Hello
Wang Dawen
What better way to introduce yourself than with a simple and cheery Hello?
Over a bright and breezy track, Wang Dawen (above) sings on his Mandarin debut album: “Hello, it starts to revolve from this greeting/Hello, let me slowly get close to you/Is that fine?”
The American singer-songwriter tackled hard-hitting topics such as racial stereotypes and prejudice on his English-language album, American Me (2009).
There is no sign of the angry young man here though. Instead, there are mostly light and sunny tracks about love on numbers such as Firecracker and Beautiful.
Even the lone English track here, Shoes, swings along even as it gently touches upon Asian identity. “Baby, won’t you take off your shoes/Cause shoes really go outside/I know it’s not what you’re used to/Maybe it’s an Asian thing.”
On the other songs, his diction is still a little raw at times. But for someone who took intensive language classes in Taiwan to release this record, it is impressive that he had a hand in the lyrics of six of the nine Mandarin tracks.
So hello, Dawen, I think we will be seeing you around.
(ST)