周杰伦 Jay Chou – Opus 12 (十二新作) Album Review Part 1

One of the biggest veterans of Taiwanese Pop, Jay Chou is back with his twelfth album, Opus 12, with twelve songs, and even eight music videos. I can’t say I’m a huge fan of Jay Chou because while he sings well, what’s most impressive about his songs – to me – are the lyrics and sadly, he does not write them himself. But Jay Chou is just one of those artists that you pay attention to when they comeback even if you aren’t a huge fan; to put it simply, he’s the king of Asian pop music.

I’m not largely familiar with Jay Chou’s legendary fame for fostering modern CPOP because he debuted when I was four, so my general train of thought when I found out Jay Chou was coming back – again – was: Dude, you’re 34; it’s your twelfth album. First, it’s getting a bit too old to be an idol and second, retire and find yourself a wife. But I guess celebrities can defy age because as a 16 year old, I can relate to songs written by a 44 year old Vincent Fang and composed by a 34 year old Jay Chou. With twelve very different songs that satisfy a large range of listeners and eight music videos composed by the singer himself (who, i might add, should just really stick to singing and hire a professional director), we all know who’s back in the industry when rookie artists are pushed to the side as Jay Chou tops chart after chart.

1. “Four Season Train” （”四季列车”): 6/10

One of the charms of Jay Chou is that despite having a beautiful singing voice, he can pull himself out of his soulful and ballad-style songs to rap. Unfortunately, I prefer his soulful singing more. This song has a variety of meanings because it can be self-interpreted, but the lyrics mainly portray a guy catching up with an old lover or old friend and wants to propose to her. However, he is not certain that this girl still likes him because she, herself is confused and has many suitors. The idea that the four seasons, which probably just represents time, is a train that keeps on moving faster makes me believe that Jay Chou is singing about a race with time. The seasons flash past and he is still trying to catch up with his old lover and he can only hope that this girl has not changed yet. You can’t really blame him because the last time he’s had a serious relationship was probably before his debut, which means he has 13 years to catch up on. That’s one old friend and one old couple-to-be.

Looking at the lyrics, this song seems deep, beautiful, insightful…and should never have been composed to be a rap song. Although the rap does flow into the singing fluidly, Jay Chou’s signature unclear rapping had me confused until I actually searched up the written lyrics. Also, throughout the song, Jay Chou makes sounds like “pu pu” or “du du” to signal the whistling of a train or the pouting of a girl. I feel like these are the sound effects that 16 year old female celebrities with no talent makes in songs while dancing sickly cute steps. Coming out of a grown man just sounds disturbing and even degrading.

The instrumental can be separated into two layers: a somewhat heavy drum beat and a repetitive and fast-paced digital tune. My best guess is that the fast paced digital tune is supposed to make the song feel rushed and jumpy because the song is about rushing, but the tune really sounds like the background sounds of an old video game like Pac-man that, paired together with the heavy drum beat forms a overly loud instrumental that disturbs me from the vocals. In the middle of the song, both layers of the instrumental stop for an orchestra interlude. Normally, I would say both layers of the instrumental abruptly stop for a random interlude, but despite the wide difference of the two segments of instrumental, they are stitched together rather well with a short drum sequence on both ends and serves its purpose in giving the listener a slight calming effect and a fantastical feeling that I can only say makes me visualize Jay Chou on that white horse of his album cover entering the gates of a palace. The instrumental also ends on a good note because at the very end of the song when all the singing has finished, the Pac-man tune repeats over and over and slowly fades out. If you play the song really loud with headphones on, the ending creates this echo effect that attacks your head even after the song is over.

But as a personal bias, I am just not a huge fan of singers trying to rap and sing in the same song. If you’re going to rap just take it to full hip-hop because soft rapping without a strong beat isn’t always bad but always fails to impress me.

2. “手语” （”Sign Language”) : 7/10

The opening piano chords are simply beautiful. They flow into a short drum sequence that is followed by a sparkling sound that can be only described Buzz Lightyear taking off. Unlike the previous song, I do not find the repetitive digital sounds distracting because they give the song a very dreamy feeling, and soft piano chords matched with Jay Chou’s light voice can never get old.

