Painting

As we have proven in our reviews of films like Retribution, The Pop Culture Historian always jumps with excitement when we have interesting projects that deviate from the mainstream come our way.

Tiana Xiao is a Chinese-American pop/R&B singer who sings in Japanese, and she is coming out with a new single Painting. Fans of Utada Hikaru (see my review of her Ultra Blue album) will instantly be reminded of her style when hearing Xiao’s, which is not surprising as Xiao identified Utada as an influence. Despite being a J-pop song, the lyrics are a mix of Japanese and English. Given Xiao’s cultural background, the English lyrics do make sense.

Oddly enough, the first word that comes to mind with this song is “sexy”. The instrumental arrangement is simple, but it works, where the electric bass is very prominent. Overall, it works well to complement Xiao’s vocals. What results is an interesting blend of flavors from both sides of the Pacific that I’m sure would appeal to all kinds of fans of Japanese pop.

Score: 3.5/4