People of Cityneon: Emily Wong from BIG LAB - Winner of UCompose 2021

Working hard behind-the-scenes to create the soundtracks of Cityneon's experiences is Emily Wong, BIG LAB's Music & Interactive Designer, a composer, singer-songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist who has composed many works in film, animation, advertising, and more.

Today, we cover her journey as a winner of UCompose 2021, The 1st APAC Production Music Competition, with her original composition,?The Rise of the Phoenix. We learn more about her work at Cityneon, the magic behind music creation, and her inspiration for this composition that emerged as a finalist track out of a whopping 280 submissions across the globe.?

1. What’s a typical workday like for you in BIG LAB??

There’s never a dull day working in BIG LAB! Every day presents itself with new challenges and different problems to solve. A typical workday as a music & interactives designer involves taking calls across different time zones, clearing emails, figuring out what is the next piece of music to write and for what (and how I’m going to do it! This process involves a LOT of music listening… and I’m not at all complaining!), researching on the latest trends and inspirations, linking with collaborators, and generally always thinking about how to keep creating. At BIG LAB, every budding idea and every dream could potentially turn into reality.

2. How did you become involved with UCompose 2021? Was there a reason why you wanted to participate in it?

I came to know of the UCompose 2021 competition by chance over social media about a week before the submission deadline! I saw that Universal Music Publishing was hosting a music composition & production competition, looking for young composers to collaborate with to produce an album. After discovering that the brief required us to submit a piece along the line of “Chinese New Year: Revitalized”, I was immediately intrigued and knew that I had to submit a piece for it. It was an opportunity that I had to seize. I had never really written Chinese music before and I wanted to challenge myself by stepping out of my comfort zone and composing in a genre that I might not have been too familiar with.

3. What inspired you to compose this big, bold sound for this competition??

? Click here to listen to "The Rise Of The Phoenix" ?

With the parameters of “Chinese New Year: Revitalized” in mind, I started thinking about my initial impressions of the sounds of Chinese New Year. What came to mind quite instinctively was that big, bright sound; I thought about Chinese New Year celebrations of my past and how they always involved stirring percussion, shimmering cymbals, rapturous melodies all coming together to produce an upbeat, festive, and loud sonic atmosphere. Based on my own knowledge, traditionally, the drumming that usually accompanies lion dancing that happens during the Lunar New Year is meant to chase away the lingering evil spirits of the yesteryear. Thus, I wanted to adopt a similar sound in my composition; one that was unapologetically bold, celebratory and LOUD! In a similar vein, that’s why I titled the track “The Rise Of The Phoenix”; it has been a tough few years for everyone, but I hope we can all rise from the ashes and continue forward – transformed and stronger.

4. Your piece is described to showcase the Erhu “soaring above modern electronic beats, thumping bass and punchy brass”. Tell us more about the modern twists you added to the nostalgic sounds of Lunar New Year.?

As part of the competition, we had to choose one solo traditional Chinese instrument to be featured; as a violin player, I gravitated naturally towards the Erhu as my choice instrument. In my mind, I envisioned an expressive and emotional Erhu melody line leading the way forward, with all the other instruments acting as rhythmic support. I wanted very much to juxtapose the lyrical nature of the Erhu with the more thumping, modern beats of the rhythm section. Employing electronic drum beats, synthesizers and even a brass section was my way of “revitalizing” that Chinese New Year sound. I wanted to retain the shining spirit of the Chinese New Year sound, but also wanted to include some K-pop and hip-hop influences in the mix. Subconsciously, I probably also drew inspiration from how Asians are coming to the forefront in Western mainstream media in terms of representation nowadays; I do believe I was thinking a lot about the Shang-Chi film during the creative process! I wanted my piece to be an exhilarating “East meets West” fusion piece that everybody would be able to relate to.

5. As part of this competition, you were also involved in music workshops and recording sessions. How was that experience like for you?

The music workshops were such a great learning opportunity for me to hone my craft; after being selected as one of the winners, music supervisors and other composers from Universal Music Publishing gave me invaluable feedback for me to make compositional, arrangement, and production tweaks to my composition.

Following which, it was time to go into the recording studio to have the Erhu track recorded by an extraordinary Erhu player. The in-person recording session was extremely fruitful and it was such a joy to be able to be back in a studio, and to share a space with such a talented team of music professionals all working together to make my music come to life.

Finally, after a couple more rounds of listening sessions and mixing and mastering revisions, “The Rise Of The Phoenix” is finally published as part of Universal Music Publishing’s album entitled “CNY: REVITALIZED”! I’m so grateful to have had this opportunity and I look forward to creating more music in the years to come.