Hoàng Thùy Linh has spent the better part of her adulthood reclaiming her narrative. The Vietnamese actress and V-pop artist was a teenager in 2007 when her sex tape leaked online, causing nationwide uproar. The television show she starred in, Vàng Anh’s Diary, was immediately canceled and the resulting farewell program caused further outrage. People said her crying was an act, that her attitude wasn’t sufficiently repentant; many assumed her career was over. She began making glitzy electropop a few years later and would increasingly weave her life story into her art, crafting some of the most satisfyingly conceptual records in V-pop history. In 2018 she wrote a tell-all autobiography that detailed the incident and its aftermath. It was called Vàng Anh & Phượng Hoàng (“Oriole & Phoenix”); in publicly revealing her old story, she was ready to begin telling a new one.
Her 2019 album, Hoàng, cemented the transformation; “Duyên Âm” in particular was an arresting showcase of her ability to merge traditional Vietnamese culture with contemporary pop production. Its video made various allusions to her life but ends with her in royal garb, representing the phoenix’s second meaning in local mythology: an empress. Three years later, her fourth album, Link, is another empowering statement of purpose. A riff on her first name, the title also points to the invaluable relationships that have sustained her all these years. (Notably, it was released on the day of the Vu Lan festival, a ceremony honoring parents.) “Today I’m sitting here, fully healed,” she said in February. “I’m genuinely starting to feel love, to crave a connection with other souls.”
At 34, Hoàng writes songs replete with messages about finding joy in every moment. On “Lúc Thấy Lúc Không” she fawns over a guy who was once affectionate but is now nowhere to be found. Its lively synth pulses capture the incomparable high of pursuing a crush, but its underlying message is a celebration of how early flings can help you become wiser in love. “Life will have sad times, happy times, in-between times, or times of unnamed feelings,” she said in a press conference about Link. “Just treat yourself and indulge, because every choice will make you more complete.” Hoàng summarizes this sentiment on “Hạ Phỏm,” where racing synth melodies and trap drums bolster a message about treating life’s challenges not as something to win or lose, but as opportunities to grow. Her slick maneuvering between rapping and singing sells her assurance.