Crossover king

With influences of future bass, electronic dance, urban and hip-hop music, he is aiming to deliver his musical concept of "M-pop", which focuses on mixing Mandarin pop music with outside influences.

"With Mandarin as the main language, I want to use one or two foreign languages in my songs. The musical styles are diverse. That's how I want to communicate with global music fans," he asserts. "China has attracted worldwide attention thanks to its rapid development. Now it's time for Chinese pop music to take its place in the spotlight."

In August, Zhang made his US debut by giving a performance at the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago, alongside Norwegian record producer and DJ Alan Walker. The duo performed a remixed version of Zhang's song, Sheep, which was released on Oct 7, 2017.

Zhang's idea for M-pop came from the title song of the new album, Namanana, which Zhang wrote a year ago. The fast-paced and upbeat song paints an audible picture of an African rainforest.

"I wrote introductions to each of the songs on the album and I couldn't find the proper phrase to describe the musical style of the title track, Namanana. Then I decided to give it a new definition, the concept of M-pop, which incorporates a mix of different music styles," Zhang elaborates, adding that he had recorded 23 versions of Namanana within the space of three days before choosing the final version.

He also combines traditional Chinese musical instruments, such as the erhu, guzheng and bamboo flute, with multiple genres, ranging from pop, and hip-hop to R & B in the song Mapo Tofu, which is named after a popular Chinese dish from Sichuan province. Zhang recalls that the song was written after he failed to properly cook the dish of spicy tofu, one of his favorites.