"Puppet" (Chinese: 木偶人; pinyin: Mù'ǒurén) is a song by Chinese singer-songwriter Joker Xue. It was released on June 26, 2019 as a single and part of his tenth album Dust by Huayu World Expo; both have since been acquired by Xue's own label Chaoshi Music.
It ranked number one on Billboard China Top 100 for three consecutive weeks, Hit FM weekly chart for four consecutive weeks, and Tencent Music's UNI Chart for two consecutive weeks. Billboard magazine included "Puppet" (木偶人) on their The Global No. 1s You (Probably) Never Heard list, describing the song as a "soaring ballad about a failing relationship."
Contents
Background
"Puppet" was written and composed by Xue, and arranged and produced by Chen Di. As the lead single, "Puppet" conveys the theme of the album: a journey of illusions seen through the eyes of a puppet and upon reaching its destination, the illusions scatter to dust. While we may envy and wish to be a puppet without emotions and therefore cannot feel pain, we ultimately realize that is an impossible task: "No one can become a puppet, it's just a process of evading emotions (没有人能变成木偶人, 无非是在感情里的逃避过程)."
Music video
The music video for "Puppet" was directed by Taiwanese director duo Howard Kuo and Allen Shen. To construct the puppet world, the music video incorporated fantasy elements and steampunk aesthetics to tell the cautionary tale of a puppet who repeatedly gives up the most precious traits in exchange for the most desired things, likening the loss of sincerity to a disease.
Credits and personnel
Joker Xue – lyrics, composition, vocals
Chen Di – arrangement, production
Howard Kuo, Allen Shen – director