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The Glass Palace: A Novel
By Amitav Ghosh

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"'My first impression of Jay was that he was so shy, so quiet," Wu recalls. "I thought he was retarded. I didn't think Chou could make it as an entertainer because he's not so handsome.
How did a kid with an overbite, aquiline nose and receding chin displace the Nicholases and Andys and Jackys to become Asia's hottest pop star? The explanation starts somewhere back in that stuffy studio, with the discipline and the songs and the revolutionary idea that the music actually matters. 'Even when my female fans approach me, they don't tell me that I'm handsome,' Chou explains. 'They tell me they like my music. It's my music that has charmed them.'
As a boy, Chou was called retarded. Stupid. Yu tsun. Ellen Hsu, his high school English teacher, figured Chou had a learning disability: 'He had very few facial expressions; I thought he was dumb.' The kid couldn't focus on math, science, didn't bother with his English homework. But his mother, Ye Hui-mei, noticed that the quiet, shy boy seemed to practically vibrate when he heard the Western pop music she used to play. 'He was sensitive to music before he could walk,' she recalls. Ye enrolled him in piano school when he was four. And the kid could play. He practiced like a fiend, focusing on the keys the way other children his age focused on a scoop of ice cream."

-- Kate Drake [Time Asia]
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The inevitable, very comprehensive, rambling-on-end, raving-about-Jay-Chou entry>

I love music. I eat it up every chance I get and will listen to any genre of music that's plopped down in front of me. Wherever I am, it's constantly playing, whether it's the somber notes of the Irish whistle I listen to while studying, the loud wails of Aerosmith and U2 I blast while driving, or even the popalicious beats of Britney I turn up while cooking (aka mixing various random items around in a pot to see how it turns out), it's always around me. Lately, I've been listening to nothing but Jay Chou. I'm not so sure what it is about him that sets him apart from all the other Chinese pop/R&B acts, but, as cliche as it sounds, I truly think that it's all about his total passion and devotion to the music.

 

Like with his previous albums, his latest album, Ye Hui Mei (named after his dear mother), plays like a soundtrack to a movie. You can tell he had fun experimenting on this album and can see just how far he allowed his musical genius run wild this time around. Even after his fourth album and the fact that I have listened to his songs hundreds of times over, he still manages to surprise me. Some of his songs are just downright weird, full of eccentric rhythms, effects, and wails. But despite all the odd weirdness, it all adds to the charm of the album and also brings an extra layer of complexity that makes me notice something different in Ye Hui Mei every time I listen to it.

I love his voice. I love the slurred syllables. I love the brooding lamenting plea in Qing Tian (Fine Day), the mellow nonchalant tone in Yi Fu Zhi Ming (In the Name of the Father), the fusion of tribal chants in Ti Tian (Terraced Fields) and the driving rapping intensity of Shuang Dao (Double Blade).

I also love the lyrics. After looking up the translations, I found out that not all of his songs are sappy love songs. He writes freely?almost poetically, and so his lyrics come out sounding like a sort of soliloquy. He vents about the disappearing Chinese ruralscape in Ti Tian (Terraced Fields): People's sweat mixed with satisfaction, cheers and laughter/ How come the terraced fields are missing?/ They've become paintings that hang from walls/ I can't educate you/I'm not your teacher/I'm not the headmaster/And I can't give you a slap, slap, slap or long, long, long lengthy speech/You might not want to listen/But I donกฆt have any other way/That is why I need to write. Ever the Bruce Lee aficionado, this album, like all of his albums, has at least one kung-fu related song, as seen in Shuang Dao (Double Blade) where he paints the beginning of a sword fight: The moon above/That color - Chinese yellow/Wind flies around the hazy smoke/I light incense/Pray for safety and security/I see through all the resentment/The vision of the red phoenix eyes.

Nuo Fo (Coward), explodes with huge rock overtones and blazing guitar riffs. If not for the Mandarin, it could easily be mistaken for a Linkin Park song.  Very very cool.  Shuang Dao (Double Blade) is another rocking song that, despite the driving electric guitars, still manages to squeeze in piano runs, dramatic string arrangements and lutes in between the ferocious sword slashes that keep beat to his vigorous rapping.

Going all the way with effects and experimenting this time around, Tong Yi Zhong Diao Diao (Same Old Tune) has a sort of Flamenco music break of some sorts in the middle of the song where the tap-tap-tapping of the dancers' shoes keep time to the music.  Eccentric rhythms and effects, but oddly catchy at the same time.

