17th August 2008 Sunday

Finally the last album to complete my collection of all of Yu Heng's album. Had quite some trouble looking for this album in Singapore. All the shops I went to gave me the same response that they no longer have any stock. Well, some of them did tell me that they do have the China version though. However, for those who know me, I don't really fancy buying China versions of CDs. And that is especially so when it explicitly says on the back of the album that the album is restricted to sale in China only. So what is it doing in Singapore? Or perhaps the print is too small for the censorship board or sellers to notice? Perhaps they should do it in font size 30 for people to take notice? Well, I don't know. But that is besides the point. As I was saying, I had quite some trouble finding the album in Singapore so I had to get my friend to order it online and ship from Taiwan. Thanks to ZJ for helping me order and getting it to Singapore. Had to get a friend to order as I do not possess any cards that enable me to make online purchases. Gosh. I must be a living artefact in modern Singapore. I hope I don't get moved to the museum soon.

This album was not disappointing and I doubt that Yu Heng's songs will ever be disappointing. However, I did find the starting song - "Happy Day" a little too commercial for my liking. Yu Heng sang it well but it is just so not her style. Watched her online interview some time back and apparently, this album was released in Taiwan and wanting to attract the attention of the younger generation over there, the record company decided to add the "cute" factor in to boost the acceptability of the album. Apparently, they justified the act as the Taiwanese music industry then is fueled by the younger generation while the teenagers and adults are more inclined towards online downloading piracy. Well, they do have a point but I still prefer the Yu Heng in 十一楼日记 and 就是我, non-commercialised and true to herself. But I could not blame the record company for considering the commercializing factor as a more important factor. They are afterall a commercial company.

There are only six new songs in this album. The rest have already been presented in her first album which I guess was probably not distributed in Taiwan. That is probably why this album was produced and released. New songs include Happy Day, 深呼吸, 哎呀, 问号, 爱情天气 and 地球.

I especially liked 深呼吸. Inspiring lyrics and I guess it gives you comfort at times when you are really down. I want myself to be strong and I know that I can do it. I will live better than before. Isn't that how life should be? Life is about picking yourself up with every blow and living stronger and better than before. We fall so we can learn to pick ourselves up and carry on with life's journey ain't it? Kind of reminds me of a part of some story I read some time back. Don't really remember which story it came from but it kind of goes like this - "When you fall, lie back, look up and appreciate the blue sky. It isn't all that bad about falling." Nice inspiring song.

地球 is good too and kind of fits into the whole theme of the album. Well, it is about the Universe ain't it? The Sun and Earth and isn't it amazing how they seem to revolve around each other? People from the past used to think that Earth revolved around the Sun you know? Before they found out that it was gravity that caused the Sun to revolve around Earth. Nice song about light years of love.
The rest are really good songs too. For those who have the album, listen to it again and appreciate it. For those who don't have, I am going to repeat this again - What are you waiting for? You are going to regret not getting this album!