Jay Chou
November’s Chopin (Shi Yi Yue De Xiao Bang)
The much anticipated 6th album promptly titled 十一月的箫邦 (November’s Chopin) of Chinese R&B king was finally released (1st November 2005). This brand new album features 10 brand new songs, plus 2 additional bonus soundtracks from the Initial D OST.
1) 夜曲 (Ye qu)
2) 蓝色风暴 (Lan se feng bao)
3) 发如雪 (Fa ru xue)
4) 黑色毛衣 (Hei se mao yi)
5) 四面楚歌 (Si mian chu ge)
6) 枫 (Feng)
7) 浪漫手机 (Lang man shou ji)
8) 逆鳞 (Ni lin)
9) 麦芽糖 (Mai ya tang)
10) 珊瑚海 (feat. Lara) (Shan hu hai)
11) 飘移 (Piao yi)
12) 一路向北 (Yi lu xiang bei)
If you’re a big fan (like me) of Jay’s love ballads, then you’d like this album. If you like Jay’s fast rhythm mumble-rap, you’d like this album too! About half of the album is split into slow, sentimental ballads and another half are fast songs with furious raps. I haven’t gone through all the lyrics in this album, so the assumptions are based on my views alone.
I believe most of you have heard 夜曲 and i really like this song. The lyrics (written by Vincent Fong) are very meaningful and it’s about a love song I believe, written to a guy’s dead lover. It’s fast, but at the same time, you feel the sorrow in this song. This’ only my guess, but probably Jay’s doing this song as a sign that his love for his old lovers is dead. He only loves Patty Hou now? :) I like how it’s being done; a modern r&b song with a classical touch.
发如雪 (Hair Like Snow) is probably written to Jay’s girlfriend, Patty Hou. I’ve yet seen the lyrics but this song gives a very ‘ancient’ feeling about a guy professing his love, you know, something like a Chinese poet doing it under a full moon. 黑色毛衣 (Black Sweater) is another very nicely done love ballad with perfectly fitted guitar+percussion accompaniment. It’s really one of my favourite songs in this album.
枫 means fallen leaves in autumn or something like that (correct me if i’m wrong) and well, the feeling autum. Lovers clad in jackets, holding hands, overcoming the angry wind of near winter. This’ why i said his songs and lyrics are meaningful, you get that feeling to go with when you listen to the songs. Another nice ballad, with the orchestra but it somehow sounded a bit like a national anthem though.
浪漫手机 (romantic handphone?) is also a love ballad, with heavier percussion but i thought it somehow reminded of his old song “Xing Qing”. 珊瑚海 (Coral Sea) features Lara from Nanquan mama, and i must say it’s a very good romantic ballad as i think the song itself is quite hard to sing. After listening to it for a few times, I notice in a few parts, Jay had to strain his vocals rather hard to keep up with Lara’s high pitch voice.
For Jay’s rap fans, then 蓝色风暴, 四面楚歌 (has a rather angry feeling, as he’s talking about those paparazzis who are always invading his privacy; hence you’d hear a lot of ‘dogs’ in this song), 逆鳞, and 麦芽糖 (which has quite a similar feeling to the happy “Yuan You Hui”). The rap songs don’t really appeal to me, but 蓝色风暴 started off like a requiem mass until the phone dials and turntablists start coming in.
飘移 and 一路向北 need to introduction. This version of 飘移 is different from the original ost, especially the beginning. The beginning is actually a dialogue from one of the scenes in Initial D. Remember when Takumi’s father place a cup of water in the car and ask him not to spill even a drop? Yeap, that’s the starting of this version of Piao Yi. 一路向北 is one of the songs i won’t grow tired of, as it has this very nice feeling when i listen to it. It’s the same as the original ost.
I’d give this album 4.5/5, like what i gave in my site as i feel that Jay has some more room for improvement, especially in his vocals. No doubt Jay doesn’t have the best or strongest vocal around, but he has a very versatile voice, enabling him to sing all these songs. I’d truly recommend this album, so those who still don’t have it, don’t hesitate.
