邱淑蟬：單依純〈我管不住我自己〉、鄭宜農〈人如何學會語言〉、Olivia Dean 〈Man I Need〉
[Interview] Shuchan Chiu on Her New EP Metamorphosing
Letting Go of Constraints, Learning to Live at Her Own Pace
It all began with the thought, “What if my mother kept a diary?” From there, Shuchan Chiu began writing her new EP, Metamorphosing.
Across its three tracks, the EP approaches growth, boundaries and freedom from different perspectives, continuing Chiu’s ongoing reflection on her own experiences. Using music as a way to gradually rediscover herself, and to better understand the things that once held her back.
Reuniting with producer Shuo Hsiao, the three songs unfold through distinct sounds and emotional landscapes. From a sense of uncertainty and tension to gradually letting go, what remains is ultimately a pace of life that belongs entirely to her.
But when we talk about “freedom”, what do we have to let go of before we can truly become ourselves?
Shuchan Chiu shared with us about Metamorphosing, as well as the stories of growth, family, language and music behind the EP.
Q1: When introducing “跼”, you said its original intention was: “I hope we never let age, identity or experience limit the ways we find happiness.” When do you think we start putting these invisible frameworks around ourselves? Have you done anything recently that felt like a small act of rebellion you’ll remember for the rest of your life?
Shuchan Chiu: I think everyone develops their own sense of self-consciousness at a different age, so I’m not sure exactly when it happens. But one person who reminded me to let go of that was a manager I had after entering the workforce. We used to laugh at him for being so childish in his thirties, and he would proudly tell us, “There’s a 17-year-old teenager living inside me.”
I really admired that sense of freedom, the way he could be mature and wise while still being childish and humorous at the same time.
When I went to Malaysia for a performance at the beginning of August, I brought my Switch but didn’t bring an extra controller. I wanted to sit around in the living room and play games with everyone, so during a break in the schedule, I rushed out to buy one. For three days in a row, no matter how late we got back, we had to play one or two rounds before going to bed.
I feel like, ten years from now, when I look back on that performance trip, the Switch controller will definitely be among the top three things I remember. It’s amazing that such a memorable and happy experience only cost NT$2,000, and a little bit of sleep!
And there’s more!! We didn’t measure the elevator properly, so a sofa a friend gave us wouldn’t fit inside. With the attitude of “Let’s create an unforgettable memory together,” my boyfriend and I carried a solid-wood sofa measuring 210 cm × 91 cm × 81 cm all the way up to the 13th floor.
I was so full of regret, but it was also incredibly satisfying. Hahaha!
Q2: The inspiration for this EP came from a thought you had while writing in your diary: “What if my mother kept a diary?” While writing these songs, was there ever a moment when you felt you had truly understood your mother?
Shuchan Chiu: I don’t think I’ll ever truly understand my mother.
She grew up in a time when there weren’t many choices. She got married at 21, became a mother and raised four children. Meanwhile, even at 29, I still have the freedom to explore what I want to do with my life.
We children often tell our parents, “You should just be yourself.” But that sentence doesn’t really mean anything to my mother. If she knew who she was, why wouldn’t she have simply been herself?
So eventually, I decided that I wanted to take my mother on a journey to “find herself”, to experience things she never had the opportunity to experience before, like going to trendy cafés. [laughs]
Maybe through that process, I’ll gradually come to understand her constraints and the things she had to suppress as well.
Q3: The second track, “扭緪”, explores the awakening of self-awareness and the process of learning to redraw your own boundaries. In everyday life, saying no is often one of the hardest things to do. Was there a particular turning point when you learned to “扭緪”, to push back against the outside world and find your own place again?
Shuchan Chiu: A lot of my growth after entering the workforce came from the people I met. The production team behind my first album, Shuo, Chufang and Chiyuan, were willing to tell me the truth whenever they felt I was lacking in some way, and they stayed by my side as I worked towards becoming a better version of myself.
Through that process, I gradually built confidence in myself.
So perhaps it wasn’t one particular “turning point”, but rather “a period of time”. Looking back, I realised that the timid little bird who once couldn’t even make eye contact with people had gradually become more willing to speak up and express her own voice.
Q4: For “扭緪”, you invited Chia-Chin Tu, drummer of Elephant Gym, to contribute to the arrangement and record the drums. You’ve mentioned that it was a “rhythm-first” song, where Chia-Chin first gave you a rough beat before you began writing. Did being led by such a strong rhythmic foundation help you break through some of the limitations you had placed on your imagination? Did it make you a little more “rebellious” in your music?
