beGin
Gin Lee
Thanks to the size of the China market, the focus of most artists is on Mandopop rather than Cantopop nowadays.
Malaysian Gin Lee has gone against the flow. She moved to Hong Kong after her 2009 Mandarin debut, One & Only, and is putting out Cantonese works.
Actually, this could be a smart way to stand out from other artists. She might have taken part in Taiwan’s Super Idol, Hong Kong’s The Voice and The Voice Of China, but televised reality contests seem to be a rite of passage for most singers out there.
Lee’s soothing pipes sound at home in Cantonese and shine in mid-tempo tracks that offer comfort and encouragement.
She sings on the glistening opening number Aura: “Those who can still trust after having promises to them broken/Will forever have a halo on their heads, even if they’re hurt inside.”
There is a warm tenderness on heartbreak ballad Pair, in which words are repeated in a reference to the song title – as though to suggest that even if couples cannot stay together, some things can.
Also included here are Mandarin versions of Aura and the melancholic A Man Living On The Moon, but I remain partial to the more lyrical Cantonese versions.
(ST)