The company had started promo a month in advance. No matter how famous you are, you never skip the pre-release push for an album.
This time, though, Niu Jiangxue decided to play it cute. The slogan was: "Winter Solstice, please look forward to Chu Zhi's winter gift."
That was it. One line. No context.
But it fit Chu Zhi's current popularity perfectly. After the teaser spread, Little Fruits and casual onlookers were dying to know what the "winter gift" meant. The topic hit hot search on multiple platforms in a day, from Douyin to Xiaohongshu to Weibo. Countless creator accounts posted "evidence-based" guesses.
On the Winter Solstice itself, curiosity spiked again. Passersby and Little Fruits pushed the topic #ChuZhi'sWinterGift back onto the trending list.
One promo. Two hot searches.
Forty Frogs: [So what exactly is the winter gift?] From Shaanxi
It'sYueLuoLuo: [Wang Mingyi and Gu Duo Fu think it's more likely a single. Rumor is someone saw Chu Zhi going in and out of a Beijing recording studio.] From Hainan
404Revelation: [Didn't people already dig up that the studio session was for "Just Ordinary"? I think it must be nudes. Xiao Jiu's nudes… hehe.] From Sichuan
Qian Dai: [Friend upstairs, is there really no one you care about left on the internet?] From Zhejiang
Fat Chen: [Congrats to Sichuan for winning today's traveling yellow flag.] From Guangdong
WaterWithoutTrace: [Hehe. Best winter gift would be Xiao Jiu's nudes. That would get my blood pumping. I wouldn't feel cold anymore.] From Jiangxi
The internet teems with talent. Netizens have a silver tongue, and many who are shy in person get downright saucy online.
At exactly four in the afternoon, Chu Ci · Nine Songs went live on all platforms.
NetEase Cloud Music: "A second new Chinese-style album. Chu Zhi reaches another peak."
QQ Music: "Today, he returns to the throne of Chinese-style."
KuGou Music: "He's here. He brought an album with him."
Kuwo, Migu, and the rest all gave it prime placement. They were even paying for it.
Chu Zhi's album was free across the web. Platforms could have hosted it without spending a cent, yet they still shelled out. Internet companies play zero-sum games.
So the winter gift was a brand-new album. And not just any album, a Chinese-style one. Better than anyone guessed.
Casual listeners and Little Fruits were fired up. The album detonated the internet. Even people who rarely checked their phones logged in to listen.
The scene was absurd. As illustrated below.
Boom boom boom.
Boom boom.
Boom boom boom.
You get it.
At the top of the album page was a headline: [Every track is a title track].
East Wind Breaks, Blue and White Porcelain, Hair Like Snow, Fireworks Grow Cold, General's Command, Last Night's Letter, Inn of the Mortal World, Jiangnan, A Laugh in the Vast Sea, A Chinese Ghost Story, Flowers Too Fragrant, Chi Ling, Moonlight, Beauty. Fourteen songs, fourteen heavy hitters.
For most artists, the flex on release day is one title track parachuting onto the top of the charts.
For Chu Zhi, his own songs were brawling with each other. By the end of the afternoon, twelve of the top fifteen on the New Songs chart were from this album.
Bystanders at first: "No way. Even for Chu Zhi, these numbers are ridiculous."
After listening to the whole thing: "Sorry, I spoke too loudly. Why did two songs drop out of the top fifteen? Must be because those other three got botted."
Scalps tingled. For artists who released in the same window, tingling was too mild. It felt like their skull caps were being pried off. Outrageous.
Take Lin Weiran. His album had been out two weeks and was still running hot. Now the hot stovetop had no space left for Lin Weiran.
Well, not entirely fair. Lin Weiran was a newly crowned top idol. With fan support, his two title tracks held firm at 12 and 15. If he had known the album would drop on the Winter Solstice, he would have shifted early. But promo played coy. Who could have guessed.
Zhou Yiyu and Lin Xia had both set alerts for Chu Zhi. The moment the album came out, Zhou Yiyu paused his recording session and Lin Xia stepped out from a stage rehearsal.
Neither doubted the line "Every track is a title track." Others scoffed at the claim. Zhou Yiyu and Lin Xia did not. After listening, they sighed at the "waste," then each fell in love with one song.
Lin Xia's favorite was Blue and White Porcelain. He opened the comments:
"Sky-blue waits on the rain, and I wait on you."
"I feel like old Lord Cao. He said, 'There exists someone even braver than Lü Bu.' My reaction to this track: 'There exists a song more perfect than "Thousand Miles Away" and "Chrysanthemum Terrace"?'"
"Gorgeous. These lyrics are sublime. 🎵 'Moonlight is hauled up and the ending blurs.' 🎵 The melody sits on the pentatonic, with eighths and sixteenths alternating. Elegant and classical. Now this is Chinese music."
…
"Without a doubt, Blue and White Porcelain is a pinnacle of Chinese-style. It will whip up another wave. Maybe I should add a few Chinese-style tracks to my next album." Lin Xia weighed the idea. If I ride this heat, I can harvest some heat.
Lin Xia was thirty-three this year. Zhou Yiyu was only in his twenties. Zhou Yiyu's favorite was Chi Ling. He felt the lyrics were not as intricate as those in Fireworks Grow Cold and others, but the vibe had him hooked.
