Jolin Tsai - Myself

[strawberryjam]

Hey! So there's a couple of people that already know Jolin at least a little. What did you guys think of her new album, "Myself"?



For those of you that don't know her...





Bio of Jolin

Jolin is a 29 year old Taiwanese singer. Nowadays, she sings dancey kind of music. She is a well managed singer as her management frequently hires people from all over the world to help work on her releases. Her songs are often written by foreigners. But occasionally, her songs are covers of obscure artists, but at least her versions are always 100x better. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... hahaha.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':cryalot:' /> She's also penned lyrics herself before despite being an idol-ish singer.



She started off when she was 18 at a MTV singing competition and won with Whitney's Houston's "Greatest Love of All" and signed with Universal Records. She started a string of cute, typical happy pop songs. But her career had some slumps. I would probably described her career mismanaged like Maki's in H!P. She still had a handful of great hits, but she was not at her full potential! She got her "break" when she was rumored to have been dating Jay Chou, Taiwan's top singer songwriter. He penned a couple songs for her and Jolin was known in the spotlight. However, they broke ties.



Jolin switched to Capital Records and got her true break and became the top selling artist in Taiwan with her new album "Dancing Diva." It was a much more modern pop album that was suited to her style. She switched record labels again and is now with Time Warner. I don't really know why she switches so much, but I guess record companies are always bidding it up and she takes the best offer(?). I didn't mention it, but during the length of her 11 year career, she's switched FOUR times...



My thoughts..

Anyways, I really like her in a Maki kind of way. She started off as your typical idol singer. But she really reallly TRIES hard to improve herself. During her career, her singing and dancing got really good when she probably started off like Takahashi skills in terms of singing. She also has a really nice body, I'll ADMIT IT! She weighs less than 100lb. (!!!) Which is freaky. But she doesn't look like a bag of bones and I really envy that. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... hahaha.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':hahaha:' /> To be exact, she's 5'1" and weighs 90lb. So crazy.



Also, she generally has good PV's. She's had some shot in London and Budapest despite the songs not even being the lead single.

[strawberryjam]

Here's a quick review of her 2010 album, "Myself." This time, she got choreographers Benny Ninja from America's Next Top Model and DBSK's choreographer Ahn Hyung Suk. Not sure about the songwriters, but they are also reportedly foreign as well. The album can be downloaded here, special thanks to Zaeleus.



Some reason on this album, she has an annoying amount of in between tracks... I just want to get to the next song! I guess they serve as OK transitions...

Not gonna review every track, cos this thread write up is taking so much longer than I anticipated. And I'm not sure anyone will actually read this. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... ryalot.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':hahaha:' />







1. Mei Ren Ji 美人計; Honey Trap: 6.5/10 ; youtube



This is the lead single off her album. The PV is directed by Cha Eun Taek who has also directed PVs for Lee Hyori.

It's a versatile song. It's a dance number and it doesn't go through usual routine of chorus-verse-chorus-climax-chorus most songs go through which helps. But the build up to the first half of the chorus is annoying, "SHOW IT TO ME BOYS SHOW IT TO ME BOYSSSSSSx100." If weren't that part, I would really, really like this song. Too bad this song is a slight miss considering it's the lead single. But I actually quite like the PV. I don't like that she's a DOLL. That's kind of weird, but the dancing I like and the lighting too. The lighting and the dancing at the end made the PV for me.



3. Wan Ai Zhi Tu (玩愛之徒; Love's Pupil) 7/10 ; youtube



This is the 2nd single off this album. It's a slower dance number, but much better than the previous song! It builds up for a much better climax.

The song is about playing with love and Jolin is played with and stood up by a guy. This PV isn't as good as the Honey Trap, but it's a very sexy PV, in a good not THAT creepy way. Jolin totally knows her moves. There's some product placement going on in this PV which is LAME... but I won't mention anymore of it cos that's all the attention it gets... Also, this is the PV where Jolin gets naked. I don't think she's actually naked though. <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... nfused.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':cryalot:' /> Also note, there's no dancing in this PV.



7. Hei Fa You Wu (黑髮尤物; Black-Haired Beautiful Girl) 7.5/10

Another dance number, but no PV yet. Not sure if there will be one. I actually like this song! I guess this is a pretty generic song, but it caught on to me quickly.



8. Wu Yan Yi Dui (無言以對; Nothing Left to Say) 9/10; youtube



This is an upbeat song, but with a mix of piano. This is probably my favorite song on the album. And I can see this song being a karaoke song for ages in Taiwan. In the PV, she looks absolutely gorgeous in this song. And I love all the costumes she has in the PV. Even if one of them is a small top with jewels on it. They're REALLY cute. There's some dancing in this PV even if this song probably doesn't need much dancing. But still, I love it!





12. Qi Shang Ba Xia (Butterflies In My Stomach) (七上八下; Seven Up, Eight Down) 5/10 ; youtube

I don't like this song. It's too bad because the PV is nice except the black and white parts. Her hair is ugly though which ruins it for me. It's another dance number, but not really good...





15. Ji Shi Sheng Xiao (即時生效; With Immediate Effect) 7/10 ; youtube

Here's her obligatory happy, upbeat song. This is alright, the PV really makes up for it. The colors are pretty and there's dogs and polaroid pictures. The dancing is probably unnecessary. The acoustic guitar in the song is nice.





I guess the overall verdict is 7/10. Her Dancing Diva album was better! However, she still looks hot. And that's OK with me. And what she releases is not bad. If she keeps releasing at this quality, I will keep up with her. So all in all, it's a slightly better than usual release from her.

[Shoujo Q]

I'm not particularly big into Jolin Tsai, I like some of her songs but not a whole lot of them.



But I've gotta say, Jolin's dance in Mei Ren Ji TOTALLY reminds me of a mix of Mano Erina's dances from Haru no Arashi and Onegai Dakara... Just a LOT more sexier and not as stiff.



Oh! And I also add that Wan Ai Zhi Tu is still ALL about the Pepsi and not at all about Jolin. ;D

[Melon]

Great OP berry!



I liked Jolin a ton when I was in high school. And then I just stopped listening to her ehehe... I listened to this album a bit when it was uploaded to the download section.



I liked Wan Ai Zhi Tu because I listened to it without seeing the MV. The MV is so hilarious! I loved the part where there's pepsi cans strewn about like beer cans and she's on the floor like she's passed out from pepsi. XD XD The guy "embracing" her giant melon like is funny too. It's a good song to listen to while doing something. Wu Yan Yi Dui was my favorite song off the album too! <img src='http://mm-bbs.org/public/style_emoticon ... /smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':cryalot:' /> It's so pretty. Hei Fa You Wu is another song I like to do something else to. I didn't really care for any of the other tracks, though I liked Qi Shang Ba Xia's MV because the dancing and outfits were cool and Ji Shi Sheng Xiao's MV because she looks so pretty when she's not overprocessed! Too bad the songs weren't as fun.



I'll give Dancing Diva a listen to next, thanks for the rec.