Sing and Play

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Sing and Play
Studio album by
Faye Wong
ReleasedOctober 2, 1998
Recorded1998
StudioAvon Recording Studios (Hong Kong)
Genre
Length44:39
LabelEMI
Producer
Faye Wong chronology
Faye Wong
(1997) 		Sing and Play
(1998) 		Lovers & Strangers
(1999)

Sing and Play (Chinese: 唱遊; pinyin: Chàng Yóu) is the sixth Mandarin-language studio album (fifteenth overall) by Chinese singer Faye Wong. It includes 10 tracks in Mandarin, with a bonus disc of 3 Cantonese tracks.[1][failed verification] It was released on October 2, 1998, in the Greater China region. On October 21, 1998, it was released in Japan.[2] Wong and Alvin Leong served as the album's executive producers.[3]

Sing and Play is quite groundbreaking in recording since it was the first C-Pop album to be recorded using HDCD technology. The overall style of the album is atmospheric and lively, making extensive use of techniques such as Bel canto, vibrato, vocal fry and breathy vocals.[4] Commercially, Sing and Play fared very well with cumulative sales in Asia for the record exceeding 2.5 million copies.[5]

Background and composition[edit]

Sing and Play was the first Chinese album recorded using HDCD techniques,[4] and the creative team still used partners such as Albert Leung, Adrian Chan, Xin Weili, and Jiang Zhiren. The conceptual positioning of the album is fanciful and unrestrained. Wong not only served as the producer of the album, she also once again composed four tracks: "Emotional Life", "Face", "Whimsical" and "Child".[3] Among them, the song "Face" is Wong's first work performed with a "Bel canto-like" singing method,[5] and "Child" is the first work that Wong and Dou Wei dedicated to their daughter Leah Dou. The song is arranged by Dou Wei and was also the only work on the album that Wong personally wrote the lyrics for. Leah Dou, who could not speak yet, also tried to talk for the first time in the song.

The three Cantonese songs in the album were all composed by prolific lyricist Albert Leung, who also re-composed the three Mandarin songs in the album into Cantonese. Leung is responsible for almost all of the lyrics in Sing and Play. Among them, numbers such as "Repay" and "Love Commandment" use parallelism to describe love.[6] When Leung wrote the song "Red Beans", his inspiration came from the scene where the lovelorn heroine in the Japanese drama Love Generation boiled red beans. Before the red beans are cooked, the heroine was thinking of breaking up. In this way, the dorama's plot worked its way into the song's lyric: "I haven't boiled the red beans into a lingering wound for you".[7] Jim Lau himself admires Wong's voice very much. When he composed the music for "Red Beans", he imagined how Wong would sing based on her voice, so the song was composed in less than a few minutes, breaking his fastest songwriting record.[8]

Pan Xieqing, the composer who collaborated with Wong for the first time in the album, created two works, "Give Up Halfway" and "Fly". Among them, "Fly" pays tribute to Chang Yu-sheng's work.[3] The song "Our Lord", which was lyricized by Wyman Wong, was written by Zhang Yadong for Xu Wei when he was working on an album for Wong.[9] It was later included in the album and Xu Wei was paid more than 10,000 yuan in royalties.[10]

Title and artwork[edit]

The album title is usually translated as Sing and Play in English sources.[11][12][13] Others refer to the album as Song Tour[14] (遊 can mean tour), Scenic Tour[15][16] which was the name of Wong's 1998–1999 concert tour, Love Life,[17] or Song Play.[18]

The album cover is a "sunburned" headshot of Wong designed by Thomas Chan, while the album booklet features photos that are inspired by movies like The Fifth Element and Jurassic Park. Wong's sunburned makeup look on the cover also triggered a wave of imitations in the entertainment industry.

