Ailin walked in wearing red, made us laugh online, then completely blindsided us with how seriously she thinks about music.
The first time I saw Ailin Deng, I didn’t know much about her music yet. I just remember the red.
We were at a music festival, and she walked in wearing red in a way that immediately made me think: okay, she knows exactly what she’s doing. It wasn’t even about the outfit being loud. She just had this very clear presence. Later, when I found out that red is actually something she deliberately saves for important moments, and that she wants it to become one of the first things people associate with her as an artist, that first impression suddenly made a lot more sense.
Then I found her Instagram, and that completely ruined the mysterious image in the best possible way. She is genuinely really funny. There are weird videos, memes, random ideas, and this whole side of her that feels almost completely unserious. But the deeper I got into her music, especially Crystal Heart, the more I realized how serious she actually is about what she makes. She talks about production in tiny details, teaches herself techniques from artists like Aphex Twin, experiments with modular synthesis and randomization, and somehow turns all of that chaos into something very intentional.
So I wanted to know who exactly lives inside that world, and how much of the Red Angel is actually just AILIN herself.
Meeting AILIN
DicePressPlay: When I first came across you, you showed up looking super gorgeous in red. You already had such strong artist energy before I even really knew your music. Do you usually think a lot about how you want to present yourself when you walk into a space?
AILIN: Absolutely. I want red to be one of the first things people associate with me as an artist. Red is at the heart of RED ANGEL, and it’s also the core of the “Red Angel Universe” that I’ve been building. So whenever I attend an important event, I put a lot of thought into choosing and styling something red. Most of the time, I actually pick and put together my own outfits.
My friends sometimes joke, “Do you wear red every day?”
The funny thing is, I really don’t. I love red so much that I actually want to save it for moments that feel special. I’m also afraid that if I wear it all the time, I’ll eventually get tired of it. So outside of important occasions, I tend to wear much softer, lighter colors in my everyday life. I want red to feel meaningful every time it appears.
DicePressPlay: Then I found your social media and realized you are also genuinely so funny. Are you actually this funny and chaotic in real life, or does the internet bring out an extra version of you?
AILIN: I’m actually a pretty goofy and playful person. But the moment I get into music, I become extremely serious and focused. My dad is a really funny person, and my mom is incredibly playful, so I think I inherited both sides of that from them. That’s also why I really enjoy working with people who are fun and have a sense of humor. I think music requires a lot of imagination and creativity. If everyone in the room is so boring, the music might end up feeling that way too.
DicePressPlay: When your friends see the AILIN we see online and onstage, are they like, “Yes, that is exactly her,” or is it completely different from the person they know?
AILIN: Yes, that’s definitely me. I think I’m naturally a very confident person, and I have a lot of intensity and presence in me. I’m like that in everyday life too. But I think the stage is a place where you can amplify those qualities to their fullest.
So when I’m on stage, I want to let that energy and intensity come all the way out. I want the audience to genuinely feel what I’m trying to express, rather than just hear it.
DicePressPlay: Who is Red Angel to you? Is she a character, an extension of yourself, or somewhere in between?
AILIN: In the “Red Angel Universe,” she isn’t just one thing. There are moments when she’s incredibly confident and powerful, but there are also moments when she’s vulnerable and completely lost. I think all of those sides are part of who she is, and they all find their way into my music.
I don’t want people to see the Red Angel as someone who is always perfect or always strong. I want her to feel like a real person—someone who can be powerful, but also vulnerable, emotional, and imperfect.
DicePressPlay: Congrats on your first show in LA! What was the whole experience like for you?
AILIN: I was so happy after completing the entire show. For me, it wasn’t just another performance. It was a really valuable experience in my journey as an artist. Being able to stand on a stage that I truly love and present my music to an audience in its entirety was incredibly meaningful to me.
The experience also made me realize even more clearly that the stage is something I want to keep exploring, challenging myself with, and growing into.
Shanghai, New York and Los Angeles
DicePressPlay: You lived in China before moving to the U.S., and your path eventually took you from New York to Los Angeles. What originally brought you here, and what made you decide to move west?
AILIN: In 2023, I moved from China to New York to pursue my graduate degree at Berklee NYC. My time at Berklee NYC was intense, but incredibly fulfilling. Then in 2025, I wanted to experience the music scene on the West Coast for myself, so I moved from New York to Los Angeles.
The two cities feel very different to me. New York is fast-paced, fashionable, intense, and constantly stimulating. Los Angeles feels more like a lifestyle—there’s sunshine, ocean air, and a little more space to slow down and breathe.
DicePressPlay: What has been the biggest difference between your everyday life in China and your life in LA?
