Lightyears

I am super excited for the 2nd leg of A*mei Zhang Hui Mei’s Star Tour! This time the Taiwanese Pop Diva will be travelling to North America and Japan, and also Singapore (again)!! Tickets are already on sale for these performances, including the Singapore show, which started at 9 this morning! And of course, I have gotten my tickets already! Hopefully the A34 side will be the side she faces more often this time round (she faced the A15 side more last year, and thankfully I was on that side!). Oh yes, the concert will be held on 4th October (Sat) at the Singapore Indoor Stadium!

Anyway, I hope the setlist will be slightly altered this time round to make the show even more exciting, and probably her alter-ego thing, Amit, will show up as well, like what happened at the 19th Golden Melody Awards in Taiwan just a few weeks ago. View her performance here: http://www.im.tv/vlog/personal/2366751/4557273

This time I will try to take less pictures so that I can enjoy the concert even more, and also will bring more cash to get some of the tour merchandise!!!

For the North America leg of her tour, she will be performing at Harvey’s Lake Tahoe/ Harveys Outdoor Arena on 19th July, and also River Rock Show Theatre on 22nd July. In Japan, she will be having shows in the ACT Theatre on 22nd and 23rd September!! I think the performances at these places will be spectacular!

Lastly, the links to get the tickets online are as follows:

Harvey’s Lake Tahoe :
http://www.harrahs.com/EventsDetail.do?locationCode=HLT&detailName=a-mei-2008-detail&eventTitle=A-Mei%20live%20in%20Concert

River Rock Show Theatre: http://www.riverrock.com/entertainment/river_rock_show_theatre/performances/event07220801.aspx or http://www.ticketmaster.ca/event/110040CBB8A695B2?brand=gca_riverrock&camefrom=CFC_GREATCANADIAN

ACT Theatre:
http://www.tbs.co.jp/act/event/ameilive2008/

Singapore Indoor Stadium:
http://www.sistic.com.sg/portal/dt?dt.isPortletRequest=true&dt.action=process&dt.provider=PortletWindowProcessChannel&dt.windowProvider.targetPortletChannel=JSPTabContainer/sEventsCalendar/Event&dt.containerName=JSPTabContainer/sEventsCalendar&dt.windowProvider.currentChannelMode=VIEW&dt.window.portletAction=RENDER&contentCode=amei1008

 Get your tickets before they sell out!

Elva is back with Virgin Music! She never should have left anyway, since she was really well treated over there. Anyway, I was really looking forward to hearing her new music, until when I finally heard it…

As much as I do not want to compare her current album to her previous Virgin Music albums, I am pretty much forced into doing so. Firstly, her vocals are not as strong, in the sense that she glides through some notes, and quite a bit of lazy singing here and there. It was really obvious on her first (and final) album with Warner Music, “1087″. She probably needs better producers…

Ballads used to be one of her strengths, but recently they prove to be one of her weaknesses. Even with rather good songs like “Chong Dong”, “Shi Guang Sui Dao”, “Zhi Hou” and “Ni Kan Bu Jian De Di Fang”, she doesn’t really shine. She needs to be more sensitive to the lyrics and song I think.

On the other hand, the quick tempo songs sound much better. The first single off her album, “I’ll Be There” is one of the better tracks on the album, and is paired with a great mv. The oriental-infused urban track of “Baby Girl” is also not bad. Same for “More More More”.

Overall, I think Elva needs to do some work on her vocals. Song choice is rather ok for this album, what it lacks is the vocalist she used to be.

3 out of 5

I’ll Be There:

Chong Dong:

 More More More:

Liang Ge Ren De Ji Mo:

It’s been quite some time since I heard an amazing voice, and I have to say Leona Lewis’ voice really blew me away. I have never watched “X-Factor” but somehow I got to know of her voice and name, through my friend. I would say her delivery is somewhat like Whitney Houston’s and Celine Dion’s, just that she has a Mariah Carey-like voice. At times, she sounds like Kelly Clarkson too. God knows where she has been all this while.

Her debut album, “Spirit” (the first album I bought this year!), is a collection of ballads, with only some mid-tempo songs. The former is probably what she does best, and the whole album is full of them. Her first single “Bleeding Love” is a great song, with great beats, and somewhat catchy too. A great song to introduce her to the world!

For a new artist, it’s amazing how sensitive she is towards the lyrics she sings, and to deliver songs without overloading them with emotions is trully stunning. And it helps to have a voice with great clarity too. My favourite tracks have to be “Here I Am”, “Bleeding Love”, “Whatever It Takes” and “Footprints in the Sand”. I can’t wait to hear what she has to offer in time to come!

Rating: 4 / 5