In 2010, HOCC started to extend her presence in Taiwan by releasing the first Taiwanese album <無名．詩>. There are 11 tracks in the album, including 10 Mandarin tracks and 1 Cantonese track. Hong Kong singers release Mandarin albums usually have the same mistake, which is they lose their own style easily and always adapt Cantonese songs. However, HOCC can adhere to her personal style – use her guitar and notes to tell stories. In the album, it includes different types of song contents. Love, inspirational, or pop also can be found. About the production team, apart from the fixed music team 青山大樂隊, HOCC had invited several famous lyricists, such as Wyman, Ashin @ Mayday and Waa Wei (魏如萱), etc. Here I will introduce some my favorite tracks.
“瘋子”, which is composed by Ashin@ Mayday. The song style feels like “千千萬萬個我” from the debut album. It is a rock ballad that talking about someone who has lost love before talks to another one who has failure in love. Losing love does not mean the end of the world. Please do not repeat what I have done before (你是我昨天的樣子 我是你今天的固執 難道明天是 世界末日 才懂得自私). It also tells the audience do not controlled by anyone; even others say we are mad people. Remember we should be ourselves, insistence is the real happiness (沒錯我 是瘋子有什麼 能比快樂還 真實).
“In The End” is the only one track that combined by stringed music. Mavis Fan (范曉萱) writes what HOCC wants to say. The first two sentences (Home 我從那起頭 而Home 卻也留不住我) divulge that home (does it mean Hong Kong music industry?) cannot make her to stay. So choose to leave and pursue a better life or higher level. I think this like nowadays people who are looking for so-called “me”. If a place where cannot satisfy them, leave is a choice. However, “me” is actually what I am looking for (原來我就是當初在尋找的那個夢 我努力過 我真實地 存在過). Pursuing does not have end. Just continue the journey with happiness and contentment (In The End 沒有終點 找回我最原始快樂可愛的那一面 繼續冒險 繼續向前).
Finally, I think <無名．詩> is the best album of HOCC since "Ten days in the Madhouse" in 2008. This album does not have such heavy theme like "Ten days in the Madhouse" and "Heroes". She does not change her music style expressly in order to match the market, although it is the first album releases in Taiwan. Maybe the first track, “詩與胡說” has already told us that “管他的 好結果 壞結果 我只負責 想到就說”. No matter extend the presence in Taiwan is a risk or an illusion, for HOCC, this is just a drivel. No one knows ridiculous thoughts are useful or not -- 是詩歌 是胡說 偉大夢想 最初聽來 大概也 差不多 你就讓我說.
By Ma Oi Man, Mandy (10447219)
Tell you something, I like Denise Ho very much too! I agree that she has her own ways of telling stories through music. This Taiwanese album definitely shows her authentic personality (should be “perceived authentic self", as decoded by an audience like me). I love many of the songs since I can be very “crazy” too!
ReplyDeleteYou have conducted a very brief textual analysis of a few selected songs, with a little self-reflection, but the concept is not very clearly stated. Perhaps you can organize your thoughts and feelings around one central theme, which is “searching for one’s identity”. How can audience identify with the lyrics/songs and reaffirm his/her own identity? What kinds of imagined communities are formed during the consumption of ? In particular, what are the values/pleasures can you derive from the songs?