AILIN: When I was in Shanghai, most of my time was spent working. I was leading the music project at a game company, so the pace was pretty intense. In LA, I feel much more like a free, independent artist. These days, my biggest “problem” might be lying on a college lawn in the afternoon, listening to the demo I just finished, and suddenly thinking, “Wait, is there too much low end in this kick? Is that vocal sibilance too harsh? Did I compress that section too much?”
DicePressPlay: It sounds like LA has given you a much slower rhythm than the life you had before. Has that changed the way you create or listen to music?
AILIN: I really enjoy the sunshine in LA. Sometimes I’ll just lay out a blanket under a tree, listen carefully to the demo I just finished, and then do absolutely nothing for a while—just listen to a new album from an artist I love on Spotify.
That kind of simple, slow lifestyle has actually become really important to my creative process. When I have time to relax and listen to other people’s music, I have more space to reflect on my own work, which often leads to new ideas and inspiration. I think the version of me in LA is probably a little more relaxed. But I also really love living in China. The convenience of everyday life there is honestly hard to beat.
So if I had to describe what these two places have given me, I’d say China keeps me efficient and driven, while LA has taught me how to slow down, experience life, and give myself more time and space to create.
DicePressPlay: A fun one: if AILIN’s artistic world consisted of two restaurants, one from China and one from LA, what would they be?
AILIN: Honestly? Any random chuan chuan hot pot spot in Chengdu versus In-N-Out in LA.
The Funny Side of AILI
DicePressPlay: I think you understand social media better than a lot of artists because your posts don’t really feel like promotion. They’re actually entertaining. Did that always come naturally to you?
AILIN: It’s actually kind of funny. I’m someone who has a lot of social media anxiety. I post on social media, but I barely scroll through it myself. Most of what I post is still centered around my music and the creative process. That said, I definitely think there’s still a lot I can improve on when it comes to creating content and putting it out there.
DicePressPlay: How much of your social media is actually planned? Do you have a real content strategy, or do you sometimes just post whatever makes you laugh?
AILIN: Most of my posts are connected in some way to my music, my creative process, or inspiration I find in everyday life. Sometimes I’ll be talking to a friend, and we’ll get into something really funny, and while we’re both sitting there going, “Hahahahaha,” part of my brain is already thinking, “Wait… could this be a post?”
DicePressPlay: When you finish a song, do you immediately start thinking about the memes, outfits, videos, or weird characters that could go with it?
AILIN: Yes. Usually, once I finish mastering a song, I’ll start thinking more seriously about how I want to promote it. But a lot of the visual ideas are actually already in my head when I’m writing and producing the song.
I might already have an image in my mind of what the visuals should look like, what kind of video I want to make, or even how I want people to feel when they see it.
DicePressPlay: OFFICE PLAYER and BIRTHDAY PARTY are both so meme-able. Did you already know they had that kind of potential when you were making them?
AILIN: I think these two songs are pretty close to what I imagine a true internet pop hit should sound like.
Of course, I want my music to reach as many people as possible. And to be completely honest, I absolutely want to make a song that reaches the Billboard Top 5. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having big ambitions. If I’ve chosen to do music, of course I want to keep reaching for bigger stages.
DicePressPlay: When someone finds you through a funny video and then listens to the song and realizes, “Wait, this is actually really well produced,” is that basically the perfect reaction for you?
AILIN: Absolutely. For me, those really random, meme-y style videos are first and foremost a way to bring new people into my world. If someone who has never heard of me before stops on my page because of some completely random, ridiculous video and ends up staying for 30 seconds, wondering, “Wait, who is this person?”—then I feel like I’ve already accomplished half of what I wanted to do.
The next step is to hopefully make them curious enough to look a little deeper and realize, “Oh, she actually takes her music really seriously.”
DicePressPlay: Do you ever worry that people might focus so much on the jokes that they miss how serious you are about the actual music?
AILIN: I think that’s actually pretty normal. Life is already exhausting for most people. So if someone can find even a tiny bit of happiness in my content, my music, or even just some completely ridiculous video, then I feel like it’s worth it.
If something I make can make a stranger smile when it shows up on their feed, or make them feel something through one of my songs, I think that’s already a really meaningful kind of connection.
DicePressPlay: Is it ever exhausting feeling like you have to be funny or entertaining online, even when you might not be in that mood?
AILIN: Honestly, those meme-y style videos usually don’t take much effort at all.
A lot of the time, I’ll just suddenly have an idea and think, “Wait, this could be funny,” and then I’ll shoot it that day or the next. Meanwhile, the videos I spend a lot of time planning, filming, and editing—especially the ones where I’m trying to show people my music-making process—sometimes get absolutely no views.
That’s what makes social media so funny. The more seriously you prepare something, the more it doesn’t necessarily mean people will watch it. Sometimes a completely random idea that pops into your head is the thing that strangers end up loving. But I’m still going to keep posting those music-making videos that barely get any views. Hahahaha.
