Eric HZ (Hechen Zhao) is a Chinese singer-songwriter, vocalist, and producer based in the Dallas area. He trained under Chinese opera performer and vocal teacher Professor Wan Shanhong, has performed at Lincoln Center, and puts a great deal of energy into cultural exchange as the founder and chairman of the Chinese-American Federation of Arts and Culture and the founder and executive producer of the Chinese American Music Festival.
His Mandarin song “Child” has been submitted for consideration in Best Asian Pop Music Performance, a brand-new category at the 69th GRAMMY Awards. Eric has backed the new award as a chance for listeners to dig deeper into the many different musical traditions across Asia rather than as a lower bar, arguing that songs in Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and other languages deserve to be judged with exactly the same seriousness as anything else.
Child
Whatever happens with the GRAMMYs, the song itself started somewhere much closer to home. Eric wrote “Child” after becoming a father to twins, and it opens with the sound of his own kids laughing, which tells you straight away what this one is about. He meant it as a gift to them, a message that they will never need to be flawless to deserve love, no matter how often they slip up along the way. Mandarin was the natural choice for something this personal, since it is the language he feels most at home expressing himself in.
For a classically trained singer, he shows real discipline here. There are no vocal fireworks for the sake of it. He lets the song lead, pulling back when the moment calls for it and only leaning in once the emotion has earned it, so what comes through is a dad talking to his kids rather than a vocalist showing off his range. As he sees it, the simplest feelings are often the hardest to get right on record, and that care shows.
Somewhere in the writing, the song turned back on him. What began as something for his children became a reminder that he is still someone’s child too, still making mistakes and picking himself back up, still wanting to be understood and loved. That shift is what lets “Child” travel beyond its language. You do not need to understand a word of Mandarin to feel what is going on. It also arrives alongside a companion song, “Encounter,” which turns the focus from a father’s love toward Eric’s own faith and sense of purpose.
Final Thoughts
“Child” is a tender, carefully made tribute to Eric HZ’s twins, and proof that a song does not have to be in your language to speak to you.
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