Shi Shi: X-Factors of Alt Pop

Pop is all the things we’re hardwired to love—it’s sweet and colourful and brings on the dopamine. Alternative pop, however, is more than a sugar rush. Though just as visceral, it’s harder to quantify—even for its creators. “As far as I see it, alternative pop has a variety of elements and can’t be categorised into a single genre,” Shi Shi tells Apple Music. “Perhaps it’s got a catchy melody, but its structure and arrangement, timbre, vocals and mix all have surprises that keep people guessing.” And those surprises are what inspire Shi Shi’s sound. The Korean-born, Taiwan-based artist has played with alt pop’s chemistry throughout a career that has seen her evolve from a pop singer-songwriter pushing for creative control to a major player in Taiwan’s R&B and neo-soul revival. This playlist is a periodic table of influences that cross continents, with tracks from pop icons Adele and Khalil Fong, K-pop giants like UI, KAI, HEIZE and BIBI and R&B innovators YELLOW, Lianne La Havas, The Crane and Crush. Genre aside, Shi Shi points to the artists’ choice of elements that earn them alt cred. “They’ve done things that people weren’t expecting, particularly when it comes to composition, arrangement and melody,” she says. “When I feel that kind of thing, I think that’s what makes it an alt-pop song.” There may be some unexpected choices on Shi Shi’s alt-pop list, such as *NSYNC’s “It’s Gonna Be Me”, which she counts among her first inklings of alt-pop awareness. “Its melodic mood and robotic vocal effects and transitions really caught my ear. Looking back on it now, songs like this really became the sustenance for my own songwriting,” she says, adding the same goes for after-school karaoke sessions singing R&B-laced K-pop by Shin Hyesung and Lyn. “We didn’t really try and discern if it was R&B back then, or what genre a song was. But it was happening in South Korea early on, so it was always part of pop.” While attending uni, Shi Shi started a rock band and discovered “funky” favourites such as “Shuraba - The Rat’s-Nest” by J-rock outfit Tokyo Incidents and Jason Mraz’s “The Dynamo of Volition”: “I started covering a lot of [Mraz’s] songs, and this one is among the hardest songs to take in but also the most enjoyable to sing. It will definitely blow you away!” Relocating to Taiwan, Shi Shi put out two albums of standard pop and straightforward balladry but hadn’t found a sound of her own. “I was still learning and following my label and feeling out whatever direction my coworkers gave.” It wasn’t until she sat in the producer’s chair for her third album, 女‧人Woman, that her “voice finally poured out.” “I decided that if I wanted to find my own style and sound, I should really start producing.” The obsessions of her teen years flourished into creative inspirations. “Reason” is a tribute to Mraz’s acoustic, fast-tempo delivery, long-gestating R&B influences morphed into the sensual “In and Out (feat. J.Sheon)” and on “Love Yourself” and “Almost”, she takes inspiration from Hebe Tien and JJ Lin, the C-pop greats that she looked up to. Beyond its sonic aspirations, 女‧人 Woman explores feminist expression with a down-to-earth foray into themes of sexuality, womanhood and independence. “I want to express what it’s like being a woman with those songs,” she says. That autonomy in songwriting and self-representation—a prime X factor for anything alt—puts her in the ranks of forward-thinking female artists like BIBI and Karencici, whom Shi Shi has “great respect for” and who fiercely challenge industry-imposed stereotypes. Shi Shi went full-throttle with SHI’s Journey, her Golden Melody Awards-sweeping fourth album that changed Taiwan’s pop landscape with its adventurous fusion R&B. One major motivation was to resist the “hit formula”: “Even though I obviously want to write something accessible, I’ll just give up on that route. It’s like something in me is resisting… like I’m fighting myself.” That creative struggle continued with album five. “Actually [producers] Razor [Chiang] and Mickey Lin would give me advice, like the chorus should be catchy or whatever, and I tried to write in that direction,” she says of the Where is SHI? sessions. “But I just ended up with ‘catchy’ songs that aren’t actually catchy.” Among the few critically and commercially successful challengers to C-pop formulas, Shi Shi knows it takes bravery to break the mould. “I think soul and R&B in Chinese-language pop is too focused on being pop,” she says. “I think we should all let go of that... I hope we can stop being afraid that no one will listen to it!” In her pursuit of the perfect alt-pop hook, Shi Shi acknowledges others whom she feels are innovating alt-pop. Her playlist includes “歪” by singer-songwriter Waa Wei and “明天 (feat. 王蕾 & 方大同)” (“Tomorrow”) from vocalist Diana Wang: “The way the song features [Diana’s] mother singing traditional opera is very innovative and meaningful,” she says. “I never thought these elements could be integrated into pop.” As Shi Shi moves forward on her alt-pop journey, she has also circled back. Recently, she put together a band and covered A-Yue Chang’s Mandopop classic “Break Up”—a nod to the rock roots in her college years. “I’m going to play in a band sooner or later,” she says. What is certain is that she’s not going to be predictable: “I can’t say for sure what style it will be, but it has to be something I’ve never done before.”