30-Second Overview: No Party For Cao Dong is a four-piece indie band formed in 2012 at the intersection of Jianxian Street and Cao Dong Street in Yangmingshan, Taipei. In 2016, they self-funded the pressing of 2,000 handmade CDs, which sold out in three days; at the 28th Golden Melody Awards in 2017, they decisively won Best Band (defeating Mayday), Best New Artist, and Song of the Year for 〈Big Wind Blows〉 with first-round votes of 19, 19, and 18. On October 30, 2021, drummer Fanfan (Tsai Yi-fan, aged 26) passed away in a quarantine hotel in Taipei, and the band fell into nearly two years of silence. On May 20, 2023, they released their second album Wa He (The Clod) — "Wa He" appears in the Records of the Grand Historian: Biographies of Confucian Scholars, with the extended meaning "broken tiles joined together, though aggregated, are not uniform" originating from the Tang Dynasty scholar Yan Shigu's commentary on the Book of Han: Biographies of Li, Lu, Zhu, Liu, and Shusun. 1 In 2024, with Wa He, they won the triple crown at the 35th Golden Melody Awards: Album of the Year, Best Mandarin Album, and Best Band; on the night of the awards, the band was absent, and the manager accepted the awards on their behalf, declaring: "No Party For Cao Dong has never been just the 4 people standing on stage." This is a twelve-year story, centered on loss, silence, return, loss again, silence again, and return again.
On the evening of June 29, 2024, at the 35th Golden Melody Awards. No Party For Cao Dong took home three major awards: Album of the Year, Best Mandarin Album, and Best Band. But no one went on stage. 2
The band was performing at the Bubble Island Music Festival in Guiyang, China, that night, and was not present at the venue. Their manager went on stage to accept the awards on their behalf and said:
"In our hearts, No Party For Cao Dong has never been just the 4 people standing on stage, but everyone who wholeheartedly participates in these six characters." 2
That sentence caused silence in the room. Everyone who knows their story knows that this phrase "not just 4 people" is not a standard artist's thank-you speech, but a direct acknowledgment by a band to a member who passed away three years ago.
This is the best entry point to understanding the twelve-year story of No Party For Cao Dong: not the night they defeated Mayday in 2017, but the night they themselves were absent in 2024.
📝 Curator's Note: Cao Dong's story is not a band history of "rise, success, maintenance." It is a story of "explosion, disappearance, returning once, being interrupted by death again, and returning again." Understanding this rhythm is key to understanding why they are the most important voice in Taiwanese indie music over the past decade.
High School Classmates Riding Bikes in Yangmingshan
The story begins on June 9, 2012. 3 At the intersection of Jianxian Street and Cao Dong Street in Yangmingshan, Taipei (specifically near Yonggong Road 245 Lane 34), several students with backgrounds from the National Taiwan University of Arts, who usually loved playing instruments, gathered there. Wu Du (born Lin Geng-yu) and Zhu Zhu (Zhan Wei-zhu) were high school classmates who often rode bikes around Yangmingshan and played skateboards together.
The band's name went through three stages of evolution: initially called "Cao Dong Street Left Turn," then "Cao Dong Street Party," and finally settled on "No Party For Cao Dong" in 2014. 3 The first version was dance-punk inspired by Two Door Cinema Club; after the name change in 2014, the music direction also changed: from dance-punk to grunge and post-rock inspired by Nirvana.
The act of renaming was itself a declaration: The party is over.
Liu Li, Sam, Fanfan: The Band Between Four Drummers
To understand Cao Dong's current four-person lineup, one must first understand how their lineup evolved.
The first-generation drummer was Liu Li, who later switched to full-time work in band visual production and film creation. He actually didn't leave Cao Dong; his role just changed from drummer to recorder. 3 The second-generation bassist was Sam, after whom the band was interrupted for nearly a year due to military service.
