Cdramas and the Lost Art of the Theme Song

How hard can opening credits go? "I tore off all my splendor and unraveled my destiny to open up the creation of heaven and earth."

Wang Anyu and Zhao Lusi in The Last Immortal

People have not been able to guess my age for most of my life, but here is my secret: I turn 40 in July. That means I became aware of TV with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, had my mind blown in real time by The X-Files, thoroughly ignored Buffy the Vampire Slayer because of a middle-school friend break-up and feel intense stirrings at the opening notes of The West Wing. Audio branding for intros and outros has been part of storytelling forever, at least since the days of radio. You’ve probably read more than one tweet or article lamenting our present lack of it; here’s one from 2006.

We just don’t have theme songs like we used to in Anglophone media, right? Last fall, Chris Dalla Riva crunched some numbers and found that scripted shows have been steadily shedding noteworthy theme songs since their peak in the 1960s. He speculates that Netflix’s “skip intro” button may have a lot to do with the most recent decline. Writing for GQ in 2017, Joshua Rivera begged the industry to bring back “singable” TV themes. We’ve been on the fence about title sequences for ages, though — in his book Music for Prime Time: A History of American Television Themes and Scoring, John Burlingame reveals that “I’ll Be There for You,” the Rembrandts’ Friends earworm, went directly against media execs’ audience instincts back in 1994.

There are reasons we love theme songs, though. The Nevada Film Office says they help “to establish the tone [of a story] and create an emotional bond between the viewer and the show.” Pop culture write Gal Hazor, in a detailed history of theme songs in American comedy from the ‘50s on, suggests that as TV became more topical and political (e.g., All in the Family, Married… with Children), the theme song “brought stability to a fast-changing cultural landscape.” We also just admire the craft of it: I’ll always listen to W.G. Snuffy Walden talk about scoring his Aaron Sorkin shows.

Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo recording their iconic duet “Wuji” for The Untamed

Mandopop and more

Nobody has told the Chinese TV industry that big numbers for opening and closing credits are passé, and thank goodness for that. In fact, a lot of things I appreciate or miss in Western media are present in cdramas. With its dreamlike, elaborate sets and baroque emotional intensity, Ashes of Love often evokes ‘80s fantasy classics like Labyrinth and The Neverending Story. In Till the End of the Moon, male lead Luo Yunxi’s gothic Tantai Jin has more than a touch of Theda Bara and other silent stars. Even the frothy midbudget modern romances center that classic girl-meets-boy-at-the-office vibe which, done right, satisfies second to none.

Below, I’m going to focus on xianxia and historical shows¹, but I also want to give a shout-out to the earnest/self-aware present-day treats. Love Crossed, a series I describe as “augmented-reality boyfriends destroy society” (we’ll probably get into it at a later date), filmed an entire boy band music video for its closing credits. Kdramas, your time will come, but until then, is there a better example of “this song provokes a Pavlovian response because a show totally rewired my brain” than the first 50 seconds of Goblin?

Slip on your headphones and turn up your speakers — here’s a taste of what we’re all missing up front in English-language TV when we press play.²

The Last Immortal: “Hidden Heart” by Zhao Lusi

It’s the quintessential meet-cute: phoenix is ready to be born after 10,000 years, louche immortal accidentally destroys her egg trying to impress a peacock princess, phoenix immediately reincarnates as a horrible little beast that’s glued to his side. The Last Immortal is a really solid celestial romance, with secret gods, eagle demons, a ten-tailed fox and a deeply felt look at what it means to sacrifice yourself for the world. Zhao Lusi, who plays female lead Feng Yin, is a marvelous comedienne with strong dramatic chops and, it turns out, a decent singing voice. Get you a star who can do it all! “Hidden Heart” lays down Feng Yin’s challenge throughout the show, facing reincarnation after reincarnation until she learns how to be true to herself.

Banger lyrics (aside from the one up top): “No one can answer my broken heart when I’m lost / The road is deserted and the evening sun is falling”

Immortal Samsara: “Records of the Mundane World” by Jason Zhang Jie

I love a reincarnation plot. Immortal Samsara follows two lovers circling each other through obstacles and doomed connections, drawing us in with female lead Yang Zi’s sly, breezy charisma and male lead Cheng Yi’s broody integrity. Like in The Last Immortal, our main characters cycle through various identities and lifetimes, sometimes recognizing each other, sometimes building entirely new ways of relating to each other as strangers.

I’m including “Records of the Mundane World” because it seems to exemplify that power ballad/clips-from-the-show opening credits style that dominated the first cdramas I watched. I don’t have a grounding in earlier shows; most of what I’ve seen has been made within the last five or six years. But given how varied and interesting some of the other theme songs can get, I suspect they’re reacting to this format.

Banger lyrics: “This heart can be understood but not cultivated”; “Give me that taste of the eight sufferings / All brace for battle and grieve with the common people”

The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty: “Fire and Water” by Shu Linzuo

My friend L. and I were looking for something to watch after The Untamed, and The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty was becoming popular in our online circles. If you like Sherlock Holmes but wish he was less of a jerk and more of a dreamy foodie who shirks his official duties to visit restaurants, you are deeply in luck. Meanwhile, our Watson is a veteran of border wars who turns his trauma into an insatiable instinct to feed people. It’s an excellent show, by turns delightful, shocking, nourishing and thrilling. Jackie Chan is the executive producer, so you know the fight scenes are on point. These opening credits, though, are unskippable — a fantastic representation of solving the puzzle of human ambition and the need for connection.