This song is about a girl that is so stunningly beautiful that Jay Chou is too mesmerized to talk in front of her or describe her with words, and even saying “I love you” with sign language is a challenge. The meaning is not exactly very profound and the topic of being at a loss for words in front of a crush isn’t exactly unique, but titling the song “Sign Language” is actually quite clever. In fact, Jay Chou wrote the lyrics to this song himself. I do have one question though. Jay Chou is 34 but he writes adorable-first-love songs. I don’t know if this should give me hope that true love can be found when I turn old or if this should slightly creep me out. But regardless, the lyrics are very sweet, particularly the line about how this girl pretends she cannot understand sign language so the guy can sign “I love you” to her again for her to understand. I feel like I could just picture a fluff scene from a Taiwanese drama.

The singing is high. Like, WOW…high. And it’s also a bit too autotuned for my taste, especially because Jay Chou can actually sing. But I Inever knew he had some Jason Zhang-like high vocal range in him. Personally, I prefer male singers to sing lower because deep voices from guys are attractive; high voices from guys can be disturbing. But Jay Chou really does not go too overboard with the high notes so it’s fine and the timbre change and voice layering were perfect as well. My biggest complaint about this song is how Jay Chou breaks into some unnecessarily low, somewhat rap singing in the chorus. The “Hey Girl 牵你的右手　这不是在握手” and “Fa So La Si Do Fa” although was very cute and took my Taiwanese drama scene to another level, didn’t really fit the song. The first verse was so serious and ballad-like and the instrumental was so melancholy I just did not expect to find anything comedic in the song. I guess this is what happens when he doesn’t collaborate with Vincent Fang.

I usually hate it when singers squeeze a rap sequence into the end of a song – no matter how soulful – because they think every song needs rap and so they can act cool and throw their hands around. But I am actually fine with the rapping during the bridge because although it is still soft and without a strong beat, it seems to fit well with the rest of song because a ballad with a sudden bombass rap sequence would sound unfitting. The instrumental from singing to rapping did not even change, which usually signifies a well-placed rap sequence.

In general, I seem to lean more towards ballad or R&B songs because I really like looking for singing talent and emotional lyrics in a song. Although this wasn’t exactly your dramatic-emotional-wreck ballad that really stretches the vocal range, it was lighthearted and considerably well produced.

3. “Eunuch With a Headache” (“公公偏头痛”): 6/10

I finally understand now what people mean when they say Jay Chou merged western music with traditional Chinese music…making hip hop hand gestures in a Tang Dynasty costume…

The song isn’t really my type but dance is hilarious. The lyrics are also quite funny, about a corrupt eunuch that is full of lust but the music video says a bit more about the lyrics. In Chinese history, a head eunuch is one of the highest positions in the monarchy and can also be achieved without being scholarly because he spends day and night with the emperor. As a result, people perceive this person as powerful, corrupted, and stupid. However, this song also talks about the hardships of being a head eunuch. All the burdening tasks require a very skillful person who can entertain, protect, suppress and lead while many other servants in the palace are against him. When the cruel emperor kills servants for fun, the eunuch is the first to mourn for his friends. He is constantly in danger of death and he is not treated by his peers as someone powerful.

Take this eunuch into the perspective of Jay Chou. Jay Chou is supposed to be respected, talented, wealthy, and influential. He is the father of modern pop, has released over 100 songs, and has fans all around the world. But maybe this song is Jay Chou’s way of saying not everyone who seems at the top of the food chain really is that powerful. Jay Chou, for one, is probably insanely busy and has hundreds of places to be everyday. When something goes wrong with his promotion plans for the day, he also has to call many coordinators and apologize and beg for a time switch. Sometimes he also wakes up on the wrong side of a bed with a bloated face and a hoarse voice. He isn’t always the flawless idol people expect him to be. In the song there is also a line about how there are 3000 beautiful women in the palace but the eunuch can’t have any of them (because he is castrated). This doesn’t necessarily mean that Jay Chou is complaining about his relationship restrictions because he is an idol (although it could); it could also just be talking about restrictions in general and his inability to live a normal life, even though he lives one that most people would want – just like how people would like to be in the place of a powerful eunuch.

The vocals in this song can’t really be taken seriously but the fast paced rapping, trumpet sequences, and rolling drum beats do give the song a very comedic feel. This is not a song I would put on replay on my iPod because I really can’t relate to it and nothing about the song is particularly beautiful (although it is quite catchy.) And it is definitely an one of a kind masterpiece that really combs together eastern and western culture.

