You Are The Apple Of My Eye
Various artists

Be Yourself
Kai Ko Chen-tung

Still hankering for more after watching the Taiwanese youth drama You Are The Apple Of My Eye for the nth time?
Replay favourite moments from the hit film in your head, with the help of its original soundtrack which comprises a hodgepodge of featured songs as well as instrumental tracks. Fans would also be happy with the behind-the-scenes featurette included in the accompanying DVD.
The best numbers here are the poignant hit theme song Those Bygone Years by China singer Hu Xia, as well as lead actress Michelle Chen’s touchingly raw rendition of Childish.
Impressively, she wrote the music and lyrics for the track as well: “Tender childishness accompanied those years, like the gentle sun warming my heart”, and later, “Stubborn childishness pulled us apart, I dried my tears and left without turning back”.
Male lead Kai Ko Chen-tung also contributes his vocals to one track here, Lonely Caffeine. He has a pleasant enough baritone, but the song is not as memorable. Still, the 20-year-old newcomer’s upward trajectory is unstoppable at the moment with a Golden Horse Award for Best New Performer and also a debut record.
Even though the disc is titled Be Yourself, Ko seems to be taking on the persona of his character from the film – schoolboy-in-love Ko Ching-teng.
It is a smart move, as the album works as an unofficial soundtrack to the film.
The title of the opening number, Rang Wo Ji Xu Ai Ni (Let Me Continue To Like You), is a key piece of dialogue from the film and the official translation is actually You Are The Apple Of My Eye. The two leads are even reunited on the love duet Message In A Bottle.
One could also easily imagine the sentiments of Can’t Get Her Back and Let Me Love You Again being expressed by the character Ko Ching-teng.
The material here ranges from ballads to light pop-rock and does not overtax the neophyte singer. The question is whether he can follow up with a record that does not lean on the success of Apple. So, when is Michelle Chen releasing an album?
(ST)