A notoriety that she decided to use with her latest album entitled 3811, released on Friday 11th December, to do what is not done: sing something other than beautiful love stories, singing the dark side, misogyny, beatings, violence, death. One song in particular has put social media in turmoil as it addresses the subject of femicides. And not evasively, but directly, frontal, raw: it tells the story of Xiao Juan, beaten, burned alive, shorn, kidnapped and finally killed by a man. “Remember my name, remember him” says the chorus before asking: “When will this endless tragedy stop happening again?”
Tan Weiwei also lists the words that demean, defile and generally precede violence. All of these elements echo recent dramas that made headlines in China, as recalled by South China Morning Post: the murder of a blogger, Lhamo, who died after being sprayed with gasoline and killed by her ex-husband in September, or the case of a woman in Hangzhou, killed and quartered by her husband. Violence against women is not limited to a country or culture. It is a global scourge, China is no exception. It still needed to be said.
I’m not “brave”, I just assume my responsibilities
-Tan WeiweiOn the social network Weibo
What Tan Weiwei is doing is, therefore, the first time, a singer has never dared to put the issue on the table. Furthermore, on the Weibo social network, some are concerned: will the music be censored? It’s brave, but hasn’t it gone too far? To which she replied: “I’m not brave, I just take responsibility.” There is no vaccine against violence against women, but there is education, strong messages that can convey the voices that matter and consequently the songs.