song versus a Chinese song, maybe that also is impacting the choices he makes stylistically.

Maybe.

Oh my god.

But he also, to my ear, he sounds like an English person singing.

Chinese.

Yeah, but I know he isn't.

Obviously, probably his first language is Mandarin, but I imagine just from doing so much English work, he's almost treating some of those vowels like whatever he's saying.

What is it?

What is he saying at the beginning of this?

It means love you.

Why does it sound so English?

It's Chinese.

Of course.

Anyone would sing it the same way, actually, not just him.

Overall, this feels, though, less...

It's just because these certain words with syllables, these certain syllables are more open-mouthed.

It is.

It's like in that song I did, what's the beginning of the phrase I did?

Which one?

I, I, feng...

What is it?

The reflection song?

Wei, Wei, I.

Wei, I, feng...

Wei, I, feng...

Those three words,

Wei, I, feng, feng, feng,

Wei, I, feng, shou, those are pretty related to English words, like phonetically.

Yeah, because you're not using your tongue.

Correct.

They're completely open.

Your tongue is relaxed with these words.

But you started to suggest to me that some songwriters write within mind...

I'm sure he writes his songs considering these things.

So there's a lot of words and syllables and vowels in here that I'm like, oh, that's...

I could sing that, I could say that.

He's picking words based on how relaxed his tongue is.

You guys, you know, songwriting is so hard, as it is, to say something meaningful and to say something poetic and to say something that you want to say, and then adding on a layer, if I'm understanding correctly, adding on a layer where you're choosing words that suit a certain...

Mouth shape.

Mouth shape.

That's just a crazy another factor to add on.

He's super...

He's in very good control.

That's that 90s, 2000s...

You know, when I was a kid, well, not really,

I was basically as young as him.

But when I first heard him, it reminded me of Justin Timberlake a lot.

A lot, because Justin Timberlake uses the same falsetto.

But you're right, it's hootie.

It's not falsetto, it's that more heady sound.

Yeah, it's the heady falsetto.

What he just did, that is so the vibe that I got.

Okay, so this is so funny, this came up.

I was driving home to see my parents a couple weeks ago, and I haven't listened to Justin Timberlake for a decade and a half, or more.

And I was wanting to hear some good male R&B, and I put him on, and I was blown away.

This is very full circle of a moment right now.

Because I was like, why is he like that?

Why is he doing it like that?

That's such a weird sound to be making.

I don't remember it being like that.

But it was.

It was.

It was.

In my mind, I've almost shifted it to the more airy falsetto of today.

But that is absolutely what men were doing in the 90s and 2000s.

Yeah.

Crazy.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay, just because we've talked about this a bit in the past,

I just want to point out that this is such an old school concert.

We hear the back vocals play when he removes the mic.

We hear the back vocals continue to play, which are supporting him in the track.

But we know that this is live.

It's just completely clear that this is a live concert.

Unless they're doing, well this is too old for them to be doing anything else.

It's just cool.

It's just cool.

That's a beautiful passage.

That's a beautiful passage.

幸福的理由 你感动的眼睛

See that whole, say that.

That whole phrase, I feel...

你感动的眼睛

Oh shit, what?

你感动的眼睛

Well the way he sang it felt like something I could do, but not what you're doing.

That's...

Crap.

你感动的眼睛 你感动的眼睛

One more.

你感动的眼睛

I mean, this is not right, but it feels like 你感动的眼睛

It feels like open enough vowels that I could not lose...

I told you he writes songs based on that idea of open mouth shape.

It's different than a lot of...

我沉默的声音 仿佛就是最好的证明 就让我再说一次

I love you

Not the best riff, but definitely...

But you know what?

In a live performance, he's pretty great considering how much he's moving through things.

But that...

I'm actually quite fascinated by this tone and how Justin Timberlake-y it sounds and feels.

永远的爱 永远的爱 爱

He's very, very agile.

Very agile.

我只想用我这一辈子 去爱你

I think he did...

你

Like lots of little subtle...

重庆

I love you

This stuff.

I can't help it.

I guess that's just what happens as the years go by.

You know, we've all listened to our parents say, oh, I love the Beatles, and oh, you know, today's music is just not as good as the music back in my day, back of, you know, Rod Stewart or the Beatles or Mick Jagger or whatever it is that your parents might have listened to,

Stevie Nicks.

And I've come into an age and stage where I understand this phenomenon at a really painfully visceral level because as technology changes, of course we're going to use more and more technology for instrumentation, for editing, for production, just everything.

And I think that when you grew up listening to more raw, less mechanical, less, you know, more raw, real instruments and more pop music now is very spoon-fed, especially in the West.

It's very spoon-fed to people, very addictive, simple chord changes, very addictive, repetitive melodies.

And I love it.

I love modern pop.

I love, you know, I love modern country, modern pop, modern R&B.

My ear is very taken by hook.

But when you listen back to what you grew up with, there's a certain attachment that you have to it and with the additional factor that we're kind of in a technological evolution, revolution right now where the stark contrast between decades is more stark than ever because of the involvement and evolution of technology, not just trend shift.

So this really makes my heart beat fast to hear music with these chord changes and these kind of vocalizations, these kind of riffs, this style of R&B, which is frankly not existing really in any trendy way right now.

Today's R&B is kind of talky, rappy.

Well, there's, you know, that's a gross generalization, but this makes me very nostalgic.

And this singer is wonderful enough that even though I've never heard of him, it's still bringing this music to life for me and it's still taking me back and reminding me of the music and the artists and the singers that I was enamored with so many years ago.

And now I gotta find my...

You want to learn how to do that awesome little riff from Beyonce's Listen? Let's do it.

The secret to bringing this one to life is to put the notes in little packages like this.

One, two, three, four, five.

Not only is it easier to learn, but it sounds rad.

Do it with me.

One, two, three, four, five.

It's okay if you're in your head voice. It's pretty high.

It's on the word find. So sing it with me.

Find.

Let's go faster.

Faster.

Real fast.