Shuchan Chiu: I remember finishing the song along with Chia-Chin’s demo and feeling this sense of “痛快”, a kind of exhilarating release.
When I start a song entirely on my own, it’s difficult to create such a clear and powerful sense of movement. So yes, it definitely pushed me beyond the limitations of my own creative process and imagination.
Q5: From the haziness of “跼” and the tension of “扭緪” to the more expansive sense of freedom at the end of “無爭”, how did you use different sounds and instruments in the arrangements to express the emotions and stories of each song?
Producer Shuo Hsiao:
“跼” — The bar lines are blurred, with vocal phrasing that feels almost conversational and intertwined electric guitars. Everything develops from a linear central axis, like a beam of light shooting straight ahead, gradually expanding with a subtle halo around it. The drums that enter towards the end accompany the chorus with rhythm, taking the song from a hazy state towards openness. It reflects the emotional state of a family coming together to see their father off.
“扭緪” — The rhythm section represents the parents, while the electric guitar represents the children. The rhythm section interacts, competes and supports one another, without necessarily following the expected rules. The vocal humming introduces the title of the song. In the final chorus, the children loudly declare their position, while the slowing drums represent their gradually slowing footsteps. The structure emerged naturally through a jam session in the studio.
“無爭” — The atmosphere is quite different from the demo. When I heard Shuchan singing and playing the song by herself at her family home, I could hear an anger that she wasn’t necessarily conscious of.
In Hakka, “無爭” carries almost the opposite meaning from the same phrase in Mandarin, and I wanted to bring that contrast into the arrangement.
I hope that one day, the various forms of constraint placed on women—physical, social, and those we impose upon ourselves—especially for mothers, can be broken. I wanted them to be like the electric-guitar riff: something that catches your ear, allowing you to live at your own pace and dance to your own disco.
Unlike an openness that comes naturally, this is a kind of courage forged through hardship and setbacks. It is a form of freedom that also allows you to empathise with others.
Q6: After the attention your debut album Shape of Life received, you’ve reunited with Shuo Hsiao for this EP. Has anything changed in the way the two of you interact in the studio? Did she give you any particular musical inspiration this time around?
Shuchan Chiu: Shuo and I have stayed very closely connected since my first album. We talk about all kinds of things—music, growth, emotional struggles and the things that worry us—so when the ideas behind No Struggle began to take shape, I barely needed to explain anything. She could already understand the conflicts and stories behind the songs.
That made the vocal recording process incredibly efficient. We could pick up the ball from each other almost immediately!
Q7: When you feel constrained in everyday life, do you have any personal method for dealing with that feeling that you could share with us?
Shuchan Chiu: Find somewhere quiet and think about something happy.
For example, I often fantasise about winning NT$10 million. I mean, we could call it “thinking”. I think about how I’d divide it up after stamp duty and income tax, what kind of house I’d buy, how I’d decorate it…
I believe there’s some power in the idea that what you wish for can come true.
[says this with a completely straight face while talking absolute nonsense]
[Wait, is typing things in brackets like this really LKK?]
[But I can’t control it.]
[Just thinking about it makes me so happy.]
Q8: Music can give people strength. For you, what kind of strength or superpower does the Hakka language give you?
Shuchan Chiu: Through creating music in Hakka, I discovered that Meinong has its own particular accent and vocabulary.
After connecting with Hakka artists from different linguistic backgrounds, I realised how difficult it already is to create in your mother tongue. Being able to preserve the accent of your own hometown makes it even more moving.
Maybe one day we really won’t be able to speak Hakka anymore. But at least I can leave behind sounds and memories through music, something that can almost be archaeologically excavated in the future.
Whenever I think about that, I feel that I’m doing something truly worthwhile.
Q9: You’re about to embark on a tour of headline shows. What kind of connection are you most looking forward to creating with your audience in person?
Shuchan Chiu: Just as I hoped with my first album, I hope that at certain moments in their lives, my music can be there to accompany them.
Q10: Finally, could you share a few songs you’ve been playing on repeat recently, songs that make you feel free?
Shuchan Chiu: Shan Yichun “I Can’t Control Myself”; Enno Cheng “How Does One Learn a Language”; and Olivia Dean “Man I Need”.
Robot Swing’s London Debut: Letting the Unexpected Become Part of the Music
On 28 September, Taiwanese instrumental quartet Robot Swing took the stage at The Grace in London, performing alongside British contemporary jazz sextet Happy Garden and Cosmos Zero.
From Happy Garden’s improvised set to the ever-shifting rhythms of Robot Swing’s performance, the night was full of spontaneous exchanges between the musicians and the audience. At times relaxed, at times intense, the music kept moving in unexpected directions as the four members responded to one another in the moment.
