First Listen: Newcomer Yufu delivers old school soul on tasty “When?”

(January 21, 2025) Raised on Motown and inspired by ‘70’s soul, Taiwanese singer Yufu Chen is making international strides. Since dropping his first EP back in 2021, he has amassed well over 104K listeners on Spotify alone, due to “Honey If You’re Extra,” a sexy midtempo jam dripping of Marvin Gaye ooze. Thanks to UK radio programming, the song set off a metric boom on Spotify with 6,301 new monthly listeners, marking a 408.6% increase from Yufu’s usual growth.

Now signed to Amsterdam-based Zip Records and with his first full length album (Heal Me Good,) dropping January 24, the self-taught musician and producer is heralding a new, elevated chapter in his career. Inside the ten-track odyssey, Yufu, 31, is laser focused on exploring familiar retro sounds echoed by 1970’s soul stalwarts Barry White and Curtis Mayfield along with a delectable palette of Motor City luminaries (Willie Hutch, Eddie Kendricks). And he does so on his latest single from the forthcoming LP, “When?” With his soulful frills, hazy falsetto and careful reminders of Solomon Burke wisdom (“Everybody needs somebody to love”), the tune trots across a mellow horn-dazzled groove that also traces the simple percussion of Timmy Thomas’s “Can We Live Together.”

Yufu explains how the songs for the new album came together in a provided statement to SoulTracks.com. “I have been obsessed with vintage gears, 1970s consoles, effect pedals, the fashion, the culture and everything that comes with it all my life. Finally, with the music making part, I felt complete and elated. I have to say I do feel lonesome in Taiwan as the only vintage-soul music endorser/ composer. Luckily with the Internet, I got to meet soul music lovers, [my] soul-mates” around the globe and found amazing communities like the northern soul scene in Europe and also some fellow modern soul revivalists.” 

SoulTrackers and fellow “soul-mates,” turn the sound up and let us know what you think of the track from Yufu. 

By J Matthew Cobb

Yufu

"When?"

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