*I’d try posting the romanised lyrics ASAP*. Exam time! :) Enjoy this album, and have a good night!
Written by Alex on Nov 2, 2005
Get Updates by Email
Subscribe To RSS Feed
60 Comments, Join the discussion
Steve
Longest review so far in here! Nice. Good luck in your exam :D
Nov 3rd, 2005
~Jessy~
Nice one, Alex! :)
Nov 3rd, 2005
Alex
:D this review too long, haha i duno how to make short reviews lol. thanks jessy.
Nov 3rd, 2005
zjl
Meanwhile this site has all the romanized lyrics
http://www.geocities.com/musicpara/Jay.htm
Great site u haf here
Nov 6th, 2005
Alex
zjl: thanks. but tat site, i can only see chinese characters lol.
Nov 7th, 2005
~Jessy~
Finally listened to the whole album.
In fact I don’t think the album is appropriately titled “November’s Chopin”.
It’s music is nothing like Chopin’s music at all, except that it’s title song is named Nocturne, which is Chopin’s favorite and most famous type of composition.
Nov 8th, 2005
Alex
Jessy: i think u’ve got a good point there. if he were to title it nov’s chopin, he shud make the whole album more classical. I’m downloading this Chopin collection by arthur rubinstein. almost 1gb of mp3 :D
Nov 8th, 2005
~Jessy~
Hehe… Chopin rocks! :D
Nov 8th, 2005
Han-Da
When you say “I feel that Jay has some more room for improvement, especially in his vocals. No doubt Jay doesn’t have the best or strongest vocal around, but he has a very versatile voice, enabling him to sing all these songs.”
To me, I think he has a really amazing voice already, one that is high and also can twist his voice into sounding different in a couple of songs. He can reach really high notes, can you reccomend anyone else with better vocals?
Nov 12th, 2005
~Jessy~
Not that I’m a Lee Hom fan, but I think Lee Hom definitely sings better than Jay.
Nov 13th, 2005
Uyen
hi guys, i was wondering do you have the lyrics and translation for “枫 (Feng”, if not could you please translate it for me??
Nov 15th, 2005
zjl
click on “Hanyu” at the bottom of each lyrics.
if you can’t find, just CTRL+F “Hanyu”
http://www.geocities.com/musicpara/Jay.htm
Nov 16th, 2005
Manh Nguyen
ye plzzz … November’s Chopin is the firs album of Jay Chou that I listen to … love ittt … but don’t understand anything … lol …
Nov 17th, 2005
Steve
Nguyen, we translated some of the lyrics here. See if you can understand ;) http://chinesemusicblog.com/male-artist/jay-chou-ye-qu-nocturne-lyrics-and-english-translation
Nov 17th, 2005
Steve
U yen: Our fellow guest blogger has translated the lyrics here: http://ajay.bloglin.com/?p=184
Enjoy!
Nov 17th, 2005
mel
hey…have read your blog a few times…some nice reviews…but…how about a review about my fave, david tao? or…a good runner-up, jj lin? that’s the answer to the question of who sings better than jay! sorry, jay fans…i like jay, too, but his voice is not that strong, in my opinion. even though i like him…he sounds kind of whiny to me sometimes! plus, he is a big time mumbler.
Nov 17th, 2005
Uyen
thank you very much, i’ll check it out now, Manh im just like you, love it but i dont understand much
Nov 19th, 2005
Jeff
Just got the album… have to start listening to it…
Any chance of adding the English title of the songs to the list above?
Thanks!
Nov 21st, 2005
cydney ee
i love most of ur songs jay….the 1 i like the most is *ye qu* *fa ru xue* *hei se mao yi* *yi lu xiang bei* thats all …… always supporting u……
Nov 25th, 2005
num007
Oh I like Jay
Nov 26th, 2005
Jazlyn
I love fa ru xue to bitz.. it’s so nice.. and i like shan hu hai.. oohh.. i love ballads.. and jay carried it well . thunmbs up!