4. “Clearly” (“明明就”): 10/10

“Clearly” is probably my favorite song in the entire album. It’s exactly the emotional-wrecking ballad I was looking for, was expecting, and love. In this song, Jay Chou sings about a girl who tries hard to be a good girlfriend and love him, but he can tell that she feels uncomfortable and someone else is already in her heart. Out of care, he tells her to stop trying so hard because it’s obvious that the other guy is more suitable for her, and to settle her guilty conscience Jay Chou decides to play the part of an entirely platonic friend. Again, there is nothing unique about this song’s topic, but the same topic can be sung over and over and not get old as long as it’s portrayed in a new way. The lyrics do a phenomenal job of conveying loneliness, from candy that is no longer sweet to an ancient city and an abandoned castle (this seems also to be the set of the music video, which is just Jay Chou playing a piano in an old castle the entire time. He’s so excited about directing and playing in movies but he can’t find a female actress act out the plot for a music video? This would’ve been quite a sob-worthy music video if it were filmed correctly…Hence Jay Chou should really stay out of directing his own music videos.). My favorite line in the song is about how a seagull can fly farther if it forgets about the sea because there are so many wonders inland, but seagulls still remain along the coast because of their undying love for the ocean. The ocean represents an old love story that cannot be forgotten and Jay Chou is the seagull, admitting that he needs to move on because reminiscing about the past will not get him anywhere and there is so much more to the world than one girl. Again, pleading to fulfill the impossible task of forgetting the past is pretty overused in songs, but the analogy with the seagull and ocean somehow makes it more emotional.

The song opens with relaxing piano chords like any other slow song by Jay Chou. The piano melts into a soft drum beat and violin gradually throughout the song so that when the song reaches the chorus, the violin is the loudest sound. This transition from piano to violin helps connect the changes from verse to pre-chorus to chorus, which all fit together so well the first time I heard this song I didn’t realize the chorus had begun already. As far as I can tell, this song is not heavily autotuned and there does not seem to be any digital tunes in the instrumental, which is exactly how I like my ballads. Although the music video is very funny because it keeps showing Jay Chou pounding furiously on the piano towards the end of the song when there are no more piano sounds to be heard.

The singing in this song starts low and smooth and the tune almost reminds me of Yoga Lin’s “Barely Happiness” because of its deep hypnotizing feel, but it also really shows off Jay Chou’s well-practiced falsetto during the high notes. In fact, if it were up to me, I would have suggested that he go into falsetto a bit earlier because for some of the higher notes that he does not sing in falsetto, his voice sounds the slightest bit strained. This is also one of the few songs that Jay Chou enunciates rather well in and I can hear his voice clearly above the instrumental. Maybe that’s why the song is called “Clearly.”

To listen to my cover of “Clearly” or “Obviously”, please click here. It’s not perfect but I would really appreciate it if you guys would take a look. Thanks!

5. “Smile” (“傻笑”): 9/10

Another one of my favorites from Opus 12 and also the first song I heard from the album, “Smile” is a collaboration between Jay Chou and Cindy Yen (did anyone else think she looked really like Cyndi Wang in the music video?). Cindy Yen has a long history of working with Jay Chou because she received a lot of help from Vincent Fang for her debut album, but I personally did not like the layering of their voices at first listen. Jay Chou’s voice is really smooth but Cindy Yen’s voice is more nasal, so overlapping the two voices sounded completely off tune and made me cringe every time. Also, Cindy Yen sings an entire octave higher than Jay Chou and personally, I just cannot really appreciate her falsetto. However, although the collaboration is not exactly perfect, it grew on me and the two voices no longer sound obnoxious.

Many collaborations are just two singers singing the same song and playing the same role in the story. But “Smile” is really cool because it actually tells a story from two perspectives so Jay Chou would actually not be able to sing this song alone. Cindy Yen plays a girl who has loved Jay Chou all her life but never received any acknowledgement from him, so when another guy asks her to his girlfriend, she agrees. Jay Chou plays a guy who has always loved Cindy Yen but he never had the chance to confess to her because he did not want to ruin their friendship. You’d think a guy going to 35 would be more straightforward but i guess guys with no balls can shownup anytime in life.

In the song, both characters finally find out that they have mutual feelings for each other, but they both decide to pretend they do not know the other person likes them back because Jay Chou wants Cindy Yen to be happy with her current boyfriend and Cindy Yen would rather act dumb than reject and hurt Jay Chou because she isn’t in a position to break up with her new boyfriend. The lyrics had me from the very beginning when Jay Chou sings that he even keeps every emoticon that Cindy Yen texts him, and the song really shows that despite the fact that the two cannot be together, they have a very strong friendship where they understand each other’s preferences and loneliness. The most important line in the song is probably when Jay Chou sings “you’re smiling in front of me acting like you don’t know,” and Cindy Yen replies with “when really I already received the text you sent me about how much you love me. Why did your love come one step late?” I actually rarely hear songs that tell such an intricate story, especially from both characters’ perspective.

