The landscape that Linying walks through in her latest video - vast open plains bordered by a series of hills and an expansive blue sky - could not be more different from the land-scarce urbanized cityspace of Singapore that she grew up in. You could interpret this choice of panoramic scenery to represent her desire for a broader, more encompassing worldview - a desire that fleshes itself out via the song's steady evolution from a piano-centric ballad to a lush, soaring electronic climax:
"I think there was a lot of disillusion and disappointment for me growing out of my teenage years and learning to live life out. The song was probably my way of coming to terms with it -- acknowledging that there are things that you think should be but just aren't, and that there is, nevertheless, a worldly, fleshly, impermanent sort of beauty to living that's worth seeing even if without understanding."
Linying, Billboard
Her well-received debut EP might be named after a foreign city, but "Stickiest Leaves" relies on imagery from the tropics. In a region without the four seasons, the stickiness of leaves after the onslaught of seasonal monsoons are perhaps one of the few earthly markers that time has passed. Her clear, angelic vocals are effectively juxtaposed against the track's lush and evocative instrumentation, as she sings eloquently about maturation, hope and self-growth:
'Time is the only thing I knowThe middle of your mixed up six words, nothing moreMy love is proud, my love is smallMy love is a Friday pouring and a black wave cresting and crashing down the living room shoreI've known it before, loveSacred groundI made a soundDid I make it rightEnough, go alongI know I was wrong about my mightFor every wreck I still believe in the greatest life and the stickiest leavesAnd IYou say it in a foreign tongueBut you don't know a thing about the things I've done to keep on'
Lyrics: Genius
