I have to swallow my pride and let it all out, yes I love Jay Chao's new album (驚嘆號/Exclamation Mark). I know, I bitch and moan about how he should burn and die because he uses auto tune, but after going through the album again and again (17 times to be exact) in the span of 13 days, the auto tuned song fits with the rest of the album when you listen to all the songs one after another, it sort of break his previous formula of fast song then slow song then back to fast song. Now it is fast song, then kinda slow song (Heavily auto tuned), then slow song, then back to fast song, I hope it sense to you : )
He still include his signature slow song in the album with the song (你好嗎/How are you), it is the only slow song in the album, I wish there are more. I am not sure whether it is intentional or coincidental, but I felt that certain songs in the album is meant to be the continuation of his past hits, the most obvious is (世界末末日/End End of days?), I felt that he is trying to put a closure to (世界末日/End of days) with more upbeat tempo. Another departure from his past album is the use of repetitive word in the chorus, for example in the auto tuned song (Mine Mine), he repeat the word mine for at least 8 times, I have to admit, it is pretty catchy especially when he intertwine the meaning of Mine with a similar sounding Hookien word meaning don't.
Jay Chau got a lot of bad press in southeast Asia recently due to his cocky response to an allegation where he is accused of plagiarizing other singer's song. We Asian prefer our singers to be humble and shy, like what Jay Chau used to be before he became one of the heavenly kings, I hope it doesn't hurt sales too much. He is certainly the most creative and innovative singer/song writer of our time, chinese music industry won't have this much international impact without him.
