By Julia Smith and Veronica Alemu

January 21st 2025

Born in the technocratic capital of China, Shenzhen, in the Year of the Rabbit, artist Shushu is unconstitutionally resurrecting the so-called “golden era” of the Shanghai club scene. With Socratic melodies and soft-spoken lyrics, Shushu has emerged as a pure evangelist of her own chaotic pursuit of pleasure and play. Working alongside producers such as Misty Mirror and DJSTOLEURBAE, dance music has become her most recent endeavor, and it’s no surprise that she’s brought some of China’s most talented underground producers into the fold. Shushu’s pop imaginary within China’s underground scene is becoming a dream-void we won’t be able to escape anytime soon.

Although Shushu never imagined becoming a musician as a child, she explains that learning an instrument is almost constitutional in a Chinese household:

“As a Chinese kid, you have to learn an instrument outside of your school time. Your parents would send you to learn some stuff. I even had a band back in middle school, where I was the drummer.”

While DJing small gigs and studying in Paris, Shushu hadn’t yet imagined herself as a solo artist—until an intensely painful breakup nudged her in a new direction. In its wake, a close friend urged her to start making music, less as a career move than as a way to survive the moment. But what began as a distraction quickly took over: the two worked almost daily, writing 4 to 5 songs, and within two months had released a demo that quickly rewired her trajectory. 

Despite this newfound creative revelation, when Shushu returned to China, she felt as though she had missed the “golden age” of clubbing during her time abroad. Still, she spent her summers back home absorbing as much music as possible. Venues like All Club and the Shelter—aptly named for its location in a lightly renovated bomb shelter—formed the vanguard of Shanghai’s underground scene. These spaces, along with newer subterranean projects like Genome 6.66 Mbp, a series of underground founded by Tavi Lee and Kilo Vee, introduced Shushu to a wide range of sounds. Early influences ranged from Lil Peep to underground legends such as Yves Tumor, Evian Christ, and Arca.

As a DJ, Shushu’s mixes run almost entirely on instinct, vaulting between wildly incongruous genres at will. One of her earliest published guest mixes landed in 2021 on Baihui, a Chinese independent radio station, as part of its Genome 6.66 Mbp series: founded in Shanghai and, in their own words, dedicated to “forward-thinking weirdo club music.” Going B2B with Jaya—her co-member in the Chinese underground C-Pop girl group SUBKISS, which debuted in 2024 at Hangzhou’s Loopy Club—the mix opens outward, pulling in other underground heavyweights like LimboLimbs, Chiyokoo, and Jinx Zhou. Beginning with a mix of experimental ambient picks from Jaya’s Sandglass parties in Shanghai (think Dean Blunt and ML Buch), Shushu begins the second half of the set with the 1971 Bill Evans jazz’ed up composition of What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life?  With a midtempo transition from the classical jazz number to London based electronic/ambient musician Oozini, her earlier set is heavily experimental. Its palette is further expanded by tracks like Sinjin Hawke’s remix of Playboi Carti’s “Kid Cudi,” Sega Bodega’s “Angel on My Shoulder,” and some of her own then-unreleased tracks: a peek into her earlier inspirations from her time in Paris. Shushu makes a reprise in the Baihui booth with her 2023 mix marking a shift toward more kinetic rhythms, expanding on her interest in early R&B samples fused with electronic textures, lo-fi elements, and baile funk.

Yet, it’s in her solo music where her predisposition for genre-bending sharpens into intent, shedding the back-and-forth of the booth in favor of something more exposed, more bodily, and unmistakably her own. While China’s underground scenes continue to take shape across genres, hip-hop currently dominates the landscape. Shushu’s latest album release, S&M, produced by Misty Mirror and partially by DJSTOLEURBAE, reflects a new generation of Chinese producers, rappers, and electronic artists pushing beyond the homogenized clichés of globalized music trends. The emerging underground movement — dubbed “Nu China” by The Face last year — includes rising names like Billionhappy, Nettspend, jackzebra, and Chalky Wong. Platforms such as the 2025 UDG Freshman Cypher, borrowing the format of the American XXL Freshman Class, digest these influences with a distinctly local perspective.

