Once again, sleep was sacrificed for His Royal Diaoness....but as always, no regrets!
As Jay had already released 5 songs over the past few months, there remained only another five to catch up on. There was plenty of his signature rap and ballads but one thing I sorely missed is a zhong guo feng song like Qing Hua Ci or Hong Chen Ke Zhan.
Apparently, the NYSM2 theme is meant as the zhong guo feng song for this album; well, it fit into the movie and has Chinese-style instruments but it cannot hold a candle to his slower numbers from previous albums nor even the ones which were more hard rock like Dragon Fist or Fearless.
Anyway, the track list on Itunes is here:
And here is my playlist of five other new songs:
My overall impression of the album is favourable and I would put it on par with Aiyo Not Bad.
The absence of the 'proper' zhong guo feng song is made up for by the Hathaway-inspired Lover From A Previous Life, which remains my favourite track.
My rating of the songs:
1. Bedtime Stories: 9/10: weird and OTT reinterpretation of what the humble bedtime story can be
2. Stay Away: 8.5/10: catchy and nice to bop along to but what I really love is the banjo
3. A Little: 8.5/10: typical Chou ballad, emotional and heart-tugging
4. Lover From A Previous Life: 9.5/10: near-perfect mix of rap, strong memorable melody and the fact that Hathaway inspired it makes it stand out for all time
5. Hero: 7.5/10: good song for LOL, with shades of The Era and All In One Breath
6. Shouldn't Be: 9/10: beautiful duet, destined to be a karaoke favourite which will be mangled by well-meaning fans. ;)
7. Turkish Ice Cream: 8.5/10: did not like it initially but after listening a few times, now find it utterly cute! Has shades of Nunchucks. Can't wait to see this MV!
8. Love Confession Balloon: 8.5/10: simple singalong number
9. Now You See Me: 8/10: the supposed zhong guo feng song; sounded great in the movie, though!
10. Failure At Love: 8.5/10: another heartrending Chou ballad
Incidentally, sleep will be sacrificed again tonight as another new MV will be released at midnight!
Can't wait!
no 8 , if im not mistaken, is supposed to mean : Love confession Balloon.
ReplyDeleteIMO, this is Jay's worst album... I was very disappointed. The ballads didn't have the punch like in his previous albums.
ReplyDelete