 |
| Album: Balloon Singer: Peggy Hsu Music Label: Music Street & Avex Trax Packaging: 1 CD, 1 VCD Number of Tracks: 14 tracks (CD) + 2 tracks (VCD) Release Date: November 2001 (Taiwan), December 2001 (Singapore) |
| In Taiwan, top hosts Tao Zi and Huang Zijiao unanimously voted this album as one of the top 3 albums of 2001.
In Singapore, Life! rated it the second best album of 2001. 8 DAYS accorded her the regal-sounding title of "Most Promising Taiwan Artiste of 2001". Peggy Hsu is a 20 year old Taiwanese singer. She was uncovered by her present label when her demo tracks were discovered by a music producer on the Internet. Consequently, Peggy wrote about 200 tracks in the space of 4 months, of which 11 were selected for her debut album. Her label, Music Street, specially flew her to Iceland to shoot 3 full-length MTVs and the photos for her album sleeves. The blurb on promotional posters indicates that she is the first Taiwanese singer to film in Iceland. Music Street also proclaimed that Peggy Hsu created history by singing non-stop for 50 seconds while singing her breath-stopping title hit, 'Balloon'. As if the promotional blitz wasn't strong enough, it was announced that Mavis Fan did the backing arrangements for Peggy's 'White Wedding'. It is enough to stoke one's curiosity. However, album sales so far have been so-so. I was curious enough to buy this album for 2 reasons, firstly because I was intrigued by the 50-second breath-stopping feat and secondly, because it seemed like a good deal to get an MTV VCD with the CD package as well. The album gives one a wintry and cold feel very much like the way Sun Ho's album evokes motivational feelings. The simple arrangements of the tracks in the album, the relative lack of background hiss in the songs, and the picturesque scenes of Iceland enclosed in the CD sleeves probably contribute to the overall wintry impression. The album comprises 11 original tracks, an Intro and an Outro, and a last bonus track which is an alternative version of her third hit 'Missing'. The peaceful Intro modulates smoothly into the hit 'Balloon', where the overall impression is a quiet and plaintive scene. Peggy Hsu's voice is clear and smooth although her voice strains when she attempts the high pitch notes. Notably, she wrote ALL the tracks by herself. The lyrics are about love and loving, so typical of most pop songs in pop albums today. What makes it different is the maturity with which Peggy reflects on familiar topics. She deals with the pain of her lover having left her in the moving ballad 'White Wedding', a song which she handles very well. She continues the topic of missing someone in her hit 'Missing'. Her poetic side is revealed in the contemplative 'Long Hair'. The other songs basically contain her ruminations about living life alone and hankering for love and dealing with the issues that love brings. But this does not make the album depressing and heavy. The lightness with which she sings in tracks like 'Little Wooden Boat', 'Shopping Mall' and 'Stood Up' reveals her carefree and lighthearted side. Outstanding tracks (in order of preference): 1 Stood Up 2 White Wedding 3 Balloon This dosen't mean the other tracks are lousy. The other tracks are mostly good too. The only problem I feel is the inclusion of the alternative version of 'Missing' AFTER the Outro, which overrides the concluding Outro. Another track I cannot appreciate is 'Roundworm'. It doesn't blend in well with the other tracks. It reminds me of an attempt in vocoder distortion like in Faye Wong's 'Bai Chi', which appears affected and fake. Music Street's promotional department is spot-on in customising the title hits for different audience markets (the ballady 'White Wedding' for Taiwan listeners, 'Balloon' for Singaporean listeners). The promotional department has also been hardworking in promoting Peggy through the media, through the promotional VCD, through the Iceland MTVs etc. But in other words, the hype that is thrown up to support this quality album falls on itself. Part of the reason is because the album is a personal effort by Peggy, and to hard-sell the album through aggressive commercialisation seems weird. Another reason I feel is that the solitude and peacefulness that the album evokes is in direct contrast to the red-hot promotional blitz that the label organizes to push this album across to mainstream listeners. So yes, this album can be described as a case of disappointing high hopes. But the songs are NOT disappointing. It is, in fact, quite rare to see a newcomer adept at attempting different music styles in one album. It is the hyping up of this album that raises unrealistic hopes that Peggy Hsu can be the next xiao tian hou, the next Stefanie Sun per se. That isn't the case. Peggy Hsu looks like she is following her own pace and I hope she remains that way. Grade: B
|
| -- Generously contributed by Peace from Hypermart Kopi-O forum. Thanks a lot! |