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Album: 幸福氧氣 / Oxygenie of Happiness (Buy Album)

Artist: 卓文萱 / Genie Zhuo

Release Date: October 26, 2007

Review By: ashih

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Blurb

Although 卓文宣 (Genie Zhuo) has been involved in the Chinese entertainment industry for quite some time, she has not yet ascended to the level of popularity that artists such as 蔡依林 (Jolin Tsai) or 張惠妹 (Zhang Hui Mei) have. If she is going to rise to this level however, her time is undoubtedly now. 卓文宣 (Genie Zhuo) has been receiving a lot of publicity lately as she played a role in the popular Taiwanese drama公主小妹.(Gong Zhu Xiao Mei) or “Romantic Princess,” with members of the super popular band 飛輪海 (Fahrenheit). Most importantly, in the musical arena, her last album, 習慣 (Xi Guan) or Habit, sported several hits. I highly recommend her duet with 曹格 (Gary Cao), 梁山伯與茱麗葉 (Liang Shan Bo Yu Zhu Li Ye, Romeo and Juliet). Her recent duet with 小鬼, 愛的主旋律, was also very popular on the internet. Given her recent accomplishments and considering the fact that there seems to be a shortage of new female singers lately, this is definitely Genie’s time to shine.

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Album: Goodbye & Hello (Buy Album)

Artist: 蔡健雅 / Tanya Chua

Release Date: October 19, 2007

Review By: illuminance

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Blurb

蔡健雅, or Tanya Chua, is one of Singapore’s more renowned female singers, with her artist history going back to 1999. Lately, however, her direction has been going towards a less rock and more mainstream. With her newest album, Goodbye & Hello, she definitely has shown that.

When I first listened to her, I didn’t think that she was so good, or at least, I didn’t really like her style. But the more I listened, the more I appreciated her. One thing I noticed, particularly, is how simple her music is. That’s a good thing - often behind her music is simply just a guitar strum, with nothing more.

That said, I found her album really quite melancholy. Some say it was because she had broke up with a long-time boyfriend. As to the veracity of those claims, I know not. Perhaps the only song that wasn’t like this was 越來越不懂. A bit more variety in style would have been more interesting.

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Album: 任意門 / My Other Self (lit: Free Gate) (Buy Album)

Artist: 楊丞琳 / Rainie Yang

Release Date: September 7, 2007

Review By: illuminance

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Blurb

I have not been particularly familiar before this album with Rainie Yang, so please bear with me. In fact, when I first looked at the album art, I thought it was a picture of a big strawberry. (You do have to admit - that outfit looks funny…

Rainie Yang, is, after all, just another Taiwanese pop artist, but I think I like her music better than some other pop princesses. As with the others, I’m not sure how much lasting value an album has by them, but 狼來了 and 任意門 are quite nice, while 缺氧 is a melancholy song from her TV series. Check it out!

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Album: 改變自己 / Change Me (Buy Album)

Artist: 王力宏 / Leehom Wang

Release Date: July 13, 2007

Review By: ashih

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Blurb

Exactly two years ago, most of the world was waiting for Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Times Square, fireworks out of Taipei 101, etc. As for myself and the rest of the die-hard Chinese music scene, we were anticipating the release of Leehom Wang’s newest album, “蓋世英雄.” When listeners finally got their paws on the album, the response was overwhelmingly positive; songs like 花田錯 continued the unique “Chinked out” style that Leehom is famous for, “大城小愛” proved to be one of the most popular ballads of the year, and the often overlooked 完美的互動 featured collaboration with super popular Korean artist Rain. But after Heroes of the Earth (蓋世英雄), Leehom started an extremely successful concert tour and began filming for Ang Lee’s 色戒(Lust, Caution), failing to release any new musical masterpieces in 2006.

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EP: Lose Your Mind (EP) (Buy Album)

Artist: BoA

Released: December 12, 2007

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Blurb

Well, our name is azn.play after all, and it’s high time we covered more Japanese stuff, me thinks. I’ll surely try my best to try and gather and learn more about the Japanese music world. Meanwhile, BoA has come out with another EP ahead of her sixth Japanese album (still unnamed), due to be released in February of 2008.

Titled Lose Your Mind, it features Yutaka Furukawa from the Doping Panda, which happens to be a Japanese indie rock band that I’ve never heard of (they play the electric guitar in the music video). Also notable: You get to see how she looks with short black hair. (Not that good, is the answer).

Lose Your Mind is one of those crazy and fast songs, with an eclectic beat and rhythm. Contrasting it well on the same EP is Smile Again, a slow romantic ballad that would not seem out of place for slow dancing. Interesting - I actually happen to like both songs, more so than Love Letter, the last EP she came out with.

(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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Song: 我很好 / I’m Fine

Album: 我很好 / I’m Fine

Artist: 劉若英 / Rene Liu

To Be Released: January 11, 2008

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Blurb

Joining the many other artists who are preparing to release their latest creations in the first days of the new year, Rene Liu is releasing her next album, 我很好, on January 11. It appears, however, that the “English” name of the album is not going to be English, but French. However, I can’t really read it, so I’m going to call it “I’m Fine” until we hear what’s the actual name.

劉若英 is best known, however, for her really sad and melancholy song - for example, 一輩子孤單 is one well-known one. 我很好 continues in this vein.

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Album: 西界 / Westside (Buy Album)

Artist: 林俊傑 / JJ Lin

Release Date: June 29, 2007

Review By: Ashih

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Blurb

For nearly a decade now, David Tao (陶喆), Jay Chou (周杰倫), and Leehom Wang (王力宏), the three “Pop princes,” have, without question dominated the Taiwanese and Chinese musical scenes. But with David Tao hinting at retirement, it remains to be seen who will fill the space left by the creator of such songs as 愛, 很簡單 (Love is very easy), 就是愛你 (It’s loving you), and 愛我還是他 (Who do you Love?). Side note: I cannot believe that so many of David Tao’s songs have the word for love, “愛” in them. In my opinion, JJ Lin is on the verge of taking over that position.

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Song: 投名狀 / The Warlords

Album: Everyone is No.1 (Buy Album)

Artist: 劉德華 / Andy Lau

Released: December 5, 2007

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Blurb

投名狀 is the name of Andy Lau’s film - The Warlords, which chronicles the Taiping Rebellion in the 1860s in China, incidentally, also the bloodiest conflict in all of human history… Even more than World War 1 and World War 2. It stars Andy Lau, Jet Li and Takeshi Kaneshiro, and was released on December 13, 2007, a week after this album was released.

This album, Everyone is No. 1, is especially notable for two tracks - the first two, that is. Everyone is No. 1 (the first song) is the anthem or theme song for the 2008 Beijing Summer Paralympics, and aforementioned 投名狀 is the theme song for The Warlords. Watching the music video for 投名狀 certainly gives you an idea about how bloody war is. I thought it was a song in the vain of those that try to uplift you and inspire you to greater heights. An interesting genre that pops up time to time, usually in the form of movie soundtracks. (Remember Curse of the Golden Flower’s 黃金甲?)
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