Jesusfreakhideout.com: Boyi Bai @Music and Love, "是祢

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Boyi Bai @Music and Love
是祢 | It is You

Street Date: March 7, 2021
Style: Chinese Contemporary / Christian Pop
Official Site: Soundcloud.com/zion-bai
Buy It: Apple Music

If you would humor me, I would like to walk you through a brief overview of the state of Christianity within China, before we discuss the excellencies of the music to be found on the 2021 album It Is You by Boyi Bai and his music collective known as Music & Love, as I believe that knowing the context in which this Chinese pop album was created (and thusly banned from its country of origin) is essential to understanding just what makes this album so special.

On paper, it is “legal” to be Christian in China: citizens can choose to join one of three Christian bodies, which function like denominations – if denominations were heavily controlled and regulated by the state. In reality, these bodies exist primarily for the Chinese government to oversee the growth of the religion and to ensure that Chinese believers remain fully assimilated within Chinese culture. According to the Chinese government, there are at least 40 million Christians in the country (which may sound like a lot, but it’s a meager 2% of what is nearly the world’s most populous country, just slightly behind India). The ability for these millions of believers to openly call themselves Christians comes after decades of reform and societal pressure, following many centuries where the government actively persecuted believers and missionaries.

However, there are tens of millions of believers who have not joined these government bodies and instead practice their Christianity in secret, meeting in houses and underground churches. These millions of Christians believe that truly following Christ with their whole lives is made impossible by the government bodies, where “freedom of religion” exists solely within the walls of government-sanctioned places of worship. Punishment for practicing one’s faith outside of these sanctioned times and buildings can lead to fines, imprisonment, and (according to some reports) even torture and brainwashing camps. The courage required by these independent Christians far exceeds what most Westerners will likely ever have to face on a governmental level, and while it’s impossible to know just how many of these independent believers exist within China, it’s possible that they account for an additional 1-2% of China’s population.

The administration of Xi Jinping, who has spent the past 12 years serving as both China’s President and as the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, has become increasingly known in recent years for forcing churches to replace crucifixes and other religious symbols with images of Xi Jinping. This heightened hostility toward public and unsanctioned displays of Christianity led to the enactment of the “Administrative Measures for Internet Religious Information Services” toward the end of 2021; this act is what led to the banning of It Is You from Chinese distribution, less than a year after the album had been released.

It has since become the goal of bandleader Boyi Bai to share the album throughout the rest of the world, with hopes that it will find and encourage Chinese believers no longer living in China. And as I have spent time falling in love with the music on this collection, I am convinced that you don’t need to speak Chinese to find deep levels of encouragement and worship within these seven gorgeously written and executed songs.

Boyi Bai served as the music director and primary producer for It Is You, as well as the composer and music arranger for the majority of its songs. At only seven tracks, It Is You might more properly be designated a “mini-album” (a term used frequently across the music industry of Asian countries, as a middle ground between EPs and LPs), but listeners will not feel like they are at a lack for length or substance, with the bulk of these tracks sitting between 4 and 6 minutes long (for a total length of 34:33).

Technical aspects aside, I think the biggest cultural disconnect for many Western listeners (other than the all-Chinese lyrics, naturally) will be the album’s old-fashioned style, particularly in light of Boyi Bai stating in interviews that “the goal of this album was to break away from the traditional style of Chinese church music and reach young people through a more contemporary, pop-oriented approach.” To Western ears, very little about this album will sound “pop” or “contemporary”; therefore it may surprise you that, for many Asian countries and cultures, the mid-20th-century definition of pop heard on this album never really went out of style. For example, one of the most popular solo artists in the history of South Korea, IU, built her career in the 2010s on commercially and critically successful music which sounds very similar to what you’ll find on It Is You. In other words, if you are a fan of any of the following genres or distinctions, then there will assuredly be plenty for you to love here: showtunes, big band, chamber pop, orchestral pop, piano and strings, jazz pop, easy listening, etc.

These old-school inclinations are displayed perfectly on the lovely title track, which opens the album with a gentle duet and heavily poetic lyrics (“You are the wind, you are the rain / You are the sky, you are the earth”). The song slowly builds for three minutes before bursting into an epic crescendo of drums and guitars atop the piano and strings, with Broadway-levels of bravado as the two skilled vocalists harmonize together. Perfectly utilizing its four and a half minutes, “It Is You” finishes in a beautifully haunting fashion, displaying Boyi Bai’s true mastery of musical composition and arrangement. Following suit, “In This Time” boasts a catchiness that defies one’s familiarity with the language, balancing touches of modern production with the classic pop and big band sensibilities. (The song also switches gears from duet to solo female vocals, which continues for the remainder of the album, aside from one song.)

I will openly confess that, in my own love for listening to non-English music, the appeal can sometimes be found in not understanding the lyrics. For example, it can be fun to listen to pop music where I don’t need to worry whether the lyrics are trashy or inappropriate because I’ll never understand what’s being sung. Yet I would be doing Music & Love a deep disservice by treating this album as if its merits lied solely in its music, wholly disconnected from its lyrics; however, I had some fears and reservations as I read along to the translated lyrics for the opening track. “It Is You” contains lyrics that are more metaphorical and flowery than the rest of the songs, and in this poetic tone, it also contains some lines which caused me to raise a theological eyebrow. I’m primarily thinking of the lyric “In my world, there's now another you,” which is either a sloppy way to refer to Jesus’s incarnation or an odd way to refer to a newly converted believer becoming “another” representative of Christ on earth. But pushing those interpretative questions aside, I was delighted to discover, as I moved through the rest of the album, that the lyrics found on the other six songs were not only less dubious – they were also deeply moving.

