Nighttime art-electropop
Who She?
A Chinese-born, London-based singer and producer with a femme fatale name straight out of a 1950s film noir. Given the dark undercurrents in her music, her look and her fiercely independent set-up (she’s unsigned, and likes it that way), it’s certainly appropriate.
Why Fifi Rong?
Her voice floats above the often sparse music, as in ‘Over You’, her 2013 torch song to love lost, “I don’t love you anymore” she sings over and over, inducing something of an erotic torpor in the abstract bondage dream of the accompanying video. The woozy electronic production techniques of trip hop have been much in evidence in the past, but her new material feels like she’s hit something of an alternative pop stride which is paying considerable dividends.
Tell Us More…
She’s worked with grime star Skepta and with Tricky. She guested on Yello’s recent album ‘Toy’ and performed with them at their Berlin shows, which is endorsement a-plenty. Her own work is art-pop, with a heavy emphasis on beauty and artifice. Fifa Rong is creating a world of dark emotional depths, richly draping herself in all manner of stunning costumes and presenting it all in visuals that look more like art films than promo clips. Her latest tune, ‘The Same Road’, is a more upbeat affair with lush echoes of 80s synthpop driving it along, vaguely recalling some of Madonna’s prime 80s synth bounce and the alt-synth of Grimes, and is her best work to date.
‘The Same Road’ is released by AWAL
