- The award-winning songstress, who names Mariah Carey as one of her idols, has an urban sound that is challenging the dominance of pop, rock and folk in China
She has the force of Jill Scott, the command of India Arie, and the precision of Erykah Badu.
Since her talents first went public on The Voice of China 10 years ago, singer Tia Ray – Yuan Yawei to Chinese speakers – has harnessed the global popularity of urban sounds to produce four critically acclaimed albums and one of the bestselling singles in the world, disrupting the usual mainland monopolies of pop, rock and folk along the way.
Urban music has its roots in the soul and R&B of 1970s America, a time when China’s “opening up” allowed the circulation of foreign cultures. Chinese listeners were instantly drawn to Western pop, rock and disco, but Tia Ray’s influences from that time, including Ray Charles and later progenitors such as Brian McKnight, were considered niche in China.
Half a century of candy-coated pop dominance later, the R&B roots of urban music have become the third fastest-growing genre in China, following rap and electronica, according to a recent report released by Chinese internet platform Tencent’s research institute.
Now the 37-year-old vocalist, who has segued from indie lounge singer to stadium sensation, epitomises China’s diversifying taste in music and the global potential for its artists.
Tia has followings in Malaysia and Singapore, and Americans are gradually opening up to her thanks to her collaborations with some of the biggest singers and producers in the United States.
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Tia Ray made the move from the mountains of Huaihua, Hunan, to the sprawl of Beijing at the age of 18. There, she met like-minded talents from all over the world, notably US native Jewell Fortenberry, also known as Jay Dub, with whom she formed a neo-soul/hip hop band called Tha KnutZ in 2010.
A few Tha KnutZ performances can still be found online, including one from 12 years ago at Hong Kong jazz venue Peel Fresco, a space as welcoming to new artists as it is to international acts. In one video, Tia goes ’90s grunge in a checked shirt, jeans and a pair of black Chucks while nailing the 1975 Roberta Flack classic, Feel Like Makin’ Love.
With her popularity growing in Beijing, she was invited to record a Chinese version of Need You Now, a global hit by American country band Lady A, to be included in the international version of their 2011 album, Own The Night.
In 2012, Tia made her fateful appearance on The Voice of China, with a jazzy rendition of pop pioneer Liu Huan’s 1989 classic lullaby A Crescent Moon, in a new arrangement by Tia and Fortenberry.
The cover captivated Liu, then a judge on the show, who took her into his team and each week guided her to perform the demanding songs that aligned with her personal style, including Etta James’ At Last (1960), Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy (2006) and Sarah Chen’s Red Dust (1990). She finished her journey on the show as one of Liu’s final four, in the top 16 contestants – and with a raft of new fans.
“China needs a singer like her,” Liu said at the time.
While Tia didn’t make it to the final, she became a favourite of Liu’s, a lecturer in Western music history at Beijing’s University of International Business and Economics since 1986, and who remains a mentor to her. She calls him for advice and guidance, and he shows up to support her. He was recently spotted at a concert for her latest album, Once Upon A Moon (2021).
Beamed in via video call, Tia is cosying up in her Beijing flat – her thick, dark hair swept to one side, pink cardigan matching the sofa – as she talks gleefully about the Chinese music industry’s new-found diversity. “It’s almost like this is what I’ve been waiting for,” she says.
She names a new cohort of urban musicians finding nationwide success, including Nigel Tay, Deng Yilun, Den (Deng Jie) and Dollarzoo (Tao Leran), all of whom were invited to write or produce on Once Upon a Moon.
“I chose them myself,” she says. “Firstly, not one person is capable of everything. Secondly, while we are musically like-minded, they can provide me with ideas and a sense of freshness, which then allow me to discover parts of myself that I had not seen before.
“The freshers love me and I love them back,” she says. “They are a sign that urban music has truly taken off in China.”
“You deserve it, your presence in Chinese music is an honour to all of us,” one fan wrote. “A musician who persists will eventually be seen, and the day is here,” wrote another.
In-frame behind Tia on the video call is an assortment of awards placed casually on a CD cabinet, including one for best new-generation female singer. It was given by the China Media Group, which encompasses all the national radio and television channels, and other official media outlets.
An R&B musician achieving this level of nationwide success was unimaginable when Tia started out.
“What I’m doing now is what I’ve always done. I’ve never changed; what changed is the audience – I’ve just been persevering and loving what I do,” she says.
Her name was first heard outside China when she released Be Apart, which became the seventh bestselling single in the world in 2018, generating the equivalent of 10.9 million physical units and more than four billion streams worldwide, according to data released in 2019 by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI).
This made her the first and only Chinese singer to appear on the IFPI’s Global Singles chart, alongside Drake, Ed Sheeran and Maroon 5.
“I used to not want to talk about the song because it’s not one I wrote myself, but now I do acknowledge how redoing a song could also be powerful by reaching and touching more people,” Tia says – and, maybe by way of justifying the decision to release a cover, cites Whitney Houston taking Dolly Parton’s I Will Always Love You to even greater heights.
Be Apart was originally sung by 24-year-old Hong Kong singer Jennifer Chan Wing-tung. This and other covers became chartbusters, solidifying Tia as a household name in China and earning her performances on CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala, an annual variety show watched by over a billion people, in 2018 and 2021.
In her first performance, she sang her original jazz number Outstanding, alongside Kazakh musician Dimash Kudaibergen and Taiwanese rocker Jam Hsiao Jing-teng, who she’d met in 2017 on the television series Singer in which established musicians from China and around the world compete for 12 or more weeks.
Tia also competed in the show’s final season, in 2020, coming first runner-up to rock sensation Hua Chenyu.
“Her voice is ageless and timeless to me, she can exist in any era without being bound by it,” Tia says, scrolling through her phone for their frequent and affectionate text exchanges. She plays a voice message of herself singing “I miss you” to Lam.
