Yeah, the latter part of the album is really great to listen to, flows so well!
And I love the first ballad on it, the one being 6 minutes long... do you have a translated tracklist? I`m a bit clueless just with the chinese titles. :laugh

I do lol The English titles are official!
1 都對也都錯 Right As Wrong 3:32
2 這樣你還要愛我嗎 Do You Still Want To Love Me 6:15
3 三月 March 3:48
4 自虐 Autosadism 5:11
5 偏執面 Faces of Paranoia (feat. 蛋堡 Soft Lipa) 4:14
6 跳進來 Jump In 3:02
7 狗 Dog 3:30
8 Booty Call 3:09
9 飛高高 Fly High 3:29
10 前進烏托邦 Heading Utopia 3:51

Thank you!
The site I downloaded from just had the chinese ones.

Not. Impressed. At. All. I feel like the two heavy hitters in dance-pop, Jolin and Elva, are ridiculously underwhelming right now.

I've had a chance to listen to Elva's new record, and I, for whatever reason, don't think it is an improvement or even on par with her last couple records. There are a couple standout songs--the title track and the final track on the album--but I feel like it record doesn't really live up to her talent as a singer and performer. :( Anyone else's thoughts?

And Jolin... wow. I can't see this song taking off like The Great Artist. Before MUSE, I thought she was a cheap knockoff of pop artists like Britney Spears, Ayumi Hamasaki, Madonna, etc. But MUSE was a huge evolution in Jolin's career. I still remember seeing The Great Artist's MV and saying, out loud, that I was so wrong about her.

Anyway, thoughts on the pop scene this year? We have had three or four of the popular women make comebacks this year, and I've been underwhelmed by most of what I've heard. Angela Chang's album was too ballad-heavy, Elva's doesn't pick up speed until the last few songs, and I'm hoping Jolin doesn't do a cover album.

A-Mei's record has been the standout for the year for me, though it's like a ballad collection. The videos are beautiful. It's a very deep record. At times, Faces of Paranoia has a way of putting things in my face that I won't say out loud. It reminds me of Sandy Lam's GAIA with an improvement over it in the writing and production, and definitely in the visuals.

Anyway, I'm just curious what you guys think so far this year, especially as it's been a big year for some artists we haven't heard much from in the last few years.

EDIT: Any clue if Hebe Tian will release new music this year? I think she single-handed saved my year in C-Pop last year. This is just a last ditch hope so that I can still say it's been a good year for C-Pop even if I wasn't impressed by my favorites.

You realize that this song is just a cover she provided for an international Pepsi soundtrack that didn't even get an MV, not a title song or a song destined to be on an album? ;)
(Unless you haven't seen my post in the previous page. If so, my apologies >_<)

And why would she do that? She's scheduled to release her new original album in November by the way.

Concerning Elva, I liked this album better than I'm Ready but it's less good than MISS ELVA. I liked only 2-3 songs in I'm Ready (I'm Ready, Ray of Love and The Lost Heartbeat), and here I like at least half of the album. I was expecting it to be more upbeat though...

I liked Angela Chang's new album way more than her previous one which was very boring. When You Live For Love is by far the best song on it!
By the way, are you including Angela in the popular ones? O_O In Taiwan I feel like no one cares anymore, her previous album flopped there. I don't think she'll make it in top 20 this year as well. A shame since I like this album >_<

Faces of Paranoia is awesome. I didn't like A-Mei's songs before but this album... It's weird though that you see it as a ballad collection since it's half ballads half upbeat like R U Watching. It's my favorite this year with Lala Hsu's new album. Khalil Fong's new album was great too!! Stefanie Sun's Kepler is also very good. Can't think of anything else at the moment.

Oh, A-Mei is going to hold a Celebration concert for Faces of Paranoia on August 31st if you didn't know, we'll be able to watch it live online.

Hebe Tien won't release a new album this year, but Ella is supposed to. Hebe released a song recently called Passion for Chinese brand Whisper by the way.

