Holding Back The Tears

Freya Lim

Freya Lim’s debut album in 2000 yielded the hit Living Alone and got her nominated, along with Stefanie Sun and Jay Chou, for Best Newcomer at the Golden Melody Awards.

Her early promise did not bear much fruit. After a follow-up disc in 2001, her next release was an album of English covers in 2007.

This is the Taiwan-based singer’s third Mandarin record.

She has always been known more for a set of clear evocative pipes rather than her looks. The vocals are in as good shape as ever and the 31-year-old exudes a greater allure now, judging from the lyric booklet pictures.

The album opens with the elegantly elegiac Wounded, a piano-backed number which Lim sings with an understated dignity that is quietly moving. The English version, Say What You Will, instead of being a filler, works on its own terms as well. Scared is another highlight, though it is sung a little too prettily for its roiling emotions.

Lim’s strength is clearly in ballads but she can handle more uptempo material, too. Despite the title, Holding Back The Tears is a bouncy disco-tinged number while 5 Days, from the TV drama The Fierce Wife, is a breezy guitar-driven piece with some memorable imagery: “You say you want quiet, I’ll be as quiet as the universe/If this is so-called love, it feels like a dream after waking.”

Silence... OK?

Hsiao Hung-jen

Taiwanese singer-songwriter Hsiao Hung-jen was nominated for Best Newcomer at the Golden Melody Awards and he is back with a third album after the explosively titled His Name Is F*** (2009).

This is an eclectic collection that encompasses the commercial ballad Too Free, the big-band jazz of opener Detective Galileo and the electro-rock of Shutter Island.

As with Wasabi Cola, the title of a song here, Hsiao might be an acquired taste but he is certainly intriguing.

808

Will Pan

From the R&B of U U U to the dance beats of Future Love, Taiwanese entertainer Will Pan’s eighth album mostly sounds derivative of derivative Korean pop.

Like the picture of him sheathed in black and sporting a sculpted salt-and-pepper hairdo on the cover, the record is all about posturing.

When he takes a stab at ballads such as We Are All Afraid Of Pain and Shoulder, he is shown up by his thin voice.

There is also a remake of girl group Banarama’s Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye. More bluster here: “Welcome to the next generation/This is so futurish”.

No, it’s not.

(ST)