Dec 2nd, 2005
canal feng
jay ur r mar`ver`lous`. wa respect lu….
Dec 2nd, 2005
angela
jay is the best
顺便问下….
这里有没有人会中文啊
anyways…..I love every single song that jay wrotes
Dec 3rd, 2005
Yue
Do you have all the lyrics of Jay Chou ?
I want to sing with him when I listen to his music .
Dec 3rd, 2005
sherry
jay is rily cool…love this album..(especially hair like snow…so touching)he is the best!!
Dec 8th, 2005
Jazlyn
Hey, check out this story .. Jay Chou’s song “Kai Bu Liao Lou” made into a story, translated in english. Leave a review ! =)
http://www.fictionpress.com/read.php?storyid=2064352
Dec 9th, 2005
Takeshi
ชอบเพลง Piao yi ครับ
จากหนัง initial D
แล้วก็ชอบ Chopin เหมือนกันครับ
Dec 10th, 2005
num007
fdfdf
Dec 11th, 2005
chirstina
jay chou is the best singer in the world i love u
Dec 25th, 2005
zac
music is veri subjective…so why bothers who can sing better? as long as u like it. personally i tink November’s Chopin is jay’s best album so far…almost all the songs r nice, esp his ’san hu hai’…contrary to so many other ‘rubbish’ albums we find in the chinese music industry…of course there r a few good ones like david tao,lee hom. feels jay is really a ‘cai zi’. hope he keeps producing good songs
Jan 1st, 2006
Alex
omg i’ve been away for so long. good to see this website’s growing. i’d be writing a review on Jay’s new songs again- theme song from Fearless :)
Jan 31st, 2006
capt. wesley
>>枫 means fallen leaves in autumn or something like that (correct me if i’m wrong)
楓 (chn.=feng; jpn.=kaede) is a kind of tree. leaves become red in autumn and you can see it in canada national flag.
Feb 4th, 2006
oliverlowlityeh
i love jay chao
Feb 19th, 2006
wm
can anyone post the english translation of feng pls? =D
Feb 19th, 2006
james
jay roks man…i love his songs…i bought all his albums!!!he is so coolllll!!!!!!
Mar 1st, 2006
Julia
thats the best review EVER!!
hehe
was wondering where i can d/l his songs
=)
i heard ye qu on my friend’s car so i want it HAHA
also where can i find his lyrics.
THANKYOU SOO MUCH
Jay Chao is kewl =)
Mar 5th, 2006
jaymie
heyys….im a jay fan miieself…i thiink november’s chopin is his best albumm so farr…. feng is nice….i can never get siick of listeniin 2 iit annd othoor songgss…. hope jay’s albums getts bettaa everyttiime…hehex…
Mar 17th, 2006
ctkecik
hey im new here…i’ve listend to novembr chaplinn…its awesome!! evntho i don’t reali understand the lyrics, i know that track10&12 are sad songs…i can hear the sadness from the notes played on the piano…anyway gdlk for ur exam…n pleeeeaaaaaaaasssssssseeeeeeee translate the songs asap…:)
Mar 30th, 2006
tammy
I love Jay Chou too!
Can someone help me translate the song “Feng” by Jay chou in chinese and english Chinese on top, and enlgish on bottom)? Thank you so much.. Please email me if u can..
Myden26@yahoo.com
Apr 19th, 2006
steffi
i like jay chou=who cares if he mumbles???????? maybe there are some otehr singers a tad bit better than him. but he is definately one of teh best. i reckon he and lee hom are about teh same. when jay sings, he sings to you, not to promote his fame and stardom.