For Robot Swing, a live show is never simply about replaying the songs. It is about creating something together in the moment with each other and with the audience, making every performance something that can only happen once.
For their London debut, this Taiwanese “robot” left behind a night of its own in a new city.
Taiwanese instrumental quartet Robot Swing consists of ZAOYUAN (keyboard & synthesizer), FlyingPP (drums), NZ (bass), and Wei-Nong (guitar & Vocoder). On 28 September, they took the stage at The Grace in London, performing alongside British contemporary jazz sextet Happy Garden and Cosmos Zero. It marked Robot Swing’s first performance in London, while also bringing together musicians from Taiwan and the UK through music.
Also present at the venue was zine.furyo, the independent “Furyo” magazine, distributing its newspapers and zines. Beyond the music, these printed works offered another way for the audience to step into Robot Swing’s robotic universe.
The evening began with opening performances from Cosmos Zero and Happy Garden, gradually warming up the room. Keyboardist ZAOYUAN had arrived in London ahead of the rest of the band, and it was through local jam sessions that he connected with musicians from Happy Garden and Cosmos Zero, laying the groundwork for this cross-border collaboration.
Happy Garden brought plenty of interaction with the crowd, at one point inviting everyone to crouch down and jump together before suddenly opening up a circle for everyone to dance. The audience quickly joined in, turning from spectators into part of the performance and transforming the venue into a constantly shifting space.
Robot Swing then unexpectedly joined Happy Garden for an improvised performance, bringing different musical languages together in real time. Before Robot Swing had even officially taken the stage, the spark of this cross-border collaboration had already happened.
Then, Robot Swing took the stage.
The opening track, “Robot Revolution”, wasted little time with introductions. The four musicians immediately pushed the music forward with a powerful sense of rhythm and impact. At times, a vocoder gave voice to the robots’ declarations, while rock, funk and jazz intertwined throughout. The rhythm kept shifting, with the four musicians throwing musical ideas back and forth like a game of catch, moving freely between one another.
That sense of unpredictability quickly spread to the audience.
If Robot Swing had just pushed the room towards the dance floor, “Deep Breath” suddenly slowed everything down.
The atmosphere became calm and spacious as the band invited everyone to relax and take a deep breath, almost like entering a brief moment of meditation. This sharp change in mood is part of what makes Robot Swing’s live shows so engaging: rather than simply building towards a constant peak, they can change direction at any moment, leaving the audience wondering what might happen next.
The real “unexpected moment”, however, came during “Robot in No Man’s Land”.
Midway through the performance, guitarist Wei-Nong broke a guitar string. For many bands, that might mean stopping the show, but Robot Swing simply carried on. Wei-Nong called on Cosmos Zero and Happy Garden for help, borrowing a guitar and continuing the performance.
The sudden interruption did nothing to break the flow of the show. Instead, it became one of the night’s most memorable moments.
And the broken string did not go to waste either. Wei-Nong kept it and eventually gave it to the audience member who received the loudest cheers. What could have been a stressful moment of “system failure” instead became a small keepsake shared between the stage and the crowd.
For Robot Swing, unexpected moments are not necessarily something to avoid. Sometimes, they push the four musicians into an even more immediate state of reaction. Those unpredictable variables are precisely what make each performance something that can only happen once.
Robot Swing later invited Cosmos Zero back on stage for a collaboration. With his distinctive, rapid-fire improvised rap and playful presence alongside Robot Swing’s musicianship, the energy in the room reached its peak.
Towards the end of the set, Robot Swing performed “Goodbye Stranger”, the 1979 classic by British progressive rock band Supertramp. Performing a British classic in London seemed to give the moment an added sense of significance. As the familiar melody re-emerged through Robot Swing’s instrumentation, it felt like a brief musical conversation between the band and the city’s musical culture.
But the audience clearly was not ready for the night to end.
For the encore, Robot Swing returned with “Taiwanese Football”, bringing the room back to the familiar Robot Swing groove. From Taiwan to London, through collaborations, improvisation, unexpected moments and musical collisions, the night ultimately came to a close with something unmistakably their own.
The venue did not empty immediately after the show.
Many fans stayed behind with posters, waiting for autographs, while the band chatted warmly with the audience. ZAOYUAN continued greeting people until the venue was preparing to close, finally bringing Robot Swing’s first London night to an end.
In our interview with Robot Swing ahead of the show, we asked what an ideal performance would look like.
