Li Yuchun performs during her Growing Wild tour, which toured five cities around China. (Photo provided to China Daily)
What inspired her to break the album into four segments was that "usually we pick up one or two songs as the leading tracks, which then tend to overshadow the other songs," Li says. "But I like all 12 new songs very much and couldn't decide which one should be the leading single. So why not introduce them to the fans three at a time?"
According to Andy Wai Lam Ng, the vice-president of Tencent Music Entertainment Group, Growing Wild achieved China's highest digital music sales since the company released the first Chinese digital album, Taiwan pop icon Jay Chou's album, Aiyo, Not Bad, in December 2014. So far, QQ Music has released digital albums from many Chinese singers－including Dou Jingtong and Lu Han－South Korean boy group Big Bang, and Western artists such as Adele, Rihanna and Taylor Swift.
"Getting people to pay for digital music has become a trend in China's music industry. Digital music sales reached 110 million yuan in 2016, for year-on-year growth of 150 percent.
"I wasn't sure about my decision then, but now the result is very encouraging," Li says. "I want to break more barriers and push boundaries."
Musically, the new album displayed Li's ambition of being different. She invited producers she had never worked with before, which brought surprise and inspiration throughout the making of the album.
