Yulan & Blaise On the Making Of “Falling 花火落”
Can you tell us about the inspiration behind "Falling 花火落" and the story it tells?
“Falling 花火落” is our first bilingual track, blending English and Mandarin vocals with electronic and acoustic instruments. It’s about a seductive but destructive love that leaves you in a state of extreme, almost euphoric, lovesickness. It was influenced by the intensity of Chinese romantic tragedy, including films by Zhang Yimou, and the work of the 11th-century Chinese female poet Li Qingzhao.
At the heart of the song is the metaphor of a 花 huā (flower) and 火 huǒ (flame) that burn and 落 luò (fall). When you combine the words for flower and flame in Chinese, it creates the word for “firework.” It felt like the perfect metaphor for an explosive but impossible love.
How did you approach the arrangement and composition of the music for this song?
Our arrangements and instrumentation are always curated to reflect the story. Yulan initially wrote the chord progression and chorus, and then we layered in electronic elements, Chinese woodwinds played by Blaise, guzheng played by Yulan, and of course Blaise’s alto sax solo at the heart of the song. Blaise has been playing punk saxophone for the Violent Femmes for twenty years since he was a teenager, so that energy and that folk punk attitude are always present, even in work as different as this.
This was also the first time Yulan had written lyrics in Mandarin. As a kid her Singaporean Chinese mum would teach her songs from Chinese movie musicals, so the vocal stylings came quite naturally. But Mandarin is a tonal language, so you have to make sure that the melody and tones align – that was a challenge!
What was your favorite moment in making the music video?
Filming Blaise playing the saxophone solo in the kitchen! We were shooting in a Chinese restaurant and had given our director Gabriel Morrison some visual influences including the movie Fallen Angels by Wong Kar Wai, where there are great scenes shot in kitchens. A couple of days before the shoot Gabriel was like, “How about Blaise plays a sax solo in the kitchen?”. At that point there wasn’t even a sax solo in the track, so Blaise recorded one in two takes in our living room. And that’s exactly what ended up in the final mix – it was really electric and spontaneous. That scene was one of the last scenes we shot for the music video, late at night, crammed into a Chinese restaurant kitchen.
What is your creative vision as a duo?
We’re drawn to themes of duality – in this case, love and betrayal. And our work is often a dialogue between past and future, both aesthetically and musically. We like to create worlds that feel both nostalgic and futuristic.
Because we are both also actors (or in Blaise’s case, a former child actor) we work on visual and musical storytelling simultaneously. Our music is often described as cinematic and that’s probably because we place equal emphasis on visuals and we’re heavily influenced by classic films, particularly the 90s cinema of our childhoods.
Are there any upcoming projects or releases that you are particularly excited about?
This is the second track on our upcoming EP, each one exists in a new visual world where, like with “Falling 花火落,” our own real-life romance is reimagined in an extreme but strangely nostalgic scenario. We want people to really sink into each world, and then just as they’re getting comfortable, we pull them into the next world with us.
Our debut single “God Complex” was visually influenced by films like The Matrix and Irma Vep. This particular release is heavily influenced by Fallen Angels and In the Mood for Love and Raise The Red Lantern. We won’t tell you what the next one’s influenced by… but it’s fun.
