Lala Hsu 徐佳瑩 - 病人（The Patient)

Genre: Mandopop • Taiwanese Pop • Pop • Dance pop

病人 The Patient is a Chinese pop song by Taiwanese artist Lala Hsu 徐佳瑩. The song paints a picture of a charming and witty, yet problematic and abusive character, who Lala decides is just some sick person (which is the literal translation of the title, 病人).

There are a multitude of reasons of why this song is so good. It really steps out of the box, especially with Chinese pop music. It constantly plays with the tempo (1), has a relatively interesting structure, makes good use of sampling and vocal production, features incredible vocals, and has non-standard chords for a pop song.

Let's first talk about the rhythm and structure, which in this case go hand in hand. The song first begins with a small section free of tempo and metre (2). This section does not have a strong beat, nor does it seem to have a repeating pattern of beats, making it completely free. It is, instead, comprised of a mash of different synth sounds, Lala's humming, and an occasional snare. This creates a "psychotic" effect, and it immediately confuses the listeners, which adds how the listeners understand the character that Lala is describing. A free tempo section appears again after the second chorus, enhancing the listener's experience after having been introduced to this "ill" character.

"你明明就是個病人 病人 卻只要護士不要醫生 病人 病人 只索求關注拒絕診問 死不承認你有濫情成癮症"

Translation:

"You are obviously a patient, a patient But you only want a nurse and not a doctor Patient, patient You only ask for attention and refuse to be questioned Death won't make you admit your abusive addiction"

This song also has fantastic production in its good use of sampling (3) as well as vocal chopping. The most noticeable and important use of sampling in this song is the use of the ambulance siren during the bridge/break down. It adds to the unease of the song, and helps the listener to make connections between the lyrics and the meaning. In the bridge, the song also uses heavy vocal distortion, creating an "alien effect". This effect is furthered with the heavy use of vocal chopping during the free-tempo sections, as well as further distortion in the pre-chorus.

Lala Hsu is also an amazing vocalist. While she may not be the strongest belter who can reach the highest notes, she has such vocal control, and a very sweet timbre (4). Her singing style is naturally airy, which creates a huge contrast with the psychotic character she is describing.

Finally, the song makes use of interesting harmony throughout. The song is essentially in A minor, but the first chord of the chorus is an A major chord. The rest of the melody and the chords in the chorus, however, are diatonic to A minor, creating an interesting library of sounds, and further reinforcing a feeling of psychotic power, even if the listeners don't fully understand the harmony behind the song that they're listening to.

All in all, I would highly recommend this song! It really takes you on a journey, and is just super fun to listen to. The link to the Chinese lyrics are here, but I don't think an English translation exists... I translated the above lyric myself. Anyhow, this song definitely deserves a listen!

Glossary:

(1) tempo: the speed of a song in beats per minute

(2) metre: a notation that dictates how many beats (and how many strong beats) there are in each bar, and how to count a piece of music.

(3) sampling: the art of taking a sound from a pre-existing source (i.e. ambulance sirens, a short theme in a game, the melody of a different song, etc.)

(4) timbre: the tone colour. In this review's case, what a vocalist's voice sounds like.