Reception[edit]

The album debuted at number three, respectively, in Hong Kong on the week of October 4 and in Malaysia on the week of October 13, 1998.[19] It peaked at number one in Malaysia on the week of October 20, 1998.[20] It reached number two in Hong Kong on the week of October 11, 1998.[20] Billboard's Asia bureau chief, Steve McClure, placed it in number seven of his top ten list of 1999 Asian albums.[17]

Wong's first "Bel Canto-like" performance on the song "Face" was well received, and her producer status was recognized for the first time, which led her to be shortlisted for the Taiwan Golden Melody Award for Best Record Producer at the 10th Golden Melody Awards.[5] The album was noted for some of its ballads, in contrast to the pop songs which had provided most of Wong's hits around that time.[11] "Red Beans", "Face" and "Love Commandments" have been popular songs of the album.[15]

As of February 1999, the album sold almost 2,500,000 copies worldwide, including imports.[2] It was rereleased in Japan on March 3, 1999, with the bonus track, "Eyes on Me".[2] The Japanese release reached No. 38 on the Oricon Albums Chart and charted for 12 weeks.[21]

Track listing[edit]

No.TitleLyricsMusicChinese titlesLength
1."Emotional Life" (or "Sensational Life")Albert LeungFaye Wong感情生活; Gǎnqíng shēnghuó5:15
2."Face[n 1]"Albert LeungFaye Wong臉; Liǎn3:34
3."Sex Commandments"Albert LeungAdrian Chan (陳偉文)色誡; Sè Jiè4:53
4."Give Up Half Way"Pan Xieqing (潘協慶)Pan Xieqing半途而廢; Bàntúérfèi3:32
5."Fly"Pan XieqingPan Xieqing飛; Fēi5:41
6."Our Lord"Wyman WongXu Wei祢; Nǐ[n 2]4:22
7."Whimsical" (or "A Little Wit", "A Little Cunning", "Clever-Clever", "Sharp but Petty" and "Mortal Wisdom")Albert LeungFaye Wong小聰明; Xiǎo Cōngming4:02
8."Wake Up" (or "Wakeless", "Not Awake" and "Not Waking Up")Chiu Li-KwanJack Wu (Jack吳2)醒不來; Xǐng Bù Lái4:03
9."Red Beans"Albert LeungJim Lau (柳重言)紅豆; Hóngdòu4:15
10."Child[n 3]"Faye WongFaye Wong童; Tóng4:41
Notes
  1. ^ The word refers to the social concept
  2. ^ The word is only used to address deities
  3. ^ Part of the name of Wong's daughter Leah Dou; the word also means child
Hong Kong edition and Taiwan deluxe edition bonus disc[22]
No.TitleLyricsMusicChinese titlesLength
1."Yuen leung chi gei" ("Forgive Myself", "Pardon Myself" or "Excuse Myself")Albert LeungPan Xieqing原諒自己; jyun4 loeng6 zi6 gei23:39
2."Seung waan" ("Repay" or "Reimburse")Albert LeungJim Lau償還; soeng4 waan44:17
3."Love Commandments"Albert LeungAdrian Chan情誡; cing4 gaai34:17
1998 Japanese edition bonus track
No.TitleChinese titleLength
11."Ma zui (Remix)" ("Numbness" or "Anesthesia")麻醉4:09
1999 Japanese reissue bonus tracks [23]
No.TitleLength
12."Eyes on Me" (featured in Final Fantasy VIII)5:43
13."Yuen leung chi gei"3:39
14."Seung waan"4:17
15."Love Commandments"4:17

Charts[edit]

Chart (1998) Peak
position
Hong Kong Albums (IFPI)[24] 2
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[25] 38
Malaysian Albums (RIM)[24] 1
Taiwanese Albums (IFPI Taiwan)[26] 5

Certifications and sales[edit]

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Japan (RIAJ)[27] Gold 100,000^
Summaries
Worldwide — 2,500,000[2]

