Ten years after the release of his first album, Eric Chou is up for a challenge. “When you’ve been recording for a long time, you get into a comfort zone,” the singer-songwriter tells Apple Music. “On this album, I’m pleased to say that I can hear how I’ve broken out of it.” With Almost, his first LP since 2020’s When We Were Young, Chou stretches himself stylistically as he explores different facets of love. His powerful voice makes subtle emotional details resonate, whether he’s dealing with the comfortable intimacy of “I LOVE US”, the weary resignation of simmering rock anthem “I can’t love somebody with a broken heart” or a big-hearted affection for the human condition on the lush, inspirational “The little things”—not to mention the aching break-up ballads that are his stock-in-trade. Below, Chou gives Apple Music a peek at the origin of selected album tracks. “We never started” “This is an awesome song. It started off as a piano demo. With the very first line, ‘It’s still okay we haven’t started’, the melody enfolded me in its embrace. I had the instant sensation of being caught up by the song’s mood. Writing went quickly—the embrace of the verses extended those emotions into the chorus. David Ke worked on the lyrics. I love the way he captures the way many adults feel about love, so I’m sure this song will resonate with lots of people. You’ll find sounds on the bridge you’ve never heard on my earlier albums—the feeling of something miserable and lacerating.” “That Night in Paris” “I wrote the album’s first single because I went to Paris and other cities in Europe fairly often after the pandemic. You always get a sense of romance and beauty, whatever European city you’re in. That atmosphere was the inspiration for ‘That Night in Paris’. I wrote it with R&B in mind, but Howe Chen’s arrangement is mainly what gives it a freshness that I absolutely love—especially the sax bridge. I remember once when we were discussing the album, I said, ‘I love the vibe of a jazzy saxophone’, so I was delighted to find out he adopted my suggestion and added it to the album.” “When you missed me” “This track is inspired by the realisation that some people don’t feel much of anything after a break-up and are only aware of the hurt it has caused after the passage of time. Once I had the idea, the song came quickly. I wrote the first draft while making a TV programme with the thought of performing it there. I didn’t get to, but fortunately it has a place as a single on this album. The producer did an awesome job on this track. We initially thought it felt a little like ‘What’s Wrong’ version 2.0, but Howe Chen’s arrangement made it steadier and more mature.” “Almost” “Howe Chen assigned me some homework: He wanted me to use different chords to write a different kind of melody. I accepted the challenge and this song was born. I did a bunch of takes during recording and kept adding to it, hoping to get a version that was perfect. If you’ve been my fan for a decade, you’ll definitely be able to hear how I’ve grown over that time, because there are sounds and emotions in this song you don’t often hear. This is my favourite song on the album.” “Aim&Shoot” “This is a really interesting one. I was sort of messing around when I wrote it but found balance in the chaos and it occurred to me it might work as a song. The interesting thing is that lots of elements were added to the arrangement—the demo sounded like three songs stitched together, a little bit hip-hop, a little bit jazz.” “Dreamers” “I was initially going to sing this one solo, but my producer Howe Chen suggested singing with Gummy B since he wrote the lyrics. I really enjoyed our collaboration. This was my first time rapping in Chinese (I usually rap in English), so it was a marvellous process and a new experience for me. Often, when people see I’ve been in music for 10 years, they imagine it’s all been luck. In ‘Dreamers’, I want to say that dreams aren’t achieved solely through luck—you need effort and dedication, even when no one notices. You’ve got to be hard-working, clever and practical in pursuit of your dreams. It’s not an easy road, to be sure—but if achieving your dreams was easy, you wouldn’t be one of a kind.” “Valentine’s Day” “I recorded this in my studio—in a closet, actually, so I was incredibly relaxed. My aim was to make a happy song that’ll brainwash you.” “I LOVE US” “This is a collaboration with Waa Wei. The initial inspiration came from Bon Iver, whose album For Emma, Forever Ago is a favourite of mine to listen to whenever I want to relax—if I’m out in nature, driving or taking a bath. My hope is that ‘I LOVE US’ can be a song for relaxing too. The first demo was all in English but then we switched to Chinese. Waa Wei wrote the lyrics. When people get to know one another these days, they don’t have to be lovey-dovey all the time. Once the honeymoon period passes, they’re still in love with each other—it’s just that they express it in different ways. I love the whistle in this song. I did it myself when I felt the demo needed something special.” “time” “This is another track with a saxophone. The last track on the album, it was written in 2021 as one of six songs I wrote during my first 14-day quarantine in Shanghai. The initial live band arrangement gradually gained electronic elements, plus a sax solo at the end. It’s a fantastic album closer that I really look forward to singing live.”