Tanya Chua: Music Time Capsule

Tanya Chua has a particular audience in mind for her Year of the Snake selections. “While some people gather together for the holiday, others want to be on their own,” the Taipei-based Singaporean artist tells Apple Music. “This playlist is especially for them, to bring them warmth while they’re alone.” The singer-songwriter’s playlist—punctuated by her own songs, including selections from Imperfect Us, her 2024 foray into writing for film—consists of music that spoke to her at various points in her career. It originated as an alphabetic list of one artist per letter and remains largely in alphabetical order, prompting Chua to remark on how well-suited Ane Brun’s “Do You Remember” is as a lead-off track: “Remember all the good things from the year that’s just ended and then head forward into the next.” Her celebrations consist of a spring cleaning followed by getting together with friends. “The past few years, I’ve had my holiday dinners with Jolin Tsai and other girlfriends,” she says. “They’re like family to me.” Looking to the future, Chua has just one resolution for 2025—to have no goals. “I want to treasure every moment, to connect with the cosmos and look for what new information it might have for me,” she says. “Having no goals is a great way to live life. It’ll definitely give you plenty of surprises.”