8/19/06 Guangzhou 6:27pm

I’m in my hotel room writing this while waiting for a few upcoming interviews in Guangzhou. It’s been a little over two weeks since the release of the new album and I’ve been doing quite a lot of traveling and promotions. It’s been a bit tiring although it’s been fun and satisfying especially meeting all of you again in various cities.
The outpour of fans has been overwhelming and I’m truly touched by all your support. It’s such a wonderful surprise to see so many of you coming from different cities to the airport and events to support me. I know many of you traveled far, skipped school or work to come see me and I do want you all to know that I am grateful for your love and kindness.
As for the album, I’m very glad to say that it’s doing very well thanks to all your support. Of course, I’ve also been hearing some feedback that this album doesn’t have the “edge” of the two previous albums and that some feel it isn’t as musical. I agree that this album is different from Black Tangerine and The Great Leap; however, I don’t think this album is less musical or genuine as previous albums. On the contrary, I feel 太美麗 is my most musically cohesive and unified album. Perhaps because of the larger percentage of ballads and down tempo songs, some people feel this album isn’t as ambitious but I tend to disagree. The lack of aggressive, socially critically and rock genre songs should NOT be confused with the lack of direction, inspiration and creativity. I think one of the blind spots with our entertainment scene right now is that we are trying too hard to make loud, bold and excessive creative statements rather than delivering a heartfelt message or story. This album is not an experimental or extreme album in terms of sound but one about the subtleties and emotions in life.
I’ve been heavily influenced by the classic Soul sounds of the 60’s and so I tried to bring that flavor to this album with use of string and horn arrangements along with an acoustic yet grooving rhythm section. With the Mandarin music scene congested with hip hop, rap, pop and everything in between, I thought a bit of classic old Soul flavor would give myself a new musical playground to explore.
Conceptually, this album deals a lot with sentimentality, the inevitable passing of time and youth leading to, finally, the importance of cherishing life in its entirety. These are things that have been in my subconscious and conscious mind throughout this past year and I wanted to share it all with you in this album. Again, this album is a musical diary of my life just like the previous albums have been. I hope it brings you all joy, strength and warmth while at the same time inspiring answers, questions and revelations about life.
DT