Interview : Jia Huizhen

When Jia Huizhen, the two-member electro pop duo, played at Hot Cat Club a couple weeks ago, I was smitten. It’s dreamy, angry, and was pulsing with a singular voice. So when I confronted the shy, angelic voiced singer, who hails from Ningxia, on her journey to Beijing in pursuing her dream, I was ecstatic she was willingly to offer me some answers, though the owners at Hot Cat Club cut me short on time (mainly my own unprofessional fault). Here’s what she had to say…

When did you fell in love with music and decide to follow your dream?
你从什么时候起对音乐着迷的，决定要追随自己的音乐梦想?

I am a big fan of music and had this dream since I was a kid.
I came to Beijing in 2003, I met Yao Sichen then – we wanted to make an awesome album in 2005. The record industry was no longer booming in 2009, so we decided to do live shows in 2010. We were frustrated when trying to find some band mates, so it ended up with just two of us in this band.

我从小就很喜欢音乐，就一直有这个梦想。2003年我就来北京了，2005年和姚司晨一起做音乐，想做一个很好的唱片，到2009觉得唱片这个产业不是很景气。2010想出来演出，但是找乐手遇到很多困难。最后决定乐队就我们两个人。

How has your musical style changed since 2005?

从2005年到现在，你的音乐风格有什么变化？

We used to focus on our having a regular band format with our music but we do more electronic music now.
以前是以乐队的音乐为主，现在两个人偏向一点电子乐。

Are there a lot of dark undertones to your songs?
你的有些音乐听起来有些灰暗的味道，你是怎么看待你自己的音乐的？

I put my anger to the songs when I wrote them. A new song I played today also expressed my anger. But I would rather say it’s rebellion more than anger.

 我的有些歌曲在创作上是带有着愤怒，今天演出有首新歌也是表达了我的愤怒，这种愤怒更多的是一种反叛在里面。

You guys are doing more and more live shows in the recent year, what are your feelings on this?
在最近的一年里，大家能够看到你们越来越多的演出，你们有什么感受？

Absolutely we are very happy! But sometimes we get nervous and stressful when there is a big crowd off the stage – it also encourages us to create better songs.

当然是很高兴了，看的人多了我也会紧张，也会有压力，就要创作出更好的音乐。

Do you guys plan to make your own album?
在近期有没有想做自己的一张专辑。

We more than want to make an album, but we haven’t planned it yet.
So you guys have to wait patiently. Now we’ll looking to write more great songs in the sense of inner peace.

我们想要做一张专辑，非常想，但是现在还没有开始筹划。需要大家耐心等待了。 接下来还要静下心来创作出更多好的歌曲

Thanks Jia Huizhen!! Be sure to check her out alongside New Zealander Secret Knives (whose using two of our prominent music scenesters as a backing band) tomorrow, Thursday July 26th, at XP and at 13 Club, Saturday August 4th, the weekend after. And check out her douban page as well.