ZAOYUAN answered: “When everyone on stage and in the audience feels that this performance can only happen once, that’s the best kind of show.”
Perhaps that was exactly what happened in London on 28 September.
There was improvisation, dancing and the unexpected, and, yes, a little bit of “system failure”. But Robot Swing never tried to hide those variables. Instead, they made them part of the performance.
When a guitar string breaks, when the next sound cannot be predicted, the music does not stop.
禪波ZENBØ：Brent Faiyaz〈four seasons.〉、Future〈California Girls〉、Erykah Badu〈Witch Doctor〉、Jorja Smith〈I Lied, You Lied〉
🌬️《DUST BLOWING》專輯曲目 TRACK LIST：
① INTRO
② BLUE GRAY Feat.highlee
③ 雰囲気 Feat.鄭雙雙SherryZ
④ 三分鐘熱度 Feat.阿橘 Ahh G
⑤ DESTINED Feat.Neci
⑥ 中中
⑦ DEEPER
⑧ SKY DROWNING
⑨ GOOD TO SEE U （additional vocal by Trout Fresh /呂士軒）
⑩ OUTRO
⑪ BLOW YOUR MIND Feat.李英宏 aka DJDIDILONG
Interview ｜ ZENBØ: Blowing the Dust Away, Finding Myself Again
From Despair to Healing: An Honest Look at DUST BLOWING
ZENBØ’s third studio album, DUST BLOWING, was officially released on 1 October!
From GEEKNONOBITA and Caffeine to his latest record, ZENBØ takes a different approach this time, stripping away the characters and layers that shaped his previous work to place himself more directly at the centre of the music, confronting both life and himself.
Faced with unexpected changes in life, he channels his anxieties, scars and emotions into the record, documenting a journey from despair to healing while using the creative process to make sense of himself along the way.
In this interview, ZENBØ shares the creative process behind DUST BLOWING, as well as his thoughts on love, relationships, and the journey of finding himself again.
Q1: Your previous albums, GEEKNONOBITA and Caffeine, both built striking worlds of their own, with distinctive visual identities and characters woven into the music. With your third album, DUST BLOWING, you described it as a record that is “more honest and direct” than anything you have made before. Looking back across these three albums, what do you see as the biggest shift in DUST BLOWING? What made you decide to strip away some of the layers and place yourself more directly into the work?
ZENBØ: This shift came from an accident earlier this year, when a family member was injured in a car accident. It made me realise that reality continues to change as time passes, whether we are ready for it or not. In the past, I was always creating from a place of fantasy. I felt that it was time to acknowledge reality, to stop simply constructing scenarios within my imagination and instead face the problems in my life in a more mature and direct way.
My first two albums were more about fantasies and desires. Through character-building and different creative elements, I used them to allude to the way I imagined my real life. This time, I wanted to take off some of those layers and approach the music more from my own perspective, expressing what I was genuinely feeling during this period of my life.
Q2: You have described DUST BLOWING as a record that documents a journey “from depression to healing”, almost like an epilogue to a period of trauma. The title evokes the image of blowing dust away, and you have also spoken about brushing the dust off yourself and trying to put the lost pieces of yourself back together. What does that “dust” represent to you? And once it began to clear, did you feel any lighter?
ZENBØ: To answer that, I have to go back to my mini-album CASH BURNING, which I released last year. The inspiration came from the pressures of survival, with capitalism as the central theme of the record. Once all the money has burned away, what remains is a pile of ashes. DUST BLOWING continues that concept.
While I was recording the album, I didn't particularly feel like I was becoming lighter. That feeling only came to me suddenly when the album was finally completed. The anxiety I had at the beginning gradually started to heal as I used the songs to have conversations with myself.
Q3: “三分鐘熱度” wraps the idea of modern-day fast-food romance in a retro, bouncy Miami Bass groove. How did the song first come together? And after writing it, what made you realise that Ahh G’s voice would be a good fit for the track?
ZENBØ: When I was making the song with chillaxe, I actually gave him tracks by K-pop groups like NewJeans and KiiiKiii as references. Around the same time, a lot of Western artists were also starting to release music in this style—Drake, Tyler, The Creator, Ty Dolla $ign, JID, Metro Boomin and others. There weren't many artists in Taiwan exploring this sound yet, so I wanted to be one of the first to do it. That way, when people eventually caught on to the trend, they would have to watch me do it first.
As for Ahh G, I originally brought her in to provide backing vocals on other songs from the album. Her voice has a quality that reminds me of Ariana Grande, and I needed something sweet but still piercing for “三分鐘熱度”. So as soon as we finished the backing vocals, I immediately decided to bring her back to record the song itself.