In 2016, the drummer position was taken over by Fanfan (Tsai Yi-fan), who came from another indie band, Triple Deer. Fanfan's formal debut with Cao Dong was at the "Bu Dou Ma Sheng De 2.0" performance on May 21, 2016. 3
In 2023, the original bassist Yang Shih-suan announced an indefinite pause from front-stage activities; the former drummer Niao Ren (Huang Shi-wei) returned to take over. The current lineup (as of 2026) consists of four people:
- Wu Du (Lin Geng-yu): Vocals, Guitar, Main Songwriter
- Zhu Zhu (Zhan Wei-zhu): Rhythm Guitar, Backing Vocals
- Niao Ren (Huang Shi-wei): Drums
- Dennis (Zhang Hao-tang): Bass
The most crucial position (drums) changed hands four times within 12 years. And the third one, Fanfan, passed away in 2021.
That Handmade CD of 2,000 Copies
On February 19, 2016, the digital version of Nu Er was released; on March 11, the physical CD was released, with only 2,000 copies pressed, all handmade, distributed only through 11 independent coffee shops and record stores across Taiwan. 4
Sold out in three days.
The album contains 12 songs, totaling 38 minutes and 57 seconds. The producer was Li Xiao-zu, who brought in American mixing engineer Andy Baker and Georgia mastering engineer Joel Hatstat. The entire production period lasted four months. 4 The album's funding came from Ministry of Culture subsidies, with no record label, no manager, and no mainstream distribution channels.
There is an unusual detail in the musical design of this album: 〈Big Wind Blows〉 specially processed the overlay of live audience vocals with studio recordings — creating two coexisting "spaces" in the song: the space of being watched, and the space of solitude. 4 This technical choice foreshadowed the band's entire aesthetic: on the outside, shouting to the world; on the inside, talking to oneself.
〈Big Wind Blows〉 as a Wound Assessment
Six months after the release of 〈Big Wind Blows〉, YouTube views broke 95,000; within a year, it broke 500,000. 5 But the impact of this song lies not in the numbers, but in it becoming a common language for a generation.
This song was written against the backdrop of the trauma of Taiwan's 2015 anti-high school curriculum micro-adjustment movement: in that movement, students took to the streets, and student leaders committed suicide. 6 Wu Du compressed these memories, along with his personal experiences of school bullying, into one song.
The lyrics superficially reference the children's song 〈Big Wind Blows〉 and its musical chairs game, but underneath lie three different layers of stories: the generational metaphor of resource competition, the sense of existence trapped by time ("blame it on time / it gave the starting point / blame it on time / it gave the ending"), and Wu Du's personal experience of being bullied. 6
Later, music critic Ma Shih-fang positioned Cao Dong's generation as the "Loser Generation":
"The lyrics are sharp as knives, and at its core is a nihilism with no way out, becoming a fine quote that the youth of the 'collapse generation' are happy to recite." 7
This positioning became fact over the next decade: National Taiwan University of Technology's "Song That Best Represents My Generation" vote placed 〈Big Wind Blows〉 in the top ranks for six consecutive years; MC HotDog sampled this song; Li Ming-tsung, Assistant Professor at the Department of Sociology, National Taiwan University, opened the course "Sociology of Losers" in Autumn 2017, with 600+ students filling the classroom. 8 A song can achieve these things not because it is good to listen to, but because it spoke the words that an entire generation had not said themselves.
