Ivana Wong
I Love My Name
Ivana Wong 王菀之 is one of the more notable newcomer in 2005’s Hong Kong music industry. “I Love My Name” is her second album. Both her albums’ covers do not have her face on them; on the cover of the first album are a few trees while on the second there’s a cute little bird.
Yeah, her look is mediocre, but she does have talent. All the songs in the album are composed and written by her, except for “Love Has It All”, of which interestingly her mother wrote the lyrics.
Her songs are rather different from the main HK pop songs. Most of them have a mystery, dreamy feel and unique arrangement. While K-songs are prevailing in the HK entertainment industry, it is refreshing to hear a newcomer with an alternative album.
“Shou Wang” is both romantic and comfortable. There’s two versions, where one is featuring Hins Cheung. “Xiao Xin Yi Sui” and “Lei Dian” both have interesting melody and arrangement. “Mian Che Bu Ya” is a fast tempo electronic song and the chorus has a resemblance of Faye Wong’s vocal. “Hu Ran Qi Wu”, like the title of the song, has a waltz influence. On the other hand “Love Has It All” is cute and lively English song. Ivana’s diction is pretty good. There’re also 2 Mandarin songs - “Xiao Tian Shi” and “Wo Xiang Bu Qi” - in the album, showing that she not only can handle Cantonese songs, but also songs in other languages well.
Her main weakness is that her vocal is very weak. It is as if she’s singing with falsetto all the time. Or maybe that is her style? In fact her speaking voice is same as such. It’s very soft and delicate.
There is variety in each song but the feel of the album is consistent. That’s what makes it a good album. The album is a breath of fresh air.
Track listing:
1. 手望 Shou Wang (Watching)
2. 小心易碎 Xiao Xin Yi Sui (Cautious, Fragile)
3. 雷电 Lei Dian (Lightning)
4. 面斥不雅 Mian Che Bu Ya (Quarrel)
5. 忽然起舞 Hu Ran Qi Wu (Dancing Suddenly)
6. Love Has It All
7. 多得你梦 Duo De Ni Meng (Thanks to Your Dream)
8. 爱自己 Ai Zi Ji (Love Myself)
9. 小天使 Xiao Tian Shi (Little Angel)
10. 我想不起 Wo Xiang Bu Qi (I Can’t Remember)
11. 手望 (守望版) - 王菀之/张敬轩 [Watching (feat. Hins Cheung)]
Recommended tracks: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6
Written by ~Jessy~ on Jan 14, 2006
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16 Comments, Join the discussion
Swifty
Hm. I suggest you guys to use feedburner.com and feedblitz.com (especially the latter, for the email notifications whenever there are updates), can save you guys lots of trouble.
Jan 14th, 2006
fatamorgana*
Hi! I was wondering why her album was so titled. :)
Jan 18th, 2006
~Jessy~
Hi Fatamorgana,
Sorry I don’t know it myself.
But that line appears in the lyrics of track 7.
Maybe it’s just an idea and she really loves her name? That’s the only reason I can think of. ;)
Jan 18th, 2006
Jenson
Hello,
I love your great site as I can read great review about chinese music scene. Ivana is one of talent singer and I am proud to say that I own 2 album of hers.
Jan 27th, 2006
~Jessy~
Hi Jenson,
I think Ivana is very talented. She will have a great career ahead of her.
Jan 27th, 2006
Jacky
Hi Jessy,
I’m usually not a big fan of hkpop and the only times when I listen to hkpop is at “Ka-La-Ok” but Ivana Wong is really a charm. Her musically talent certainly captured my attention. I would like to know more bout her and here are my two questions:
(1) She mentioned before that she’s from Canada. Do you know where in Canada? (I wanna know where she reppin)
(2) Does she have an official website? Can’t seem to find one besides the one on Universal Music HK.
Jul 5th, 2006
~Jessy~
Hi Jacky,
Thanks for your message.
No, I have no idea which part of Canada she’s from.
About the official website, I’m pretty sure that the only official website is the one on Universal Music.
I searched and found this site which is a forum of her fan club. You can have a look.
http://ivana.ustage.com/forum/
Jul 5th, 2006
Jacky
Hi Jessy,
Forgot to ask my initial question, so I would like my 3rd:
(3) She has a song called 請不要說 and its her rendition of Fiona’shit’s 小黑與我. Is there a release for that song (can’t seem to find it)
Heard it on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InWJdPIspAw&search=%E7%8E%8B%E8%8F%80%E4%B9%8B
Jul 5th, 2006
~Jessy~
No, the song is not released.
It’s a demo.
Jul 5th, 2006
fiza
hye jesse..
thanx to hins cuz thru him i get to know ivana..her voice juz cute and has the classic feeling..and i really admire her after watching her performance in the concert she had with hins(the 903 live concert..something like tat..)her voice is really great,esp singing the ‘qi qiu’ song duet with hins and alex fong..she controlled the song..it was great!!=)
Dec 20th, 2006
~Jessy~
Fiza, Too bad I din get to watch the concert. Looks like it’s really good.
Dec 20th, 2006
fiza
tat concert was great!!!..i envied ivana cuz she is juz tat talented and great and she had the chance to hv a concert wif hins(hehe..ignore the latter,tat’s totally not me =P)
u can get the vcds or the dvd from any music stores,but i think they kinda out of stock now..mine i get it by ordering it fisrt..
Dec 23rd, 2006
Perdita
Hello, Fellow fans of Ivana,
I just wanted to post an update for any newcomer fans of Ivana.
The story behind her name is that she was originally named Wong Oi-Chi, which sounds like the name for AIDs in Cantonese. That’s why her mother changed her name to Yun-Chi.
It’s not clear which name loves, but probably both because her mother gave them to her.
Mar 17th, 2007
Angie
Wow, I am so happy to find her fans here…yea, she came from British columbia I think…and she did go to UBC (university of British Columbia) but didn’t finish her economics degree…who knows why…but thank God she went into music (I used to hate it but now I love the feel of it…she’s so talented…I hope she continues writing songs for other singers as well for herself.)
you know when hins and ivana will come to Canada and have a concert here…?
I hope she doesn’t have to focus on so much of the Hong Kong music industry tactics (it’s too bad the REAL musicians have to spend so much time on the promotion of their new CD’s that there’s no time for them to express themselves fully on their music)
Mar 21st, 2007
eM
I just heard about Ivana Wong today, when I accidentally opened a video with her song as the background music, which was “love has it all”, and i immediately fell in love with her voice. .
i think i’ll consider buying her album, tee hee!
but help, i really really want to know te lyrics of “love has it all”, since it’s my current fave of her songs, but i can’t google the lyrics!
could anyone e-mail it to me if you know?
thanks a lot!~~
Jul 28th, 2007
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