Even with the hip-hop underground being the forefront of some of China’s emerging artists, Shushu is making room for infusing her electropop tendencies by working with underground hip-hop producers that are actively blending genres into something both experimental and ultramodern. S&M is profoundly fun, yet so chaotic in form that it demands movement from every inch of the body. The confidence that once felt buried in Shushu’s earlier work is now fully-realized and fully exposed; and, it’s a blisteringly kinetic electropop trip. S&M feels like a natural extension of a pure moment, driven by both instinct and trust. From the repeated mantra of “polite bitch” framing the album to the warped sampling embedded in its namesake track “Polite Bitch,” the project feels like it’s micro-dosing the self-indulgent and grimy spirit of Shygirl’s 2020 EP ALIAS. This direction stands in stark contrast to earlier releases like the softly-whispered “playground” from her 2024 EP Sangria, or the tender lulls of “Me and Mommy Walking” from her 2021 debut album Sweet Verses Dying Like Roses.

From early Parisian experiments to the frenetic energy of the Baihui booth, and now to the unapologetically kinetic S&M, Shushu’s music maps a trajectory that is equal parts playful, chaotic, and unconstrained by genre. Crystallizing the moments she's absorbed along the way—classical jazz, Shanghai's hyper-local club culture, the sound-shifting spirit of Nu China, and the occasional traumatic-breakup-turned-creative fuel—what emerges is music that is as physically moving as it is emotionally compelling. Aiming to release three projects in 2026 and already finished with a hip-hop forward one, Shushu's fast becoming one of the faces of Nu China, quietly rewriting the rules of China's rigid musical conventions in her lustrous, danceable experiments.

Read my full conversation with Shushu below.

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Let’s start with your newest project! Tell me about S&M—you begin with the “polite bitch” lyric in both the first and last song.

So, I started S&M, this project, this mixtape, at the beginning of last year in January. And I had some of the demos finished at the end of last year [2024]. Then, me and my producer, Misty Mirror, had this little plan to say, ‘okay, let's release this track as a small EP that only has three, four songs because the genre is very similar.’ It's like electropop, house beats. Then, as I deliberated and the project got huge, I delayed it because we were planning to release it as a very fast project because he was doing his daily beat practice. So, he would send me a beat every day, and then I would just hop on his beat and write and then we would finish. The whole process was very fast for the musical side. I have another producer called DJSTOLEURBAE. His other alias is Skeleton, and he's a very talented producer. He used to produce for major hip hop artists in China. Now, they have become very big. He was producing for their very early stage of their career, and he's very young.

How would you say the scene is China right now, is it pretty established or is it still finding these new ways to produce or play? I guess there's two questions in that, where things are happening and how it sounds?

I think China used to have a scene back in 2017 to 2021, maybe. Because at the time, you had this club called Shelter, and then you had this club called All Club, where you could find the coolest underground music. It was not only electronic, but also club music. You can have very cool DJs playing in Shanghai every weekend. I know there are so many cool artists who came. I think Oli XL played in Shanghai in the last two weeks. It used to have a big scene.

But after the club shut down, I think the scene is kind of dead. Now, that scene is very much in the niche of club music. I think, recently, underground music is really popping in China, but the underground music in China is kind of specifically in the hip hop scene. So it's a bit different. I don't know if you watched that UDG Cipher, that's like the hip-hop underground stuff, but it’s not very electronic. But I knew Misty Mirror for a very long time because we linked up in the group chat back in, I don't know how many years ago. But in that group chat, we talked about Arca and battle club music, very niche. I think at the time it was called Deconstructive Music. (laughs)

That's how we linked up because of this kind of club music. It's different, I think, for the electro stuff but, as the scene develops intentionally, people will also tap into these kinds of artists and will also do works in similar styles. Right now, there are so many new artists standing out.

You said the scene kind of died in 2017. Where do you think the scene is now?

Yeah. I think right now it’s a new trend called hip-hop underground. And I think because the audience are very young, like high school students and uni students, I think it's more the hype on the internet than what really happens in real life. Then, people go to the artists’ release parties. It's less like that because I know the community is dead. There's no offline community, it's more like online stuff.

You had a stint in Paris. What was that experience like? And, having that kind of cross, how did your sound change? Were you listening to anything new over there?

Yeah, so I think I missed the golden age of the club scene in China because at the time I was in Paris studying. That’s like the past golden age, but I also came back sometime during vacation, like spring and summer breaks. When I was in Paris, I listened to the same music as well, and I also had a bunch of friends who listened to that same music as well. But where I started at the very beginning, the music I made was more ambient. It's less energetic like S&M. I think, at the time, I was still discovering and that's the way where I was the most comfortable staying. I was just doing whatever people were sending me.

