Oh La La Hu Hu: Interview with Crowd Lu

If you were introducing your music to non-Mandarin speakers, how would you describe it in three words?

Local. Morning. Student.

The music I write has an authentic Taiwanese feel, it has a morning energy, and it’s music created when I was a student.

I read you majored in Spanish literature because of your accident [Lu was ran over by a bus], which might make some people bitter about it. However, you incorporate some Spanish into your songs and make it extra fun. How did the idea come about?

I think foreign lyrics can help add some new sounds to music. Because I studied Spanish for four years, I felt I should put it to use in my daily life to make it worthwhile.

Besides, it feels special.

My favorite songs from your latest album, Guitar (有吉他的流行歌曲), are Bian Dang (一個便當) [1] and Oh La La Hu Hu (歐拉拉呼呼) [MV] for how uniquely “Crowd Lu” they sound- I know Mandarin is a particularly difficult language to write songs in, but you make it look so easy. Where do you draw inspiration from?

Actually, creation of any kind is not easy. Particularly because one creates depending on one’s own life situation, as well as their stories. Thinking of giving these stories a unique feel and music notes is the prime motivation in all my work. Being attentive, observing and listening to the messages and sounds are fascinating, and they interest me a lot that’s why it’s unlikely to think it’s exhausting. On the contrary, it’s very enjoyable.

You sing your own version of Vitas’ Opera #2 [MV], if you had to choose three other songs in a foreign language to cover, what would they be?

• Wham – Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go [MV]
• Jimi Hendrix – Fire [1]
• Elvis Presley – Blue Suede Shoes [1]

All of these songs I choose to cover are from some of the things I used to listen to throughout my life, during childhood, junior high or high school. Every time I sing these in front of an audience it seems as bringing back and interacting with my former self.