This album was my introduction to Fang Da Tong, or Khalil Fong as he is called in English. Until now, I had never heard an R&B album that I could possibly compare to “Jay Album,” but this album has that same greatness. Though his album lacks the variety of those by other artists, it is obvious why Khalil sticks to this style of song—this is what he is good at. His songs have a nice beat and his voice is very pleasant to listen to. Too many MandoPop singers add in random English that makes no sense in context and sounds very strange to the native English-speaker. However, Khalil has sprinkled some very clear and pleasant English throughout his album. Let me add a few details about each song:

1. “Love Song”—This song mentions quite a few other songs by different singers in the lyrics, including Jay Chou’s “Silence,” David Tao’s “Ordinary Friend,” and LeeHom Wang’s “Mistake in the Flower Bed.” However, it is not simply a novelty song, as it has a life of it’s own. There are many songs that only use titles and phrases from other songs are lyrics, but this is not one of those songs, as the lyrics have much more meaning behind them. Also, the music is well-composed, not pieced together from the tunes of the songs mentioned within the lyrics, and the English is not out of place grammatically with the Mandarin.

2. “Enough?” (Gou Bu Gou)—This song contains entire verses of English, which Khalil handles very well. The lyrics are very touching, and even someone who does not understand the Mandarin can pick up the meaning from the English. The music has a good beat, but it is not over-powering to the song. As with the other songs on this album, Khalil’s singing is very clear and his pitch is very smooth.

3. “Warm” (Nuan)—The lyrics to this song are very different from those I’ve heard in any other song, definitely not cheesy, maybe even a bit grotesque. The music is very upbeat, in contrast with the lyrics about a “melting” love. Khalil’s voice is once again very smooth, but maybe a bit dark in this song, which is very necessary considering the lyrics.

4. “Love Is There” (Ai Zai)—This song’s lyrics are a bit repetitive—yeah, yeah, love is there. Listening to it, I wonder how many times he uses the words “爱” and “在.” However, it is still very touching, and Khalil’s voice carries a lot of emotion.

5. “Park” (Gong Yuan)—In this song, Khalil’s voice isn’t as clear as in as in the other songs, and, to be honest, I didn’t like his singing as much in this song as the others. It’s probably the fastest song on the album, and I just don’t think Khalil handles it very well. The music is also laid on heavier, and it is kind of over-bearing.

6. “Simple is the most romantic” (Jian Dan Zhui Lang Man)—This song is simpler than the last song and Khalil handles it better. The beat is good, and not too fast. The English parts are very clear and Khalil’s voice is very smooth and nice to listen to.

7. “Ten Nine Eight Seven…” (Shi Jiu Ba Qi)—This is a nice love song with a good beat and refreshing lyrics. The composition is much different from that of any other song on the album and Khalil’s voice handles this song very well.

8. “Future” (Wei Lai)—The lyrics are once again very different. It starts off kind of gloomy, but the perspective changes. This is another fast song, but Khalil handles this one better.

9. “Forgetting Beauty” (Wang Le Mei Li)—This is a nice, sad song, with a good beat, heart-breaking lyrics. It’s not a typical, forgettable love ballad, though, as it is R&B like Khalil’s other songs.

10. “Sorry”—This song contains quite a bit of very well-sung English. It starts off very soft, but takes off after that. Like most of the other songs, it has a good beat that does not detract from Khalil’s smooth voice.

11. “Love Love Love” (Ai Ai Ai) (Acoustic version)—This song is softer than the others on this album, but still very nice. This is just another version of the song from the album by the same name, but it sounds quite different with the acoustic guitar. It is a very enjoyable song and there’s no wonder why Khalil would make two versions of it. Both versions are very nice to listen to, so if you like one, you’ll most likely like the other as well.

Despite not using as much variety as other artists, Khalil Fong really does well with R&B, and this album does not contain any boring, generic love ballads. The beat may be a bit too strong in places, and Khalil may not do a very good job with faster songs, but this album is altogether very good. I recommend it for anyone who likes R&B at all.