Even though the audience threatened to take down the poster, they still put it back up because after Rap Viet season 1, along with album “Ái” and most recently EP FLVR, tlinh has reached a new level
1. The heavily blessed achievements by the “Patron Saint of the Arts”
In the song “Everyone must start from somewhere”, HIEUTHUHAI had a very good line when going from “Who are you?” to “No need to introduce yourself”. I think that’s probably how this audience thinks about tlinh. This female rapper, born in 2000, holds such a crucial position that she does not need to introduce who she is, and no one has to introduce her name (Nguyễn Thảo Linh, txinh, tlinh), especially after the first season of Rap Viet and her highly successful debut album, “Ái” (Love).
While tlinh shone in Rap Viet Season 1 with “Tình yêu bận bịu” (Busy Love), Rap Việt Season 2 saw tlinh, in the role of a guest singer, completely shake the entire auditorium, making the audience feel like they were “tripping, hold on tight” with “Gái độc thân” (Single Lady). After that, mentioning tlinh means mentioning “Nếu lúc đó” (If That Was the Time) and “Ghệ iu dấu của em ơi” (My Precious Bae). “Nếu lúc đó” will be analyzed in section 4c of this article, and as for “Ghệ iu dấu của em ơi,” I find that it possesses a strong, unique quality, and it absolutely does not deserve to be labeled as “trashy” music, as conservative critics have wrongly pegged tlinh.
The female rapper, born in 2000, has had her career extensively “blessed” by the “Patron Saint of the Arts.” Despite being involved in quite a few personal life scandals, her talent and music have been recognized by audiences and professionals both domestically and internationally. Some of the awards tlinh has achieved in her musical journey include:
- The only female rapper to reach the top 8 of Rap Việt Season 1
- With the album “Ái”: The only Vietnamese album to make the Top 25 Best Asian Albums of 2023 by New Musical Express (NME).
According to Tien Phong newspaper [1], tlinh has achieved the following accomplishments:
- Appeared in the nominations for Singer of the Year at Lan Song Xanh 2023, competing with Phuong My Chi, Van Mai Huong, Hoa Minzy, and Hoang Thuy Linh.
- Named in other categories such as Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Arrangement. The producer who supported tlinh in making the album, 2pillz, also received a nomination for Music Producer of the Year.
- Spotify’s summary shows tlinh is present on almost all charts, such as: Top Artists 2023, Top Vietnamese Artists, Top Vietnamese Songs…
- The female singer is also considered to be highly sought-after (high-demand for shows), constantly appearing in many programs and participating in the grand music festival alongside international star Charlie Puth when he came to Vietnam in July.
- According to Channel 14 [2], tlinh collaborated with an international lineup of artists (daisylad, Nakedbibi, ngrita, daze) in an 88rising MV.
- On August 14, 2024, tlinh officially reached 1 million followers on Spotify [3].
2. A music career that’s “zooming” like tlinh’s new ep
Rapper tlinh’s real name is Nguyen Thao Linh, born in 2000. According to Channel 14 [4], in middle school, tlinh was a student at Marie Curie school. In high school, the rapper passed the entrance exam to the Chinese language class at Hanoi Amsterdam High School for the Gifted – Hanoi. She achieved an IELTS score of 8.0. According to her family’s wishes, tlinh passed the entrance exam to the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Hanoi National University. After studying for a year, the female rapper realized that this was not her favorite profession, so she asked her parents to temporarily put her studies on hold to pursue music.
The female rapper started her music career by participating in The Voice Kids 2013 and received many compliments from judge Thanh Bui. In an interview with Colors*Studio [5], tlinh shared that she had many things she wanted to write about and had been trying to incorporate music into her thoughts and feelings since 2018. Before coming to Rap Viet Season 1 in 2020, similar to all underground rappers, tlinh began uploading her products to Soundcloud. She also honed her dancing skills by joining the dance crew Last Fire Crew, which is also where male rapper Low G came from. One of the musical products that left an impression on fans at this time was the track “Rebound” with TGSN.
