Entertainment

Lionzed: Building Bridges Through Beats and Belief

August 12, 2025

By: Umair Malik

Rising from Beijing with a message rooted in hope, hip-hop artist Lionzed is gradually expanding the boundaries of Chinese-language rap, one song, one story, one listener at a time.

Zhai, known artistically as Lionzed, didn’t grow up with a music industry blueprint. His stage name is simple but personal. “Lion” comes from his admiration for the animal’s presence—powerful, but not solitary. “It’s the king of the jungle, yet it has many companions,” he says. “Zed” refers to the letter Z, used to represent his last name, Zhai, ever since middle school when classmates started calling him JackZed. “Lionzed means LionZ,” he says. “It’s the animal that represents me and my family.” It is a name that holds both myth and memory, pride and playfulness, and it reflects the way his music operates, grounded in identity yet open to reinvention.

Born and raised in Beijing, Lionzed’s early years were shaped not just by the rhythms of pop music, but by the quiet of place. “I used to drive past these ancient palaces from thousands of years ago. It reminded me every second that I come from the city where emperors used to live,” he says. That sense of history, both complex and enduring, continues to shape his sound no matter where he is making music.

GarageBand and a Spark

It wasn’t a conservatory that launched Lionzed’s journey. It was boredom. One quiet afternoon in high school, recently arrived in a small town in the United States, he stared at his MacBook’s Launchpad and clicked on a little icon labeled GarageBand.

“I literally had nothing to do. So I just clicked it, started messing around. Four hours passed. I didn’t even blink,” he remembers. “That was the first time I truly understood what it meant to be completely absorbed in something.” In Chinese, he describes it as 废寝忘食—to forget food and sleep out of passion. “I never felt that before. Not with anything else.”

From that day forward, he became his own teacher, writing lyrics, producing beats, recording vocals, mixing tracks, and uploading them online. There were no mentorships, no big studio setup, and no formal musical training. “Everything I know, I learned by doing.”

Pop, Rap, and a Summer Revisited

Lionzed’s music does not sit neatly in one category. His style moves between melodic pop, emotive rap, and lo-fi textures, carried by an instinct for emotional clarity. His most recent single, Breeze for Another Summer, shows that sensibility in full. Co-created with Chinese artist and Berklee classmate Ajun Yao, the track began casually during a summer night in New York. “We were just joking around, saying we should make a hit,” he recalls. “I made a beat, Ajun came up with a chorus. It just clicked.”

The song sat untouched for almost two years before they decided to finish it in 2025 while both were back in China. Even before its official release, short clips featuring the track began to circulate on Xiaohongshu (RED), where its nostalgic tone and melody captured the attention of many. It went on to receive over one million views across social media, eventually getting picked up by NetEase Music for release.

While not a turning point in his career, the song stood out as one of his stronger recent releases, showing how far he had come in terms of production, collaboration, and reach. “It wasn’t about chasing a trend,” he says. “We just wanted to make something honest. I think that’s why people connected with it.”

Exploring a Different Path in Chinese Hip-Hop

As a Chinese hip-hop artist, Lionzed is part of a scene still defining its identity. “Hip-hop in China is different,” he says. “We don’t have the same cultural markers. No guns or gangs. That’s not our reality.” Instead of trying to imitate Western tropes, he leans into the specifics of his own story: emotion, faith, vulnerability, and personal growth.

“In some ways, Chinese hip-hop is more complex,” he explains. “You have artists now using it to speak for the unheard, to reflect working class experiences, or explore spirituality.” For Lionzed, this means making music that reflects who he is and what he believes. He describes himself openly as a Christian artist, and his upcoming project reflects that.

“I’m making rap music for Christ,” he says. “It’s a collision between two worlds—Eastern roots and Western gospel, Mandarin lyrics over trap beats.” His upcoming album, Son of Light, is being developed in collaboration with producers in both China and the United States. “These are not worship songs,” he clarifies. “They are personal, and I hope they can meet people wherever they are.”

This new direction is not only artistic but cultural. In an industry that often prizes bravado and spectacle, Lionzed’s introspective and spiritual music offers something more grounded. He is creating a space for Mandarin-language Christian hip-hop that is emotionally rich and musically accessible.

A Fanbase That Grew With Him

Since his first single in 2018, Lionzed’s listeners have grown with him. “Some of my fans have been with me five or six years,” he says. “They’ve seen me evolve, both as a person and an artist.” That long-term connection is rare, and it drives him.

Over the years, he has released more than 70 projects across platforms, from singles to collaborations to thematic EPs. His music has now surpassed 100 million total streams, reaching audiences far beyond his immediate fanbase. One of his most recognized works, Turns (2021), has alone accumulated between 60 to 70 million plays, and remains one of his most widely shared and recognized tracks.

But for Lionzed, those numbers only matter because of the people behind them.

He regularly receives messages from fans who share how a song helped them through personal struggles, heartbreak, or anxiety. “I keep those DMs,” he says. “They remind me why I’m doing this.”

He also builds intimacy through his presence online. On WeChat, Xiaohongshu, and Instagram, he talks about faith, life, self-doubt, and music. His videos have reached hundreds of thousands, even millions, and many followers first discovered him through casual content, not songs. “They came for a video or a post, but they stayed because they liked the person they saw in my content,” he says.

This approach reflects his belief that music is only part of the connection. “People want to see the artist behind the song. That’s how trust is built.”

Making Hope Audible

Lionzed’s message is consistent across interviews, songs, and social posts. “There is still love. There is still hope,” he says. The world he observes is in flux—conflict, unemployment, technological change, and emotional instability—but he refuses to yield to despair.

“We’re going through a global season of instability,” he says. “People are suffering everywhere, in ways no generation before us has fully experienced. But I believe we are not alone. And I believe music can speak into that.”

He does not preach. Instead, his tracks invite reflection. His lyrics are tender, yet clear. “My goal is to make someone feel comforted, even if just for three minutes,” he says.

He knows that what he’s doing is not part of the mainstream, and that’s exactly why it matters. “I just want to be a voice that reminds someone they’re not alone,” he says.

In a genre built on volume and visibility, Lionzed takes a different route. His work is subtle, sincere, and deeply intentional. By telling the truth of his life in his own words, he is giving a new dimension to Chinese hip-hop—and offering something increasingly rare in the music world today: peace.