{"id":78440,"date":"2025-08-11T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T11:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ticketfairy.com\/word\/?p=78440"},"modified":"2025-08-11T15:41:38","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T10:11:38","slug":"iris-zhang-leaps-into-a-new-era-of-artistry-with-haunted-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ticketfairy.com\/word\/2025\/08\/11\/iris-zhang-leaps-into-a-new-era-of-artistry-with-haunted-free\/","title":{"rendered":"Iris Zhang Leaps Into a New Era of Artistry With \u2018Haunted &amp; Free&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Chinese-New Zealand singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Iris Zhang has rolled out the first single for her debut album.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Through \u2018Haunted &amp; Free,&#8217; the Auckland-based artist frames an experimental alternative pop\/R&amp;B score that is crafted around navigating personal ghosts, traumas, and regrets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DLyvyyGpO5y\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&amp;igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==\">social media<\/a> Iris Zhang called her new song &#8220;quite different&#8221; from her previous folk-pop exploits and spoke about the overarching theme of &#8216;Haunted &amp; Free&#8217; as &#8220;being haunted by a previous relationship, by a person, by a version of yourself that you used to be, and kind of coming to terms with how that experience has changed you and how you move on from that.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Iris Zhang - Haunted &amp; Free (Official Music Video)\" width=\"702\" height=\"395\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Fq8Gbk3puIo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:1px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Iris brings forward her training in classical and contemporary Western and Asian music and levels it with the prowess of co-writer Jefferson Chen, producer Tei, and sound engineer Christian Tjandrawinata. The result takes Iris to newer sonic territory, folding trap-influenced beats, 808-inspired basslines, and R&amp;B cuts to assemble a loop-worthy m\u00e9lange of sound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Backed by New Zealand On Air\u2019s Pan-Asian New Music Single program, Iris guides you on a whimsical journey back to the 2000s with her slick vocals, set against an alternative, soft-pop tune that is tantalizingly enriched by her masterfully arranged, reverberating flute segments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8216;Haunted &amp; Free&#8217; was released with a music video directed by Edith Fan and Charlotte Zhang. In the video, Iris explores various versions of herself, transitioning from scenes in a fairy forest to darker, gothic-inspired looks. It is well on its way to achieving over 50k views since its release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Find Iris Zhang on <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/artist\/3pZF4zK8mDb9CEkJW0ldCM\">Spotify<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/iriszhangyq\/\">Instagram<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>For more new music releases, keep up with&nbsp;TFword&nbsp;on:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/tf.word\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Instagram<\/a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thefckingword\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Facebook<\/a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/thefckingword\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">X<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:9px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>You May Also Like:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ticketfairy.com\/word\/2024\/12\/06\/dan-dan-delivers-soothing-debut-single-pressure-cooker\/\">dan dan Delivers Soothing Debut Single \u2018pressure cooker\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ticketfairy.com\/word\/2024\/11\/01\/made-you-look-returns-with-new-single-fade-away\/\">Made You Look Returns with New Single, \u2018Fade Away\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ticketfairy.com\/word\/2025\/04\/29\/neither-do-is-debut-album\/\">Neither Do I Shares Debut Album, \u2018We\u2019re Not Known For Anything\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chinese-New Zealand singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Iris Zhang has rolled out the first single for her debut album. Through \u2018Haunted &amp; Free,&#8217; the Auckland-based artist frames an experimental alternative pop\/R&amp;B score that is crafted around navigating personal ghosts, traumas, and regrets. Via social media Iris Zhang called her new song &#8220;quite different&#8221; from her previous folk-pop<\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ticketfairy.com\/word\/2025\/08\/11\/iris-zhang-leaps-into-a-new-era-of-artistry-with-haunted-free\/\" title=\"Read More\">Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":184965156,"featured_media":78461,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7915,4294],"tags":[10079,9166,2980,1840,6665],"coauthors":[7147],"class_list":["post-78440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-featured","category-music","tag-alternative-music","tag-kiwi-artists","tag-music-news","tag-new-zealand","tag-rb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ticketfairy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ticketfairy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ticketfairy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ticketfairy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/184965156"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ticketfairy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78440"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/www.ticketfairy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78816,"href":"https:\/\/www.ticketfairy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78440\/revisions\/78816"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ticketfairy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ticketfairy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ticketfairy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ticketfairy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78440"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ticketfairy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=78440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}