Today, Chinese-New Zealand singer, musician, and visual artist Crystal Chen shares her debut studio album You can call me CC, accompanied by a dreamy 16mm black and white music video for lead single Can’t Help It. Comprised of twelve songs that feel like handwritten journal entries translated into music – set to a backdrop of intricate compositions and ornate instrumentation provided by New Zealand’s finest jazz musicians. The album offers an intimate window into the emotional landscapes and metamorphosis of a woman who is the artist and muse.
You can call me CC is an invitation to the listener. Ever since she was young, CC would daydream about teleporting herself into her own music video worlds. Covering all roles, she would star in, direct, edit and style the characters all at once in her mind, with the sounds of her favourite songs as the backdrop. This album is an invitation from CC to the listeners to not just call Crystal by her nickname, but to connect with the songs and to soundtrack their lives with them. Crystal says, “In Chinese culture, you don’t call someone by their first name - you can call people gorgeous or handsome, by their nickname, sister, brother, uncle or aunty - and mine is CC.”
Having steadily built success over the past year, Crystal has supported Australian alt-indie trio Telenova at their Auckland show, saw festival placements at The Others Way and Cuba Dupa, a sold-out headline show during NZ Music Month 2024, and most recently a showcase feature at Going Global. In a testament to the synergy between her sound and visual sensibilities, Crystal likes to direct her own music videos and the Love Letter music video won ‘Best Music Video’ at the HALO International Film Festival. It was also nominated for an LA Independent Women Film Award and ‘Best NZ Music Video’ at the 2024 Vision Fest Film Festival.
The work of an old soul with a young heart, or perhaps an analog girl in a digital world, Crystal Chen’s debut album unfolds at its own unhurried pace. The album is influenced by her love of jazz and soul, some of her favourite artists and composers being Minnie Riperton, Charles Stepney and Sade. The band tracks were recorded live in the studio at Roundhead, and have since been overdubbed and produced by CC herself, pianist/arranger Joe Kaptein (Nathan Haines, Six60) and Kenny Sterling of Mānuka Recording. This is the biggest collaborative project she has worked on, with musician credits which include renowned drummer Julien Dyne of Half Hexagon and Circling Sun, harpist Harrison Chau (Princess Chelsea), percussionist Ruby Walsh (Lips, Na Noise), Francesca Parussini from Wāhine in Jazz on flute & saxophone and Annika Rani (writer), to name a few.
Largely shaped from the experiences of playing live and taking her music onto the stage, You can call me CC is driven by the feel and story behind every song. With Stained Glass, there is no structure or repetition and a one track vocal. Then we have This Evening’s Affair, a heavily arranged song with two drummers and over 100 tracks of vocal and keyboard layers. Kiss it Better is a celebration of women, inspired by Latin sounds with a steady bassline holding the lush instrumentation together. The Forecast is a much more intense, psychedelic rock-inspired song reflecting CC’s mood and the unpredictable NZ weather. Although the album has many intimate moments, there are pockets of unhinged, sleepy, sexy and wild moments with themes that put heartbreak and love at equal value, as much as desire and celebration, peace amongst the chaos - all encompassed by the yin and yang of life. Along the way, she experiments with various vocal styles and songs, always striving to situate her diaristic tales within the music she makes.
Can’t Help It is a slow-burning ballad layered with soulful saxophone solos and romantic strings. At its heart, the track is a confession of CC letting go of resistance and letting herself fall - not being afraid to fall off the horse and in love. The accompanying black and white 16mm music video, co-directed by Dylan Martin and shot on location at Ness Valley Ranch in Clevedon, follows CC on a contemplative ride through open hills on horseback. With sweeping, slow-motion cantering sequences, the visuals echo the song’s gentle sway, creating a dreamlike, cinematic journey.
Watch CAN’T HELP IT music video out at 8pm tonight — made with support from NZ On Air.
Tracklist:
Bloom
I Only Miss You When I’m Bored
Kiss It Better
Stop.
Love Letter
Top Down
Lasagne
Can’t Help It
Let’s Kiss, Not Fight
The Forecast
Stained Glass
This Evening’s Affair
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‘You can call me CC’ Album Release Show
With special guests to be announced
TICKETS ON SALE NOW
https://crystal-chen.com/store/
Thursday 25 September
Neck of the Woods - Auckland