Chinese Music Blog

There’re lots of controversies as whether Daniel Lee Chee Hun, who received more than a million votes in the popular singing competition “Malaysian Idol” in September, won by his good look or his real talent. I’m listening to this album and I’m asking: Why not both?

This 23-year-old music student definitely has good look which attracts a bundle of female fans. The record company has made sure too that they made good use of it. The pictures in the album lyric book show a young, lively and energetic young lad.

The album consists 8 pop and R&B Chinese songs, one English song (his signature song “Heaven Knows”, originally by Rick Price) and one Malay song (the Malaysian Idol single – “Mimpi”). I’m hesitating on whether to call it a tri-lingual album, but apparently his record company is trying to attract different markets in Malaysia. Besides, the including of romanized lyrics and English summaries of the songs are considerate to many non-Chinese-educated listeners.

First track “飞 Fly” has been played on several main radio stations more than a month before the album was released. It’s the Chinese version of the Malaysian Idol single “Mimpi”, composed by Pot Amir and written by Zhang Guo Xiang who is famous for his lyrics for “情非得已 Qing Fei De Yi”. In fact, the Chinese lyrics appears to me more meaningful than the Malay lyrics. It seems like a song specially tailored for Daniel. The melody suits his voice perfectly and the lyrics portray exactly his struggle to achieve his long-awaited dream.

With a simple melody, “有机 Organic Love” can be considered the “safest” song in the album – most easily accepted by listeners. It’s not at all surprising that it has been chosen as the second single to be played on radio. The writer is trying to describe innocent love, where there is no hurt, affairs, separation or divorce. It wittily uses organic food as a metaphor to the purest love. Although rather weak in vocal, he managed to bring out the feeling of innocent and pure love. And it gets touching when you start to appreciate the lyrics.

The songs that stand out to me are the R&B numbers in the album, such as “选择 The Choice”, “I Don’t Know”, “无法自拔 Irresistible” and “第二次童年 Second Childhood”. “The Choice”, a minor-keyed R&B song caught me with surprise when I listen to it. I didn’t expect Daniel to sing this type of song, but he did it surprisingly well. “I Don’t Know”, an acoustic pop is both catchy and lively while “Irresistible” (titled “I Promise Just Believe” prior to the release of the album) is a smooth R&B ballad. He sounds very natural in these songs that I’m really looking forward to more of this type of songs in his next album. “Second Childhood” is perhaps my favorite song in the album. It’s catchy, vivacious and the falsetto in the ad-libs is excellent! Although we’ve been used to listen to his slow love songs, R&B songs suit him really well. They give him a chance to develop his own distinctive style of singing and he’s able to show some nice-skilled ornamentation in the ad-libs.

One song that has actually let me down is “现在, 很想见你 I Love to See You Now”. When I heard the demo of the song (before the album was out), I thought this is a perfect song for a shy and sweet guy like Daniel. It may be the expectation that disappoints me. In my opinion he can do so much better than that. His diction is unclear. You can blame it on his utmost idol, Jay Chou or the fact that it seems to be a trend of blur singing diction. But no, this song should be sung in a crystal clear voice. “The Lucky One”, a mid-tempo ballad composed by himself, on the other hand is very well done. The chorus goes “No matter how winding the road is, Laughing in tears I’m the lucky one”. Daniel admits that the lyrics show how he feels at the moment – grateful and lucky.

“Heaven Knows”, needless to say, is simply brilliant. I’ve listened to the songs for so many times, and it never fails to bring a chill to my spine. The emotion in the song is so immense that it touches the deepest of the heart. And trust me, it’s 10 times better listening to it live! It could have made an amazing ending song if it were put as the 10th track. The melody keeps lingering in my head after the song finishes.

Considering that the album only takes 2 months to produce, I give a thumb up to Daniel and the producers. Certainly he still has a huge room to improve, however from this album we can see that his talent is blossoming. Hopefully we’ll see another promising star from Malaysia soon.

Track listing:
1. 飞 Fei (Fly)
2. 选择 Xuan Ze (The Choice)
3. 有机 You Ji (Organic Love)
4. I Don’t Know
5. 现在, 很想见你 Xian Zai, Hen Xiang Jian Ni (I Love To See You Now)
6. 无法自拔 Wu Fa Zi Ba (Irresistible)
7. 幸运儿 Xing Yun Er (The Lucky One)
8. 第二次童年 Di Er Ci Tong Nian (Second Childhood)
9. Heaven Knows
10. Mimpi (Dream)

Recommended tracks: Fly, The Choice, I Don’t Know, The Lucky One, Second Childhood, Heaven Knows