Get to Know Me: 9m88 - Musical Notes Global

Born in Taipei and raised in New York, 9m88 is an innovative creator who continues to make a distinct mark on the world of the arts in infinite ways.

The Taiwanese R&B singer, actress, and creative artist has finally dropped her sophomore album, and it’s a project that will gift listeners with a unique aural experience. On this one, 9m88 collaborated with an international team of musicians and producers, including Oddisee (USA), Arthur Moon (USA), Silas Short (USA), StarRo (Japan), SIMIN (South Korea), and more, providing “9m88 Radio” with richly diverse roots that form a strong base for her captivating stories.

Exploring subjects like relationships, internal doubt, self-expectations, and career growth, “9m88 Radio” is a powerful, timely, and deeply reflective collection that will speak especially to other young women who are in the midst of acknowledging who they are and discovering who they hope to become.

9m88 sat down with Musical Notes Global to reveal the details behind her new album, talk current playlist favorites, and more. Get to know her below.

For those of you who may not know me, I’m a singer-songwriter from Taiwan.

This is why I call myself 9m88: 9 pronounced “Jo” in Mandarin, and 8 pronounced “Ba”—“Jo-m-Baba” is basically how it sounds. it’s a combo of my English name (Joanne) and nickname (88).

Here’s the scoop on my sophomore album “9m88 Radio”: It’s a colorful and multi-faceted album with some amazing featured artists like Oddisee, Arthur Moon, Silas Short, StarRo, and many others.

To me, this album represents the consciousness of being in womanhood and the reflections of the stage of my life.

I hope listeners find a little piece of them in this album.

To make “9m88 Radio,” I teamed up with 8 producers from different parts of the world because music is more fun when you work with artists who bring different perspectives.

My favorite song on the album is “Love Is So Cruel” because it has some self-deprecating humor in it.

It was inspired by one failure of my romantic relationship.

When writing music, I draw my greatest inspiration from heartbreaks and unhappy things mostly and try to make them sound like it’s not a big deal.

This is how my bi-cultural upbringing has influenced my work: To play with the languages. I like to make Mandarin and English sound harmonious in songs.

The artists who have most influenced me most are Erykah Badu, Stevie Wonder, Stan Getz, Ella Fitzgerald

I really admire Cleo Sol. She’s a new legend. I can feel it!

A few songs on my playlist right now are: Daniel Caesar-”Please Do Not Lean” (ft. BADBADNOTGOOD), Hiatus Kaiyote-”Red Room,” Joyce-”Samba de Silvia”

For the rest of 2022, I’m looking forward to performing and sharing this record to audiences out of my comfort zone.

Stream “9m88 Radio” below.