How did you first get into music?

Yeah, it's interesting because I never thought that I would make music. When I was little, I was watching the movie, The Devil Wears Prada. I was watching the movie and dreaming that, maybe one day, I would become a fashion editor. So, I never thought about making music; but, I was approaching music at a very young age. I was studying piano and, then, I was studying drums. As a Chinese kid, you have to learn an instrument outside of your school time. Your parents would send you to learn some stuff. I even had a band back in middle school, where I was the drummer. Randomly, I am playing the drums and we played that Avril Lavigne song, “Skater Boy.” We would practice that song and put on a show in front of the whole school. And then, because my major was in art and art management, I was working in the gallery before.

I went to so many rave parties, so I wanted to be the DJ at first. So I started to DJ first, and then I had some opportunities to play small gigs in Paris. Then, I went through a very bad breakup and, during that time, my very good friend—he's making music here and there—was just like, ‘okay, just stop being so sad. Let's make music together.’ I needed to shift my attention to put it into something else. So I was like, yeah! I was going to his place, making music every day. Every day. And then after two months, we had four or five songs and we put them out very fast. That's where I began. I put out my first demo and we released the first song.

It's so interesting that you were a DJ first and then, because I feel like we're kind of going through something right now in which a DJ isn't just someone who plays the backtrack at a party anymore. It's more like the attention is kind of shifting towards the front of the room. It's like you go to some places for the music and for who's playing. Do you see that shift happening in China as well, or because we see that a lot in the states in which the DJ is becoming more important than the party sometimes.

Yeah. I think this is where I started approaching electronic music. Because in every party I go to, the DJ is the main character in the room. I went to the party because of the DJ. I liked their styles because, at the time, the DJ is not only the DJ itself, but they also produce their works like artists.

What genre do you think you identify the most with? Do you identify with a label in terms of music? Do you think your final evolution would be, what would you be going towards in terms of sound?

I think I am kind of like a mirror, so I reflect the people who work with me and I will get the energy. And then, I reflect and emphasize the energy into the music I'm making with them. For example, for S&M with Misty Mirror. He had this vision and I trust that. We built a world with delusion, like, ‘Oh, we got to be famous and stuff right now.’

Yeah, we have tons of music that hasn't been released yet. It's going to be sick. I can promise that. I am also preparing. So for this year, I will release a lot of new music because I have maybe a hundred demos that didn't release. I just cannot sit on my one hundred demos. I need to put them out.

I will have two mix tapes. One is not going to be R&B. It's going to be hip-hop style, because I went a little bit viral because I did the remix of Nettspend’s “nothing like uuu” at the very early year of last year. I think people like to hear me on a hip hop beat, so I will try that. Recently, I’ve only listened to underground hip-hop stuff and I really tap into that. It’s funny that when you write on very hip hop beats, your mindset kind of shifts.

Because I used to not really get rap music. I didn’t like the beats yet because I just didn’t get it. I love Charli XCX, I love Oklou— it's different from hiphop— but I think hip-hop music is kind of affecting me because when you write on a hip-hop beat, your mind will be shaped automatically that ‘I am the most sick person in the whole world.’ Just a new beat, and your ego will be boosted instantly. I think it’s fun.

So, recently, I was having fun rapping on the hip-hop beats, and I already finished one tape. It's like 15 songs. I also will try more mainstream stuff. I have also… I don’t know if you know Jay Cho, but I have listened to his music forever, since I was a kid, so he influenced me a lot. I wanted to bring back the very early stages of his style. I have been running on some of the Chinese pop songs, and the one we put out is influenced by him.

What are you listening to or consuming right now that's kind of inspiring you?

Right now, I listen to so many rappers. I discovered so many UK rappers. I recently really love this guy called 5EB. He's cool. Oh, I also recently discovered this guy called Westwood. He sings like Justin Bieber.

Do you have any New Year's resolutions for this next year?

I started my New Year's resolutions by going to Pilates. I think for a new resolution, I need to have a strict timeline and a deadline for putting out music because I was just obsessed with making more new music and never put them out. I went to a tarot with Gemini. And Gemini said that if I don't release three mixtapes this year, I'll be pregnant. Like, what the fuck? No, I will not have a baby.