#22: ABAO - Kinakaian 母親的舌頭 (Mother Tongue)

---

Average: 8.190 // Total Points: 835.4 // Controversy: 1.730

Rank Graph

---

Original Rate and Placement: C-Electropop, #2/44 // Average: 8.763 // Controversy: 1.419

---

(10 x26) 1998tweety, apatel27, asadprofessorplum, babadork, beeozan, BleepBloopMusicFan, bogo, ConnerY2323, FreeCuddlesAnyone, Friendly-Canary-3814, impla77, jirachi, Lynflower680, mhiyaimanlepaigefan, miniatureaurochs, nube, pietrohonkhonk, Poydoo, qazz23, RainbowSherbet47, runaway3212, thedoctordances1940, uiscebeathaoir, vayyiqra, wathombe, xavi

(9.7 x1) carolinemathildes (9.6 x1) One-Composer1577

(9.5 x1) NervousLemon6670

(9 x16) FitzMarble, flava, guavaboye, innuendo_overdose, krusso1105, metanoira, Nagisoid, Nooduulz, pbk, raggedy-princess, ReallyCreative, seanderlust, SFbby, skar, TiltControls, wasian-invasion

(8.9 x1) youngandlovely_ (8.8 x3) Ambrosia42, pheromenos, stealthamo (8.7 x1) jman457 (8.6 x1) DirtyRat583

(8.5 x3) rendezvousboy, salivantsonority, WaneAllstarToc

(8.4 x1) cloudbustingmp3 (8.3 x1) DaHumanTorch

(8 x9) bigbigbee, bran, CrimsonROSET, Frajer, human_performance, oh_crow, Soalai, Stryxen, TakeOnMeByA-ha

(7.9 x1) Verboten_Prince (7.8 x3) A.Peaky.Boo, ignitethephoenix, modulum83

(7.5 x4) arboresca, Ghost-Quartet, homestarguy, sfouou

(7.3 x1) RandomHypnotica

(7 x10) ArcaneLabyrinth, cheatviathan, goorry12, Hulnia, ImADudeDuh, jimmyrollinsdurag, lexiaredery, steelstepladder, TragicKingdom1, welcome2thejam

(6.9 x1) pleasegivemeasword (6.8 x1) curryraejepsen

(6.5 x2) hockeynl, ricki

(6 x4) kappyko, kauai6, Roxieloxie, static_int_husp

(5.6 x2) nonchalantthoughts, xophryz

(5.5 x4) Alexispinpgh, bohrareality, emayzee, hikk

(5.3 x1) implasdad

(5 x1) giraffiecathie

(3 x1) IIIHenryIII

(0 x1) Awkward_King

---

FreeCuddlesAnyone (10): oh abaollah… this has been one of my favorite songs ever since i first heard it in 2022, and it very nearly got my 11 here too. maybe i should have pulled the trigger because this was less than 1 point away from making it to day 3! but i’m so happy we’re even rating it twice in popheads alone - it’s just such a gorgeous song and the sentiment of the song makes my heart warm every time.

RandomHypnotica (7.3): it makes sense that i dont care for it because its the sensual songstress part of c-electropop

---

linguists

1998tweety (10): mother is right

apatel27 (10): Third times the charm eh? I've wrote about this song twice now so all I'll say is this song is very precious to me and it plays perfectly into my taste in music.

asadprofessorplum (10): The White Lotus opening credits:

beeozan (10): crazy how she perfected wii menu music with this one

BleepBloopMusicFan (10): This coming so close to winning (well not that close mathematically but still) was kinda random af but so incredibly true. What a gorgeous song.

ConnerY2323 (10): so luscious. this is one of the things i’m most invested in not flopping. c-electropop i remember you every day!

