You Quietly Hide Away
Ellen Loo

Love? Or Not?
Cyndi Wang

Perspectives
Joi Chua

For those who missed Hong Kong singer-songwriter Ellen Loo’s playful and electrifying gig at the Esplanade last week, make a note to yourself: Don’t do it again.
Meanwhile, all is not lost as you can revel in the follow-up to her feted solo debut The Ripples (2010).
Her emotions are all on display on her sophomore album, You Quietly Hide Away. Over guitar licks on opener Who, she wonders: “I, I’m so tired/Am I living the wrong way/Have I committed a sin and deserve to be arrested.”
The quietly devastating Departure reveals a more vulnerable side of Loo: “You furtively, kiss away/I furtively, hide away.”
She also has the audacity to write a song from the point of view of a Lothario. Serves You Right opens with a tantalising image: “The old one’s over there, put the new one in the mouth, what awkwardness am I afraid of?”
And in You’re Nobody To Me, she lashes out at someone who had put her down. At the Esplanade gig, she said that while she would write people she knew into her songs, she would never reveal who they are.
Just do not expect her to suffer grievances in silence.
Real life makes its way into Taiwanese singer Cyndi Wang’s 12th album as well.
She has been entangled in a love triangle with Sonia Sui, star of hit television drama The Fierce Wife (2010-2011), and Sui’s on-off boyfriend of eight years, actor How Yao. And it is tempting to read the title as a pithy summary of her dilemma. The title track is a thumping dance number which has Wang deciding: “Loving and not loving are both not simple/Force it and both get hurt, lose it and fear loneliness.”
Who exactly is she singing about on Hooked On You and Wilful Lover? It certainly makes scrutinising the lyrics a more intriguing task than usual on an album by Wang.
The lyrics of local singer Joi Chua’s Received are telling as well. She croons: “I need to break free/Freedom starts with me.”
It is also the track which sounds most unlike the Chua of yore, with its sheen of electronica. The first time I heard it, I thought it was a new single by Hong Kong diva Sandy Lam.
Still, this marks a fresh and exciting direction for the singer best known for her ballads.
Not to worry, though, there is still a classic Chua-style ballad here, the moving Not Transparent. Love U, on the other hand, takes a more light-hearted approach on the subject of love.
The packaging is also unusual as the songs and other content, including ringtones and videos, are recorded onto a thumb drive shaped like a pair of eyeglasses. The design is a nod to both the title and to the optical shop Chua owns.
Despite being an EP with just three tracks, this might well change your perspective on the Joi Chua you thought you knew.
(ST)