And that was before tlinh participated in Rap Viet Season 1, where the rapper born in 2000 left a huge impression on the audience with a series of songs including Tình yêu bận bịu, Tình…hình thời tiết (Love and Weather Situation), Mặc sự đời (Ignore the World), Chú chó trên ô tô (The Dog in the Car), and Tèn tèn girl. This was the turning point that brought tlinh into the mainstream spotlight during 2020-2021. The next milestone in the career of this beautiful and talented female rapper was the album “Ái,” produced by the talented 2pillz. This album is extremely aesthetic, profoundly feminine, and an album of opposites: young yet very zen, sexy yet impermanent, alluring yet supremely elegant.
The female rapper confessed that her musical style is still evolving over time. She has many stories to tell. The thing she is most proud of is the authenticity in her lyrics. The most common theme in her music is love, focusing on how the characters in her songs overcome and accept their emotions [6].
Regarding her musical style, while tlinh pursued a hip-hop style that was slightly “strained” or “trying too hard” when she first joined Rap Viet, audiences now see her fully confident in expressing her Libra qualities with a feminine style and extremely aesthetic outfits. She capitalizes on her strengths: a melodious singing voice, natural, unforced rhyming, and a melody that goes straight from the ear into the listener’s heart, starting from the album “Ái.” With her latest music project, the FLVR EP, a collaboration with Low G, tlinh returns to a very natural hip-hop vibe, without the “straining and trying too hard” that was present during Rap Viet Season 1. Nodding along to the music’s melody, the audience smiles as they realize that tlinh has finally harmonized the masculine and feminine aspects within her inner child.
3. The influence of tlinh
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The familiar, the good and the new in tlinh’s music
If there is one common thread among all of tlinh’s songs, it is that all the lyrics actually have meaning.
You might think what I’m saying is redundant, but if you pay attention, you’ll find that some songs are mostly fabricated by the songwriter, or they constantly revolve around a few meaningless lines and empty, cliché rhymes – what ICD called out in his song “Gucci” as just “‘Chicks,’ ‘hustle,’ ‘working hard,’ ‘workhard,’ ‘weed,’ ‘making money,’ ‘rich,’ ‘hater,’ ‘paper,’ ‘we/us,’ ‘chill,’ ‘lit’-these few words are enough for an entire rapper’s career.“
But tlinh is not like that.
In recent songs:“I’m thinking about you” in the TV show “Anh trai say hi”, the audience commented that the most outstanding verse in this song is tlinh’s verse.
As a rap fan born in January (not August because I’m a Capricorn), I have realized a formula for the essence of good art, which is:
The good = The familiar + The new.
Regarding the percentage ratio between the familiar and the new, I will apply the Pareto principle, and the result will be:
The good = 80% The familiar + 20% The new.
Applying this to the song “I’m thinking about you,” the listener will find that 80% of the familiarity lies in the content: the confessions of a girl pursued by many men. She doesn’t reject them, only politely thanks them and says she’ll accept their friend requests if they’re well-behaved. However, she doesn’t have time for the ups and downs of a constant chase game. It is very social, very polite, very Libra. The 20% of novelty is tlinh singing that: “I don’t want a man who can’t give me more than I give myself.”
Both very feminist and incredibly gentle. If tlinh’s large ego caused her to lash out with some unfavorable events in her private life, then in this song, tlinh’s ego is precisely the reason she can confidently compose lyrics that are half-arrogant yet completely justifiable given her appearance and achievements, as she hums: “They think I’m a little cocky / I think it’s sanity.“
But to talk about feminism and femininity in tlinh’s music, I could write six thousand words solely on this matter, especially about:
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Eroticism in tlinh’s music
Honestly, I am glad that tlinh is comfortable with her own eroticism/sexuality. She shared on Have A Sip that she felt difficulty embracing femininity, struggled to walk in high heels, and felt stiff when engaging in sexual intimacy [7]. During the scandal earlier in 2024 when she posted an image resembling male genitalia on Instagram, tlinh found it challenging to reconcile her public image as a “boss woman” with living authentically to her own sexuality and the normal desires of a woman in her 20s.
