The Asian diaspora has slowly but surely permeated the upper echelons of the cultural sphere, from starring in Hollywood blockbusters to racking up Olympic medals. If their musical releases so far this year are any indication, it is only a matter of time before Asian artists expand their influence on the music industry as the tastemakers of tomorrow.
From dazzling debuts to genre-bending opuses, here are six of our favorite recent albums from some of the brightest musical stars of Asian descent.
āMahalā by Toro y Moi
Named after the Tagalog word for āexpensiveā and ālove,ā Toro y Moiās latest project takes listeners on a hazy summer joyride from a bygone era in his Filipino jeepney. The album, which opens with the revving of an engine and is woven together by the wubs and crackles of an analog radio, creates a vintage sonic aesthetic that effortlessly pairs with the chillwave pioneerās striking production style. By blending elements of psychedelic rock and soul from the ā70s with eclectic electronics, the audible journey that Toro y Moi guides listeners through is as nostalgic as it is boldly contemporary.Ā Ā
āDualityā by Luna Li
With her debut album, Luna Li marries her classical training with her indie rock sensibilities to cultivate lush and enchanting soundscapes. The multi-talented Toronto-based musician offers hypnotizing vocals and lyrics of love and longing against a milieu of carefully orchestrated instrumentals ranging from shimmering strings to grungy guitar riffs. āDualityā is a blissful play on dichotomies that have begun to define Liās personal and musical identities ā never has such dissonance sounded so dreamy.Ā
āLaurel Hellā by Mitski
Four years after being launched into the stratosphere of indie-rock stardom with the release of the universally acclaimed album āBe The Cowboy,ā Mitski has returned with an 11-track testimonial rejecting the excesses of her newfound fame. While the albumās synth-pop-inspired production may sound like an appeal to broader musical trends, it serves as an ironic counterpoint to the singer-songwriterās piercingly unfiltered yet tantalizingly ambiguous reflections on her strained relationships with what could be either a past lover, her fans or the music industry as a whole.
āGabrielā by Keshi
A student of lo-fi hip hop, Keshi has channeled the subgenreās wistful melancholy to become one of the hottest rising R&B artists in the industry. While his long-awaited debut album mostly plays to his strengths, chock-full of tender acoustics and flawless falsettos, Keshi is at his best when he takes musical risks. For instance, the albumās standout opening track āGet Itā is a Brockhampton-esque mixture of 808-and-siren-soaked braggadocio and tender crooning that sheds light on Keshiās extraordinary potential for musical versatility and growth.Ā Ā Ā
āSuperacheā by Conan Gray
In an interview with NME in 2021, Conan Gray revealed that he is an āintense romanticā who makes any minor situation āmuch more than what it was at the moment.ā In his sophomore effort, Grayās hyper-sensitivity takes center stage as he crafts peppy bops and power ballads to capture an array of painful emotions, from the anxiety behind a confession to the agony of unrequited love. Grayās performances throughout his latest album are theatrical and impassioned to the extent that he amplifies even the smallest of stings into a grandiose āSuperache.āĀ
āGlitch Princessā by Yeule
As the lines between technology and its creators are increasingly blurred, Yeule offers a chaotic yet carefully crafted sonic glimpse into the coalescence between man and machine. āGlitch Princessā cleverly deconstructs the underpinnings of the (post)human condition with vibrantly dystopian soundscapes populated by glitchy vocals, sparse synths and distorted drums punctuated by flourishes of catharsis. Beneath the albumās meticulously manufactured cybernetic sonic exterior resides an emotional core brimming with authenticity.Ā Ā Ā
Featured Image via (clockwise from top right) Yeule, Conan Gray, Toro y Moi, 88rising, keshi, mitski mitski