Chinese Music Blog

Yoga Lin (also known as James Lin) is the winner of One Million Star’s season 1, a popular reality TV singing competition in Taiwan. He started out as a lead singer of a rockband during high school, mentored by Yang Pei-An (a renowned rock singer). One Million Star is the first singing competition he joined. And the performance by this 21-years-old was nothing short of spectacular. After winning, Yoga was signed by HIM International Music. He released his solo debut album, titled Mystery (Shen Mi Jia Bing) on early June this year.

My favorite song of Mystery is track no.2: Mystery Guest (Shen Mi Jia Bing) – a song with such a soothing pace and high listenability. Another favorite, track no.4: Horses (Buo Le) is a rock ballad, tailor-made for Yoga Lin’s singing style. Track no.7: Moonlight Cruel (Chan Ku Yue Guang)’s melody is sweet and has this classic feel to it. The album ends with a duet with Jade Liu (who is also one of my favorite singer), called Legend (Chuan Shuo) chosen as the sub-theme of a Korean Drama:First King Four Gods (Tai Wang Shi Shen Ji).

Yoga sings like a vortex – it sucks you into it. His voice feels natural, disctinctive and most of all, captivates. However, I wish to see Yoga take on more alternative rock songs in his future albums. When he sang You Are My Guiding Eyes (Ni Shi Wo De Yan) in the singing competition (which earned his highest mark, a perfect score), I thought he really rocks.

Mystery has a nice flow from start to finish. I have this comfy, peaceful feeling listening to it – like taking a stroll down the beach, with pearly white sand and mesmerizing sunset. Mystery is worthy of your time, money and heart.

Track List
1. Wink (Yan Se)
2. Mysterious Guest (Shen Mi Jia Bing)
3. Love is Round (Ai Qing Shi Yuan De)
4. Horses (Bo Le)
5. Please Say (Qing Shuo)
6. Sick (Bing Tai)
7. Moonlight Cruel (Can Ku Yue Guang)
8. Slow Down (Man Yi Dian)
9. Lin Xi In My Heart (Xing You Lin Xi)
10. Farewell to Cambridge (Zai Bie Kang Qiao)
11. Legend (Chuan Shuo) – feat. Jade Liu Li Yang

Preview Listening: Track No.2 Mysterious Guest (Shen Mi Jia Bing)

p/s: I’m reliving the first season of One Million Star recently. So you’ll notice I published a few album reviews from the ‘gang’ (Xing Guang Bang). In my opinion, One Million Star’s debut season is one of the best, if not the best reality TV singing competition of the decade. The talent show churned out so many stars who are waiting for their turn to shine, and many among them have already shone. Next up, Jam Hsiao. ;)