Chai Chang muses on modern technology by way of a dance floor-filler with debut single, New Reality.
Chai Chang has lamented the state of social media on New Reality, an dance-pop banger that serves as the Chinese-Australian singer’s debut English single.
The track brims with technicoloured electronic flairs from the outset, thrusting listeners into its danceable rhythms with EDM synths and polished production.
Like any great club banger, New Reality makes expert use of a climactic pre-chorus that crescendos into an ascendent explosion of earworm hooks and instrumental collisions.
While all the staples of electro-pop are there — from rapid tempos to pulsating beats — Chang infuses the single with more diverse elements, too.
This eclectic palette includes a range of futuristic effects, from the sound of a keyboard typing to the noise of an ended FaceTime call.
Elsewhere, in yet another showcase of Chang’s genre-flitting, New Reality includes a mid-song rap section, complete with rapid-fire cadences and multilingual delivery.
This verse also serves as the song’s dance-break; which is adorned in shimmering electronic flairs that seem purpose-built for a nightclub moshpit.
While there might be a tendency for Chang to focus solely on the danceability of the production, the singer elevates New Reality with a kind of thoughtful lyricism not always heard within EDM.
Here, Chang muses on the omnipresence of technology, infusing Black Mirror sentiments into an otherwise radio-ready ditty. “So I’ll just swipe my life away,” Chang pines in the song’s opening moments, “I will do anything it takes to get my five seconds of fame.”
The infusion of topical commentary within a pop song perhaps should be expected from Chang, who draws sonic influences from a diverse range of sounds including K-Pop and C-Pop.
“With my passion and determination, I hope the audience will feel and share my sincerity,” Chang said in a press statement. With a debut as stellar as this, we can’t help but anxiously await future releases from Chai Chang.
But in the meantime, we’ll happily dance (and thrash) along to New Reality. Listen to Chai Chang’s debut single below.