Apr 28th, 2006
joyce
hi…can you please translate ‘ai wo bie zhou’ in english…thank you!;)
May 4th, 2006
Kent
Can anyone please translated ’snow-like hair’ please thanks…
Jul 20th, 2006
means
I’m a chinese,sorry,my English is not good.
i like jay a lot,his music,his mind,the new album November’s Chopin is a ：成熟的杰伦所创作出来的，杰伦长大了。it means:jay grown up,so it’s not the same as before.
the album named November’s Chopin is only because that chopin is jay’s 偶像，like we love jay.In china,also have people said that he is自负,so did i,but if he isn’t,he won’t be jay,won’t be the best pop star in china.
there is a song named:发如雪(snow-like hair),jay wrote the song because fang wen shan（方文山）wrote the song’s word,and ask him to write a song for it.
the songs:晴天、搁浅、东风破、情画、半岛铁盒、分裂、将军……there are wonderful!i like 晴天best.
you can come here to search them(copy the name and put on the search place),and you can listen it:
http://mp3.baidu.com/
Aug 9th, 2006
Kent
If u need any Jay chou song Translated in
english plz let me know^^.
Aug 23rd, 2006
jin
I like Jay Chou, please cand send me someone the lyrics from the november’s chopin album?!
my email: jinlung@gmx.net
thx :-)
Sep 6th, 2006
lion
i like jay..bkos the love story in his mtv is veri romantik…. truly… it seem 2 b real stori…..any1 haf its lyriks of ‘feng’ sen 2 mi.. i will veri appreciate…t.q…
Oct 2nd, 2006
huava xiong
i was wondering where i can find the music notes for “fa ru xue” because i want to play the musical on piano?
Feb 14th, 2007
Christine
this is one of my favorite Jay albums, actually, haha. nice review! “Nocturne” is hands down one of his bes songs ever.
Feb 19th, 2007
ailin
hi, tenkiu, tenkiu, tenkiu soo much. i enjoy reading ur review. u dunno how much this means to me. i noe nothing bout pin yin, thanks to translation then i can understand a bit. hehehe.. lurve u.
Feb 27th, 2007
MISZDENGYCHANG
I LOVE ALL HISZ SONGSZ!!!
Mar 13th, 2007
Katori
anybody help…i need the music note of Ye Qu ( nocturne)- Jay Chou…if anybody have it, please send it to me..my email: ineedlove1468@yahoo.com
May 3rd, 2007
Calvin
He can sing higher. In Snow Like Hair he sang a higher note(the second highest note in the song) very naturally and not in falsetto.
May 8th, 2007
skywood16
Hi! To Jay ’s fans who are after his songs translation and pinyin, below is website that contains all his songs translation and pinyin from the first album to the lastest album including concert version.
http://www.jaychoustudio.com/jay-chou-translations
Just to ease up the translator job as Jay’s songs translation are highly in demand. Administrator, please let me know if I am not allow to recommend other websites or link and I will stop immediately:)
May 12th, 2007
eRIc
Jay’s voice can kills girls’heart. I dunno…Maybe I too admired of Jay..so I still thinks Jay sings better than LeeHom. =) Jay might can sings all LeeHom’s songs well but I don’t think LeeHom can sings Jay’s well…^^
May 22nd, 2007
candy
I love your songs so much!!!
Jun 14th, 2007
cAnDy
i love jay chou!!!
Jun 14th, 2007
gRaCia
jay chou :: God of taiwanese musician….
^O^ hayah2… jaychou always make me fly… *_*
Jun 19th, 2007
fendibellamy
what does ye qu means?that’s my all-time favorite,although i don’t know a single chinese word.i never liked any chinese songs b4.
Jul 22nd, 2007
liyen
hey,jay chao’s is the best kay…no one else can compare with him..haha…jay chao’s roxxx!!
Aug 11th, 2007
Cristin(丝丝)
我真的真的很爱你周解伦:-)为什么你不在indonesia held the concert?? the one, imcomparable, n the last one, you didn’t held in indonesia?why? 我等这个机会很久了. Do you know,i like all of your song? From the 1st-7th album. All of your songs are really meaningful.
Yeah,i know that you never will read my comment. But,for the others, let’s be jay’s fans forever… N wait for the 8th,9th,10th,11th,so on albums… Thanks.
Jun 23rd, 2008
Reply to “November’s Chopin (Shi Yi Yue De Xiao Bang)”