The Chinese American Bear Interview!!!

These "𝑀𝒶𝓃𝒹𝑜-𝓅𝑜𝓅 𝒻𝒶𝓇𝓉 𝒿𝑜𝓀𝑒 𝑒𝓃𝒿𝑜𝓎𝑒𝓇𝓈" made waves with their last album, toured the U.S. and China last year, and are my biggest music obsession right now...

From my drafts……….. a BIG 对不起 for the delay in sending this one out.

In personal news, I’ve had a busy few months: I moved to the gayest place on earth—West Hollywood—all the while, in international news, Trump continues to be dumb, hateful, and brain-wormy. But the point of substack is to teach y’all about my favorite music discovery of 2024:

CHINESE AMERIAN BEAR
(华裔美国熊)

• Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Instagram / TikTok

When I saw the duo known as Chinese American Bear—made up of Anne Tong and her husband of 6 years, Bryce Barsten, who she met in high school jazz class 16 years ago—in concert on a chilly November LA night, the experience surpassed all expectations.

Not to brag, but I timed my edible perfectly this time. When Chinese American Bear took to the stage, I was elevated to a better, sillier, carefree world. Where Mandarin and English beautifully overlap over bubblegum pop, where an audience member is asked to join the three-person band on stage to be the show’s “Dumpling” for their song 饺子 (Dumpling) - pictured below dancing between them, where you learn Mandarin words between and before each song so you can sing along and leave slightly smarter, where songs about oolong tea, heartbreak, first loves, and Beijing truly transport you to another, more fun place than just Downtown Los Angeles.

The whole concert felt unlike any other show I’ve ever experienced before—and that’s why I love them so much and need you to know about C.A.B. also!!!

Before getting into the interview below, here’s some more about them

Their sound has been described as something similar to Beach House, Saint Etienne, Melody’s Echo Chamber, The Flaming Lips, Dusty Springfield, and The Care Bears.

Together, Anne and Bryce are creating magic. To me, their music is full of joy, trippy, funky, funny, and entirely unique. Their 2024 album Wah!!! made Wybrations News last year for their iconic hot pot mukbang listening party video, and the album is worth a stream whether you’re hot-pot-ing, on a road trip, or taking a 40-minute shower.

The duo just toured China in December and they will be opening for Poppy this spring in San Francisco, San Antonio, Tempe, and Los Angeles. It’s still quite early in their career, but I’m calling it now: this band will be huge, so better to make yourself familiar now. 😊

A good place to start: Take Me To Beijing (Music Video)

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The Interview

WY: Who - or what - are your biggest musical influences for your latest album, “Wah!!!”?

BRYCE: ABBA, Bee Gees, Pond, Gorillaz, Sam Evian, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Flaming Lips.

ANNE: Taylor Swift!

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WY: I’m predicting that you are one viral song away from being the next big thing in music… what song do you think it will be?

BRYCE: Kids Go Down! Maybe Love Bus. :) Honestly, Love You could be the sleeper viral hit. Crossing our fingers.

ANNE: I agree on Kids Go Down! Take Me to Beijing is one of my favorites though so I secretly hope that's the one.

(Wy: Take Me to Beijing is my prediction as well; I linked it above)

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WY: What’s the biggest misconception Americans seem to have about China that you’re hoping to prove them wrong about?

Anne: There are many! One misconception is that many Americans may assume China is pretty homogenous. People might think everybody there speaks the same kind of Chinese, eats the same types of Chinese food, looks the same, etc. In fact, the Chinese language has eight major Dialect categories (Mandarin, Cantonese, etc...) and hundreds of variations of those dialects. These dialects are also way more varied than different accents. Mandarin (what we sing in) sounds as different from Cantonese as English from Spanish. There are also 8 major culinary cuisines across China and they are all as different as Italian food is from Mexican food. China is an incredibly diverse country and we're super excited to explore many parts of it on our 14-city tour. Can't wait to share all the food and adventures we'll have.

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WY: Since there are no limits and labels for CAB, what’s one dream of yours that you’d love to see come true?

ANNE: I've been a huge diehard Swiftie since her 2008 Fearless album. It would be an insane dream to do anything with her! Whether that's playing a show with her, collaborating on a song, or honestly just even meeting her haha. My other dream would be to have one of our songs featured in a major movie or TV show with a mostly Asian American cast. For example - if there were ever a Crazy Rich Asians 2, it would be incredible to have one of our songs featured!

BRYCE: I can imagine a real Flaming Lips-esqe show production if we ever blew up. Like giant inflatable dumplings & bear monsters. Anne rides the bear monster into the crowd, it shoots rainbow lasers from its eyes, and then farts out a glitter bomb over the crowd.
It's been my dream since I was a boy to play Red Rocks in Colorado. Also the Sydney Opera House. Headlining Glastonbury, or Pitchfork Music Festival. I've also dreamt of making a short film for an entire album. Basically, a music video that spans an entire 40-minute album. Dreams!

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And lastly…

WY: Food is clearly important to your brand (shout out mukbang!), music, and to you as people — what’s the best thing the other person cooks up? Can Bryce answer for Anne and Anne answer for Bryce?

ANNE: Bryce makes amazing tacos with homemade salsa and spicy pickled onions. His grandmother was from Mexico so he uses family recipes that's been passed down.

BRYCE: Anne's Mapo Tofu is amazing. Along with her Egg & Tomato w/rice or noodle. She also makes a mean Shakshuka.

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In some exciting news, since this interview with them, Anne’s dream of having their music in a major film came true. For the remake of the 1993 film “Wedding Banquet”, director Ang Lee features their song “Bear Day” for the trailer, and the film will have two more Chinese American Bear songs in it! The movie comes to theaters on April 18th and is currently showing at Sundance! ✨

I was so thrilled to meet and interview them for this substack post, so if you want to share this — or their music — with someone, PLEASE DO THAT!

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Thank you for reading!

Now go check out Chinese American Bear!!!

✮ If you want a WYBRATIONS CAMO hat, they’re $22 on Etsy. ✮

-WY