Info

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.

Prior to June of 2007, JJ had enjoyed an extremely successful career. Although his album sales could not compare to Jay Chou’s or Jolin Tsai’s, songs like 江南 (River South), 簡簡單單 (Simply) and 曹操 (Cao Cao) garnered high praise, won awards, and were played on the radio quite frequently. Outside of the music industry, JJ took a minor role in the super popular Taiwanese drama 花樣少年少女 (Hana Kimi). Thus, expectations were relatively high for his new album, 西界 (Westside) in June of 2007. The critics agree, 西界 more than delivered.

In my opinion, 西界, despite several flaws, is the album of the year. Why? 殺手 (Assassin) really pushed the limits of music. It uses a very unique “electronic” style of music that has rarely been seen in the Chinese music world. Despite its slightly repetitive nature, it is a catchy song. Combine this with the controversial (banned in China, censored in Taiwan) music video and we have a winner. In 西界 (Westside), the album’s title track, JJ sticks to his old style; his unique voice ends up creating an elegant and quite beautiful (for lack of a less sappy word) piece. 發現愛, JJ’s duet with 金沙 is a cute song similar to 西界. It reminds me of internet hits like 梁山伯與茱麗葉 (with 小鬼 and 主文宣). Baby, Baby is an uplifting song that is being used in the war against drugs in Taiwan. Finally, what I believe to be the best track on the album, 自由不變, combines JJ’s gentle voice and some elements of 中國風 style music to create an excellent and somewhat underappreciated song.

I mentioned several flaws I see in the album. First of all, JJ’s tracks 單挑, K-O, and 無聊 reference competing with Jay Chou numerous times. Whether it was the use of the word 屌 or having a “battle” with a fake Jay Chou (and saying “You tripping?”), I found this segment of the album to be somewhat offensive. (This may be because I am one of Jay Chou’s biggest fans however). In addition, songs like 西界 and 殺手 were slightly repetitive and could have been improved upon.

JJ’s future looks bright and will be bright. I made several broad generalizations in this write up (and please feel free to disagree with me) but I am going to make another one: JJ Lin is on his way to reaching Jay Chou, Leehom Wang “Prince” status. He may not write exquisitely romantic love melodies like David Tao, but his creativity and unique voice are sure to take him far.

Videos

Lyrics

殺手 / The Killer

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單挑 / One-on-one

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K-O

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發現愛 / Discovering Love

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自由不變 / Freedom

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