Xinwenyue Shi is an artist from Chengdu, China who released his latest album Bashu Renaissance Chapter Two on April 20, 2023. The album is truly like a tour through and a melancholic examination of the, per his bio, “fading heritage of his beloved Chinese hometown region, Bashu, by shining a light on its people’s stories. Shi weaves between Chinese and English lyrics and a hybrid of styles with a grace, creativity and fluidity that immediately hooks you in for a full listen. The lead single “Hustler Wang, A Li Li” and its animated video really give a vivid glimpse into Shi’s observations showing a China that is modern, cosmopolitan, evolving and rich with its own interface with cultural influences from elsewhere. Its vocals employ both a hip-hop style and later a more melodic pop expression and where it also shines is in the beats that shift and have a textural quality that seems to ground the music into its human story and the truly transporting synth/keyboard lines that set the mood in cinematic style with samples connecting the song with a larger arc of interconnected stories of people in a certain place at a certain time during a period of great change and flux. And yet Shi compellingly captures a wistfulness about these changes and a bittersweet sense of loss for what made where he’s from special and unique as forces that are changing the whole world have an ambivalent impact to a place he calls home. The song along and the music video are heartbreaking and remarkable and truly demand repeat listens as Shi is a genuine pop music innovator. Watch the video for “Hustler Wang, A Li Li” on YouTube and follow Xinwenyue Shi at the links provided.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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