Clara
Some good things are worth waiting for. And Philip Wei’s debut album, Romance, is one of them. The Hong Kong-born crooner’s name, 韦雄, may not ring a bell, but that’s because he’s spent a year working towards this Aug 7 Cantonese release.
His is a musical pedigree not often seen in this age of instant, good-lookers turned singers. Perhaps, this can be credited to his vocal coach, renowned singer and performer Teresa Carpio, whom he had met in 1999, and received private training under. Or it could be because he had gone for further vocal studies at the Berklee College of Music in 2004.
In between, the Wilfred Lau look-alike, whose real name is 韦景尧, won the 2002 New Talent Singing Awards Toronto Audition, an annual contest by Fairchild Television in Toronto, where the winner of the competiton represents the city in the New Talent Singing Awards (NTSA) International Finals organised by TVB in Hong Kong. Coincidentally, Lau, a Hong Kong singer and actor, won first prize in the 1997 NTSA International Finals.
To add to his musical talent, the man’s also a linguist. According to his own official profile on alivenotdead.com, Wei, who grew up in Toronto and lived in Japan, can communicate in English, Mandarin, Cantonese and Japanese.
While in Toronto, he was also lead soloist of the school choir that had more than 100 members, dabbled in drumming and choral singing for Hong Kong and Taiwan artistes performing overseas.
When he returned to Hong Kong, he lent his voice to feature films such as Disney’s Chicken Little, worked with renowned music producer and lyricist Keith Siu Kei Chan, and played a role in the production of various 2008 Beijing Olympic Games theme songs and Hong Kong’s 2008 “30 Hour Famine” campaign theme song, among other pop numbers.
Last July, Wei signed with Star Entertainment Ltd, a recording and artiste management company established in 2007, and is its only male singer. After a little more than a year’s work, we get Romance, a mini-album containing 7 tracks consisting of 4 original songs, 2 covers, and 1 previous duet work, “恋爱令人心痛” (translated as Being In Love Causes Heartaches), with singer and actress Linda Chung.
On the first listen, the intro of the album’s hit single, “结婚” (translated as Get Married), brings to mind Vic Zhou’s “试着爱我一天” (translated as Try Loving Me for A Day). However, subsequent listens give you a sad song with the main character wishing his ex-girlfriend happiness, as she gets ready to be married to her most recent lover.
While the mini album packs 7 relatively nice love ballads, you’ll find that “樱花树下” and “我也害怕孤单” sound better than the rest, despite not being entirely new.
Track 4, “樱花树下” (translated as Underneath the Cherry Blossom Tree), originally sung by Hins Cheung, is one of the 3 bold attempts by Wei to give his rendition of a popular song. While Wei sounds more aggressive and breathy, the version by Cheung is better as he could reach the high notes more easily – sounding gentler, more precise and clearer. However, Wei does actually handle the quieter parts of the song pretty well.
“我也害怕孤单” (translated as I’m Also Afraid of Loneliness) shares the same music score as Jacky Cheung’s “离人” (translated as Person Who Walks Out), from his 1998 Mandarin album “不后悔” (translated as No Regret). Compared to “离人”, Wei’s version, which tells of someone still believing in finding his true love, despite witnessing couples break up very quickly, doesn’t sound as haunting, especially when he hits the long, high notes. “我也害怕孤单” is more subdued; the song is gentle on the ears. The last track of the album has the same song, given the twist it calls “Long Hot Summer Mix”. What this treatment gives us is a bit of R&B beats in the background, acapella and jazz elements.
Finally, the piece that stands out the most is “根本你不懂得爱我” (translated as You Just Don’t Know How To Love Me), as it’s the only track that includes English and Mandarin lyrics. Though the Cantonese line following the Mandarin line does link up quite nicely, the earlier switch from Cantonese to Mandarin is a little weird. On the other hand, Wei seems to almost imitate Jay Chou’s style of rapping by stringing the pronunciation of Mandarin words together, though not as tightly and muffled as the famed R&B artiste.
All in all, thanks to the good training and preparatory work, Romance features a vocally polished Wei, who is one of the newest Canto-pop singers to listen out for. Having said that, though Romance seems like a good start, it’d be great if the University of Toronto alumnus can experiment with a couple of up-tempo songs and have them in his next full-fledged album.
Title: Romance
Artiste: Philip Wei 韦雄
Language: Cantonese
Release date: 7 August 2009
Rating: 3.5/5 Stars
Tracklist
1 结婚
2 我也害怕孤单
3 恋爱令人心痛
4 樱花树下
5 原来只要共你活一天
6 根本你不懂得爱我
7 我也害怕孤单 (Long Hot Summer Mix)