When the operatic timbre hit, 🎵 "People pass beneath the stage, old colors fading from sight. On stage, someone sings a heart-shattering farewell." 🎵 Zhou Yiyu's skin prickled.
What sealed it was the music video. In four and a half minutes, it told a story that shattered him. Republican-era, the Japanese army invades and occupies a county. A famous opera singer is ordered to perform The Peach Blossom Fan, or they will begin a massacre. On the night of the performance, every high-ranking officer attends.
The singer lights a fire and burns the theater, the invaders, and himself.
After the MV, when Zhou Yiyu heard the line 🎵 "A duckweed in troubled times, I cannot watch beacon fires consume the rivers and mountains. My station is low, yet I dare not forget my country, even if no one knows my name." 🎵 the tears came hard.
"Go watch the MV. You will regret it if you do not," Zhou Yiyu texted.
Plenty of stars watched Chu Zhi. The music critics watched even closer. Gu Duo Fu, Zhang Mingyi, Zuo Yang Feixing, and Hu Du were the four biggest names.
They posted first-impressions on their own accounts.
Zuo Yang Feixing: "…With this album, there will be no more 'new Chinese-style' to invent."
Hu Du: "Chu Ci · Ode to the Orange Tree opened new Chinese-style. Chu Ci · Nine Songs built the ceiling for it."
Zhang Mingyi: "What a waste. That is all I feel. With this many great songs, even a greatest-hits set would still have leftovers."
Gu Duo Fu: "Chinese music cannot do without Chu Zhi, just as the West cannot lose Jerusalem."
Quick takes first, to seize attention. Deep dives would come later. Like film analysis, music analysis is hard work. You must understand the piece better than the original creator.
In an age of viral hits and short videos that can launch any tune, it is rare for the whole country to discuss the same album together.
Chu Ci · Nine Songs not only sparked nationwide discussion, it sparked widespread debate. Some people love to drag one thing down to lift another, and to force others to admit their opinions.
"I am saying Blue and White Porcelain is the number one Chinese-style song, any objections?" Of course that set off arguments.
Great songs do more than feed the fan circle. They delight outsiders too. Suddenly, there was so much to hear.
The album dropped on the Winter Solstice.
By the next day, the heat snowballed. Different listeners had different needs.
For example, Xiao Yue brought a track to an old friend.
Xiao Yue, the first scholar to study Chu Zhi, had a daughter, Xiao Qing, who was a diehard Little Fruits. Xiao Qing's mood lately was terrible. She had missed the fan meet, failed to grab music-festival tickets, and also missed the physical albums released in Xitang. Despair.
Xiao Yue did not despair. He had snagged one physical album. He kept quiet about it.
Across from him sat Zhang Fengye, a professor in the Central Conservatory's Chinese traditional music department. People socialize in strata. Professors befriend professors.
"Chu Zhi really has your attention. You came all this way to recommend a song," Zhang Fengye laughed.
"I want you to listen to this, and tell me what you think of the lyrics," Xiao Yue said, handing over a Bluetooth earbud.
The opening guzheng and guqin did not surprise Zhang Fengye. He knew Chu Zhi's new Chinese-style work well and had cited it in lectures. Traditional instruments, reinvented.
"What is it called?" asked Zhang Fengye.
"Last Night's Letter," said Xiao Yue.
A voice flowed in the earbud. 🎵 "Last night the cold crickets chirped without cease. I startle awake from a thousand-li dream at the third watch. I rise and circle the steps alone…" 🎵
Hm? The wording rang familiar. Zhang Fengye thought it through. Was that not Yue Fei's Xiao Zhongshan · Last night the cold crickets chirped without cease?
===
"东风破" (Dōng Fēng Pò, "East Wind Breaks") — commonly known as a Jay Chou title.
"青花瓷" (Qīng Huā Cí, "Blue and White Porcelain") — Jay Chou.
"发如雪" (Fà Rú Xuě, "Hair Like Snow") — Jay Chou.
"烟花易冷" (Yānhuā Yì Lěng, "Fireworks Grow Cold") — Jay Chou.
"将军令" (Jiāng Jūn Lìng, "General's Command") — traditional-style title; various versions exist.
"昨夜书" (Zuó Yè Shū, "Last Night's Letter") — in-story title by Chu Zhi, lyrics drawing on Yue Fei's ci.
"红尘客栈" (Hóng Chén Kè Zhàn, "Inn of the Mortal World") — Jay Chou.
"江南" (Jiāngnán) — JJ Lin.
"沧海一声笑" (Cāng Hǎi Yī Shēng Xiào, "A Laugh in the Vast Sea") — classic theme; widely performed.
"倩女幽魂" (Qiàn Nǚ Yōu Hún, "A Chinese Ghost Story") — Leslie Cheung's iconic rendition is well known.
"花太香" (Huā Tài Xiāng, "Flowers Too Fragrant") — title used by various artists.
"赤伶" (Chì Líng / "The Red Operatic Performer") — modern opera-style song; widely covered.
"月光" (Yuè Guāng, "Moonlight") — title used by various artists.
"红颜" (Hóng Yán, "Beauty") — title used by various artists.
"只要平凡" (Zhǐ Yào Píng Fán, "Just Ordinary") — well-known Mandarin pop title; various duet versions exist