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New York, NY (July 28, 2026) - The John Lennon Songwriting Contest is thrilled to announce that “Big Gulp” by LIANZI has been selected as the 2025 “$20,000 Song of the Year.”
San Francisco–based artist, songwriter, and producer LIANZI crafts melancholic art-pop shaped by her multidisciplinary roots, weaving sound, image, and memory into a singular creative universe.
Raised in a home filled with traditional Chinese music, with both parents acclaimed performers in China's National Orchestra, she developed an early sense of sound as storytelling and inherited a deep emotional lexicon that now threads through her work. Before turning fully toward music, LIANZI earned awards in fashion design and saw her visual work and select published poetry featured across niche platforms. These influences converge in her distinctive aesthetic: dream-like textures, archetypal storytelling, and a cinematic visual world.
LIANZI's songwriting has earned recognition across two prominent contests: in The John Lennon Songwriting Contest's Electronic category, she was a 2023 Finalist for "Happy Fucking Birthday," and then in 2025 “Big Gulp” won JLSC’s Electronic category Grand Prize and Lennon Award before ultimately being selected 2025’s Song of the Year. "Rain" was previously named a semi-finalist in the International Songwriting Competition. This early recognition reflects her ability to sculpt emotion with precision. LIANZI’s home-studio productions blend shimmer-pop textures and quiet longing, creating songs that feel intimate yet otherworldly.
LIANZI’s music can be heard on streaming platforms like Apple Music. You can keep up with her on socials at Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
The JLSC is celebrating its 29th year, and provides cash awards, studio gear, instruments and prizes to contestants entering their original songs in 12 categories. As the "Song of the Year" winner, LIANZI won $20,000 in cash. Previously she received additional prizing from Taylor guitars, Paul Reed Smith guitars, Genelec, Solid State Logic, Avid, and Reason Studios after winning both the Lennon Awards and the Grand Prize packages in the Electronic category. "Big Gulp" was selected to win the top prize by this year's John Lennon Songwriting Contest's panel of judges which includes Ringo, George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Natasha Bedingfield, RZA, Flea, Art Alexakis and many more.
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