Stefanie Sun
Against The Light (Ni Guang)
This album isn’t great, but at least it filled my expectations. The songs in this album do a great job of showcasing Stephanie’s unique and enunciated vocals, and I find myself giving her props for what she did on this album. The first half of this album was brilliant. Afterwards, it fades into a collection of songs that are average and nothing that special.
The overture and first track, “In the beginning,” leads you into the best song in the album,, with the same name as the album, “逆光 (Ni Guang).” Although the chorus of this song is so familiar to the ears, the melody being used in like every song you hear, I could dismiss that. The instruments used and the harmonies employed give this song a true brilliance, and Stephanie’s vocals seem to really enlighten and enliven the song. I wish she would have really got into a powerful and loud ending but that’s not how the song ends.
After this song comes a very sweet and special song – “梦游 (Meng You).” The dreamy and sweet feel is not what I expected from Stephanie, and I enjoyed it a lot. There aren’t even any drums in this song - it sounds like a sonata from Mozart. You can play it before going to sleep – something kind of like Jay Chou’s “Xing Qing.”or Jolin’s “Ma De Li Bu Si Yi.”
The next song, track four, (咕叽咕叽 – Gu Ji Gu Ji) comes with the rock we’ve come to expect from Stephanie. There’s even a short piece of English rap at the end of the song. An catchy song, but again, the same problem again – the melody is an often-used one.
Track five, (我怀念的, Wo Huai Nian De), combines meaningful lyrics with an awesome melody. The result is one of the best ballads of the year, so far. I expect to hear it everywhere, in malls, restaurants, and departments stores. It probably is the best song in this album, along with Ni Guang. You’ll get hooked on this song - I promise.
Track six is just a simple slow song, “安宁 (An Ning)”.
飘着 (Piao Zhe), track seven, is better than track seven and combines a slow ballad with heavy rockin’ drum and guitar. It is a good song - but not anything special.
爱情的花样 (Ai Qing De Hua Yang) is track eight. This is the typical rock song that Stephanie loves, and it really reminds me of a fast and moving song from the Leon Lai/Kelly Chen/Aaron Kwok/HK era. If you enjoyed the faster songs of the HK industry, you’ll enjoy this one.
The next song, 漩涡 (Xuan Wo), try listening to it with headphones - the instruments will tickle your ears - it’s very interesting. Another powerful ballad, again with nice instrumentals, which gives this song something different from other songs with the same kind of melody and rhythm. But again - at most this is a average song.
Track 10, 需要你 (Xu Yao Ni), is again another average ballad-type song - not something special.
The last song in the album, 关于 (Guan Yu) has nice lyrics and perfect for a sentimental moment by yourself or for a time of relection. This leads to track 12, a short instrumental piece which leads you out of the album.
Overall, I would give this album a 6/10. There were good songs (which were really good), but you should expect that from a seasoned singer as Stephanie. Overall, I felt that the instrumentals gave this album half of its flavor - they were unique and well-directed. It is the first half of the album that is what stands out - afterwards, the songs are really not worth listening to (except for the last song, 关于, or maybe 爱情的花样). If you’re a Stephanie fan, buy this album - if not, I suggest you save your money for something else, and buy the best tracks (逆光, 梦游, 我怀念的) off somewhere.
Written by Jed on Apr 3, 2007
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17 Comments, Join the discussion
jewel-li
wow..already a review for this, the album just came out 2 weeks ago, only heard the song “逆光” so far and i really like it. dunno if i should get this album since u said only the first half of it was good..is it better than her previous album “Perfect Day”??
Apr 3rd, 2007
Jed
I would say that the best songs on this album were better than the best ones on her previous album. But the average-bad songs on this album are worse than the average-bad songs on the previous album, so…..
If you compare it with Angela’s album (Meng Li Hua), I think you might want to get Angel’as album. Personal opinion.
Apr 3rd, 2007
yenny
i’m surprised you “dismissed” track 6 with just 1 line hehe… I quite like it though, although it’s simple, especially after hearing SIngaporean composer, Lin YiXIn’s demo.heehee =)
Apr 4th, 2007
peggy
I’m a Stephanie fan but I agree with you, this album was not her best. I actually thought her English rap ruined Track 4.
FYI wanted to point out a typo in your post; you thought “Track 7 is better than Track 7.” Not trying to be mean, I really liked your honest review!
Apr 4th, 2007
Jed
yenny - I’m glad that you liked it though!
peggy - thanks! I didn’t edit well - sorry guys!
Apr 4th, 2007
fujlc
good CD!
Apr 5th, 2007
elise
hi! do u know how i can download this song becuz i cant find it anywhere so can u plz help me?
Apr 5th, 2007
tony
Beijing Blues!!
Apr 6th, 2007
machika
hi!
I just got this new album… (that I love btw) but I dont know who the singer is… (I cant read chinese! :( )
The girl in the cover looks like this Stephany u are talking about… but Im not sure! :S
I scanned the cover, here the URL: http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/777/08uk2.jpg
Can somebody take a look at it and tell me who she is?! :D
Apr 8th, 2007
Pink Bee
machika, that’s Stefanie! xD
Ok…I’m a fan of her too, but honestly I think this is not her best album. Like what you’ve said, I really enjoyed the tracks in the first half of the album. The only track which is quite “out” is [Guan Yu], don’t really know why the song is included in this album. =/
However, I’m starting to like songs like [Piao Zhe] and [Xuan Wo] after several spins of the album.
You’ll find this album nice if you listen to it wholeheartedly. =)
Apr 16th, 2007
Alverdat
Hahaha! what the…….
the review u made is not nice…
Her against the light album is better than meng li hua.
and her song is so nice that i keep repeating again and again. although that some of the song is ordinary but i’m kinda like it though.
P/s and i’m not even her fans, no matter how u all criticize her album, it still is the album of the year in this chinese industry, don’t believe see the articles on how her album break the records in this year.
and please, buy original album.
Apr 18th, 2007
Joyce
this song “ni guang” is veye good.The others songs also nat bat.
May 21st, 2007
Jenny
To JED:
you spelled Stefanie Sun’s name wrongly!
you spelled as Sephanie!
Jul 20th, 2007
tomato
fuyoh..
i lurph stefanie soo much man..
her voice is damn pretty..
very unique..
there’s no other singer can sing like her..
really..
Sep 2nd, 2007
Josephine
To me, “Perfect Day” was not a very good one comared to her other albums..But its still very nice.
So, you should buy this album, her songs like”GuJi GuJi”, “Wo Huai Nian De” are very nice!
Sep 27th, 2007
draquahla
I think this album is really awesome. If you listen to it for a while, every single song will begin to stand out, especially those that you think are just “pu tong” at first. This is really her best album in a while.
Oct 27th, 2007
fairness for music
she is ok but smtimes ithink her vocals r abit irritating, though unique. i prefer her last time image when she was more simple in singing. n fans of her, the trend i observed so far, shldnt get so defensive over her and start slamming other singers such as jolin tsai, and say tt stefanie is such a gr8 singer and others suck. change the mindset. stef to me, has unique vocals but hey, some might like it some might not, so accept wad other feels. it doesnt mean tt her vocals unique, means is very beautiful to me.
Dec 7th, 2007
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