The Night "These Are Geniuses"
On June 24, 2017, at the 28th Golden Melody Awards. No Party For Cao Dong was nominated for 6 awards and won 3, and it was a decisive first-round victory: Best New Artist 19 votes, Best Band 19 votes, Song of the Year 〈Big Wind Blows〉 18 votes. 7
The Jury Chair, Huang Yun-ling, described this band as the "Explosion of the闷 (Stifled) Generation": "It brought a huge shock, breaking everyone's understanding of sound." 7
The most story-rich detail at the time was Mayday's Ashin's reaction. After hearing Cao Dong's songs, he told Martha backstage: "Should we go get to know them? These guys are geniuses!" 9
The media quickly simplified the story into "generational succession": an indie band that self-funded CD pressing defeated the giant of Taiwanese rock. But Ashin himself did not buy into this narrative: "It has nothing to do with generational succession. It's also tiring to be positive and active all the time; it's great to have a different kind of energy to vent occasionally." 9
When Wu Du went on stage to accept the award, he also rejected this narrative. When accepting the Best Band award, he said: "This award belongs to everyone." With tears in his eyes when accepting Best New Artist, he said: "I am lucky that there is always a group of people who, within this nihilism, are constantly striving to find their own voice." And regarding Mayday:
"I don't look at this from a competitive mindset; Mayday's status is irreplaceable." 9
Two generations of bands gave each other's places on the same night; this should have been the climax of the evening. But the media grabbed the headline "Defeating Mayday," missing this moment of mutual acknowledgment.
📝 Curator's Note: Cao Dong and Mayday have never been rivals. They are two answers from two generations on "what rock and roll can do": Mayday says public embrace, Cao Dong says private pain. Both answers are correct.
Potato, 14 Years, 15 Hours
October 30, 2021.
Drummer Tsai Yi-fan (Fanfan) was found dead in a quarantine hotel in Taipei, aged 26. 10 She had returned from a mainland China tour on October 25 and checked into the hotel, expecting a 14-day quarantine. Her beloved dog "Potato" had come to her when she was 14 years old, accompanying her for 12 years. In late October, Potato was already a 14-year-old old dog, critically ill.
On the evening of October 29, Fanfan, while in isolation, wrote her last public text on Instagram:
"What hurts me the most is that I am in isolation and cannot accompany you by your side, nor can I see you for the last time. I cried until I broke down, not knowing how to face all this... The first thing my sister will do after her isolation ends is to take all her luggage and run to your side, to accompany you in the last moments of your life. Sister loves you." 10
15 hours later, she was found dead in the hotel room.
18 days later, on November 17, 2021, Wu Du publicly wrote to Fanfan on Instagram:
"For days, my thoughts have been chaotic, trapped in a cycle of self-doubt and regret... I regret not being able to provide better companionship." 11
The band entered nearly two years of complete silence. No new songs, no interviews, no performances. In 2023, the original bassist Yang Shih-suan announced an indefinite hiatus. 3 During that time, Cao Dong looked like it had completely ended.
📝 Curator's Note: A band entering a quarantine hotel after a tour and losing a bandmate is a narrative unique to the COVID era. It is not a heroic death, but a loss under administrative rules: The quarantine policy separated Fanfan from her dying dog, leaving her alone when death occurred.
The Seven-Year Wait for 〈Bed〉
On April 7, 2023, No Party For Cao Dong released the single 〈Bed〉 and a lyric video. 12 This was the band's first new song since Fanfan's passing.
But this song had actually been performed live for seven years. It started being performed in 2016, but was never recorded. 12 The reason this song was chosen as the return single at this point in 2023 was not because it was written well, but because it had accompanied them for seven years, existing earlier than this loss.
〈Bed〉 is not a dirge. It does not directly mention Fanfan, nor does it contain tears or accusations. Its narrative is low: a state of being unable to wake up or fall asleep while lying in bed, sung in a tone with almost no emotional fluctuation.
The band used the low-pressure approach of "can't go back to that time" to process loss, rather than using dramatic grief. This choice itself is the reason why Cao Dong is Cao Dong: they never consume tragedy.
Broken Tiles Joined Together: The Two Layers of Allusion from _Records of the Grand Historian_ to Yan Shigu's Commentary in _Book of Han_
On May 20, 2023, Wa He was released, seven years after Nu Er. 13
The allusion for the album title "Wa He" has two layers, a detail worth distinguishing precisely because it defines what the album title truly intends to say.
