Chinese-Pākehā artist dān dān announces her debut solo project with folk-pop single ‘pressure cooker’ — out November 29th. Known as one half of the wasian sibling duo Ersha Island 二沙岛 from Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Danielle Hao-Aickin is developing her craft, displaying maturity in vocal tone, production and experimentation.
“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 parents’ 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.”
Made with the support of NZ On Air, ‘pressure cooker’ reflects on the significance of her upbringing in intense classical piano training and how it demanded an environment of tension ‘pressure cooker’ adds small elements of Mandarin Chinese and features an audio snippet of 9-year-old Danielle being taught by her old piano teacher.
dān dān layers in lyrical wordplay and rich harmonies to explore the more playful and intimate sides of her songwriting as a solo artist.
Produced by Dan Martin (Jordyn With A Why) and co-written with ASHY and Huiming Wu (花溪 Flowerstream) at BIG FAN’s Fan Camp: Pan-Asian in April, younger sister Tee Hao-Aickin joins on violin.
The music video is scheduled for April next year, directed by Flora Xie and produced by Natasha Skuljan. Inspired by the transformative film Everything Everywhere All At Once, the video will span multiple locations in its exploration of mother-daughter tensions.
Pre-save: ‘pressure cooker’ HERE