But I still have my complaints about the music video. THERE WAS EVEN A GIRL IN THE MUSIC VIDEO SO PLAY OUT THE FREAKING LOVE STORY. Jay Chou doesn’t even stand in the same frame as Cindy Yen and the entire music video is them standing on top of and next to buildings singing. Shocker. A singer turned director is like a model turned actress – talent-less. And what’s with you outfit, Jay Chou? Can I remind you again that you’re 34…time to ditch the basketball shorts and baseball cap.

The lyrics are clearly sad, and a bit nostalgic, but the tune is actually happy sounding, which combines the make the song bittersweet. The instrumental throughout the song is a mix of upbeat drum beats, guitar chords, and more of that sparkling sound effect that remind me of the sound some computer games make when you select the correct answer. The opening sequence before the singing started lasts for quite a while, which I think was well-planned because the upbeat instrumental tricks listeners into thinking the song is happy. This gives me a feeling that despite these two lovers did not end up together, they are trying to look past this twist of fate and accept their own form of happiness by being friends and looking after each other for ever. Personally, there is nothing more sob-worthy than someone stuck in a horrible, heartbreaking situation and fighting hard to act happy. And that’s probably why the song is titled “Smile.”

6. “A Larger Cello” (“比较大的大提琴”): 9/10

I think by now it’s not far of a stretch to say I’m not someone very into fast, yolo-style, fun songs, which is why I could not really appreciate “Eunuch with a Headache.” However, this song is very fun, very meaningful, and the music video – for once – is rather well-filmed, with musical theater styled dances that involve cheesy couple dancing and playing invisible instruments in old -fashioned looking clubhouses and bars. My favorite part of the music video is when Jay Chou is dancing with a girl in a clubhouse and spinning her, and the frame crosses to him on an European street corner spinning his large cello like a dance partner. Before I get into the song, I need to mention that Lara Liang is featured in this song. Cindy Yen…and now Lara Liang. I could be mistaken but it seems as if Jay Chou is promoting young singers of the next generation because he wants to help other talented artists gain attention, which I think is something very admirable and heroic of him.

The main idea of the song is that Jay Chou is a failed street musician because no one appreciates him. When he pulls out his cello and plucks it like a guitar, he tells the crowd “Don’t be stupid, this isn’t a cello.I’m plucking the strings and I’ll shock you with my one man show.” The crowd gathers around him but no one stops to pay him. He talks about hearing the store across the street blasting his songs from the speakers without his permission and people love it because they only hear the music. But when they physically see him plucking his cello, they judge him first and make fun of him for not knowing how to properly play the instrument. Jay Chou says that music is supposed to bring people together, and he proceeds to teach his uptight criticizers how to dance and have fun.

The song and music video are both fast paced and hilarious, but every line Jay Chou says is true. Even if a musician creates all his music by plucking a cello, as long as the music is good, he/she should not be judged for it. Jay Chou obviously started his career with a very unique style because he brought western music to China, so I would guess he received quite a bit of criticizing as well. However, he wants to say that it doesn’t matter where music comes from and how its made because music should be unifying and if it’s good, it’s good. So close your eyes and listen to it again, and forget that its not traditional Chinese music, and then look me in the eye and tell me you still don’t like it.

This song also has to be one of the few fast-paced Jay Chou songs I love, so before i go into the great aspects of the singing, I just have to say: having Lara Liang rap sing was the worst decision ever. Jay Chou maybe be able to rap and sing, but Lara Liang should just stick to singing. She sounds like she can barely catch up with the beat of the song. Other than that, I don’t have much complaint, especially because Lara Liang’s singing parts were rather well done. The singing and instrumental and even some of the dancing is very old school American style, as it if deserves a cane and a top hat. It’s hard to describe but the singing tends to go flat at the end of each line and the instrumental is mostly composed of loud piano pounding and trumpet sequences. I can’t be sure my description made sense but just listen to the song and you’ll understand what I mean when I call it Charlie Chaplin with sound (because he only played in silent movies). There also a lot of sound effects such as a cow mooing when and a girl laughing. Normally I really dislike cheesy sound effects but since the song wasn’t serious to begin with, the sounds are kind of cute and add tothe feeling of song. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an old school American style song sang in CPOP, so I’m really happy to see Jay Chou still exploring the realms with music even 13 years into his career.

If you’re interested in seeing part 2 of this review, which contains (or will contain soon) the last six songs of Opus 12, please click here.