Listening
VC Tan
As a songwriter, Malaysia’s VC Tan has composed memorable hits such as I Love Him for Della Ding Dang and Longing For for Rainie Yang.
Perhaps he should have kept some of it for his new album, the follow-up to 2010’s Goodbye, Single.
He has a pleasant if not overtly distinctive voice and the material here could have done with a bit more oomph.
Ballads such as the title track and Yes Man seem a little too tailored for the mass market. He plays the part of the lovelorn guy on Yes Man: “I’m the lousy good person who loves you/Having loved you, yet I can only hide myself/No matter, don’t worry about how heartbroken I am.”
More interesting are the uptempo jazziness of Nobody, the dance-pop of You Hold My Happiness and the breeziness of Love In This Moment. The Lord’s Prayer is an oddity. It features the Lord’s prayer from the Biblical book of Matthew in Mandarin set to synth-pop. Actually, it works fine if you do not, ironically, listen too closely to the lyrics.
(ST)