First layer: The characters "Wa He" appear in the Records of the Grand Historian: Biographies of Confucian Scholars — "Chen She rose from a commoner, driving a crowd of broken-tile conscripts, and within a month became king of Chu." 13
Second layer (more critical): The extended meaning "Broken tiles joined together, though aggregated, are not uniform" actually does not appear in the original text of the Records of the Grand Historian. It comes from the Tang Dynasty Yan Shigu's commentary on the Book of Han: Biographies of Li, Lu, Zhu, Liu, and Shusun. 1
Cai Yu fully verified these two layers of allusion in her 2023 review of the Wa He album. 1 This distinction is important because the literal meaning "a group of broken tiles gathered together" alone is merely a derogatory term for a "mob"; adding Yan Shigu's extended phrase "though aggregated, are not uniform" makes it broken individuals aggregating together, but retaining their own irregularities. This layer of commentary is the actual semantic reference point for Cao Dong choosing this name — not "repairing the break," not "unity," but coexisting with the break.
Producer Zhou Yi-dun said in an interview about the choice of this word:
"This is an album expressing regret, and various disappointments in life." 14
The album's title page reads: "Dedicated to Fanfan." 13 The last new song is 〈But〉 (English name: Damn): The vocalist almost shouts "I love you," dedicated to Fanfan. 14
In interviews related to the Wa He album, Wu Du said verbatim about how the band continued to write music after Fanfan's passing:
"Life is inherently fragile; the death of all things is never an end, but a continuation of companionship in another form." 1
This sentence explains why the Wa He album sounds less like "getting over grief" and more like living within grief while continuing to make music.
〈Cang〉 and 〈Kong〉: The Only Remaining Critical Works
The density of social criticism works in Nu Er was high: 〈Lan Ni〉, 〈Yong Gan De Ren〉, 〈Da Feng Chui〉, 〈Wo Men〉 — music critic Cai Yu calculated that in Wa He, works where one can clearly feel "criticism and collision with society" remain only two: 〈Cang〉 and 〈Kong〉. 1
The chorus of 〈Cang〉 is the moment in this album closest to the sharp knife feel of Cao Dong in 2017:
"So smashed the dye vat / smashed the dye vat / only then saw the vast sea / and you and I still do not know where we are" 1
The first half builds anticipation with delayed guitar effects and fast drum beats, finally dragging with heavy guitar sounds, forming an auditory contrast of "expectation and disappointment." 1 The biggest hook of the chorus, "smashed the dye vat," is placed at the end, a structural arrangement not found in Nu Er.
The direction of other songs in Wa He, summarized by Cai Yu: "After 〈Ren Dong Shan〉, it presents a trend of inward closing, compared to the past where we raised the banner of 'world-weariness' and shouted at the system that 'dreams' could not be fulfilled, it is like two different scenes." 1
This direction from "world-weariness outward" to "world-weariness inward" is a structural turn for Cao Dong over twelve years. Cai Yu summarizes this as the "End of the Youth Generation": Cao Dong, along with their fans, is preparing to move to the next stage. 1 No longer writing social criticism like "Lan Ni," turning to songs about "Daydream," "Bed," "Old Zhang," "Sprout," "But" that focus on the emotional gaps between oneself and loved ones.
📝 Curator's Note: Wa He is not an album that became weaker; it is an album that moved from "speaking for the generation" to "processing one's own heart." The courage Cao Dong showed in making this turn is something the 2017 version of Cao Dong with 〈Big Wind Blows〉 could not do.
Music critics later also defined Wa He as "an album of suicide survivors". 15 The first three songs continuously push the theme of death (drowning, self-destruction imagery); the middle instrumental Interlude creates a "floating and elusive" atmosphere; the ending turns away from anger to "calmly mourn"; the last song's vocalist "almost shouts" to express nostalgia and the determination to continue surviving.
