| 1. |
"Rumours" |
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This was Vivian's first Mandarin hit and the song was penned by Lin
Longxuan who was her co-singer in this duet. The storyline goes
something like this: Lin Longxuan played a studio worker who falls in
love with Vivian's character. Vivian, I guess, acted as herself in the MTV,
and was plagued by vicious rumours from the press. However, Lin, as the
lyrics of the song goes, refused to believe the reports and "believed
that Vivian's heart was pure as ever". The parting shot was one close-up
frame of Vivian breaking into a tearful smile after seeing Lin coming
back to her.
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| 2. |
"Shyness" |
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Personally, I like this MTV very much. This song is written by Huang
Shujun who is known to be a very talented songwriter. The director has
used soft focus lens to shoot most of the frames in this clip, and it
presents the viewer with a ethereal, dreamy landscape. There were shots
of Vivian with her hair floating in the wind, some scenes of Vivian
playing the violin and blowing paper windmills with a small cute little
girl and of course not to mention the numerous close-up shots of her
apparently flawless face.
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| 3. |
"In Unspeakable Terms" |
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This is one of my favourite MTVs. It was so beautifully filmed by
director Lai Weikang that I don't think any guy can pass by without
watching it. Vivian looked so fragile, lovely, and well, absolutely
pretty in this MTV. In fact, it was this MTV that made me pay attention
to Vivian. I didn't take my eyes off the screen once while the MTV was
played on television. There was not much of a storyline though: just
sweetie-pie Vivian in her studio waiting longingly for her boyfriend to
give her a teddy bear. I can bet that when she hugged the toy bear,
thousands of guys worldwide wished they could take its place.
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| 4. |
"Grateful" |
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This is the only MTV that showed Vivian faking a short hairstyle and
included some of her concert shots. One thing to note about this song
was that it was written by Yang Minghuang, a Taiwanese songwriter who
died recently in a car accident. In fact, Vivian was one of the singers
who sang the song "Using a Whole Life's Love" (Yong Jin Yi Sheng De Ai)
in remembrance of the late songwriter.
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| 5. |
"Nobody Is As Foolish As Me" |
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A lively number with a catchy beat written by Emil Zhou Huajian.
Nothing unusual, except here, you can see Vivian attempting to dance.
This MTV was edited for one of her Cantonese MTVs "Love Song Sha La La",
( Sha La La") so if you
missed this MTV, you can watch the Cantonese version.
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| 6. |
"Heart Full of Troubles" |
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Once again, the director uses soft focus lens to film this MTV.
Plenty of close-up shots with Vivian looking very helpless and forlorn,
sometimes on the verge of tears. This MTV was also edited for another of
her Cantonese MTVs "Devoted Heart for Devoted Love"
( ).
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| 7. |
"Breaking the Depressing Habit" |
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Vivian really looks terrific under soft focus lens. This is perhaps
because of the dream lover image that she has projected into many of her
male fans' hearts. In this MTV, viewers can see her wearing a soft white
dress, running and strolling freely about bare-footed on a beach,
sitting on tree branches ... but we don't get to see how she got up the
tree.
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| 8. |
"Confidante" |
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Now this is a duet sung by her and Tai Zhengxiao. The video clip
alternates between scenes of her and Tai writing love-notes, calling
each other up, but never meeting each other. This song became an instant
hit with karaoke enthusiasts overnight in Singapore. However, there is
one hitch : Tai has a wide voice range which many people find hard to
reach.
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| 9. |
"Leaving Your Love Everywhere" |
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A commercial hit with simple lyrics and catchy melody. Any observant
fan would notice Vivian's growing tendency towards hippy dressing here. No
obvious storyline anywhere ... the whole MTV consisted mainly of shots
involving an escalator, an ugly standing lamp, and an antique black
telephone. No one knows for sure what the male model is doing there in
the MTV.
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| 10. |
"Protection" |
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Written by one of Vivian's favourite composers, Chen Yaochuan, this
is a song about women, so don't expect to see any men in this video.
Some elaborate art direction has been attempted here, with close-up
shots of faces barely inches away from one another, silent women
sitting around a table with a candlelit lamp in the middle. It is curious
that the director had included four female models in this MTV when one
Vivian would have been enough. Perhaps he did it for the sake of
comparison.
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| 11. |
"Time" |
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Among all Vivian's MTVs, this is clearly the most melancholic one.
No bright colours, no male models, no decorated sets, no smiles. Vivian
even snipped short her trademark beautiful long tresses for this one.
But as this song was written by Vivian herself, maybe she was trying to
convey the mood of her song and reflect her coming of age. In fact, she
looked so mature that in the ending scene where she sat forlornly under
a tree while paper leaves fell about, one would almost expect to see a
toddler running to her, shouting "Mummy! Mummy!" |
| 12. |
"Are You Serious About Me?" |
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This is indeed a welcome relief from "Time". Fast-paced, cheeky, with
occasional screams from the Jade Lady herself, this song is a riot! Whew!
And as in "Leaving Your Love Everywhere", fans get to see Vivian baring her
midriff, prancing around, and making eyes at the camera. But there's
something new: Vivian left her lip-stain on, of all things, a wall when
all her male fans would have gladly offered their cheeks.
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