Chinese singer Silence Wang has plenty to say at first concerts here

Silence Wang Rise Of Romance World Tour – Singapore

Singapore Indoor Stadium March 27 and 28

Ahead of Silence Wang’s three sold-out concerts in Singapore – the Chinese singer-songwriter’s first in the Lion City – I hear many puns related to his name. Friends ask if his shows are going to be quiet, or if his music might be silenced or censored.

The 36-year-old might be foreign to non-Mandarin-speaking audiences. But in 2025, Grammy.com, the Recording Academy’s official website, named him as one of “12 Artists Helping Mandopop Become The Next Global Genre”, alongside A-listers Jay Chou, G.E.M., Mayday, JJ Lin and Jolin Tsai.

Wang, the piece noted, was among China’s top Mandopop artistes on Spotify, and averages more than 2.3 million listeners a month on the platform.

With 11 studio albums under his belt and three concert tours in 2026 alone, Wang has established himself as an eminent Mandopop composer.

I attended the first two nights of his three-night gig here and discovered three reasons why he has plenty to say through his music. He will perform a third show on March 29.

1. Melodic mastery

Having graduated from the Shenyang Conservatory of Music in China, where he majored in classical music composition, Wang has expertise in many genres.

He wrote the melody and lyrics to Well Lee’s electronica track Soul Of The Sword (2017) and Joey Yung’s pop song Let The Rain Come Down (2022), which have become fairly well known among the artistes’ respective repertoires.

During his concert, Wang sang all these numbers, as well as the R&B track Until Never (2011), which he wrote with his good friend, Chinese singer Xu Liang.

His classical roots also came through in Bach’s Old Testament (2010), filled with flourishes such as a harpsichord, an instrument associated with the Baroque composer, and some German lyrics.

Demonstrating his versatility, Wang changed up the set list every night. “I have too many songs and I am not finished,” he said during his March 28 show.

2. Theme songs galore

Wang’s popularity grew in the 2010s when many of his theme songs were used in dramas and movies. For example, Rings Of Time (2015) was a theme song for the Chinese fantasy drama The Journey Of Flower (2015).

He performed the peppy number One Alluring Smile (2016), which was used in the Chinese idol drama Love O2O (2016) on March 27, accompanied by dancers in mascot costumes.

His ballad The Unforgotten (2019) was used in the Chinese high-school movie My Best Summer (2019), where Wang made his film debut with a cameo.

Mid-song, he mentioned the drama’s lead characters – Geng Geng (played by Chinese actress He Lan Dou) and Yu Huai (played by Chinese actor Arthur Chen) – reminding audiences of the protagonists’ heartfelt onscreen connection.

3. Anxieties of the young

The appeal of Wang’s music lies partly in his astute lyrics, which express the anxieties of modern society. In Defiant (2019), he sings of the struggles of young people holding on to their ideals in a imperfect world.

On Sisyphus (2018), he draws a parallel between the myth of Sisyphus, a Greek mythological figure condemned to push a boulder up a mountain for eternity, and modern rejection of the rat race.

There are echoes of the Chinese counterculture of “lying flat” and its Western equivalent of “quiet quitting”, which have both made headlines in recent years.

The song’s lyrics go: “I cannot see you / I cannot see the unknown destiny / You are bottomless / Want to give up every day.”

With his maturity and musical talent, Wang proves he is anything but silent – and his voice is one worth listening to.