Rarely do people who’ve interacted with Channel U’s Project Superstar inaugural champion Kelvin Tan WeiLian end up disliking him. There’s just something about the chap that is endearing and genuine that makes talking to him such a delight.

He’s not your typical smooth-talking artiste who responds as if he had crammed a few weeks’ worth of public relations speeches prior to the interview. Having said that, there are even fewer who have heard of his songs and are not touched by the emotional undertones of his songs and the clarity of his voice.

That’s why it came to no one’s surprise when Kelvin’s 1st solo debut album All I Want Is… Chen WeiLian, which was released last year in January, hit triple platinum status in Singapore and platinum status in Malaysia.

Following on the success of All I Want Is… Chen WeiLian is Kelvin’s latest album that is named I-WeiLian. “The Taiwan side… thought that it would be a good idea to name this album I-WeiLian because it’s like introducing me [Kelvin] to the Taiwanese market,” Kelvin said in Mandarin.

The 10-track album was released early August in Taiwan and was recently launched in Singapore on Sep 18.

Although sales were nowhere as good as the previous album, Kelvin is keeping his hopes and expectations relatively low.

“I want to be practical about this. Following the recent market trends, I would be happy if this album could perform as well as the previous one did,” the visually challenged star mused humbly.

“The Taiwanese market is not that much different compared to Singapore’s. Maybe it’s because Singapore’s music is largely influenced by Taiwan.”

Fans of Kelvin, who are dying to hear their idol croon more original songs and less covers, would be happy to note that his 2nd album consists of considerably less covers as compared to its predecessor.

“The most memorable song has to be “Leftover”. There were many high notes in this song that I had to work on this song a lot longer than others. Personally, I really like “Dear, have a good dream”. When I sang this song, I put myself in the shoes of someone who is in a foreign land and is contacting his girlfriend overseas. The lyrics are very simple and personal.”

I-WeiLian, however, will not offer fans any surprises. Although there are fewer covers, I-WeiLian feels like an extension of the previous album rather than a spanking new one for local tastes in terms of Kelvin’s style. Nevertheless, as we have come to expect of Kelvin, the songs are pleasantly soothing and pretty much still within his expertise of love songs.

The music breakthrough this time round has to be “Mistake”. It’s the first time Kelvin dabbled in rapping. As rap is a totally new genre to him, Kelvin admitted to not knowing what to do when he first stepped into the studio. “The producers told me to just sing like how an angmoh would speak in Mandarin,” Kelvin laughed at the fond memory. Those who are comfortable with Kelvin’s style of music will find the upbeats a tad overwhelming.

All in all, I-WeiLian is a pleasing experience aurally. The songs are rather catchy, especially perennial favourites, like “Voices Of The Heartlanders”. Buy it if you’re not sick of sappy love/break-up songs or if your therapist recommends something to jerk your tear glands.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

I-WeiLian can be found in all music stores now!