“My ultimate goal and dream is to make a song with her, and I don’t care how long I’ll have to wait,” she says.
With her fourth album, Once Upon A Moon, Tia feels she has evolved from a state of yearning for validation into one without self-imposed boundaries. A testament to what she calls her “spiritual elevation”, the 35-minute record took more than six months to make, during which time she turned down several performances and appearances.
“Most people either want to be celebrated or don’t want to be questioned, and I’m no different,” she explains, with a humble smile. “But I’ve grown in the process of creating this album, where I’m simplifying things, hence leaving more space for listeners to imagine and interpret the message for themselves.”
From start to finish, Moon oozes a sensual, almost sedative ambience. Tia’s usual showcase of range is replaced with an immaculate attention to detail, her voice varying from falsetto to susurrations. This is particularly discernible on Emo Whiskey – on which Tia sings seductively about an evening spent drinking alone to a luxuriously soulful beat – and on Gravity, where her skills shine through.
“Other than writing and creating music,” she says, “I spent twice the amount of time I normally would to study and experiment with the projection of my voice, which is in itself an instrument.”
On Moon, Tia aims to convey a sense of freedom and romance, a sweet escape from the stresses of life. “I hope it makes you want to call somebody you love,” she says.
Created almost entirely during midnight sessions in her Beijing studio, she says moonlight was “a source of energy” for her to document her most vulnerable moments.
“I am most able to understand, analyse, accept and embrace every facet of myself during nighttime, when things are quiet and serene,” she says. The stillness allowed her to communicate with her inner romantic: “If everyone could learn to connect with their own style of romance, the world would be a more wonderful place.”
Romance aside, a life-threatening experience two years ago gave birth to the other motif of the album, a butterfly with which she says she had a “spiritual exchange”.
“The butterfly lingered on my body for three to five minutes, even as I moved. I felt like it was trying to tell me something,” she says. “Immediately after the encounter, I got into a serious car accident, I was lucky to have survived. From then on, the butterfly became a symbol of protection for me.”
Tia has not talked about the crash before. It happened in the hills of Chongqing, western China, after she’d left her show with her manager, and the car rolled over several times, coming to rest on the edge of a cliff. Concealing her injuries from the public, she wore an outfit that covered her from the neck down in her next performance only a day later.
“As I began thinking more about [my] philosophy of life and my personal values, I saw the parallels between the life cycle of humans and butterflies. They have a very short lifespan, but they are equally able to flourish, to be stunning and to pursue freedom – quite similar to our wants as humans.”
In the elegant video for Little Too Much, a pop-infused tune created with Grammy-nominated producer duo The Monarch, Tia sits angelically on a puff of clouds before transforming into a crystal butterfly; her idol Mariah Carey also claims the butterfly as a spirit animal.
A still from the video later became the cover of the limited-edition vinyl record, which sold out within minutes of its release.
The six videos from the album have collectively generated 36 million views on Weibo.
Tia was in Brandon’s Way studio in Los Angeles recording her third album, 1212, in 2018, with multi-platinum-selling producer Khristopher Riddick-Tynes, when a middle-aged gentleman, quiet and modestly dressed, walked into the premise.
From the window of her ambiently lit recording booth, Tia assumed the man was one of the in-house technicians. But after finishing her parts and returning to the mixing room, Tia realised it was actually her musical hero, Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, owner of the studio and 12-time Grammy winner who wrote Madonna’s Take A Bow (1994), Mary J. Blige’s Not Gon’ Cry (1995) and Aretha Franklin’s It Hurts Like Hell (1996), to say nothing of his own solo career.
Impressed by Tia’s vocals, he picked up a guitar for an impromptu jam session. The two began free-styling riffs and runs before coming up with a melody.
“I was a fangirl to this superstar, frozen while trying to suppress my excitement and maintain my composure,” says Tia, “I still remember the encounter like it was yesterday, and I hope to release the song when the right time and opportunity arrive.”
Since signing with Warner Music, Tia has worked with some of R&B’s biggest producers and songwriters, including Malaysian-American Grammy winner Malay Ho, one of the masterminds behind Frank Ocean’s chart-topping 2012 album Channel Orange, and Trey Campbell, whose credits can be found on recent releases by Celine Dion, John Legend and Banks.
04:16
Chinese R&B pioneer Tia Ray on success, her new album and China’s evolving music landscape
She remains close to former bandmates from Tha KnutZ, who occasionally join her for performances. They are finding their own successes in China’s emerging urban music scene or, as she calls it, “circle”, with some playing for her friends Khalil Fong and A-Lin in Hong Kong and Taipei, respectively.
While Tha KnutZ hasn’t appeared as a group since Tia went solo, a reunion can be expected soon.
“One of my most important upcoming projects is to reunite with my bandmates and release a band album,” says Tia, “perhaps singing some jazz.”
This year marks the 10th anniversary of her appearance on The Voice of China and Tia will continue to blaze a trail – leading a new generation of R&B talent.
“I don’t have thoughts for the next 10 years, because I strongly believe that if I do my best today, my future will not be too bad,” she says. “It will fall into place naturally. If I were to plan what it is supposed to look like, it would all be a bit dull. I like to go with the flow.”
Tia Ray’s top 3
Singers
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Sandy Lam Yik-lin
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Michael Jackson
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Mariah Carey
Albums
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D’Angelo – Voodoo (2000)
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Anderson .Paak – Malibu (2016)
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Erykah Badu – Baduizm (1997)
Tia Ray songs
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Love Can Fly (2014)
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Amor (2014)
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Midnight (2021)
Places
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Hunan
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New York
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London
Ways to wind down
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Meditate
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Swim
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Enjoy a meal cooked by her mother
