“Wait & See” album cover art photographed by Nathanie Ngu
It’s season two in Echo Huang’s universe. In her latest single, “Wait & See,” which was released July 14, the 24-year-old Chinese singer-songwriter gravitated towards slow and sultry R&B jam as opposed to the soft, bubbly sound of her previous projects.
“In my head, it’s just like a new era,” Huang said.
When Huang was 18, she moved to Boston from China and completed her undergraduate songwriting degree at the Berklee School of Music. Now, she’s based in New York City. She graduated with her master’s in songwriting at NYU in May and is looking to write songs for others while developing her own career as an independent artist.
“Wait & See” was a breakthrough for Huang. Inspired by artists on her current rotation, which include UMI, Alina Baraz, and Snoh Alegra, Huang wanted to prove to herself she could create a melancholic sound that demonstrated her skills in a new sonic landscape.
“Wait & See,” along with her other single “Disco Ball,” is the beginning of her journey to explore what musical style suits her best; both singles find her gravitating towards sensual R&B.
“I just want to make some changes and see if this style is meant for me,” Huang said.
Huang wrote “Wait & See” with her friends, one of whom was going through an intense breakup at the time. Two years before that, Huang had been through the same thing with her ex.
“I definitely had to reminisce on that type of emotion, even if it’s not there anymore,” Huang expressed. “It's amazing to see how much you’ve grown out of it, how much you’ve healed, but also at the same time, it's just part of the healing process.”
“Wait & See” finds Huang yearning for a past lover, asking for them to reconcile because she can’t see herself with anyone else. The message embodies the period after a breakup where you have to accept a former partner suddenly leaving your life. It’s about the loss of a routine and the life you’ve built with them.
Huang’s rich, lush delivery is layered over a slow-jam beat interspersed with soulful chord progressions. Huang’s voice, ethereal and assured, is emotive and versatile in range.
With lyrics like “Baby, come back to me / I’ll do whatever it takes,” Huang longs for someone who’s escaped her pining grasp, and the song has jokingly been labeled a “big simp song” by Huang and her friends. “Me looking back two years ago, it’s like ‘Echo, you’re really a simp,’” Huang laughed.
The song features Huang’s friend, 3ee, in which both artists express similar sentiments about their respective exes. While the two verses are cohesive and intertwine sonically, the two artists wrote their parts separately, with minimal collaboration during the process.
“I feel like it's like just two heartbroken people saying, 'please come back to me,’ but in their own different perspective to their own person,” Huang noted. “He was just writing from his own personal experience as well.”
When audiences listen to “Wait & See,” Huang wants them to know that it’s normal to feel sad about not reconciling with an unrequited love. “It’s okay to feel what you feel in the moment,” Huang remarked. “Just feel the sadness. That’s it.”
While she’s looking to write songs for other artists, Huang has several of her own projects planned to release in the upcoming months. She’ll potentially release an EP at the end of the year which will feature collaborations with her friends coming out in August.
Huang expressed that right now, she feels like she finally has a good, genuine community around her that can allow her to be more vulnerable and liberate herself as an artist.
“I realized, like, ‘Oh, these people are actually like helping me without asking for anything in return,’ which is super loving, good energy,” Huang said. “I finally have people that are doing this with me, instead of me doing it alone.”
