2007 in Review: 王力宏 - 改變自己 / Leehom Wang - Change Me

ashih | December 28, 2007

August

Info

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.

Thus, when Leehom announced the release of a new album in 2007, fans started to wonder if their idol had lost the creativity that had defined his musical career for the past three years, the creativity that had made him one of the three “Pop princes” of China and Taiwan. Speculation continued to abound when the album title, 改變自己, “Change Myself” was revealed. When the song 落葉歸根 was played on hito radio in Taiwan, responses were mixed, just like the responses to the entire album when it came out. 改變自己 marked a departure from the “chinked out” style of music. Instead, Leehom experimented with a more poppy style in 我們的歌 and adopted a more “Western” feel in (the actual song) 改變自己. He collaborated with Selina of SHE and tried some 台語 in 你是我心內一首歌. And he went a little “wild” with Cockney Girl, and a little “crazy” with 華人萬歲. (Just listen to them and you will know what I mean).

In this reviewer’s humble opinion, 改變自己 is a solid album that I still listen to on a regular basis. There is really something for everybody here; the energetic can get more energetic with 改變自己, people looking for some quiet tunes have 星期六的深夜, nationalistic people have 華人萬歲, and what I personally believe is the best song off the album, 不完整的旋律 will definitely become a KTV karaoke favorite in the future.

So what can we say about Leehom’s future popularity and musical creativity based on 改變自己? One thing is for sure, the album was strong enough and the response was enthusiastic enough for Leehom to maintain his status as on the most popular singers in Taiwan and in Asia. At the same time however, I can’t help but worry that because he took this album in so many directions it will be hard for him to find one unique, identifying style that will make him more of a legend than he already is. But in all honesty, I am not going to doubt him. Come on, he is Leehom Wang after all!