Breaking Linguistic Barriers with Lexie Liu
At the musical intersection of Mandarin Chinese and English lies Lexie Liu, a singer, rapper, and songwriter who blends languages and genres to produce a sound unwilling to conform to any boundary.
Written by Andrew Zhang
Photo courtesy of 88rising
As a language sometimes noted for its harsh tones and corner-cutting inflections, Mandarin Chinese is not usually the first language brought to mind when it comes to peaceful and smooth music. However, singer, rapper, and songwriter Lexie Liu elevates the Eastern language to a new dimension. As she sings, her effortlessly smooth diction erases the bumps of the four Chinese tones. Liu’s sound transcends languages; her voice flows from Mandarin to English and back with such ease you begin to question whether language even exists.
Born in the southern Chinese city of Changsha, Liu moved to the United States to attend college in New York before dropping out to pursue music. Liu stands at the forefront of a sparkling new generation that has expanded the definition of Chinese culture. She is fittingly signed to the music label 88rising — known for representing many Asian artists such as Joji and NIKI. Liu distinguishes herself from many newer Asian artists, however, as boldly as her music defies constraints. By fusing elements of pop, R&B, and rap, and weaving Chinese and English lyrics together, Liu creates a distinct sound free from linguistic barriers.
In all her songs, this skillful transition from language to language presents itself immediately. On standout single “Manta,” Liu raps, “Got a flight to catch tomorrow back to China,” quickly followed by “我的行踪难以捉摸在哪,” or “My whereabouts are nowhere to be found.” On "Manta," Liu compares a manta ray "(flying) underwater" to her position in music, using the seemingly impossible phenomena of the sea creature's movement as a symbol for the space she has carved out for herself in the industry.
Liu smartly exploits the differences in the ways English and Mandarin conform to meter and rhythm, allowing her to match her lyrics to a consistent beat by switching between the two languages. The above lyric video for her single “黑洞Metropolis” displays this distinction. When crafting her songs, Liu strategically chooses English lyrics over their Chinese counterparts and vice versa to build her flows and verses. English lines like “I see him swervin’ in the metropolis” allow her to continue the effortlessness of her lyricism while the Mandarin translation “我看见他在未来城的霓虹灯下票移” would disrupt it.
Her music also bends the jurisdictions of Asian music in general. Although English lyrics appear regularly in K-pop songs, they are usually limited to catchy hooks with simple vocabulary. For example, the extent of English in hits like ITZY’s “Wannabe” and BTS’s “Euphoria” is limited to the songs’ straightforward choruses of “I don't wanna be somebody / Just wanna be me, be me" and “ Take my hands now / You are the cause of my euphoria,” respectively.
Liu, once a contestant on a K-pop show herself, conversely uses English as an integral asset of her lyrical weapon cache, flexing the language’s full emotional depth as she carves each verse. In her discography, she spends equal time storytelling with both Mandarin and English. On her ballad-like single “Hat Trick,” she paints a picture of an intimate moment with a lover using English lyrics: “I just want to be, want to be loved / Guess we're bound to be, bound to be lost / I could wait another night / Just to take another bite on you,” and Mandarin lyrics: “他从不将姿态放低 / 目中无人却彬彬有礼 / 深邃的眼像座迷宫 / 漩涡流向了无底洞” (He never lowers his posture / Defiantly polite / The depths of his eyes like a maze / A vortex flowing into a pit).
Liu recognizes the unique position she holds in both the Chinese and English music industries. In an interview with PAPER Magazine, she explained that China's increased open-mindedness and receptivity to the newer realms of rap and R&B have allowed her to ride a new musical wave in her home country. Although the singer was born and raised Chinese, the story of her start in music — writing songs down in her college dorm bathroom — evokes a rags to riches story that feels deeply American. On the other hand, such a tale seems foreign to China today, where societal expectations set children on a carefully drawn trajectory of school-college-job to achieve economic security. But this cultural contrast again seems fitting for Liu, as she builds her reputation as an artist without boundaries, rejecting labels of genre and language to create a sound so unique it can only be called hers.