Banger lyrics: “Give some time, I can change everything / The courageous moth can also extinguish a sea of flames”

Legend of Fei: “Chasing the Waves” by Shang Wenjie

Really, Legend of Fei is about seeking justice in the jianghu, but on another, more profound level, it’s about everyone in the jianghu telling Zhou Fei that they were deeply in love with (and probably slept with) her culture hero grandfather. If you love stolid fighter/irrepressible chatterbox pairings, you will not be disappointed by Zhao Liying’s grumpy, hypercompetent A-Fei and Wang Yibo’s “let me play Wei Wuxian now” Xie Yun. Meanwhile, “Chasing the Waves” feels like nostalgia for something I never experienced, like a wise but twinkle-eyed folk song about living in the present, unburdened by hatred or history.

Banger lyrics: “Who says, ‘This heart only rests with my hometown’? / My heart is at peace by your side”

Love Between Fairy and Devil: “Parting Love” by Faye Chan

I came to Love Between Fairy and Devil for the bodyswapping, but I stayed for the gorgeous way it unpacks trauma and abuse. An innocent orchid spirit becomes entangled with Dongfang Qingcang, a terrifying big bad imprisoned by Heaven 30,000 years ago. For plot reasons, they must work to keep each other alive — and even though Dongfang Qingcang’s emotions were sealed within him as a child, Xiao Lanhua manages to help him in ways his heart never anticipated.

Somehow, “Parting Love” has become a shot in the arm of mental health every time I hear it and see the accompanying animation. The lushly illustrated conceit of the opening credits, using painted screens to both explain the story and guide the viewer toward escape and revelation, truly gets me every time.

Banger lyrics: “There’s nowhere to rest my soul, so all I can do is descend”

The Untamed: “Unrestrained” by Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo

This is my cheat entry, because “Wuji” plays over The Untamed’s closing credits, but here’s the thing. The producers committed to the world of this show. Not only is an entire instrumental score available, but there are character songs for most of the ensemble, many performed by the cast themselves, others by stars like Zhou Shen and Ayunga. In 2019, there were multi-day concerts in China and Thailand. To call The Untamed a phenomenon vastly undersells it.

While the drama was dubbed, both leads actually sing the romantic duet between the free-spirited Wei Wuxian (Xiao Zhan) and the righteous Lan Wangji (Wang Yibo). The stronger voice you hear is Xiao Zhan, who has an entire career as a vocalist; during Wang Yibo’s turn in the Korean-Chinese boy band UNIQ, he was the rapper and dancer. But their harmonies also move me, even four years after hearing them for the first time. The strength of the song lends itself to many interpretations; check out fellow cast member Chen Zhuoxuan’s lovely piano cover.

Banger lyrics: “Wouldn’t it be better to experience all the storms with an open heart / And share a song together with the world?”

The Legend of Shen Li: “Battle Hymn of Bi Cang” by Yang Bingyin

This drama is currently airing, but so far, I can highly recommend The Legend of Shen Li. It’s also about a phoenix and a god, but Shen Li (Zhao Liying) is the Azure Sky King, a warrior of the demon realm who falls to earth in order to escape an arranged marriage. She’s rescued from a market, where she’s mistaken in her true form for a singed chicken, by a kindly mortal who understands her when she scolds him. Xingyun (Lin Gengxin) is intriguing for his gentleness and equanimity; he’s also more than he seems, as one might imagine.

I already liked Zhao Liying from The Legend of Fei, but from the moment these opening credits rolled, I was ready to be entranced. The gorgeous gold animation forges a powerful introduction to Shen Li’s battering-ram personality, as the track escalates to a wild trilling suona, an intrument used during processions in weddings, funerals and Daoist rites. This title sequence kicks down the door with magnificent promises, and it owes a lot, I think, to innovative and imaginative opening credits that have come before it.

These are just a handful of presentations and approaches to draw the viewer into fantasty and period cdramas. Is there one credit sequence you love that I missed? Despite how few hours are actually in each day, I’m always taking recommendations! ✶

Important boilerplate for the people

Thanks for reading Excited Mark! I’d love to hear from you about this essay and this project overall. If you’d like to support my work, please share, toss a few bucks at my Ko-Fi or become a paid subscriber. I’m also available for hire as a fact-checker, editor and journalist — visit my RealName.com for clips, services and more. Most appreciated!

1. Ever since I posted my first stack, I’ve been gnawing on myself for dropping a straightforward historical drama that verges on candlepunk sci-fi into a list of cultivation shows, just because it’s also a costume drama with swords and wigs. Apologies! Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty will get its due.

2. Here’s another secret: if you’d like to see these songs in context as opening credits but you don’t pay for Viki, IQIYI or another Chinese-language service, many of these episodes are floating around on YouTube, sometimes in high quality, uploaded by the studios themselves. Both Viki and IQIYI will also let you watch at least the first few episodes with ads on most shows. If you’re confused about where to stream individual titles, scroll beneath the description on any MyDramaList entry and you’ll find direct links to a variety of platforms, including ones you might already have, like Netflix or Hulu.