The Moment the Manager Accepted the Awards
On June 29, 2024, at the 35th Golden Melody Awards. The Best Band category for which No Party For Cao Dong was nominated was called the "Group of Death" by the media — including six strong bands such as Fire EX and Gossip. 16 Cao Dong won three awards: Album of the Year, Best Mandarin Album, Best Band (for the second time). 2
But the band was performing at the Bubble Island Music Festival in Guiyang, China, that night, and was not present at the Golden Melody Awards venue. The manager went on stage to accept the awards, saying that phrase "No Party For Cao Dong has never been just the 4 people standing on stage, but everyone who wholeheartedly participates in these six characters" 2 which was interpreted at the time as "including the deceased member Fanfan."
This "absence while winning" is itself a statement from Cao Dong: We do not treat winning awards as the climax of life. They continued performing in Guiyang, turning the Best Band acceptance into a "ritual of absence."
In the history of Taiwanese pop music, a band winning the Golden Melody Best Band award twice is already rare: Cao Dong separated by seven years, spanning one member's death, spanning two years of almost complete silence. From the high-profile moment of defeating Mayday in 2017 to the low-key moment of the manager accepting the awards in 2024, this band is redefining the word "success" in its own way.
Why They Don't Accept Interviews
From their debut to now, No Party For Cao Dong has rarely given formal interviews. 17 Wu Du has given very few interviews (mainly in 2016 Blow Music), but the band as a whole has adopted a nearly closed attitude towards the media.
This is not being cool; it is a professional ethics. They refuse to shape themselves into a "consumable personality": refusing to sell daily life on Instagram, refusing variety show crossovers, refusing to turn Fanfan's death into narrative capital. Wu Du's sentence summarizes their creative attitude:
"Many of our works sound violent, but actually they are full of... love." 17
This is the key difference between Cao Dong and most Taiwanese bands in the late 2010s: They believe the content of the songs should be bigger than the personality of the singer. Fans can recognize the chords of 〈Big Wind Blows〉, but may not necessarily recognize Wu Du's face; this is a distance the band deliberately preserved.
This is an Album of Suicide Survivors
Twelve years. Four drummers. Two albums. Two Golden Melody Best Band awards. One death. Two years of silence. One manager acceptance.
What No Party For Cao Dong left behind is not "a story of rise," but a story of how to piece oneself back together in the midst of loss. The dance-punk youth on Cao Dong Street in Yangmingshan in 2012, self-funding the pressing of 2,000 CDs in 2016, winning three Golden Melody Awards in 2017 to defeat Mayday, losing drummer Fanfan in 2021, returning with 〈Bed〉 in 2023, and winning the triple crown at Golden Melody 35 with the word "failure" from the Records of the Grand Historian in Wa He.
They also proved something even harder: A band can lose a member and still survive, but the way it survives will not be the same as before. The name Wa He itself says it all. Incomplete, un-repaired, just joined together: staying together with the break.
The manager said on the Golden Melody stage in 2024:
"In our hearts, No Party For Cao Dong has never been just the 4 people standing on stage."
At that moment, no one in the audience laughed, no one stood up to cheer. Everyone was silent for five seconds.
Then the camera turned to the next award.