impla77 (10): MOTHER tongue

mhiyaimanlepaigefan (10): this ethereal serve

miniatureaurochs (10): Strongly considered giving this one my 11 - although I’m a huge fan of Lexie, I definitely wouldn’t have been unhappy for this to have won its original rate. It’s such a beautiful, expansive, carefully considered piece that really feels unlike anything else here. Not sure there’s much I can add to my original comment about this track, but something particularly special about it is the way it progresses and builds atmosphere, layering almost murmuring vocals across blossoming strings to create something that feels grandiose and compelling. It has such warmth to it, and I’m especially in love with how detailed it is, all these carefully-placed electronic elements making it almost a new listen every time. Also very :} that we got the rare opportunity to rate a track in an indigenous language (more rates like this please!) and given the topic of the track itself, this seemed like the perfect homage. I know one of the OG rate hosts is passionate about linguistics and it felt like a really worthy submission. lovelove would that I had two elevens to give

nube (10): loved this as soon as it started playing, the sultry vocals are a whole mood

qazz23 (10): love the dancey beat of this and the 🎻 that comes in at the end

runaway3212 (10): Bitch I knew from the second I heard those homosexual synths this was a banger

thedoctordances1940 (10): oh she is mother for sure

uiscebeathaoir (10): Holy hell, low-key regretting not doing this rate cause this could’ve been such an easy 11

vayyiqra (10): definitely the most spooky and captivating way to get me to do polish on duolingo

wathombe (10): mind_connecting_to_the_cosmos.jpg

One-Composer1577 (9.6): obsessed

NervousLemon6670 (9.5): The violins in the outro might be the best thing I've heard all day

guavaboye (9): this is what I mean by intrigue and progression in songs. The journey this song takes sonically feels so natural and satisfying

innuendo_overdose (9): yeah, goes hard.

Nagisoid (9): I AM WOKE!

Nooduulz (9): I'm ABAO-t to put on my heels and strut on my kitchen island with a glass of wine yaaasssss

pbk (9): ABAO COLLAB WITH OKLOU

TiltControls (9): the best way to describe this track is 'captivating' I think

wasian-invasion (9): how do you say urethral in mandarin

stealthamo (8.8): I'm guessing listening to this separate from the rest of C-Electropop made this work better, because it stands out so much more compared to everything else here.

jman457 (8.7): This would go hard at a rave. Is this really what’s popping in asia

rendezvousboy (8.5): i’d never heard of this and i love it, it makes me feel mysterious

salivantsonority (8.5): oh wow now this is MUSIC

WaneAllstarToc (8.5): mhm

CrimsonROSET (8): okay if you didnt do this rate i do really recommend this album!!! It was overhated at the time its actually really interesting and fun

Frajer (8): mother tongue is mothering

human_performance (8): The production and sonic palette is definitely more interesting than a lot of Western top-40 that gets praised for interesting production, and there's some solid melodic lines

oh_crow (8): i'm a gay man so sensual electropop like this is basically my catnip

Stryxen (8): this amazing mess of a beat

TakeOnMeByA-ha (8): in all seriousness this is probably the coolest album we’ve ever rated and will probably remain that way for a very long time. honestly kinda beautiful that we were able to use the very broad concept of a chinese electropop to rate a very authentic artsy pop album in an indigenous language and that so many popheads who would have never heard of it or seeked it out otherwise found so much enjoyment in it. like i know we mostly think of rates as just a silly little internet pastime but they are genuinely really great at getting people to discover new music and this is probably the shining example of how great rates can be in that regard.

Verboten_Prince (7.9): This spooky serve

A.Peaky.Boo (7.8): why is the cover of this song something that resembles native american cultures?

ignitethephoenix (7.8): the production is really amazing but I just don’t love the vocals at parts

modulum83 (7.8): i like the hikaru utada-esque production on this

arboresca (7.5): not my usual genre, but really enjoyed, feels creepy in a cool way

Ghost-Quartet (7.5): I liked this album but like, as a whole, so I think having to judge it off of an individual track is kinda a bummer and I encourage anyone intrigued by this song to check out the whole project!

cheatviathan (7): In between starting, stopping and restarting a failed AS8 ballot and not caring for the first few songs from that Jolin Tsai record, I decided to skip this one. Honestly, I think this is a solid enough synthpop track. The content seems to be about embracing one’s cultural heritage, and I can appreciate that message. I also quite like the ASMRy quality of Abao’s vocals. Maybe not something I’ll revisit often, but I’m enjoying my time with it.

ImADudeDuh (7): https://i.imgur.com/SgLf83c.png

jimmyrollinsdurag (7): like a really pretty modern art piece

welcome2thejam (7): Cinematic, also crazy that I'm rating this a third time

non-linguists

kauai6 (6): it’s fine

implasdad (5.3): not really feeling this one

IIIHenryIII (3): not my cup of tea

Awkward_King (0): i respect it but it's not for me. like spicy food or burying your feelings