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| Album: Sun With Love Singer: Ho Yeow Sun [Sun Ho] Record Labels: Decca Records, Indie Works, Universal Music Number of Tracks: 11 Release Dates: 28 March [Taiwan], 17 May [Singapore] |
| A 31 year old Singaporean pastor, He Yeow Sun, from City Harvest Church, delved into a secular singing career with her maiden Mandarin album <<Sun With Love>>. Whether it is due to poor publicity management or communication breakdown, the public in general has made this general assumption about Sun Ho's album project -- that this album is a Christian project, and that the album consists mainly of hymns and gospel songs. The album is secular as they come. 11 ordinary tracks make up the album, with a cover booklet that has Sun's freckled face plastered firmly on the front. An innocuous label, <<Sun With Love>>, is superimposed on her left eye. Her voice lies between the Mavis Hee-Sandy Lam axis. I don't think she means to imitate them, even if she has a voice as melodious as theirs. However, her voice is too common. It's difficult to distinguish her voice from other the singing stars on radio. She starts off assuredly and optimistically on the title track, <<Sun With Love>>. In fact, she has none of the nervousness associated with singing newcomers, probably because she has had plenty of experience leading song-singing sessions in church. And for the uninitiated (like yours truly), the first line of the first song made me sit up. But while there are gems in the album, like the jazzy <<I Only Want Happiness>> [Track 5], the songs tend to be undifferentiable after some time. The songs are chock-full of optimistic and inspirational messages that it is a challenge for anyone to listen to it for a long time without being bored. So this album is not worth buying, you say. But if there is any reason to buy this album, it is to see how Sun Ho, with a melodious voice and passable pronunciation, transforms the disappointingly boring <<Tell Him>> (from Eric Ng and Jonathan Lee, no less!) into a plaintively contemplative song. <<Anderson>> may sound like a Biblical figure, but the lyrics function as well on a secular level of understanding. This song, together with <<Having You Is Enough>>, <<Without You>> and <<Sense of Security>>, is a listenable song, provided you are in the mood to indulge in some healing. Most of the songs are written by unknowns. The more familiar names who have contributed to this album would be Taiwanese producer Jonathan Lee, Malaysian singer-songwriter Yi Qi, and Eric Ng. I feel that the biggest mistake made in this album is the labelling of Sun Ho as a pastor turned popster. Sure, it has inspired curiosity, but not from potential album-buyers. It has inspired curiosity of the 'look see look see' type, those who will listen but will not buy because they feel uncomfortable about supporting what they perceive to be a Christian project, no matter how secular Sun Ho is, or will become. Seriously speaking though, on a totally secular level, this album functions well as a comforter, an inspirer. One little quirk about the album is the friendly homilies printed in brown at the bottom of almost every song lyrics. Homilies like "The Greatness Of A Dream Is In How Many Other Dreams It Holds" and "Tragedies In Life Are Not Punishments But Challenges" add a personal touch to what would otherwise be perceived as a preachy album. Rating: B- Recommended songs [In order of preference] 1. Sun With Love 2. Without You 3. I Only Want Happiness 4. I Believe In Love 5. Having You Is Enough |