In Continuum.

As Hanwei so aptly put it on his MSN nickname, the only place that his new album belongs is in your computer's trash, because it is just so generic and formulaic that it doesn't not deserve the few megabytes on your computer at all. With every subsequent album, you refuse to evolve and you refuse to change. You stick to one single boring and lousy formula, exploiting the fact that majority of the fans of chinese music are just gullible and simple-minded people. It really isn't their fault that they are the way they are. They just haven't been exposed to the variety of music out there, which is also why they have fallen head over heels for your music. Let's say a canteen serves only three types of food: A, B, and C. After a year of serving the same dishes every single day, you ask the people there their favorite dish out of the three. Initially, they are going to say all three of them are horrible because they've tasted them continuously for a year. But there has to be one of them that taste better than the other two, it's just the repetition that has sickened them. So you kind of think that these people like B, for example, and you just keep serving B to these people, just with slight variations. Maybe today you have mash potatoes with the steak, then tomorrow you add chips. They are so going to fall for it after a while. Yes, humans are that easy to control, you don't need to be a rocket scientist to do that. 

So yes, you suck. But a lot of people love you, no matter what horrors you decide to release into the record stores. I have just listened to a new song from your album, and it could have very well been a song from your first album. The truth is, your songs are the same no matter what you try to do with it. Actually, it'd be nice if you actually tried, because you don't. You don't try to change, you don't attempt to evolve. You are afraid to have a Kid A album, that is if you know what I am talking about. You play it safe, you do not think outside the box. You are a shame to the music world, because you are in it for the money and nothing else. Maybe the fame and the sex, but that is besides the point. Collective, you, and all the other money-seeking singers out there, are the scum of the universe. You guys do not serve the praise or the respect that you deserve, because those things are usually hard earned. There are so many better bands and singers going unheard of, because people like you are always hogging the limelight with your utter and complete trash. I am harsh, but that is only because your music sucks so bad. 

So my sub-nick seems to have attracted the complaints of a few fangirls in my MSN contacts. A friend of mine vehemently defended him, and said that maybe I am just being biased and that I have prejudice against whatever that he does. In truth, I think a lot of people have neglected the possibility that, maybe I do not hate him because of his achievements. I hate him because he sucks, and I have been right all along. She really wanted me to learn to like him, for some reason, but the fact of the matter is I don't suppose I wanted to invest my time in trying to appreciate something I deem as trash. It is kind of like how certain Thai people in Thailand think that snake meat are delicacies, something which I might not be ready to accept as being correct. OK, maybe not snake meat, but a certain tribe living in north Africa considers camel testicles to be a delicacy. Of course, I probably am never going to try to learn and appreciate something like that - ever. She wanted to send me a song which she thought to be the best song of his. I have heard of the song, and let's face it: the only good thing about the song is the lyrics, and he didn't even write them himself. 

I brought up one song from his previous album, that horrendous cowboy song you might remember me blogging about some time last year, maybe. The music video involved him in a ridiculous cowboy suit, in a roadside diner drinking milk and doing some retarded choreography. She argued that every singer has a song that isn't that great as compared to the others - agreed. However, I argued, no one falls that low. That was probably the worst song I have heard, and the music video never fails to make me feel ashamed to have the same kind of blood flowing through my veins. It's just embarrassing, to know that those smiling caucasians in the music video are probably thinking how stupid the whole thing was. You put him next to someone like Justin Timberlake, for example, and you see how mediocre he is. In this context, however, "mediocre" just seems like a compliment for him. A lot of you may disagree, in fact a lot of you might just throw rotten tomatoes at me for saying the above, but it's true. I have been there, I have liked his music before. I suppose I am objective enough to comment on how far he has fell. 

That is not to say that there are no talents in Taiwan. Seriously, Taiwan is filled with those. They are just not nearly as famous, not nearly as well-known. They don't sell as many records, they might not look as beautiful, or they might not be doing the kind of mainstream music that sells. It is a shame, because I have heard some amazing songs in mandarin that are just mind-blowing altogether. Below are two female artistes whom, I think, run circles around Jay Chou. They are awesome, very very awesome, and words can't even describe how amazing the second song is. Let me just say, that they make Jay Chou look like a very lousy choir boy. Take some time off to listen to these gems. I swear, Jay Chou's songs instantaneously become pure noise. 

躺在你的衣柜 by 陳綺貞


寶貝 by 張懸 (I smile with this song, every single time)