Is anyone else just finding out about Simu Liu's music career?

Perhaps inspired by Drake’s surprise album release today, or even mega-stars like Beyoncé and Taylor Swift who’ve seen huge returns from similar strategies in the past, Marvel actor and one-of-the-Kens Simu Liu is banking on nothing but the power of his stardom to boost the release of his new EP, ANXIOUS-AVOIDANT. Like, literally nothing. In terms of sheer number of posts, the actor’s torn Achilles tendon has gotten more airtime on his Instagram page in recent weeks than anything regarding his music career. Also, Simu Liu has a music career! There’s a lot to process here.

The actor reposted a number of stories from fans praising today’s four-song release—including one from Joe Jonas, who is credited as a co-writer on the song “Break My Heart”—before dropping his own announcement post later in the afternoon. “from love and sex to heartbreak and depression, these songs all speak to my personal experiences navigating through life,” he wrote. “i hope you’ll all give it a listen this friday, and of course, am always grateful beyond words for everyone that has been a part of my artistic journey.”

That artistic journey seems to have actually started around the same time as the actor’s mainstream breakout in the 2021 Marvel film, Shang-Chi And The Legend of the Ten Rings. Liu’s vocals are featured on the soundtrack in the song “Hot Soup,” along with producer 88rising.

From there, he waited a few years, presumably to learn a bunch of new things about rhythm and timing to inform his own work from rehearsing Barbie’s “I’m Just Ken” dance, before releasing his first solo single “Don’t” this past April. “this song was written for all of the hard times in my life where i have questioned my worth and felt like an imposter,” he said of the track on Instagram.

He released the album’s second track, “If It’s Time,” in late October, posting that the demo scored him a second date with his now-girlfriend, which also feels very Ken-coded. All four tracks on the EP are available to stream now.

The EP itself is nothing groundbreaking. Think Zayn or anything produced by Zedd or any score of other inoffensive but not-that-memorable H&M fare you’ve heard over the years. Still, there are certainly worse things Liu could have been doing with his time, like really promoting the album in the first place which, again, he barely did at all. We can’t fault the man for finding a new hobby while Shang-Chi 2 continues to languish in development hell.