Longing For

Rainie Yang

With a chic new bob, Taiwanese singer, actress and host Rainie Yang has given up on cutesy behaviour and is ready to act her age – that is, 27 – on her sixth studio album.

The title track is sophisticated pop that bodes well for the album. Over a breezily engaging melody by Malaysian singer-songwriter Vchuan Chen, Yang sings of yearning: “Longing for dreams to give me strength, won’t let love run away, won’t let my heart hide, let me be strong.”

In a smart move, she ropes in singer-songwriter Lala Hsu and lyricist Ko Ta-wei for some indie cred on Fast Forward. Yang deserves credit for trying, but her voice is still on the thin side. One cannot help but think that Hsu would have done greater justice to the track she had written if she had sung it instead.

It is two steps forward and one step back as the first plug Love Fool is too stolidly commercial. It has been doing well on the charts, though, as it has been used on her new idol drama While We Were Drunk. Lovelution, meanwhile, seems to hark back to cutesy Rainie.

The album closes with the fast-paced Happy Ending, and it has certainly been one for Yang.

Vindicating her new direction, the record has topped the album charts in Taiwan for several weeks. Hopefully, this means the more mature Yang is here to stay.

(ST)