Q4: The dreamy single “Destined” features Neci, the lead vocalist of Neci Ken, marking an unexpected collaboration. Moving from the push and pull of a fleeting romance in “三分鐘熱度” towards something deeper and more fated, could you tell us about the concept behind the song? What made you think of working with Neci, and what did she bring to the track?
ZENBØ: We made the song in producer YONG’s room, and I think we finished writing it in about two hours. At the time, I was thinking about the kind of atmosphere you hear in Mac Miller or Frank Ocean. I wanted to make something soft and melodic, without too much rapping. During that period, I really wanted to explore more bedroom-music-inspired sounds and show a softer side of myself.
I believe that every encounter between people, whether friendship or love, is a connection shaped by fate. That was the feeling I had when I wrote the song. I met Neci at a brand event, and later invited her to sing on the track. She happily agreed.
I think her voice has something pure, sacred and incredibly clean about it. When the recording was finished and I heard the final version for the first time, I genuinely felt like the song was radiating this intense holy light...
Q5: “三分鐘熱度” explores the tension between wanting freedom and being afraid of falling too deeply, while the album also touches on love, insecurity and imagining the future. Looking back at these songs, what matters most to you in a relationship, and what are you still trying to understand about love? After making this album, has your understanding of love changed in any way?
ZENBØ: In relationships, I'm usually the one being taken care of. What matters most to me is the other person's attention, and the feeling of two people giving everything to each other without expecting anything in return.
After making this album, my definition of love has actually become closer to the idea of “sharing”. It's the feeling of instinctively thinking, whatever happens, “There's a part of this that belongs to them too.” I used to be more inclined to think only about myself, but after truly experiencing love, I've also become more aware of how to consider the other person.
Q6: After completing DUST BLOWING, if you were to treat the album as a mirror, what kind of ZENBØ do you see reflected back at you? Did making this record overturn any ideas you previously had about yourself, or force you to confront things you thought you had already moved past?
ZENBØ: Through this album, I saw a version of ZENBØ who was struggling with everything he had, yet still had to maintain a smile and his composure.
If life were a video game, I'd say I was facing all these challenges with my HP below 10%. But it was precisely through that process that I gradually learned the skill of finding a way out when I'm cornered.
I went from simply trying to survive to slowly learning how to regulate my breathing. Even though I was exhausted and my feet were covered in wounds, they never stopped moving forward.
Q7: Your third pre-release single, “雰囲気”, was released worldwide on September 24. Could you tell us about the story behind the song? And what side of DUST BLOWING does it represent?
ZENBØ: We made the song at Bradd's studio. I remember his studio was in Dazhi, which was quite far from where I was. That night, we were heading to an event in Zhongshan, and we got caught in heavy traffic on the way. I was looking at the headlights and the night view from the highway when I unconsciously started humming this melody.
We met at the studio again the next day and finished “雰囲気” almost entirely on instinct. The song represents the more “blue” side of DUST BLOWING. It carries a little bit of that nighttime fantasy, a desire to immerse myself in the atmosphere and temporarily escape from reality.
Q8: Could you imagine creating a Miami Bass series, or a series exploring other genres, similar to the New Taipei CITY POP 市民 KTV series?
ZENBØ: Rather than following the same format as New Taipei CITY POP 市民 KTV, I personally prefer the idea of collaborating with more DJs and bringing this kind of sound properly into clubs and onto dance floors.
I also recommend checking out my Spotify page. I've put together a Miami Bass playlist there, so people can really feel the energy of the genre.
Q9: You’ll be heading to Tokyo on October 5 to perform as part of the Two Waves showcase. What kind of connection or reaction are you hoping your hip-hop music will create with Japanese listeners? You’ll also return to Kaohsiung for Takao Rock on October 10. Is there a plan for a solo show in the near future?
ZENBØ: I actually watched Leo Wang perform at the same venue last December, so I'm really excited to be heading to Japan to perform there myself this time. I hope music can cross the language barrier and allow more Japanese listeners to discover an artist from Taiwan with a sound like mine.
As for a solo show, we're still discussing it. Of course, I hope listeners will continue to support and listen to my music, and I also hope more promoters and event organisers will invite me to perform. Once I have built a large enough fanbase and gained more live experience, I'll have the opportunity to start seriously discussing a solo show.
Q10: Finally, could you share a few songs or artists you’ve been playing on repeat lately?
ZENBØ:
Brent Faiyaz — “four seasons.” Future — “California Girls” Erykah Badu — “Witch Doctor” Jorja Smith — “I Lied, You Lied”