As a regular listener of Have A Sip, I must say that tlinh belongs to the minority group that mentions sex, even if it was just one sentence about feeling stiff during intimacy.
Some believe that tlinh is sexualizing women in her songs; however, I think differently. It’s not sexualization; she is simply speaking the truth about women’s desires. This can be something very subtle and tender, like the lyric: “It’s been too long, this skin needs proper care with your kisses,” which corresponds with the very sexy yet aesthetic visual of her album “Ái.” It can also be a highly modern line about cyber sex in the song “Bao nhiêu loài hoa” (How Many Flowers) featuring Kay C. The lyrics in tlinh’s verse both contain Vietnamese and English wordplay and open a door into the ambiguities of the PG-18 world. They playfully experiment with the roles of host and guest but also fully recognize that it’s just a game behind the curtain, and in real life, her significant other must still treat her very well.
That makes me think of the poet Ho Xuan Huong and her audacity, not only in the poem “Quả mít” (The Jackfruit): “If gentlemen want to love me, take firm action / Don’t fondle it anymore, or the sap will stain your hand.”
Perhaps if Ho Xuan Huong were alive in the technological age of 2024, she would also compose poetry and post it on social media about digital-era cybersex.
Tran Ho Ngoc Tuong once commented on the sexuality in Ho Xuan Huong’s poetry: “Sexuality is an instinctive desire – difficult to talk about, difficult to bring up, but impossible to deny or suppress.” [8]
Honestly, as a woman with suppressed qualities, I understand this more than ever. Thus, I understand Ho Xuan Huong’s poetry, and I understand tlinh’s music.
Of course, I won’t say tlinh is the Ho Xuan Huong of rap music just to attract haters, even though if I used that as a headline, the YouTube clip would surely get over 100,000 views. But I have a bit of moral integrity when crafting headlines, so I only wish to make a comparison: If, in the past, Ho Xuan Huong’s poetry was criticized for being too sexual, even “deviant,” despite her remaining pure-hearted through countless hardships with the nation, then today, in 2024, after three waves of global feminism, tlinh’s music is still branded as “music for bedroom” or sex music – what is truly being judged here?
It is the desires of women in general that continue to be scorned by society and subject to slut-shaming, not tlinh, and not Ho Xuan Huong,
What needs to be addressed here is misogyny, not any individual person.
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The tear-jerking masterpiece “Nếu lúc đó” (If That Was the Time)
If Ariana Grande has “We can’t be friends (wait for your love),” Taylor Swift has “All Too Well” and “You’re Losing Me,” then Vietnam has tlinh, and tlinh has “Nếu lúc đó“. What could be more wonderfully painful than having a breakup anthem in your own mother tongue?
Viruss said a very good but ultimately inaccurate thing:
“I feel very sorry for MCK’s new girlfriend and tlinh’s new boyfriend. MCK and tlinh’s musical souls are uncomfortably intertwined. These two are incredibly compatible. (…) MCK’s songs feel incomplete without tlinh; no matter how he writes, it still connects back to tlinh.” [9]
This statement is inaccurate in only one place: tlinh’s new boyfriend – Wxrdie – is not pitiful at all.
