The build towards Crystal Chen’s debut album began in early 2024 with the Valentine’s Day release of Love Letter, an over-subscribed Boosted campaign later in the year raising funds to help cover recording costs of the then un-named album’s 14 tracks. Enhanced with a growing portfolio of emotive music videos Chen’s songwriting blends jazz, soul, pop and more, while reflecting a softness and romantic sense of the world around her. The album is titled ‘You can call me CC’, and Nur Peach spoke with her following its September release.

You can call Crystal Chen ‘CC’, at least according to the title of her debut album. Listening to the Tamaki Mākaurau-based singer’s music, or watching her videos, you might also call her sophisticated, sassy and calmly confident. The delicate-voiced Chinese-NZ musician situates herself within the popular jazz realm, while playfully experimenting with elements of pop, soul and other styles.

In 2021, a younger Crystal Chen spoke to NZM about leaving behind her choral singing training, embracing soul music and working towards a planned EP. That may not have eventuated, but in the years since she has worked with a variety of musicians and producers (Harry Parsons, Julien Dyne, Noema Te Hau and Kenny Sterling among them), resulting in a series of understated, high quality singles that have led to her carefully choreographed 2025 album, ‘You can call me CC’.

“I feel relief,” she says about the debut album release. “This project that I’ve invested all my money, all my time, all of my energy into, is just out. And it feels a bit strange because it’s been a secret for so long, and now everyone can experience it!”

Now in her early twenties the Auckland-born artist describes the production process as lengthy and challenging, especially as it involved forming her first band, and learning how to lead a group of musicians.

“With jazz and soul, it has to be played together as a band, and not like someone recording the instrument separately. Plus we were saving time and money,” she smiles. “I also like to give myself big challenges to try and overcome!”

The band includes keyboardist Joe Kaptein, harpist Harrison Chau, drummer Adam Tobeck and others. She credits Kaptein’s breadth of knowledge and multi-instrumental skills as being especially helpful in finding her feet.

“I can’t read music, but my band needed charts, because the songs are so intricate and detailed. So I was really grateful to have Joe there, because he has perfect pitch. He arranged the songs, and he was also musically directing it. We were sharing that role between us, because I also have a really strong idea of what I want.”

Chen readily admits the experience proved a challenging learning curve outside of the music itself. She speaks to the delicate balance that must be struck when working with others, the process of learning when to compromise and when to take charge.

“It’s quite hard finding your voice as a band leader, when people have different ideas of things. It’s hard knowing when to speak up and knowing when not to – since I don’t have a jazz degree like most of my band members do. I had to learn how to balance their opinions with mine, but also stay true to my vision. At the end of the day, I realised that I wrote these songs… they came from me, so I have the vision for it, not these guys.”

Before recording started Chen performed a debut headlining gig at Auckland’s Big Fan in May 2024, backed by her then newly-formed band.

“The first rehearsal for that headliner show was so daunting. I was so nervous, and also a bit too ambitious, because I decided to have an eight-piece band! I had a harp and horns, and all that was really stressful.”

Soon after that gig they spent two days in Roundhead’s Studio A, recording the album’s 14 tracks over just two days, with engineer De Stevens.

“It’s crazy just being there, it was incredible! It’s just a beautiful space. I feel like it made us want to perform better as well. But after doing that I realised I could have done it anywhere, I didn’t really have to do it at Roundhead.

“I recorded my own vocals just in my lounge, on my couch – which is kind of crazy – going from Roundhead to this really dingey makeshift studio that we set up on K Rd, next to my photography studio. The sound was so horrible in there, because the road is really loud and it wasn’t soundproofed!”

There’s no evidence in her songs. Including a rich array of woodwind and similarly light toned instruments, the result is a varied soundscape of soft and soulful cinematic jazz, with catchy pop choruses thrown into the mix.

Her self-directed music videos are particularly noteworthy, Chen creating a strong visual world marked by warm colours and elegant aesthetics – not surprising considering the parallel creative career she has been forging in photography and film. She recently worked on the set of Wrecking Crew, starring Jason Momoa, and has an extensive portfolio of her own. Those evident skills in the visual arena naturally augment her music delivery.

“I’ve always had visual correlations to stories or music and I like to create these worlds in my head sometimes. But it’s another thing to bring it to life when you have the budget and you have a crew, and it’s just so magical when it’s a translation of what I imagined in real life.”

Among the album tracks, Love Letter was in the first batch of songs to benefit from NZ On Air’s New Music Pan Asian funding in June 2023. Kiss It Better and Can’t Help It got New Music Single funding in 2024.

Funding allowed her to make the songs’ rich videos, and she notes the Pan Asian funding scheme as being hugely beneficial, and the rising visibility for local Asian artists inspires her. She credits her manager, and NZ On Air music promoter, Casey Yeoh.

“When I realised it was Casey who did that I was like, ‘This has come full circle.’ She’s also a Chinese girl, and she’s the best manager ever!

“It’s definitely really important to see representation, and it’s inspiring when it’s people of your own culture. When I first started music, there were not that many. I remember seeing Imugi and being really inspired. I did the Love Letter music video because I got that funding. I always had this idea of doing a music video that’s inspired by ‘70s Shanghai, in qipao, which is a traditional Chinese dress. That was just this alter ego I’d always wanted to embody. And then I got the funding, and was like, ‘Oh, this is a perfect opportunity to do that!’

“That’s what I do for work as a photographer. I kind of see the world in this almost romantic way, and the people around me become muses. It’s a real privilege, and an honour, to be able to make that come to life, to capture it and include it alongside the music.”