Why Not
Ella Chen
Among the members of Taiwanese girl group S.H.E, Ella Chen was the first to release an EP on her own. It was a charity single named Qiang Qiang (2007) and it was a sweet and touching ballad about her pet dog which had died.
She is now the last of the three singers to release a full-length solo album. With Hebe Tien having established her left-of-centre credentials over three well-received records and Selina Jen shimmying down the dance route on her recent debut 3.1415, what is left for Chen?
On the track Ah 30, the happily married singer seems to acknowledge that time is ticking by: “Did happiness corrupt the dream/Or was I too lazy?”
It is not too late, though. Chen gets to flaunt her sassy side here, the nonchalant title Why Not summing up her attitude.
The album is at its strongest on tracks such as Are You Normal, with pointed lyrics by Wyman Wong questioning what exactly is normal.
Chen sings on the spirited refrain: “If one could choose only between monotony and boredom in life/I would rather choose to go mad.”
This is pretty far off the path from the manufactured girl-group pop of early S.H.E and the risks she takes do not always pay off. For instance, the spoken word opener Why Not seems more indulgent than cogent.
The best thing about the record? It does not sound like yet another S.H.E disc.
(ST)