Now, let’s return to “Nếu lúc đó“. In this song, all of tlinh’s strengths – her mastery of melody, her smooth, unforced rhyming, and her top-tier lyrics – are fully utilized. Content-wise, instead of just blaming her ex like every other girl, with lines like:
“I hate the way I always made excuses for every time you were indifferent
I hate the way I said I was okay when I felt hurt
Hate the cruel public opinion, hate thinking about you too much
Hate having to keep silent and pretend I’m unbothered”
The female rapper also accepts the blame on her side, acknowledging her own mistakes, which is very impermanent much like the theme of her album “ái”:
“But I also caused many faults, please forgive me
The things I promised you are now only fantasies, please forgive me
Leaving you because I needed to heal myself, please forgive me
Allowing myself to accept new love, please forgive me”
Most notably, tlinh has also changed. Following her relationship with MCK, public opinion condemned tlinh and Wxrdie. However, when the very unfortunate scandal involving Obito, a 2006 fangirl, and VSTRA broke out, a segment of the audience began to praise tlinh and Wxrdie for the peace they later found. Perhaps, by Wxrdie’s side, tlinh has found calmness and spiritual peace. Thus, “Nếu lúc đó” achieved a suitable new ending, one that hits the insights perfectly, accepting and contemplating her own identity rather than longing to return to her ex after the breakup. Things change, public opinion shifts, tlinh has become better than before, and “Nếu lúc đó” evolves logically, concluding with three profoundly insightful lines: “Now I’ve also seen the reality / That no one but only myself / Is the one who makes me sad.”
Once this contemplative acceptance occurred, tlinh was finally able to indulge her feminine side, embrace her masculine side, and officially return with the FLVR EP featuring Low G.
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EP FLVR: LOW G is still as great as ever, and tlinh finally gets to be herself in hip hop
Astute listeners will recognize a major difference between tlinh’s hip-hop style in the Rap Việt Season 1 version (2020) and her 2024 hip-hop version. Based on my personal feeling, coach Binz made a slight oversight by not adding “stylist” to his lyric: “The show’s makeup artist seems like they will have trouble keeping their job.”
Assigned a type beat that was a bit hard to swallow and outside of her comfort zone by coach Suboi, tlinh “forgot to eat from overthinking,” confessing: “This round, they want to see a breakthrough; being cute is enough. They want to see a gloomy or stone-cold side – what is enough to bait them?” The problem is that the “cute” look suits tlinh perfectly! She is not only cute but also aesthetic, sharp, groundbreaking, and “madly” beautiful, just like her style in “HOP ON DA SHOW” featuring Low G, a hip-hop MV that is beautiful and “crazy” with the necessary full disclaimer at the beginning: “The risky shots and actions in the video were performed by professionals under strict safety supervision. Do not attempt to recreate.”
Drawing attention (again) with a series of stories alongside Ngân Tiền Tỉ (Ngân the Billionaire), tlinh demonstrated that having her own stylist, as seen with the “Ái” album and FLVR EP, was one of the wisest turning points of her life. If, during Rap Việt Season 1, she was constrained by young love, a stylist who didn’t match her taste (like forcing a red tilapia to deep-sea dive), and type beats that didn’t suit her strengths, then in her solo career, everything aligns with her personality like an Alaskan salmon. The audience couldn’t help but nod in agreement, “Nice!“, when listening to Low G’s opening: “Got h*es in the show, and it’s cold in the sizzurp.” They are even more instantly convinced when they hear tlinh’s verse, which starts with the lines: “Whoever judges, I still permit it / No matter how fierce they are, I’ll send them all back to zero / I accept all the lies people make up about me / Always ahead of the times, I walk like a vedette.”
The bold and playfully “Dâu tằm” (Mulberry/Naughty) side of Low G, who has seemingly grown tired of playing around and is now faithful to Duong Fynn, remains intact in the opening track of the FLVR EP, also titled “Dâu tằm” , where he raps about how both he and his friends compliment the girl for being as plump and tempting as a mulberry. Actually, if any fan doesn’t understand why it’s “mulberry,” they should try the 7749 ways to read the fruit’s name with subtle phonetic changes (to discover the hidden sexual meaning). The track flows as smoothly as silk when the listener’s ear drifts to tlinh’s verse and encounters her confessions to the haters. Swifties will find a common thread between Taylor Swift’s lyric: “I don’t love drama, it loves me” and tlinh’s rap line: “I just sit back, and the spotlight finds me.” The highlight of this song is the four sweet, flattering lines from the Libra diplomatic mastermind tlinh: “Just keep sharing, keep commenting, keep stating your views, remember / I accept everything, and I’m very joyful about it / Love me or hate me, it’s all the same / Your energy is my currency.”
