Linying has always known how to craft a moment. The Singaporean, LA-based singer-songwriter makes music that feels like an intimate confession — delicate yet unflinching. Her latest single, “Dial Tone,” is no exception. A shimmering track that hovers between bedroom pop and alt-R&B, it captures the ache of estrangement and words left unsaid.
The music video, premiering today on PAPER, plays like a fever dream of family duty and personal reckoning. A trans woman, played by Seattle-based drag queen Mikey Xu, attends her sister’s traditional Chinese wedding, forced to present as a cishet man to appease her family. As she drowns in expectation, she tries to impress a disapproving father, downs liquor with the other boys and ultimately unravels in the bathroom, cradled in her sister’s arms.
Featuring 13 Reasons Why’s Michele Selene Ang and The L Word’s Leo Sheng, the video is an emotional gut-punch wrapped in lush visuals. Linying appears as the wedding singer, a quiet observer watching it unfold.
“The song is a meditation on masculinity, on what we as a society have decided ‘being a man’ looks like, and the pain we unconsciously inflict on one another,” Linying shares. “It’s about the anger, repression and addiction that come from denying ourselves — and how we all, in some way, pay the price.”
In true LA fashion, the making of the video was a happy accident. Linying and director Lenne Chai had drifted apart after moving to the city at different times, but a misfired text brought them back together. “I meant to send Lenne’s work to a friend as a reference, but I accidentally sent it to Lenne herself,” Linying recalls. “We met that afternoon in a Los Feliz café, where I played her the song and she spun this vision on the spot.”
As “Dial Tone” marks the latest single from Linying’s forthcoming album, Swim, Swim (out April 4 via Nettwerk), it’s another step forward for an artist refusing to stay in one lane. Dropping between Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day, the video is a hypnotic blend of love, loss and self-acceptance.
PAPER caught up with Linying to discuss the new video and her thoughts on making amends with yourself.
What was the inspiration behind the song?
“Dial Tone” refers to a time when I refused to answer someone's call. It's also a broader meditation on masculinity, on what we as a society have decided being a man looks like, and the pain we unconsciously inflict upon one another as a result. The anger, repression and addiction are all symptoms of the ways in which we deny ourselves, and ultimately, we all pay the price. I wrote this song for our boys, and the boys our fathers, brothers and lovers used to be. I'm saying, "You're being awful to me, and still I feel for you, and still I'm going to hang up."
The music video, directed by fellow Los Angeles-based Singaporean Lenne Chai, follows a trans heroine struggling to make it through her sister's wedding at a traditional Chinese banquet restaurant. She disguises and denies herself for the sake of family harmony, drowns herself in alcohol with the other boys, tries to impress her disapproving father but ultimately dissolves in the bathroom in her sister's arms.
How did you translate the song into the video?
I was inspired by Lenne's photography and had intended to send her work to another friend as a reference, but ended up accidentally sending it to Lenne herself. Through this we reconnected and met up that very afternoon in a cafe in Los Feliz where I played her the song and she came up with this beautiful vision.
What are some challenges or highlights from creating the music video?
On one of our rehearsals, where everyone was gathered at my house sitting cross-legged on the floor having tea and mung bean pastries (I have a very large dining table, and yet), Leo and Michele, who have been actors in Los Angeles for years now, said that they had never been part of a production with this many Asian cast and crew members, which surprised me. Lenne and I with our barely passable Singaporean-pidgin-Mandarin (we both speak it somewhat natively, but not very eloquently) took turns translating between our American friends and Andy, an actor actually from China who had a past life as a ballerina in London and who, coincidentally, had his own wedding 30 years ago at 888 Seafood, where we shot the music video. Mikey, our lead, had flown in from Seattle specifically for this project and Albert, our stills photographer, all the way from Vancouver. It was a truly awesome convergence of talents. It was also many of our first times meeting one another, but there was an inexplicable sense of comfort and familiarity.
How do you hope fans feel when they hear it?
I want us to imagine a world in which we honor our own pain while acknowledging the pain of the people who caused it. It has seemed impossible to me at times, but is a level of acceptance I know the core of me wants desperately to be able to attain.
Any additional news or highlights you'd like to share with PAPER readers?
[My] album, Swim, Swim, is out April 4 and available for pre-save here.
I want us to imagine a world in which we honor our own pain while acknowledging the pain of the people who caused it.
Photography: Michelle Mei
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