I agree with Linoa a little bit more :)
concerning Elva, I don't consider title song Shut Up and Kiss Me anything special. It's kinda catchy, but there is absolutely nothing innovative about that song. It sounds like thousands of pop song from 2010.
I definitely expected much more of her latest album. It's not a bad album and I would say it's a little bit better than I'm Ready where I like 4 songs only (The Lost Heartbeat, I'm Ready, Can't Force Love, Song Song) but still far away from her pop masterpieces such as Miss Elva, 1987 and Diamond Candy.
I miss at least one song that immediately grabs my attention. There are many songs I like (Love Detention, Thunder of Love, Remember to Smile) but any song I really LOVE. I think there's also a problem with track order on this album. It just doesn't make sense to put most of ballads on the first part of album.
I still listen this album quite often so maybe it will grow on me later...

Concerning Jolin, I don't care about this Pepsi song at all. It gets attention of her international fans just because music video has been shot. But for me, it's still just one huge commercial campaign and you, orbitalaspect, shouldn't compare it with MUSE or Myself songs ;) wait for her new album and original songs ;) not this mandarin version of Pepsi song

A-mei's record is not a ballad collection :) Actually, it's split pretty even. There are 5 up-tempo songs and 5 ballads (exactly like her previous album R U Watching?). To tell the truth, it's more up-beat than most of her albums. I wouldn't compare it with Sandy Lam's GAIA (simply because I consider this album one of the best albums from recent years!) but it's dinifitely a great album! There are many genres like a piano track (March), rock ballad (Do You Still Want To Love Me), a little bit of R&B (Faces of Paranoia), dance-pop (Heading Utopia) etc. And still it's very deep and personal album with great visual.
With Faces of Paranoia she proved she is really „Diva of Taiwan“. If you expected album full of up-tempo tracks you are probably a new fan of A-mei, that's just not how her albums works.

Generally speaking, the pop scene is okay this year. There is nothing that really blows my mind but there also aren't many disappointments. Speaking about disappointments, Angela Chang's new album was pretty boring for me but I expected it to be because I didn't like her previous album either (Visible Wings – only song I like here is That Girl). The 5th Sense was a masterpiece with very strong emotional ballads but then she is just mediocre for me (piano ballads which sound exactly the same and boring up-beat songs). I don't think I like any song from her latest album. She will definitely need a huge hit next time in Taiwan othewise no one will care about her anymore.
Other disappointments include Stefanie Sun's Kepler (such step down from amazing It's Time album), Sammi Cheng's LOVE IS LOVE or Della Ding's new album. I also expected more of Jane Zhang's new album The Seventh Sense.

But there are also many surprises this year including Lala Hsu's Missing Person (I didn't like her previous works, but this time she really did an amazing job!), Ann Bai's What's Next? album released a few days ago is a masterpiece!, Freya Lim's latest album is very good, Eman Lam's On The Go is really interesting pop/rock album, Terrence Yin's T is very emotional album, Juno Mak's Paradoxically Yours is creative piece of work (a little bit dark but that's the sound I prefer), Khalil Fong's Dangerous World is high-quality R&B, Huang Qi Wei's M&M or Chris Lee's 1987 (yeah, her album really has this „80s feeling“)
Jade Kwan's C-12 was interesting, alan's Mo Lan is fine (not that good than previous album but still good) And a lot of artists will release album later this year (Jay Chou, Jolin, Genie Zhuo, Joey Yung, Mag Lam, Kay Tse, Sherman Chung, Fiona Sit, Jeannie Hsieh ...and Wang Leehom or Karen Mok maybe)

PS: Hebe won't release a new album this year, her songs from Insignificance are still pretty popular in Taiwan, so there is no need to rush ;)

My feelings exactly o_O I couldn't put my finger on it... I already barely listen to it to be honest.

