Opening with sunflowers, singing of sunflowers: YUQI's 'Stay'

Today's NONOL PICK is 'Stay', the title track from YUQI's second mini album '二十七(27)', released on October 8. It closes the six-song album, and the Bugs credits list YUQI and Jay Lee as lyricists and Jay Lee and YUQI as composers, with Jay Lee arranging. The lyrics are entirely in Chinese and English, but you can follow the band building up and stepping aside by ear without knowing a word, and that's why we picked it. The album introduction ends with "You are a sunflower. You always grow toward the sunlight," and the song sings of a sunflower in its bridge too. Timestamps follow the official music video.

0:03 · Two sunflowers, then 'I stay'

The video passes a mountain valley and sunlight filtering through leaves, and at 0:03 shows two sunflowers under a blue sky. In the next shot YUQI lifts hay in front of a barn as the first line arrives: 'I stay 在小小的房间' (I stay, in a small room). Split the sound into four parts, vocals, drums, bass and everything else, and from 0:06 until the first verse ends at 0:20 the drums and bass sit about 50 decibels below the voice. Decibels measure loudness, and every 10 fewer sounds roughly half as loud to the ear. They are effectively off, leaving just the voice and the guitar and keys.

0:21 · The band comes in on 'Higher'

At 0:20.7, as the last line of the first verse, '没有人懂你眼里的失落' (no one understands the disappointment in your eyes), ends, the bass and drums come in together with 'Higher'. The words that follow are '承载我梦想的 / Story' (the story that carries my dreams). The screen, too, moves from the barn to the horses on the ranch.

0:38 · The first 'Every day,' almost alone

Just before the first chorus, at 0:38.0, the bass drops out and the accompaniment fades. In that near-two-second gap, 'Every day and night we stay' begins at 0:39 almost on the voice alone, and at 0:39.9 the band comes back all at once. Right before the band arrives, at 0:39.6, the screen cuts from YUQI throwing an arm up in front of the barn to an overhead shot of a red pickup truck. After the first chorus, the second 'I stay' at 1:15 continues with '有你在的地方' (where you are), and this time the drums and bass come in from the very first word.

2:38 · 17 seconds singing 'like a sunflower'

In the bridge, YUQI sings 'One two steps 像向日葵一样' (like a sunflower) and 'One two days 要永远向阳生长' (always grow toward the sun). It's the same idea as the last line of the album introduction. At 2:38.3, as this passage begins, the bass drops out, and the drums fade away by 2:39.7. While only the voice and the guitar and keys remain, the screen moves from four friends running along the beach to a flock of birds over the sea at 2:40, then to a figure seen from behind, sitting alone on a log washed up on the shore, at 2:46. After 'To the sky, fly with me', the drums swell back at 2:54, and the bass returns with the final chorus at 2:55.6. The bass is gone for 17 seconds.

2:56 · Hand in hand into the sea

Right after the bass comes back, at 2:56, four friends run hand in hand into the waves. Around 3:27, near the end of the last chorus and '我们永不散场' (our show never ends), hands raised to the sky each hold up a necklace, and the song ends at 3:30. The video runs 20 seconds longer than the song (3:33). From 3:32, end credits roll over instrumental music, with beach scenes shown in a small window in the middle of a black screen. Apple Music

The album holds six songs: '快乐', 'Chamomile Tea', 'I Like You', 'Feels Right', '银河之舞' and 'Stay'. You can find the songs YUQI has released solo so far in our YUQI solo starter guide.