A Hong Kong-born electronic, pop, and hip-hop artist, producer, Christian Lee became known in 2018 with a breakout flume remix that quickly built him an audience that stayed for the personality and mind behind Dretty Pope. His signature sound of emotion-based production and clever interpolation and engineering created an evocative sound that would lead to affiliation with large electronic distributors on Soundcloud and YouTube, and the eventual founding of his own electronic and hip-hop collective, a hub of producers and artists that have remained active and put out hundreds of songs collectively. Lee now attends New York University, pursuing a degree in Film and Television at Tisch School of the Arts while remaining ultra-focused on all of his passions, frequently collaborating with artists in the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music.
The joy that I feel from creating music can be separated into two categories: the actual process of creation (production, writing, the numerous revisions I make to a song before I believe it's good enough to send out into the world) and being able to share it with others. What inspires me to make music the most is the opportunity to translate my thoughts and feelings into something that can be heard and interpreted by an audience. For example, I sometimes find myself feeling in a state of gloom; these emotions are what drive me to create as some sort of therapy. In the same way I would speak to a therapist, I can speak to my listeners. When I start with an idea or melody, I can experience it evolving from something small that turns into a coherent project. I usually start with a sample, then fill in gaps with percussion and melodies. I do this by adding small elements to my music until it really builds up. A little riff here, a small motif there. When making a track there is a certain point where I get a great feeling of all the pieces coming together. Currently, I feel as if I am in a huge transition from what I know how to make, and what I really want to make exactly. At this point, I think I have enough knowledge of production that can allow me to create a certain sound, but as I conquer these different styles I really want to hone in on what makes my music, me. To create a very unique identity for my music for not only the themes but also the specific type of auditory sound my music carries. This is challenging because there are no real step-by-step instructions on how to do this exactly, but instead, I have to really experiment and discover on my own what this sound would be like.
