Chinese-New Zealand musician Danielle Hao-Aickin, who performs under the alias dan dan, has released her debut solo outing ‘pressure cooker,’ touching upon the strains of being perfect while growing up.
Supported by the music amplification program NZ On Air, Auckland-based singer-songwriter and pianist dan dan’s maiden venture takes listeners back to her childhood, reflecting on the lessons learned from her upbringing and her rigorous classical piano routine, which mandated a high-tension environment.
Brewed at BIG FAN’s Pan-Asian Fan Camp in April of 2024, ‘pressure cooker’ is produced by musician Dan Martin and co-written with Huiming Wu and ASHY. Although this is dan dan’s debut attempt away from her indie-folk Ersha Island set up with her sister Tee Hao-Aickin, Tee does contribute melodious violin segments to the arrangement.
The single courses through strummy acoustic guitar and polished fret movement gently ladled over temperate piano notes. dan dan’s smooth vocal textures carry the evocative lyrics flawlessly as percussive arrangments and flowing key patterns ensue, enriched only by the creamy string work courtesy of the violin.
‘pressure cooker’ also plugs in bits of Mandarin Chinese. In what might be a reflection of a bitter moment or more pleasingly a display of gratitude toward her tutor, stitched in at the minute-and-a-half mark is an audio snippet of Danielle at 9 years old being tutored by her piano teacher.
About the song via a press release, the artist stated, “I wrote this song about growing up with the pressure to be perfect as the older sister in a Chinese family and living up to your parent’s expectations. It’s also got some silly, goofy elements to it, including food puns and an ode to my love for Hainan chicken rice… and honestly, it’s an allusion to just how much food is part of culture and family.”
Find dan dan on: Instagram | Spotify
Editor’s note: The ‘a’ in dan dan has a ‘-‘ character above.
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