Interview: Artist Shanghai Phantom Discusses the Meaning behind His Name, His Passion for Music, Dropping a Single Every Month, and Future Shows
By. Alicia Zamora
Alicia’s Studio Sits Down with Artist Shanghai Phantom to Talk about His Future Goals as an Artist, Upcoming Projects, and His Passion for Music.
A Conversation with Shanghai Phantom
Alicia: Hi guys, welcome back to Alicia’s Studio. We have our third special guest
Shanghai Phantom: Shanghai Phantom
Alicia: Yayy!
Alicia: Okay I’m going to start off with the first question. What made you go with the artist name ‘Shanghai Phantom’?
Shanghai Phantom: So back in the days when I first started doing music I had this big brother and one day he changed his artist name to ‘Beijing Daddy’. You know he’s from Beijing and “Daddy” is heavily inspired by old-school hip-hop, which fits his music style. So that’s when I decided to change mine too.
Shanghai Phantom: I changed it to Shanghai Phantom. Shanghai is my city and Phantom is my favorite car so I just put them together.
Alicia: Okay okay! Genre wise what would you say is the genre you're aiming for?
Shanghai Phantom: I would say it is more of a blend of trap soul and dark R&B
Alicia: When it comes down to goals as an artist what would you say your goals are for this year and the future?
Shanghai Phantom: So for now, I’m trying to release a single every single month and I’m trying to fly back to Asia and do shows over there. I’ll probably stay there for like four months and you know we're going crazy this year.
Shanghai Phantom: I’m also working on my own fashion label/ merch
Alicia: As an artist what would you say has been your greatest accomplishment so far?
Shanghai Phantom: So I have a diamond-verified single ‘Du Yueh-Sheng’ and it has over 40 million streams worldwide and it’s mainly in China. I dropped it back in 2020 and it got played from the hottest club in Shanghai and all the public flea markets in Tibet.
Alicia: Okay and Listening to your music I got a sense of variety, which sunk me into it. Would you say it's hard switching from English to Chinese in between songs?
Shanghai Phantom: So, it’s really not that hard if you're fluent in both languages but it’s very hard to make it sound good because Chinese articulation is very strong. You have to pronounce every syllable strong and in English it’s different. You can pronounce it softly and it’ll still sound good.
Shanghai Phantom: When it comes to Chinese syllables they have different melodic scales like pentatonic scales so when you match the melodies to the Chinese syllables. Like you know R&B melodies it’s very hard to make it work.
Alicia: Has becoming an artist/ going down the music path.. Was it something you always knew you wanted to do?
Shanghai Phantom: Yeah music is everything to me right now.
Shanghai Phantom: When I was a kid I knew that I was going to do something with music and I love to see people dancing to my music and I love to connect people from different backgrounds with music
Alicia: Diving deeper into the creative process. What would you say is the hardest part of creating music for you?
Shanghai Phantom: So the hardest part is definitely the energy. It’s very easy for me to write a song but to set the vibe right is a different game. That’s why when you go to other studios you see all these lights and decorations for the vibe and when the vibe is right and your recording it has a perfect vibe and that’s very hard because you have to be in the right mood and your vocal presence also has to be in the perfect energy.
Alicia: I saw that you just dropped a single under the title ‘Water On My Wrist’ featuring Ted Park how was it collaborating with him?
Shanghai Phantom: So, Ted is a very talented artist. I did my part and spent like 2 days doing my part and he did his part in like 30 minutes
Alicia: Yeah! He mentioned that. He’s fast with it.
Shanghai Phantom: Yeah he’s talented and it took 30 minutes and it’s good. When I first started music my first fan in China told me about Ted in like 2018 and she told me “You two should do a song” and I was like alright I’ll see what I can do and that was five years ago and we did a song last year and just dropped it so it’s great. I’m happy to work with him.
Alicia: I see that recently you’ve been dropping a lot of singles can we maybe expect an EP or a full album coming soon?
Shanghai Phantom: Probably not a full-length album but I would say definitely an EP fosho.
Alicia: You also came out with your first ever single in Chinese under the title ‘Blue Dream’ When creating versatile music do you ever hit slumps?
Shanghai Phantom: So, it was pretty hard but that track ‘Blue Dream’. Me and my producer homie KØNG spent over 40 hours on this track which is crazy! I’ve never put that many hours on one song. I’m also evolving. I also audio-engineered myself and I also helped with the production myself… so it was a lot of work.
Shanghai Phantom: When it comes to making versatile music it’s hard to make it sound good. It’s easy to come up with ideas like blend this and blend that but it’s very hard to make it work. It has to be good music or it can be experimental music that nobody plays but in my opinion, it has to be good.
Alicia: What drives you to pursue music and drop singles?
Shanghai Phantom: I feel like there aren’t many good Chinese artists in the game so far. You know like Chinese-American artists or international Chinese artists. There aren’t enough Chinese artists in music.. Not even Hip-hop, R&B, Pop. So I want to be the first Chinese artist coming from Shanghai city and you know to also make it outside mainland China.
Shanghai Phantom: With that, I just want to go crazy with my music.
Alicia: As an upcoming artist what would you like people to think when they hear the name ‘Shanghai Phantom’?
Shanghai Phantom: I would say dark vibes and night-time city vibes. You know I’m from Shanghai so with this name I want them to know that I’m an artist.
Alicia: After the event on Friday how did it feel seeing people sing along to your songs and the crowd getting hyped up when you were on?
Shanghai Phantom: I’m so excited and also grateful. I left all my fans in China and relocated here so it means a lot to me and it shows me that all the effort I put into music is working. I feel motivated after seeing that and I definitely want to show new fans more of my new music.
Alicia: Did it give you any ambition to do possible showcases soon?
Shanghai Phantom: Yeah so I’m going to do another big show in 2 months probably but I might do a small one next month.
Alicia: When it comes down to musical inspirations do you have any group or artist that you get inspiration from?
Shanghai Phantom: Yes! So my favorite artist is The Weekend.
Alicia: Period!
Shanghai Phantom: There’s this Canadian artist ‘ FRVRFRIDAY’ who’s my favorite.
Alicia: Since we're on the topic, what artist would you like to collaborate with in the future?
Shanghai Phantom: So I have a song with CHASETHEMONEY which I performed on Friday. I’m also looking into other artists in Asia specifically in Singapore and Hong Kong. I’m trying to work with my Chinese people because I’ve been in the States for a little too long.
Shanghai Phantom: But I’ll definitely do more songs with Korean-American artists and Chinese-American artists too
Alicia: Do you have any upcoming projects?
Shanghai Phantom: Yeah! So, I do have this EP going on but I think for right now I’m just dropping singles and maybe around..not the end of the year but in Novemberish I might drop an EP but for now a single every month.
Alicia: With the interview coming to an end I wanted to say thank you for giving me this opportunity what would you like to say? You can feel free to promote anything here!
Shanghai Phantom: Yeah so I’m going to drop the music video with Ted Park ‘Water on my wrist’ in a week or two so please stream it! Also the music video for my first Chinese R&B song ‘Blue Dream’ is out on YouTube. Stream it!