The Seventh Sense
Jane Zhang

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Popu Lady

China’s Jane Zhang goes for pink and sexy in the images for The Seventh Sense.
While the makeover packs a punch, it sounds jarring when she attempts to be sexy on the English track, Unwind: “Our bodies are touching baby/Feelin’ so lonely lately/My luck’s gonna change/I ain’t got no shame.”
The song has nothing to do with the rest of the album and adds to the sense of this being a fractured record.
It comes across as her trying too hard to cover all her bases, even rapping on the Jay Chou-composed number, Isn’t It.
Zhang is at her best on the ballads and R&B-flavoured tracks.
She sounds relaxed as she swings to the laidback groove of Last Smile by Khalil Fong and Xiaohan: “I really miss you/And I’m really sorry/Thinking of you every second/I’m really jealous.”
It is okay not to cram everything into one album. Sometimes, less is more.
And sometimes, more is not enough.
On Popu Lady’s third EP, the Taiwanese quintet still sound thin- voiced and the music still feels like an afterthought compared with the accompanying glossy pictorial book which the group flew to Guam for.
But at least they are smart enough to go for bouncy pop which does not tax their vocals too much.
Come Dance With Me goes the electro-pop route, while Different When With You is breezy and upbeat. I could do without the cutesy enunciation though.
They lay it on thick on the title track: “One more, Two more/Can’t get enough of sweetness/Want more/More than more.”
How about cutting back on the aural sugar levels the next time?
(ST)