The aforementioned “In This Time” points to the major issues that plague our current era while praising God that he is still here and asking him to work miracles in today’s age (“Our eyes have been covered by sin / May you revive us and let us awaken once more”). “Welcome Home” pairs tender lyrics with a sparse acoustic guitar arrangement and saccharine springtime vibes that nearly moved me to tears (“Life, vibrant and colorful, still has its troubles / Yet we must forget what's behind and run forward / Quick, return to the embrace of the Lord's love / He waits in the same place / Never changing, never wavering / Whenever you turn around to return to Him / He always says to you, ‘Welcome home’ ”). The next song, “Unless the Lord,” is a stunning example of this album’s impeccable consistency for vocal performances and musical arrangements that symbiotically match and enhance the meaning and emotion of the lyrics. As Zheng Wenjun (the same vocalist as “In This Time”) sings Boyi Bai’s poignant lyrics (“If this were not Your love for me / Why would You break Your body for me? / If this were not Your love for me / Why endure the scourging and suffering for me?”), the strings and acoustic guitars flit around her voice, while what begins as a gentle piano ballad steadily builds, leading to an incredible key change lift at the 3:00 mark. It’s truly wonderful.

The male vocalist from the opening duet, Huang Jingwei, returns for the penultimate track “Close To You” – which he also composed. His tender voice highlights the song’s heartfelt lyrics, sung over piano and a gorgeous lead violin for the opening stretch of the song. Yet as it unfolds, this composition proves to be one of the album’s most experimental tracks, as Huang Jingwei’s vocals switch from leads to buried, effects-heavy background vocals. This odd decision creates an enchanting texture while the violins continue to lead at the front of the mix, before being joined by a classical guitar. It takes four minutes before a full drum set enters the song, in a winning construction of unexpected decisions that will reward attentive listeners.

This mini-album is not without its flaws, but they are so few and far between that searching for them often felt like nitpicking. The lengthy tracks may test the patience of some, but for me, only the longest song (“Follow You Closely,” clocking in at 6:18) felt like it should have shaved off a minute or so; yet overlong as it may be, “Follow You” still became one of my favorite tracks, with its lush and lively textures, its classical guitar flair, and its out-of-left-field synth solos. I also found myself wishing for greater consistency with the collection’s vocalists. There’s only one male vocalist, who appears twice; meanwhile, the female vocal duties are shared between four different women. I’ll reiterate that this is a very minor complaint, but I do feel that the album could have been elevated by the inclusion of additional duets, rather than establishing the expectation for duets on the opening track but never revisiting the format.

That being said, my critical desire for consistency across the track listing is paid off in spades on the celebratory closing track, “Can We Worship Together.” As one of only two songs that Boyi Bai did not personally arrange, “Worship Together” displays the talents of Ye Jiaen, who composed and arranged the song as well as playing the guitars. And this is the most rocking song by a long-shot, leaning into pop-disco with in-your-face drums, funky wah-wah guitars, spunky organ, and an explosive horn section. The collection’s most prolific vocalist, Guo Yihong, returns (following her appearances on the title track and “Follow You Closely”) for a contagiously buoyant performance as she declares, “Can we come together to worship? / Yes, you, lift your hands in praise / Now, don't worry about those around you / Let's worship with all our hearts.” It’s a truly delightful way to end the album, but what surprised me even more than the sudden shift in genres was how these lyrics recalled earlier tracks. The opening verse (“In the bustling city where crowds never cease / Anxiety spreads in the air / Amidst the overwhelming atmosphere / I lift my head and gaze at the sky / By chance, music reaches my ears / A surge of praise flows within”) heavily recalls the atmospheric imagery of the title track (“You are the sky, you are the earth”) and the anxiety of “In This Time” (“In this era / The sky may be filled with haze”).

For all these reasons and more, I cannot stress enough how highly I recommend reading along to the lyrics while you give this mini-album a listen. Not only do all these songs shine on their own, but the overall experience of these seven songs in tandem adds up to something truly cohesive and rewarding. Yet even more than thematic cohesion, the thing about the closing track’s lyrics that really impressed me was the line: “don't worry about those around you.” To hear this lyric from a Chinese Christian – a believer who is forced to only express faith within very specific and limited bounds – this declaration is stunning. It is an absolute shame that this album is no longer accessible to listeners within China, but it’s also a testament to this album’s unwavering commitment to declare the gospel of Christ that it was selected to be banned from the Chinese internet. I can only hope that it continues to connect with believers across the rest of the world, be them Mandarin speakers or not. It Is You deserves to be heard.

The album can be found on major streaming services by searching for “音爱而生” or by going to Boyi Bai’s Soundcloud (where you can also find English translations of the song lyrics): https://soundcloud.com/zion-bai/sets/it-is-you?si=acf7f0f964e24ee29804235be5ff2cfa

- Review date: 3/23/25, written by Chase Tremaine of Jesusfreakhideout.com

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