Crystal Heart
DicePressPlay: Now we have to talk about Crystal Heart because the production is honestly so good. Where did that song begin?
AILIN: It actually started in a pretty accidental way. That day, I had just upgraded from Ableton 11 to Ableton 12, and I was so excited that I basically started playing around with everything. I had already been experimenting with modular synthesis for a while, and that day I started trying out some of the new sequencers and plugins.
Little by little, the first version of the song just came together. When I heard what I had made, it felt really dreamy, and I suddenly thought, “This could be the pure white side of the Red Angel.”
And that’s how Crystal Heart became this very pure, romantic love song.
DicePressPlay: What did that first version sound like? Was the glossy, crystal-like sound already there from the beginning, or did you slowly build your way into it?
AILIN: Honestly, the whole process was pretty chaotic. It was basically a combination of sequencers, samplers, randomization, and a lot of experimenting and rearranging. Sometimes I feel like a chef when I’m producing—I’ll chop something up here, change something there, add a little bit of something else, and just keep tasting and adjusting until it becomes what it is. It wasn’t a particularly rational or calculated process. A lot of the final result came from trial and error, happy accidents, and just seeing where the music wanted to go.. I really love working with samples in unpredictable ways. I’ve also spent some time teaching myself about Aphex Twin’s production techniques, so I’ve always been fascinated by that kind of IDM approach.
I love the idea of starting with something that feels slightly uncontrollable, but somehow turning it into its own unique musical logic. That was a big part of how I approached Crystal Heart. I used my own samples and kept rearranging and manipulating them in fairly random, experimental ways until they gradually became the sound you hear in the final track.
DicePressPlay: When you’re working on something with that many layers, how do you know when it’s finished instead of continuing to add more and more? What does that production process look like for you?
AILIN: When I start producing a song, I usually go pretty heavily into addition. I keep adding new sounds, new layers, and new ideas. But once I’m getting ready to bring in the vocals, I usually start doing the opposite—I start taking things away.
At that point, I need to make room for the vocal and really ask myself what the core of the song actually is. No matter how much I take away, though, I always try to protect that original core.
From the very beginning, I wanted Crystal Heart to feel shiny, sparkly, and almost like it was glowing. So even when I’m in the reduction stage, I’m still trying to preserve that light, airy, shimmering quality.
DicePressPlay: “Crystal heart” can sound beautiful, transparent, sharp, and also really fragile. What does that image mean to you?
AILIN: There’s a line in the lyrics that really captures the whole feeling: “Like something sparkling falling from the night sky, gently landing in the palm of my hand.” That’s always been the image in my head—a tiny, glowing star slowly falling from the night sky and softly landing in my hand. To me, it represents a kind of love that feels completely pure and untouched.
Crystal Heart isn’t really about an intense or dramatic kind of love. It’s more like this very precious, weightless moment when you suddenly realize that a tiny little star has actually fallen right into your hands.
Life as an Independent Artist
DicePressPlay: Are you currently working as a full-time artist, or are you balancing music with another job or other parts of your life?
AILIN: Right now, I’m working full-time as an independent artist, focusing on building my own music career.
When I return to China later this year, I’m also considering going back into game music design while continuing to develop my own music. I don’t see those two paths as conflicting at all. Game music is a creative field that I’m very familiar with and love, while my own music is a personal world that I’ve always wanted to keep building, exploring, and expressing.
DicePressPlay: What does a normal workday actually look like for you—say, a regular Tuesday? Are you mostly producing, making content, planning releases, booking shows, answering emails, or somehow doing all of it?
AILIN: My day usually starts with my inbox. When I wake up, I’ll check my emails and take care of anything that needs my attention. Then I’ll open Notion and go through the to-do list I wrote the night before, and start checking things off one by one.
DicePressPlay: Being independent means you get a lot of creative control, but you also have to carry so much by yourself. What part of that life do you genuinely love, and what part has been the hardest?
AILIN: For me, the happiest part is probably when a new idea suddenly appears. Almost every time I’m making music, I eventually get into a state of flow. It’s an incredibly comfortable feeling. I can spend several hours completely immersed in the music without even realizing how much time has passed. I also get really happy when I read a message from a fan and realize that they connected with a song in exactly the way I intended.
The more difficult part usually comes after the song itself is finished. Finishing the music is really only one stage of the process. Then I have to organize all the visual ideas I’ve been imagining, figure out the assets, write the copy, and finally put everything together and release it. All of those things sound pretty simple when you list them out, but in reality, they can easily take up an entire day.
DicePressPlay: Thank you for your time. Any special things to share?
AILIN: My second album, Heart of Love, will be released later this year.
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