Next is the track “Ngân,” an abbreviation for the Vietnamese word Ngân Lượng (Money), named after the character Ngân Tiền Tỉ (Ngân the Billionaire) that tlinh and Low G used to promote the EP. With an Instagram account that serves as a façade and resembles a clone account, this was likely a harmless, charming little marketing stunt that cost fans nothing more than a few laughs from the two artists who originated from the Last Fire Crew. The song was released at the perfect time to comment on the trend of showing off wealth through charity, most satirically through the lyric: “Xiaomi stove, but made in the USA.” Ranked second is the line: “I can smell whether a wallet is thick or flat because I have psychic abilities.” Coming in third is a line that many KOLs will likely find stinging: “A dress designed in New York, worn once to sit at a café.” Those who have a habit of posting an outfit on Instagram just once before it becomes “old clothes” will probably skip this song to listen to “Phóng Zìn Zìn” (Zooming) instead to avoid the irritation, even though their heads will still bob to the beat like the dog toy on a car dashboard.
The EP concludes with the song that truly deserves a music video: “Phóng Zìn Zìn”. This song uses a lot of everyday colloquial language but is paired with an incredibly chill beat. This combination means that anyone who criticized tlinh for making “trashy” music will later be spotted driving a scooter (fz), wearing a black leather jacket at 12 PM in Saigon, carrying their “Ghệ iu dấu của em ơi”, and accidentally humming: “Let my baby take the wheel of this love / Being with you feels peaceful / Yet still exciting / Step on the gas pedal, my baby zooms, zooms.” The recurring image of the Circle K convenience store in Low G’s music, appearing for the nth time, perfectly rounds out the EP’s flavor and aroma, leaving a smile in the listener’s heart and possessing immense replay value. Personally, I can clearly feel the peace that Wxrdie brings to tlinh and Duong Fynn brings to Low G in this song.
4. Personal life
Regarding their love lives, the audience probably only needs to listen to four songs to understand the whole story: “Chỉ một đêm nữa thôi” (Just One More Night – MCK ft tlinh), “Nếu lúc đó”, “Ghệ iu dấu của em ơi”, and “Vẫn đợi” (Still Waiting – Wxrdie).
I once blamed tlinh in this whole affair, but then I realized the depth of the misogyny that had seeped into me. I quietly contemplated the fact that MCK’s ego is on par with tlinh’s. That’s not to say Wxrdie doesn’t have an ego; I just feel that Wxrdie wouldn’t use his ego to clash with tlinh’s.
Sometimes, that is all a relationship needs.
Regarding how tlinh responds to her scandals, I only wish she would find someone to manage her social media accounts to avoid repeating situations like the emotional explosion in her stories. However, she now has AIS Label, with the exclusive artist Machiot, so it’s not just me who believes tlinh will continue to succeed.
I wish tlinh all the best, because she is already an incredibly bright star.
5. Expectations from the audience
As an ethical person, I will not wish for tlinh to break up just so I can comment, “Great, now we’ll get good music!” like some netizens who lack humanity. Photo: tlinh
For the final words, on behalf of this girl’s objective fans, I will send five wishes.
First, I hope that tlinh will always stand firm, ignore public opinion, and only respond through her music.
Second, I hope that you continue to release even higher-quality music so that Vietnamese fans always have something to acknowledge the talent of this female singer-rapper, who carries the dense character of Hanoi, the free-spiritedness of Saigon, and the liberal beauty of Western skies and souls.
Third, similar to the lyric: “Why must people taste sorrow to finally mature?,” I hope that tlinh will internalize the lessons from public opinion and continue to shine brightly on her career path.
It goes without saying that the fourth wish from the audience is for new products from tlinh, especially after the FLVR EP, which she collaborated on with Low G to celebrate the return of Rap Việt Season 4 on television.
Fifth, I eagerly await the guest performance by the only female rapper to reach the top 8 of Rap Viet Season 1.