In Ta De Jie Mao (Her Eyelashes), Jay raps with a sort of slick, confident swagger before bursting into a chorus with harmonies so infectious, I've been humming it nonstop for the past week. Qing Tian (Fine Day) has Jay singing his heart out, you can't help but think, now there's a guy with a broken heart; makes you want to give him a big hug even though you can't understand a single word he's saying.

San Nian Er Ban (Third Year Class Two) is sheer genius.  Bouncing ping pong balls actually keep beat to Jay's very infectious rapping.  Hard to imagine, I know, but you have to hear it to believe it. 

Not all the songs are fast, there's a few ballads, too.  Ni Ting De Dao (Can You Hear?) is a trademark Jay ballad I bet he could easily squeeze out in his sleep.  Ai Qing Xuan Ya (Cliff of Love) starts off with a little piano snippet I think is from Beethoven's Fur Elise, (but set in a different key).  It reminds me of Train, or even Coldplay's material, because it's a ballad with that sort of lite-rock feel.  It's sad, it's brooding and it's Jay singing with so much yearning, I can already hear all the girls crying out in sympathy (despite the slightly cliche lyrics) as he "falls down the cliff of love" as "time buries [him]".

Yi Fu Zhi Ming (In the Name of the Father) sets you right in the middle of an Italian mafia movie complete with firing gun shots, rueful apologies to God, bitter regrets about past sins, murmured "Our Father" prayers in Italian and a shrill soprano belting out Pie Jesu smack in the middle of the song. The first few lines set the scene: The slightly cool morning dew/Moistens the black ceremonial robe/There is mist on the stone road/Father is whispering/Feeling hopeless, becoming aware/Who is it that treads so soft and lightly?/Theyกฆve stopped/Too late to cry out/The bullet that passes through/Takes away the warmth of life. The rapping is impeccable and the syncopated rhythm will hook and reel you in immediately. It's eerie, it's creepy, and with the shrill soprano you can almost feel the Phantom of the Opera lurking in the background. It's plain weird, but I love it. Oh, and Jay looked oh so cool with the suit and shades in the music video. Hoo yeah. He really pulled out the big guns this time (quite literally, actually... guns were firing left and right), who would've thought he could pull off that tough-guy, mafia look?

 

Dong Feng Po (East Wind Breaks) is my favorite song on the album. I heard it the first time and got goose bumps from the rich, melancholic strains of the Erhu. It's so effective, and so unexpected, this gorgeous classical Chinese instrument that reminds me of the old Chinese songs my ah-ma used to play. It simply rises forth and sings above the quiet percussion and western rhythms. The light sprinkles of the Dulcimer are lovely, lovely, lovely and accompanies Jay beautifully as his voice dips and slides in all the right places. The fusion of east and west is seamless, and who can deny that it's such a pretty song?

Another stand-out track is the absolutely magnificent Ti Tian (Terraced Fields).  It's fuckin brilliant and is an exotic mixture that incorporates  aboriginal Taiwanese chanting with beautiful vocal arrangements and quiet piano playing.  Jay's rapping is understated and subdued, but has a building intensity that fuses seamlessly with the chanting.  This is, hands down, the masterpiece of the album.

Jay Chou is hardly a one-hit wonder or fabricated Mando-star.  He's a musical genius whose classical training (piano & cello) and sheer creativity has allowed him to push the boundries of the Asian music industry one step further with each new album, setting him apart and in a completely different genre from other Chinese pop/R&B acts and artists.  This article from Time Asia summarizes it best:

 "What makes Chou's music successful, and distinctive from all the boys who would be Jay, is that when he sings that he is hurting or yearning or that he needs you so bad, you believe him. His delivery is Boyz II Men-smooth, and he hits those notes with a conviction born of having proved himself as a songwriter. Remember, he spent nearly two years in that studio watching and hearing what worked and what didn't, and the results of that dues paying are a confidence and a swagger that comes across on disc. On CDs like Jay, Fantasy Life and Eight Dimensions, you're listening to a man who believes in the musical choices he is making, who knows he is right. He is not singing what some manager in an office somewhere has told him will be a hit; he is singing his heart out, right now, for you."

Another stellar album and no more breath left to rave. Hooray for Jay Chou.

The inevitable, very comprehensive, rambling-on-end, raving-about-Jay-Chou entry>

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