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| Album: Leave Singer: Stefanie Sun Record Label: Warner Music Number of Tracks: 12 Month Of Release: May 2002 |
| Yanzi's fifth release in her 2 years is very much worth the wait (if there was any at all). The album showcases a different YanZi stepping onto other grounds of music: hiphop, unplugged, world music, and of course the stefy ballads. Despite the fact that Warner is draining her out with her neverending workload, her vocals have shown immense improvement in this release. Improved techniques and the usage of falsettos make this her best outing so far. Starting the album with a bang is "Battle", displaying a seldom heard low range of Stefanie's. Outstanding tracks in this album include "Sensible" [Track 3] and "Come And Go" [Track 4], both featuring heavier stuff of rock and hip hop respectively. In the former, Arys Chien [Shen Bai Se] laments that being too sensible can sour a relationship. Whilst in the latter, award winning lyricist Vincent Fang [Fang Wenshan] remains firm on writing something which isn't soapy. Both make use of a number of background supports, especially in "Come And Go", where the mood is made interesting by the supporting dog barks, crashing glasses, cheeky trumpets and electronified voices. The unplugged "Same Summer" comes as a challenge for Stefanie as she has to get a good grasp and control over her voice and breathing. Recorded live with just guitar accompaniment and microphones covering the nose and mouth areas, Stefanie does sound different and at times does show some resemblance to Zhao Wei. Produced and arranged by the Bao brothers, the violins stole my attention in "Different". "Leave"'s 3-beated melody brings some nostalgic feel to me. Not forgetting the ballads, there are a number like "Love Starts From Zero", "I Don't Love" and "Eye Expressions", a composition by Stefanie herself, but they seem to pale against the heavier tracks. The album makes a poor finale with the 2 Sing Singapore songs one after another with the exact arrangements but in different languages. I'd have thought "Leave" would make a rather good exit for the album, especially with the fading sounds of kids. The 2 Sing Singapore songs could have been included in a bonus CD instead, if Warner really wished to include them for marketing reasons. On the whole, the first half of the album is where the heavyweights are. The tracks die down as the tracks go on. Rating: B+ |