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Anthony Fung and Michael Curtin, “The Anomalies of Being Faye (Wong): Gender Politics in Chinese Popular Music,” International Journal of Cultural Studies 5, no. 3 (September 2002) - album not mentioned by name
  2. ^ a b c d Billboard, Faye Wong article by Steve McClure, February 6, 1999, page 51, "Global Music Pulse" column, edited by Dominic Pride
  3. ^ a b c "王菲 《唱遊》". music.yule.sohu.com (in Chinese (China)). Retrieved October 29, 2023.
  4. ^ a b "重温王菲20年：一个北京女孩的传奇（中）（八）". www.163.com (in Chinese (China)). November 20, 2009. Retrieved October 29, 2023.
  5. ^ a b c "王菲最精彩的十张专辑". ent.sina.com.cn (in Chinese (China)). August 5, 2004. Retrieved October 29, 2023.
  6. ^ "评论：关于王菲的林夕与"林夕风格"的词作". ent.sina.com.cn (in Chinese (China)). December 12, 2002. Retrieved October 29, 2023.
  7. ^ "木村拓哉：难以超越的一代亚洲天王，长盛不衰30年，影响东亚娱乐圈". www.sohu.com (in Chinese (China)). September 7, 2019. Retrieved October 29, 2023.
  8. ^ "柳重言谈创作"红豆"：想着王菲的声音几分钟搞定". www.chinanews.com.cn (in Chinese (China)). December 20, 2013. Retrieved October 29, 2023.
  9. ^ "许巍沪上宣传：在路上". ent.sina.com.cn (in Chinese (China)). March 12, 2006. Retrieved October 29, 2023.
  10. ^ "许巍呼吁宽容花儿 感激当年王菲送稿费(附图)". ent.sina.com.cn (in Chinese (China)). March 23, 2006. Retrieved October 29, 2023.
  11. ^ a b Stan Jeffries, Encyclopedia of world pop music, 1980-2001 2003 p224. "In January 1998, Wong won the favorite female category at Taiwan's Channel V awards. As part of her new goal of winning wider recognition, in the same year she released Sing and Play. The album included some Wong compositions and introduced more ballads to her canon, as most of her previous releases had been unerringly jaunty pop numbers. She then undertook a tour of Japan that lasted for six months. Her nomadic lifestyle throughout this period made her one of the most widely recognized people in East Asia (Asiaweek magazine included her in a list of "50 people you should know in China"), but it began to have an effect on her private life."
  12. ^ Shane Homan, Access All Eras: Tribute Bands and Global Pop Culture, 2006, p224. "... almost exclusively on contributions from Hong Kong-, Beijing- and Singapore-based composers along with her own compositions on Sing and Play (1998), Only Love Strangers (1999), Fable (2000), Faye Wong (2001) and To Love (2003)."
  13. ^ Faye Wong is all woman, Taipei Times November 24, 2004. "Sing and Play"
  14. ^ "In the mood for Chinese?". Channel News Asia. October 16, 2008. Retrieved April 28, 2013. Faye Wong's 1997 album, Song Tour
  15. ^ a b "Faye Wong turns on the charm in return". August 9, 2010. Retrieved April 26, 2013.
  16. ^ Chan, Boon (October 28, 2011). "Faye's back". The Straits Times. Singapore. p. C2.
  17. ^ a b Billboard, "Critics' Choice: Steve McClure", page YE-67, December 25, 1999
  18. ^ McClure, Steve (February 6, 1999). Dominic Pride (ed.). "Global Music Pulse". Billboard. p. 51. Retrieved June 12, 2016 – via Google Books.
  19. ^ Billboard, "Hits of the World", page 61
  20. ^ a b Billboard, "Hits of the World", page 51
  21. ^ "チャン・ヨウ(歌あそび)-スペシャル・エディション フェイ・ウォン". Oricon. Retrieved February 23, 2018.
  22. ^ Sing and Play at Discogs, Hong Kong release
  23. ^ Sing and Play at Discogs, Japan release
  24. ^ a b "Hits of the World Charts". Billboard. November 7, 1998 – via Google Books.
  25. ^ "フェイ・ウォンのアルバム売上TOP 4作品" [Faye Wong album ranking information] (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved March 31, 2024.
  26. ^ "IFPI Taiwan Local Top 20" (in Chinese). IFPI Taiwan. Archived from the original on December 2, 1998.
  27. ^ "Japanese album certifications – Faye Wong – Sing and Play" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Retrieved June 25, 2021. Select 2000年1月 on the drop-down menu
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