Further Reading:
- Wei Ru-xuan — Belonging to the 2010s indie music ecosystem, a control group for female vocal paths
- Constant's Variation Ball — Belonging to the post-rock spectrum, but taking a vocal narrative path
- Cicada — Taking a full-instrumental no-vocal path, exactly opposite to Cao Dong's "lyrics as sociology"
- Lu Guang-zhong — Another "work-type singer" path in indie music
- Pop Music and Golden Melody Awards — The stage coordinates for Cao Dong winning Best Band twice
- Taiwan Indie Music — The evolution of indie music from Natural Vault to Cao Dong to Gossip
- Taiwan Pop Music — The environment of the Taiwanese pop music industry
References
- Album Review | No Party For Cao Dong Wa He | Now I Know the Taste of Sorrow, Big Wind Blows into Ren Dong Shan - Xun Sheng Ru Zuo — Author Cai Yu 2023-09-16 album review fully verifies two layers of "Wa He" allusion sources: "Wa He" characters from Records of the Grand Historian: Biographies of Confucian Scholars + extended meaning "meaning like broken tiles joined together, though aggregated, are not uniform" from Tang Dynasty Yan Shigu's commentary on Book of Han: Biographies of Li, Lu, Zhu, Liu, and Shusun; full quote of Wu Du verbatim "Life is inherently fragile; the death of all things is never an end, but a continuation of companionship in another form"; 〈Cang〉 lyrics verbatim quote and music structure analysis; Wa He vs Nu Er critical work density comparison (former 4 batches of criticism → latter only 〈Cang〉 〈Kong〉 2 songs); core argument "After 〈Ren Dong Shan〉 it presents a trend of inward closing" + "End of the Youth Generation". This album review 2026-04-18 Cai Yu in Taiwan.md Cao Dong Spore #33 Threads comment section actively pointed out this article original draft error wrote "Records of the Grand Historian 'Broken Tiles Joined Together'", and provided this article original text verification — this article second version (2026-04-19) has been fully corrected according to its verification.↩
- Golden Melody 35 No Party For Cao Dong Absent, Manager Accepts Speech - CNA — 2024-06-29 At the 35th Golden Melody Awards, No Party For Cao Dong won the triple crown of Album of the Year, Best Mandarin Album, and Best Band with Wa He; the band could not attend due to performing at the Bubble Island Music Festival in Guiyang, China, that night; the manager accepted the speech: "No Party For Cao Dong has never been just the 4 people standing on stage, but everyone who wholeheartedly participates in these six characters."↩
- No Party For Cao Dong - Wikipedia — Formed on 2012-06-09 at the intersection of Jianxian Street and Cao Dong Street in Yangmingshan, Taipei; band name evolved in three stages: Cao Dong Street Left Turn → Cao Dong Street Party → No Party For Cao Dong (settled in 2014); lineup evolution includes Liu Li (first-generation drummer turned visual), Sam (interrupted by military service), Fanfan (took over in 2016 from Triple Deer), Yang Shih-suan indefinite hiatus in 2023.↩
- Nu Er Album Production Details - Scientific Monthly — Digital release on 2016-02-19, physical release on 3-11; 2,000 handmade CDs sold out in three days; producer Li Xiao-zu, American mixing engineer Andy Baker, Georgia mastering engineer Joel Hatstat; 〈Big Wind Blows〉 used live audience vocal and studio overlay technology; production period 4 months.↩
- No Party For Cao Dong Discogs — 〈Big Wind Blows〉 broke 95,000 views on YouTube 6 months after release, broke 500,000 within a year, becoming one of the most widely spread singles in Taiwanese indie music in the 2010s.↩
- 〈Big Wind Blows〉 Lyrics and 2015 Anti-Curriculum Micro-adjustment Movement Interpretation - VERSE — 〈Big Wind Blows〉 lyrics were written against the backdrop of the 2015 Taiwan anti-high school curriculum micro-adjustment movement (at that time students took to the streets, student leaders committed suicide); lyrics have three layers of meaning: musical chairs game (resource competition), generational dilemma (time trapped), Wu Du's personal school bullying experience.↩
- Ma Shih-fang "Loser Generation" Cao Dong Review - One Little Day — Ma Shih-fang positioned Cao Dong's generationality as "Loser Generation": "The lyrics are sharp as knives, and at its core is a nihilism with no way out, becoming a fine quote that the youth of the 'collapse generation' are happy to recite"; compared with Zhang Xuan "lyrics and melody咬合". 2017 Golden Melody 28 Huang Yun-ling chair said "Explosion of the闷 Generation", Cao Dong first-round decisive triple crown (19/19/18 votes).↩
