Welcome to our premier post of our weekly Media Spotlight. First up is an excellent Mandarin language album by the incomparable ็่ฒ. Faye has been a fixture in both the Mandopop and Cantopop scene for nearly thirty years as well as being an accomplished actress. She has explored multiple styles in her decades long career, lending her ethereal voice to many a memorable tune. She is perhaps best know in outside the Mandarin speaking world for the song "Eyes On Me" from the Square Soft video game Final Fantasy VIII.
Here's the essential info on our selection this week.
Artist: ็่ฒ (Faye Wong)
Album: ๅฐ็ฑ (To Love)
Year released: 2003
Genre: Pop
Chinese dialect: Mandarin and Cantonese
Available on: Spotify, Youtube
This album feels ahead of it's time. Alternating between techno beats, romantic ballads and a few rustic sounds, ๅฐ็ฑ showcases Faye's range. For those of us learning Mandarin or Cantonese it's an easy listen. Clear pronunciation, uncomplicated language and themes that are easy to identify with. Unfortunately because of shenanigans (any natives have a good Chinese analog for shenanigans?) with Sony the album took a while to appear on streaming services. I was able to get a used physical copy from a music shop in Chengdu while I was living in China, but thankfully it has now appeared on Spotify and youtube. If you'd like to get familiar with Miss Wong's illustrious career here's her page on wikipedia.
We're looking forward to talking about this album next Sunday, April 4th!
Haven't seen this one posted here before.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnGcPo7lae4 Faye Wong - "Fen Lie"
Written by Elizabeth Fraser, Robin Guthrie, Simon Raymonde for Faye Wong in 1996.
Discogs entry: https://www.discogs.com/%E7%8E%8B%E8%8F%B2-%E6%B5%AE%E8%BA%81/release/2855204 (this one is track 4, there's a second track also written and produced by Cocteau Twins on there too)
(This is the singer best known for her cover of "Dreams" by The Cranberries in Chungking Express)
Rare yet wonderful collaboration between Liz Frasier and Faye Wong. Wish there were more outings in dreampop by the diva.
Rendition of this Paul McCartney classic in the variety show ๅนปๆจไนๅ .