Sixth, I’m being too greedy now, but I hope you won’t have to apologize for not wanting to answer overly sensitive questions anymore, embodying the way you rap: “Don’t like communicating, I only speak into the mic.“
Seventh and finally, I hope that AIS Label will sign on more genuinely talented artists who truly align with tlinh, like Machiot, and bring even more colorful collaborations to this talented girl in the Vietnamese music scene.
Let’s all look forward to it, and I wish for tlinh to always live up to her own lyric: “They say anything can happen; if it comes, I’ll deal with it.” Who knows, just as Kim Jaejoong found rock music like a fish to water or a dragon to the clouds, maybe one day tlinh will try her hand at alternative rock. You never know!
REFERENCES:
[1] Nhat, Minh. “Rapper Tlinh is Talented But Also Noisy and Scandalous.”Tien Phong Electronic Newspaper, Tien Phong Electronic Newspaper, December 29, 2023, tienphong.vn/rapper-tlinh-tai-nang-nhung-cung-on-ao-va-tai-tieng-post1600054.tpo. Accessed September 24, 2024.
[2] Nhi, An. “Vietnamese Netizens Are Proud When Tlinh Appears In 88rising’s MV.”Https://Kenh14.Vn, https://kenh14.vn, 25 Dec. 2021, kenh14.vn/netizen-viet-tu-hao-khi-tlinh-ket-hop-voi-dan-nghe-si-quoc-te-trong-mv-cua-88rising-20211225181052542.chn. Accessed 24 Sept. 2024.
[3] “Video.” Facebook.com, 2023, www.facebook.com/61555905388978/videos/345103705336992. Accessed 24 Sept. 2024.
[4] Dong. “A Series of “Other People’s Children” Rappers Who Are Good Students.”Https://Kenh14.Vn, https://kenh14.vn, 18 June 2023, kenh14.vn/loat-rapper-con-nha-nguoi-ta-toan-hoc-truong-chuyen-lop-chon-co-nguoi-so-huu-ca-ielts-80-20230618161028786.chn. Accessed 24 Sept. 2024.
[5] “Tlinh Interview.” COLORSxSTUDIOS, 2021, colorsxstudios.com/shows/tlinh-interview?fbclid=IwY2xjawFUJt5leHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHQ79IR_ubjBS3JtDoJ84bnLOXiHNMmL_Oy5BOXL3G3P2hK1MwZInOasmvQ_aem_93QVbCirlNo15mCKfBcKOQ. Accessed 24 Sept. 2024.
[6]“Tlinh Interview.” COLORSxSTUDIOS, 2021, colorsxstudios.com/shows/tlinh-interview?fbclid=IwY2xjawFUJt5leHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHQ79IR_ubjBS3JtDoJ84bnLOXiHNMmL_Oy5BOXL3G3P2hK1MwZInOasmvQ_aem_93QVbCirlNo15mCKfBcKOQ. Accessed 24 Sept. 2024.
[7] Vietcetera. “Who’s Pulling the Strings of the Tlinh Puppets? – Rapper Tlinh | #HaveASip 120.”YouTube, 21 Apr. 2023, www.youtube.com/watch?v=taXHl_EhmeA. Accessed 24 Sept. 2024.
[8] Page. “Sexuality in Ho Xuan Huong’s Nom Poetry – Tran Ho Ngoc Truong.”Vannghedanang.org.vn, 2019, vannghedanang.org.vn/tinh-duc-trong-tho-nom-ho-xuan-huong-tran-ho-ngoc-truong-7398.html. Accessed 24 Sept. 2024.
[9] ViruSs Reaction. “Tlinh – If That Time (Ft. 2pillz) | Viruss Reaction !”YouTube, 6 Mar. 2023, www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FAQeDg0o58. Accessed 24 Sept. 2024.
[10] “Facebook.” Facebook.com, 2023, www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=122161651544196846&set=a.122133658220196846. Accessed 24 Sept. 2024.
NARCY NGUYEN
