Hong Kong is well known for the neon lights which artificially illuminate the city in a soft glow which is slowly dying out. The neon lights are quickly being replaced by LED-illuminated billboards. A similar sort of switch is occurring in the city’s music scene.
Cantopop, the biggest musical movement from Hong Kong, was spearheaded in the 1970s by theme songs for soap operas. These songs were soft and atmospheric, lending itself to merge easily with jazzy instrumentation. This launched artists like Sandy Lam, Andy Chau and Leslie Cheung to superstardom across China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and beyond. In the 2000s, Mandarin became a more prevalent language in music in the city when compared to Cantonese, which led to Cantopop slowly falling out of fashion. This decade has seen a resurgence of Cantopop, led by groups like MIRROR and COLLAR, but JACE established herself as one of the faces of this resurgence.
JACE got her start in the entertainment industry by appearing in arithmetical videos on city-wide syndicated educational television. Just a couple of years later, she elected to pursue a career in music, releasing her first song in 2019. Around this time as well, she was chosen by Universal Music Hong Kong to be the anchor for their new web magazine, UMWebzine, interviewing artists on their behalf, ranging from Shawn Mendes to Niall Horan and more.
Since working with UMWebzine, her music has taken off, winning numerous Hong Kong musical awards, with “BIG CARS” being the culmination of her career up to now. “BIG CARS” would not be something you could play on that educational channel though. The track is incredibly tongue-in-cheek, and full of innuendos that would make 50 Cent’s “Candy Shop” seem like a nursery rhyme. For instance, the chorus features JACE channeling the same sort of energy as 50 did in that aforementioned track
“Banging on the dashboard 還手越戰越強 /
“(The more I fight back, the stronger you get) /
扭入禁地 照常 無守舊四面牆 /
(Twist into forbidden areas as if there’s no guards for those four walls) /
心越褪越前 人速度太異常 /
(My heart is beating faster, you are going abnormally fast) /
Eating on my 心癢 I guess I need big cars”
(Itchy heart) /”
JACE melds those lyrics with a thumping bassline and a rattling synthesizer to make something that would be perfectly in place blasting from a big car flying down the highway. This specific flavor of Cantopop isn’t necessarily new nor revolutionary, but it is a novelty. Whether you are picking up on the innuendos, or simply want to let the bass take the wheel, get in your rideshare of choice and let JACE drive.