None of the songs released after MUSE (Journey, Kaleidoscope, Now Is The Time, Ke Wang Jiu Yi Kuai, Shake Your Body) will be in the upcoming album.
Actually the ones I like the best among these are Journey and Kaleidoscope.
Now Is The Time and its Chinese version are nice, but not album-worthy at all IMO.

Maybe that's why I like it so much o_O
I listened to Sandy Lam's Gaia because reviews were great and she got lots of nominations (and later awards) at the GMA... And when I did all the way through I was thinking "Jolin will never get that Best Album award" lol
But even so, I didn't like it, it's not my cup of tea I guess.

Really? I'll listen to this one.
And I think you're right about the "hit" part.

I read some bad reviews about it from fans reported as well by the media... Basically Chinese fans don't like this album, to them it's not her anymore and she became a "Jolin Tsai-wannabe" (looks, dance, even the voice), especially in BAZAAR they feel like they're hearing Jolin. Some articles even said that it was an "easy" (lazy?) album, but Jane Zhang replied that on the contrary she actually never worked so hard on an album.
Maybe that's why I enjoyed this album, and BAZAAR is also one of my favorites lol

You seem to know quite a lot of artists ♥
Is Ann Bai's album full of ballads? I'm hesitating whether to listen to it or not...

Jay Chou -> October at the moment
Jolin -> Mid-November
Genie Chuo -> September 26th, title song released
Jeannie Hsieh -> End of the year, just released a promo song for an insurance
Wang Leehom -> Don't know, he just released a single (Lose Myself feat. Avicii), didn't like it
Karen Mok -> Just released a new song that will be in her upcoming album, she's still working on it... End of the year - early 2015 I think
Fiona Sit -> Nothing confirmed, but she already released 2 songs this year, and she held 2 concerts in HK a couple of days ago
Rainie Yang -> Said in an award ceremony this summer that she will release a new album this year, but nothing about a recording or anything yet
Cindy Yen -> End of the year

Actually, I understand. Even if I really love this album I must agree that it is not album for masses. It is very intimate and experimental album, you really need to like this type of dark, electronic pop/rock/R&B (I can't even describe what style of music it is) :)


Give it a try definitely! ;) This album made me a fan back in 2009. There are plenty of gems (The 5th Season, White, I Want Yours, I Started a Joke), one of the best Angela's ballads she has ever recorded.
Unfortunately, next two albums made me... I don't know, I just don't care about her anymore ...at all


really? I didn't expect critics to love it, but I thought fans like it. BAZAAR and Forever are good tracks, but I agree that she wants to be "Jolin-like superstar of Mainland China".
I read somewhere that she has been working on album really hard for almost 2 years, but I just don't hear this hard work there. It's okay pop/R&B album, but nothing really special. It sounds too "americanish".


Do not hesitate! :) You must listen this album if you are a fan of C-pop.
Her first album was fine, but this time she really surprised me. It's one of the best mandarin albums of 2014.
It's not full of ballads, but don't expect it to be dance/up-beat album. Most of the songs are mid-tempo, exactly like the first single What's Next?


Genie Chuo's newest song really disappointed me. But it's because I usually don't like these cute-pop songs. err... I expected to be more "Villian-like" :)

Wang Leehom's brother metioned at the beginning of the year that he (Leehom) is preparing new album but no info there so far ...if he doesn't release album this year, I think we can really expect it to be released in the first half of 2015.

Cindy Yen's new album this year? I had no idea. Great news! I really like her first album. Don't you know if she is working on album with Jay Chou again?

Karen Mok's new album/EP is here sooner than I expected.

Visible Wings was... blah. It was really boring. I liked Angela Zhang (the album) a lot better but only When You Live For Love really stands out IMO. It was nice though that she provided English translations for every song.

The thing that bothered me the most is that half of the songs were already available when the album got released... I'm not used to that in C-Pop lol

Listening to it on QQ right now ;) I like mid-tempo and ballads too, but when ballads are too slow or too boring or both, I just can't o_O
EDIT: I really like it o_O She has a really nice voice. Thanks :love

I don't like it, but this "Jiu Mi Jiu Mi" thing is annoying, it gets stuck in your mind lol

Nothing on Leehom's Facebook... He just said that he filmed an MV for Lose Myself.

