Soliloqui

we’re here where the daylight begins
the fog on the streetlight slowly thins
water on water’s the way
the safety of shoreline fading away

sail your sea
meet your storm
all I want is to be your harbor
the light in me
will guide you home
all I want is to be your harbor

fear is the brightest of signs
the shape of the boundary you leave behind
so sing all your questions to sleep
the answers are out there in the drowning deep

you’ve got a journey to make
there’s your horizon to chase
so go far beyond where we stand
no matter the distance
I’m holding your hand

Her music is very beautiful. It is simple and soothing while being emotionally riveting as well. I love the simple piano accompaniment and her voice. She may not have the best singing voice, but her imperfections just make it seem more authentic.

I have decided Nan Quan Mama’s new album isn’t too bad. A bit on the boring side, but I do like Tonight, 悄悄告訴她, 槍與玫瑰, and 水晶蜻蜓. Lara sounds great on this album, but I still get the feeling she is holding back on her talent. She’s not just a cutesy singer. As for Dan Tou, I think his singing is bordering unacceptable. To be part of a singing group, you gotta be able to hold a tune. He’s not horrid, but definitely not album quality. When all four Nan Quan Mama members sing at the same time, it always sounds a bit off-pitch because they’re all on slightly different pitches. Also, their rapping needs work. It’s so muffled and unclear. We only need one Jay Chou, and he can pull it off with more attitude. They need to enunciate and be a bit more forceful. Rapping shouldn’t be stuck into the background as an afterthought, especially in the song 槍與玫瑰, where the rapping is basically the core of the song. Chang Jie is good at singing as well as guitar, so I like him. All in all, too many slow songs that sound alike. Where’s the variety? And if it must be a slow song, at least make it less boring. I think this album will grow on me, but why can’t it just wow me from the start? I get the feeling I just get used to the songs and then it’s just fine to listen to. Honestly, Lara is the only aspect of Nan Quan Mama that keeps me hooked to them. Without that refreshing female voice, I probably wouldn’t care much about this group. But then again if Lara were a solo female artist I probably wouldn’t care much about her either. It’s the group that has appeal. They write pretty good songs for themselves, they can play musical instruments, and they intertwine male voices with a female voice. Perfect balance. If only they had impressed me more with this new album.
More later…

P.S. Utada Hikaru’s new album ULTRA BLUE is a masterpiece. But more on that later too…haha

And another thing! Tanya Chua won best female singer at Taiwan’s 17th Golden Melody Awards. I don’t really see much in her songs, except that Mike He Jun Xiang is in two of her music videos. Fan Wei Qi, Stefanie Sun, Cheer Chen, and Jasmine Leong all released much better songs IMO. Has Angela Chang ever been nominated for this category? And it’s ridiculous that Jay Chou didn’t get nominated for a single category. He is overrated, but not so much as to not deserve a single nomination. It’s like they are hating on the popular people and giving out awards to people who are just unknown but not necessarily more talented. I mean, seriously, Hu De Fu is like completely unknown except to grandmas and he won three awards out of his five nominations! I heard his song; bland at most. Exception would be Leehom, but I feel like they had to give him the award after the fiasco last year.

Blue Gate Crossing (Lanse Da Men) is a Taiwanese indie film I just saw today. I absolutely adored it. It is simple yet filling, so subtle and at times awkward but always brilliantly executed as a carbon-copy slice of life. Chen Bo-Lin, male protagonist, is the cutest thing ever. His smile is infectious. The dialogue was so realistic that only the artistic cinematography reminded me that it was a film. Loved it. Period. I really love realistic, artful indie films that don’t bore me to death.

Edit: I was watching F.I.R. music videos today when I realized that the girl from the Wo Men De Ai video is the girl from Blue Gate Crossing! I was hearing her talk in the music video and thinking, “That voice sounds so familiar.” I looked at her face again and it came to me. She looks so much prettier in the music video because she’s not pretending to be a girl confused about her sexuality. No wonder I never realized the connection. Also, the hair is different. Haha, I remember going through this for the male actor in Wo Men De Ai, who turns out to be A-Qi from Dou Yu (The Outsiders).