Romantic

No record label and no packaging, spread through websites and ringtones to every street: Chinese viral songs of the 2000s.

Keeps a song's intimacy while making reality feel as touchable as a dream.

Church fire carried into the street, one voice singing a whole community's dignity.

Vintage soul warmth plus loose hip-hop grooves and jazz chords.

Four or five singers around one microphone: the bass sings "bom bom", the lead takes the tune, sweet '50s street-corner harmony.

Silky vocals over spacious beats, magnifying the small feelings inside intimacy.

Slow, dark and hazy: ambient synths, sparse drums and emotional murmurs, R&B for listening alone in a car at night.

Private love songs recorded with a laptop and cheap keyboard in a bedroom, soft and fuzzy.

A love song that unfolds slowly and erupts at the end, singing one line until everyone cries.

Turns private feelings into everyday songs that many people can sing.

Melodies shaped by nine tones, singing joys and sorrows under Hong Kong's neon.

Hokkien's soft tones, nakasi and enka-like singing, songs of harbours, leaving home and human warmth.

Rich chords, frequent key changes and fast, dense lyrics: modern Japanese pop built on piano and band, with choruses that soar.

Packs night views, sea breeze and city life into a refined, light groove.

French pop, bossa nova and '60s soft rock cut and pasted into a stylish Tokyo sound.

Pop from Showa-era TV music shows: orchestral arrangements, idol smiles and a touch of sentiment.

A piano opening, strings underneath and an explosive belt in the last chorus: Korean love songs that sing heartbreak at full strength.

Acoustic guitar "la pompe" strumming and violin, a lively Paris café night.

Within shared harmony and groove, everyone gets to say their own piece in the moment.

Slower, softer, more space: jazz's calm side, like a trumpet in blue shade.

Candlelight, a piano trio and one singer: jazz standards sung lazy, sultry and unhurried.

Soft sax, round grooves and smooth harmony, background music for city twilight.

Cocktails, velvet sofas and piano trio, relaxed with a hint of retro space-age.

Samba's heartbeat turned down low, like someone whispering to you by the sea.

Country storytelling and acoustic guitar wrapped in pop hooks and shiny production.

Horns, piano montuno and clave rhythm set the whole dance floor spinning.

The bandoneón's sighs and staccato writing a dangerous love story in a dim dance hall.

Guitar, accordion and two-part harmony singing about heartbreak: Brazil's most-played national pop music.

Bright, trembling guitars and romantic voices, the Dominican love song danced close.

One dembow rhythm, and the whole city sways together.

Light percussion and warm melodies turn a party into an easy, rolling groove.

A lament from Lisbon taverns: the tremolo of the Portuguese guitar and a singer's long sigh, singing of a longing that can't go home (saudade).

Accordion, a rainy cafe and a storytelling singer: French chanson, where the words matter more than the tune.

Four string players in conversation: intimate, refined, like a cultured talk.

Bel canto voices filling a whole theatre without mics, with orchestra telling of love, hate and fate.

Lets one melody gradually become a relationship through meeting, missing each other and reunion.