It was supposed to be released in June and it got postponed to the end of the year lol She's giving updates from time to time on the new album on her FB.
I don't know about that :/
She revealed 2 songs from the upcoming album last July during an event:
愛是黑白 Love Is Black And White

刺蝟的擁抱 Hedgehog Hug


Wow thanks for the tip! Last week when the song aired in Taiwan they just said that she was still working on her album, there was no release date lol

mmmm, i'm totally of topic here, but maybe someone has some sugestion on c-pop/rock bands/singers with decent vocals and arrangements? I kinda want new music and Pommy shared a video of this guy:



and the arrangement just gets to me, so something with good arangements like this one would be lovelly. Not too much of a ballad person me is so....something up beat would be better or middle tempo. Also his vocals are a tad bit too weak for me.

also that guys song sounds so fammiliar to me it hurts lol

You're not off-topic ^^
Hmm... I think maddy1111 will be able to help you with this, she obviously knows quite a lot of artists!

BUT I can give you the name of this singer and tell you where this song comes from ;)
韋禮安 William Wei (aka Weibird) - 江郎 Drained from album 有所畏 Journey Into The Night.
https://itunes.apple.com/tw/album/yo...824666786?l=zh
If you replace "zh" by "en", you'll be able to see the official English titles.
You can listen to this album here (use Hola for Chrome if it's not working):
http://y.qq.com/#type=album&mid=004PhDJe31dFTf

Definitely not out-of-topic ;) We are here to discuss chinese music, aren't we?! :)

I think that other William Wei's songs will be too baladish for you, but if you want to listen some C-rock guys, I would recommend Alan Kuo/黃皮膚, Stanley Huang/黃立行, Gemini/简迷离 (group consisting of french guy and chinese girl) or Yida Huang/黃義達
if you do not mind female rockers, you should also try Faith Yang/楊乃文

let me know how you like any of these singer, and if you want I can provide some more suggestions ;)

PS: if you have a problem to find albums, let me also know and I'll upload it for you

yeah, ehm ... I'm more like HE :D but that's okay, I know it's not obvious from my nick-name

ooopsss sorry <_< I'll know from now on!! :dead2

oh i know his name, i've asked Pommy lol i just couldn't remember at the moment of writting the post.
while the song got me with the arrangement, i am not very fond of his vocals. My playlist mostly contains of people with strong vocals. He's not exactly making the cut.

haha well you guys were talking about specific things here so ^_^""

okay so i checked what you suggested.

Alan Kuo - i clicked on teh fist song that poped on youtube...this guy did a theme song for a drama and I was tthinking that the song sounded familiar lol ! I did like him, not too crazy about his voice though. but he is good!

This guy Yida Huang also got my attention, even though a lot of the songs i clicked on were ballads. But he's got something very inteersting going on in his music that somewhat clicks with me on some level.

I also liked the girl. Her vocals were nice!

I realy am a sucker for stronger vocals.

I've gotta be honest though, while these were nice i am not sure i can get into them....:tired i think i am way too picky lol

A-Mei's upcoming World Tour will start on April 4th! It's called 烏托邦世界巡迴演唱會 Utopia World Tour and its setlist will be made of A-Mei & A-Mit songs. Which means that the A-Mit album will most probably be released before April.

Does anyone have JJ Lin's new album Genesis?

You can find it here:
http://mmusicbox.com/jj-lin-genesis-album/
or here:
http://mmusicbox.wordpress.com/2014/...j-lin-genesis/

;)

Could someone give me a listen of the top 10 biggest female C-Pop artists of all-time? I'm very curious.

The new Amit album "Amit 2" is coming on 04/04!
Before there's a digital single called "no sleep" on 3/17.
Read it on Baidu.
I really can't wait!