- 〈Big Wind Blows〉 Cultural Phenomenon - Pan Science + Vision Magazine — 〈Big Wind Blows〉 defined as representative work of "Loser Generation" / "Collapse Generation"; National Taiwan University of Technology "Song That Best Represents My Generation" vote top 6 years in a row; MC HotDog sampled; Li Ming-tsung (NTU Sociology) 2017 Autumn "Sociology of Losers" course 600+ students filled.↩
- Mayday Ashin "Genius" Comment Full Source - Business Today — After hearing Cao Dong's songs, Ashin told Martha: "Should we go get to know them? These guys are geniuses!"; Facing generational succession controversy: "It has nothing to do with generational succession. It's also tiring to be positive and active all the time; it's great to have a different kind of energy to vent occasionally." Wu Du Golden Melody 28 acceptance: "Mayday's status is irreplaceable."↩
- Cao Dong Drummer Fanfan Passed Away During Quarantine + IG Original Text - China Times News Network — 2021-10-30 Tsai Yi-fan (Fanfan, aged 26) was found dead in a Taipei quarantine hotel; returned from mainland China tour on 10-25; 10-29 evening IG breakdown post "The first thing my sister will do after her isolation ends is to take all her luggage and run to your side, to accompany you in the last moments of your life. Sister loves you"; 14-year-old beloved dog "Potato" accompanied her for 12 years critically ill, she could not return home to accompany the final journey.↩
- Wu Du IG Message to Fanfan - Mirror Media — 2021-11-17 18 days after Fanfan's passing, vocalist Wu Du publicly wrote on Instagram: "For days, my thoughts have been chaotic, trapped in a cycle of self-doubt and regret... I regret not being able to provide better companionship."↩
- 〈Bed〉 2023 Return Single Seven-Year Live History - HackaZine — 2023-04-07 Band released first single 〈Bed〉 and lyric video after Fanfan's passing; this song was actually performed live in 2016, waiting seven years to be recorded and released. Public statement new album dedicated to Fanfan.↩
- Wa He Album Concept and Records of the Grand Historian Allusion - Vocus — 2023-05-20 Wa He released, seven years after Nu Er; album title "Wa He" characters appear in Records of the Grand Historian: Biographies of Confucian Scholars "Chen She rose from a commoner, driving a crowd of broken-tile conscripts, and within a month became king of Chu"; extended meaning "broken tiles joined together" complete allusion see [^19] (Cai Yu verification from Book of Han Yan Shigu commentary); title page "Dedicated to Fanfan"; 〈But〉 (Damn) is the last new song, singing "I love you" dedicated to Fanfan.↩
- Producer Zhou Yi-dun Interview: Cao Dong is "An Album Expressing Regret" - Blow Music — Producer Zhou Yi-dun interprets Wa He: "This is an album expressing regret, and various disappointments in life." And self-describes production philosophy: "The thing I worry least about is the sound quality itself; I care about whether the result matches the musician's vision, and whether they feel comfortable in the collaboration. 'Cao Dong's attitude towards music is completely honest.'"↩
- Wa He "Suicide Survivor Album" Review - Vocus — Music critic defines Wa He as "an album of suicide survivors"; first three songs continuously push the theme of death (drowning, self-destruction imagery); middle instrumental Interlude creates "floating and elusive" atmosphere; ending turns away from anger to "calmly mourn"; last song vocalist "almost shouts" to express nostalgia and determination to continue surviving.↩
- Golden Melody 35 "Group of Death" Best Band Competition Analysis - The News Lens — 35th Golden Melody Awards Best Band nomination combination (Cao Dong, Fire EX, Gossip, etc. 6 groups) called "Group of Death" by media; analysis of the competitive context of Cao Dong emerging with triple crown from Wa He.↩
- Wu Du Creative Philosophy — 2016 Blow Music Full Interview — Wu Du's few 2016 formal interviews: Creative process "When this character is sometimes, mostly us (projection), then we draw material from people and things around us"; Musical intent "Actually there is no special setting to do what"; Emotional core "Actually it is all full of... love"; Explanation of violent appearance: "Sounds violent, but actually it is all full of love, opposing violence."↩