The Asian Obsessed blog: Joey Yung's Bi-Heart & Pure Niki album reviews

The Asian Obsessed blog

The blog that gathers fans opinions about asian movies, series, and music entertainment.

Friday, August 26, 2005

Joey Yung's Bi-Heart & Pure Niki album reviews

All are based on my opinions and I have no intention of forcing anyone to beleive with me.

I had been caught up-to-date with the Canto music scene lately, and here are the 2 recent albums that i have a chance to listen to: Joey Yung's "Bi-Heart" & Niki Chow's debut album "Pure Niki".
"Bi-Heart", the latest album by Joey Yung is actually a very decent album to listen to. And when i said decent, i mean it is better than her last album, Give Love A Break. First of all i had been a somewhat Joey fan all these years until after her album "Show Up". I do have positive views on her because i think she has great live singing skills base on today's standards. Her "Show Up" album was decent and was entertaining to listen to. However, she went downhill from there. She released simultaneously three dissapointing albums in a row. First was the

Mandarin Album "Solo Photo", then "Nine 2 Five", and then "Give Love a Break". All three albums have few varieties and mostly focused on ballads, which sound entirely the same everytime. Give me any ballads on her past 3 cds and i wouldn't even know what is the difference. She is like a singing robot in my view. EEG give her songs, and she uses her singing "skill" to make the song passionate. Not only it didn't turn out to be passionate (i aint feeling the songs at all), it even make her unbearable as a singer. If you want to be the next queen of canto pop, then at least pick good songs and stop singing those same tunes all over again. You have voice and looks, so start improving on your selections of songs. You are a loosing a fan here because of your overwhelming ballads and k songs.

Anyway, back to her newest album. They contain a lot of interlude music which did annoyed a lot of peoples (i personally do not mind). The first plug, "Sing More Strongly", is annoying and plain crap. A lot of peoples like this song, but to me, this is another example of "poor selections of songs". I do credit her for plugging a non-ballad song for once, though.
After i survived listening through "Sing More Strongly", the album got so much better. The ballads in here are at least somewhat interesting and enjoyable to listen to. Even though it isn't any different from her previous stuff, at least it does not sound like "My Pride" or "Split Technique". I personally enjoy the ballads much, much better. If she must sing ballads all the time to show off her skills, then at least pick these ballads, al right?
There are actually more upbeat songs in here, which give me some light of hope that Joey is finally having more varieties unlike her past 3 albums (and the Chihuahua single - don't ever attempt to do silly rap again). I enjoy some of the upbeat songs on here, like "Mixed Peoples", and "Useless Good Deeds". They are very fun & entertaining to listen to.
Overall, this album in general is dissapointing due to her popularity in the music industry. However, it is decent compared to her previous albums because it has more varieties and the ballads are at least very decent to listen to. Rating: 6/10. Recommended tracks: "Mixed Peoples", "Useless Good Deeds", and "Horizon's Courageous Girl".

The 2nd album i want to review today is actress turn singer Niki Chow, Pure Niki. Not only this album is surprisingly good and enjoyable, Niki is actually decent as a newcomer. Yes, you can hear her breathing in the recorded songs every now and then, but she is still acceptable as a newcomer from these recent years(Stephy, Fiona, Theresa, anyone?). There are very few songs on this album, but to my surprise, the songs are actually very happy-go-lucky and entertaining. I had no expectations for this album that all, so i think it's the reason why i enjoy it so much. Niki Chow is a talented actress, and i hope she can even improve more on her singing, because she shows great potential. I had seen her performing live, and she seems promising. The most

noteable song on here is "Too Bad He Has A Girlfriend". It is a very catchy ballad and absolutely heart warming to listening to. The most recent plug, "Want Wind Have Wind" is a summerish song which will take a lot of listens to let it grow on you. You will like it if you are a regular fan of TVB themesongs, because it sounds like one of those. My favorite track, "Turtle Rabbit Race", is a fast and decent song that is surprisingly from Niki. The other song, "Moonlight's Kiss", isn't too bad either. I actually like 4 songs out of five on this album (exclude instrumental music of course). It isn't too bad for an actor-turn-singer album! (compared to..Bowie Lam, Benny Chan, Gigi Lai, Nadia's old albums O.O).
Overall, if you are looking for some change or shift in the Hong Kong music industry, this album isnt' for you. But if all you are looking for is some entertaining, the usual-hong-kong-pop stuff, this album might be worth checking out. =) Since i did not expect anything from this album, and it is surprisingly easy on the ears, i'll rate it a 6+/10
I hope Niki will continue to show us more improvements in her singing and contribute more of her acting talent to TVB and hong kong movie industry =)

posted by asian obsessed @ 5:17 PM

2 Comments:

At 6:44 PM, FoREvALuVNiC said…

Even though I haven't listen to either Joey's or Niki's new album, your review really inspired me to do so. I always thought Niki is a singer before becoming an actress?
I disagree with your comments on Joey's previous albums. I love her Nin9 To 5ive album and recently when I listened to Give Love A Break, it turns out pretty well. You're being too harsh on her, knowing that she usually sings ballad, you shouldn't expect that much from her anyway.
At 12:34 PM, Tammy said…

I was a Joey fan sort of, but I stopped. LOL. Maybe I will go back listening to her newest album. As for Niki, how you said about her singing, maybe I should give her a try. But I think how you said about her acting, I mean she is better than some other actress, for ex. Mandy Cho. But her acting still needs improvement. I guess is her crying scenes. For example in "The Gentle Crackdown," when she found out her mother was "fei ying" she went to this place and broke down crying, which I thought her crying was not so real. But she can improve. so yeah, well other than that, thanks for the awesome reviews!