ZHU - 'GenerationWHY' (July 29, 2016)

[Juan Carlos]

There isn't too much information about ZHU, whose real name is Steven Zhu, a Chinese-American singer-producer, besides that he believes music should speak for itself.

On April 20, 2014, he released his first EP called The Nightday, which includes the UK and Australia Top 3 hit "Faded" and made him to be nominated for a GRAMMY Award on the 'Best Dance Recording' category this year.

[Juan Carlos]

Later last year, there was an article from Billboard, which mentioned the following:

After releasing the Nightday EP in April and entertaining offers from several majors, Zhu signed with Sony's Columbia for North America. His debut album is slated for release in 2015.

And looks like the release of the album is indeed happening!

There isn't too many details right now, but Sony Music Russia posted the following about Genesis Series almost two weeks ago. (*)

Very soon, ZHU will delight us with a new album, but for now - it offers us to evaluate the project Genesis Series, tracks which will come out one by one - namely, a new track each week with a teaser every Wednesday (it will be possible to listen to www.generationwhy.com) and the date of release of the first single, "Automatic", will be on August 28.

It is worth noting that ZHU believes that the Genesis Series will be a link, a 'bridge' between his latest EP Nightday and the upcoming album Generation Why.

Recorded Genesis Series, we hear Zhu with such representatives of the EDM industry, like AlunaGeorge, Skrillex, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, DJ Snake and others. The project in the final stage of the release will be released as an EP, which includes tracks 1-6 and the last, the seventh track "Generation Why", would be a single, previous to the self-titled album.

Despite "Automatic" came out 'not officially' on August 28 as it's mentioned above, the track is only available on Spotify, but it's currently geo-restricted.



That said, an official release date hasn't been given, although ZHU tweeted the following.

---

(*) This text is translated from Russian to English, so there would be some innacuracies.

[Juan Carlos]

The list of collaborators from Genesis Series have been revealed and they are: Skrillex, AlunaGeorge, A-Trak, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Gallant, They, Keznamdi, Daniel Johns, Vancouver Sleep Clinic and Trombone Shorty according to this pic from Dancing Astronaut on ZHU's website. Also, looks like "Automatic" will be premiered this Wednesday according to Aluna's reply (and now deleted) AMA held on Reddit three days ago. It's coming! :'(

[Juan Carlos]

Aluna Francis is going to be this Wednesday on Huw Stephen's BBC Radio 1 show (in replacement of Annie Mac) to premiere the track and it will be the Hottest Record according to the description of the programme from that day. Also, there's a stylized video counterpart that showcases a minute and a half of the song, which was e-mailed today for people who registered at his website. That said, you could watch it here.

[Juan Carlos]

As previosly mentioned, the track received its first play today on BBC Radio 1 as the Hottest Record. You could listen to it here or below.

[Juan Carlos]

So, there is another e-mail from ZHU that was sent today and it included a minute and a half of a new track from him called "As Crazy As It Is", which is a collaboration with A-Trak and Keznamdi. No information yet if the song will be premiered later today or tomorrow or it will be only digitally released.

[Juan Carlos]

The audio of ZHU's new song "As Crazy As It Is" has been uploaded on his YouTube/VEVO channel. It will be available to purchase from midnight.

[Juan Carlos]

Another e-mail from ZHU was sent today and it included a minute and a half of a new track from him called "Testarossa Music", which is a collaboration with Gallant and it could be watched here. No information yet if the song will be premiered sometime this week before its digital release, which could be this Friday, unless it's going to be an OA/OS release.

[Juan Carlos]

The audio of ZHU's new song "Testarossa Music" has been uploaded on his YouTube/VEVO channel and it will be available to purchase from midnight.

[Juan Carlos]

Another e-mail from ZHU was sent yesterday (I missed that ) and it included a minute and a half of a new track from him called "Hold Up, Wait a Minute", which is a collaboration with Bone Thugs-n-Harmony and Trombone Shorty and it could be watched here.

[Juan Carlos]

The audio of ZHU's new song "Hold Up, Wait a Minute" has been uploaded on his YouTube/VEVO channel. It will be available to purchase from midnight.

[Juan Carlos]

"Automatic" (Music Video)

[Juan Carlos]

Another e-mail from ZHU was sent today and it included a minute and a half of a new track from him called "Modern Conversation", which is a collaboration with Vancouver Sleep Clinic and Daniel Johns. It could be watched here.

[Juan Carlos]

The audio of ZHU's new song "Modern Conversation" has been uploaded on his YouTube/VEVO channel, which received its first play on Triple J today.

[Juan Carlos]

Another e-mail from ZHU was sent today and it included a minute and a half of a new track from him called "Working for It", which is a collaboration with Skrillex and THEY and it could be seen here.

[Juan Carlos]

The audio of ZHU's new song "Working for It" has been uploaded on his YouTube/VEVO channel, which received its first play on Zane Lowe's Beats 1 show today.

[Juan Carlos]

The following message was sent via e-mail a couple of days ago, where ZHU mentions that the standalone tracks from Genesis Series are over and he teases something new soon.

---

Also, a teaser of "Electrify" was posted on the Nightday Collection's Instagram with a November 16 date. That said, looks like this track will come out that day along the announcement of ZHU's clothing line.

https://instagram.com/p/9pXC_OLkDS

[Juan Carlos]

Noise11 is reporting that all the standalone songs released so far from ZHU from his Genesis Series project are going to be available in an EP due out tomorrow.

[newpower]

[Juan Carlos]

The new track is called "In the Morning".

https%3A//soundcloud.com/zhu/in-the-morning

• You could watch the music video here.

[H.]

I love all of his music so far.

[Juan Carlos]

The title track off his debut album called GenerationWHY due out July 29 is out and you could listen to it below.

[Juan Carlos]

A new song of the album called "Palm of My Hand" is out as an instant grat.

[Juan Carlos]

Artwork:



Tracklisting:

1. "Intro (Neon City)"
2. "Cold Blooded"
3. "In the Morning"
4. "Secret Weapon"
5. "Electrify Me"
6. "Numb"
7. "Palm of My Hand"
8. "Money"
9. "One Minute to Midnight"
10. "Reaching"
11. "Hometown Girl"
12. "Good Life"
13. "Generationwhy"
14. "Working For It" (ZHU x Skrillex x THEY)

[newpower]

Enjoying this so much.

[Juan Carlos]

Hands down. One of the best releases of the year so far in my opinion.

[allow that]

Great album. I'm instantly OBSESSED with "Secret Weapon."

[Caviar]

Love this album! I can listen to it all the way thru. My favorites: "Good Life" and "Hometown Girl". Amazing piece of work.