#47: Pearls
on waa wei's eighth album, a self-discovery and re-affirmation of the nature of love in the wake of her divorce
I had more at one point, but then I deleted it. There was a review I just couldn’t seem to make work. I meant to get this out by last Thursday but couldn’t blurb any singles. All of that’s to say, apologies for how light this one might feel—it’s been a tough month and a half. For the start of the year, I wrote about waa wei’s album, Ordeal by Pearls, her eighth album. Thanks for being patient.
waa wei - Ordeal by Pearls
waa wei would like to skip the formalities. It’s the week news of her divorce has appeared in the tabloids, but she’s arrived at her radio gig, cool and composed. “Don’t ask me how I’ve been recently,” she nonchalantly retorts to another guest while fixing her bangs, before erupting into bubbly laughter. For a public figure who has kept her private life so guarded, this was simply the end to that conversation.
So don’t expect Ordeal by Pearls to get into any of the scandalous secrets. The Taiwanese singer’s divorce album isn’t concerned with airing out dirty details of a former relationship or in filling the sudden emptiness, but with dissecting what remains of herself. waa wei presents herself with forceful directness, despite the depictions being ugly: a strange-looking appearance unsuitable for love at first-sight; a stain you compare your next love against, presumably deriding the older model; a boss, a bitch, a killer.
Though rare, it isn’t the first time waa wei has turned towards inward reflection. Have A Nice Day floated gentle as a breeze, wafting lovelorn gazes and familiar caresses across sweet soundscapes save for the cacophonous “Pretty Woman,” where she trampled across glitchy synths and equated womanhood to being pinned on display or “Transformers” where she swept in like a hurricane, brandishing her authority as a mother. It’s a sharp contrast to see her wear these cynical perceptions on Ordeal by Pearls, her self-disparaging comments tossed around without the slack for discussion, the backing instrumentals flush with blaring noise. “Pretty Woman” paraded her hard-worn survival, but there’s a wickedness to “I Am HER” and she’s never sounded so vile in her low, sing-rapped cadence: “I said I’m so above you / I’m that cool / I’ve pulled all your fans over to confess their love to me,” she snarls.
In mentioning admirers, the singer directly invokes the public gaze. waa wei is too willing to play into the narrative of a divorcee on Ordeal by Pearls, both her and producer George Chen having hefty theatre backgrounds. “I Am HER” is filled with piercing slashes of strings and sharp percussion, but the singer is more dramatic: she jumps to an impressive high-pitched warble before faking a dramatic yawn in the build-up to the second chorus, confidently wearing the role of the antagonist, sounding unmoved by the event. Ordeal by Pearls’ first half is bold, the singer adopting new approaches to performance that feel daring and corrupt, like the alt-rock lead of “Baroque Pearl” or the quasi-rapped chants of “Rose is not a rose is not a rose is not a rose.” The latter embraces a more electronic style, piling toy-ish instrumentals on top of a house beat, even introducing fragments of her son singing the melody into the fold. It’s a flip of waa wei’s usual character as she twists all the pretty words of romance into something poisonous with the devilish flick of her tongue.
But the performance must end and this cool facade slips on “The Forever-Sleeping Pet,” shortly before the music itself begins to unwind. Here, waa wei’s language becomes less certain, more vulnerable. “For example, failure, for example, concealment / I live like this every day / but I never felt uneasy,” she sings, drawing out the words in jagged huffs. She breathes into David Ke’s lyrics as if she’s willing them to be true—it’s a testament to her skills as a performer, that you might feel she believes them. Discomfort settles into “Kurage,” her soft duet with Leah Dou, as an awkward irregular beat pounds through the pair’s front, before the rest of the album melts into soft dream pop-leaning ballads that are closer to the waa wei you’ve always known. Maybe less exciting after the exhilarating display of the first half, but arriving here feels like safer and familiar territory for honesty. She concerns herself with questions of heartbeat and statements of perfect complements. On “49959,” she calls in a breathy whisper, desperate to hold on to what remains: “you are my most precious relationship / it seems… I love you / it seems…” So unsure, yet it remains truer than anything presented on the front of Ordeal by Pearls.
On “Master Q,” waa wei arrives at that greeting she long avoided: “how are you?” it questions. She’s spent long enough performing as someone else, someone confident and unaffected, that when the probing deepens, she’s not sure she’s got the proper response. Yet cut and slice as it does, Ordeal by Pearls discovers the same desire for love, the same awkward mannerisms as before. She runs through scenarios by herself on “Master Q,” eventually arriving at an opening to reach out to an old friend that sidesteps the awkwardness, that ends the torment of forcing herself to pretend to be fine: “today’s my birthday,” she remarks, “did you remember?” Just like that, she disarms you, softly quelling any concerns for her state of mind.
Listen here: Apple Music // Spotify
Singles: “OOPS” // “Rose is not a rose is not a rose is not a rose” // “I Am HER (feat. Yo Yang)”
Shan Yichun - “还有什么更好的”
There’s footage from Shan Yichun’s concert floating around of her covering Faye Wong’s “天空” (“Sky”), which is technically proficient if… slightly lacking in emotional depth. But it makes it easy to imagine why exactly Chang Shilei’s pulled this demo out of the vault for her. On “还有什么更好的” (“What Could Be Better”), she bounds and leaps across his world, flitting with the birds, bounding on the synths. Her voice is a powerful instrument that lands soft, weightless coos and soaring high-notes alike. And without an original to compare, the similarities, as obvious as they are—she’s got the exact timbre of TIA RAY nailed down on those opening notes and what is a Chang Shilei melody if not written for Isabelle Huang—only serve as reminders of her talent, so carefree and easy she makes the world, it’s difficult to find her lacking.
ENONE - “CIRCLE”
In its excess, this really feels like the ideal of what idol pop-rock should be. The group are sentimental kids: “feeling your breath” remarks Lin Zhangshuo, desperately pushing despite her pulling away from his touch. “CIRCLE” is temperamental, leaving the group to navigate on teenage emotions, something you can hear in how prickly the drums get on the pre-chorus as they’re torn between seeing a partner as “everything” and vowing not to let their love go any further. Often messy—in emotions and mixing—this push-and-pull defines the nature of the stupid, yearning loser. Who doesn’t want a boy like that on their side?
see also: Lil Ghost - “David&Lucy”
ZEO - “Aaron Kwok (feat. Novel Fergus)”
“With my hair dyed black and white, I look like Aaron Kwok,” raps ZEO—look at the single’s cover and compare for yourself. It’s a fun bit of over-inflated bragging from the Taiwanese rapper made more fun by one of the dumbest lines I’ve heard in a while: “be careful, I’ll tell your mom you were on Threads talking shit.” Sure! His delivery goes from calm and serious to erratic display before Hong Kong rapper Novel Fergus takes over, the pair erupting into howls as they attempt to escape the growing, fuzzy bassline.
Extra Listening
I like the new JADE (not the Little Mix member, though that one, whenever it comes out, will probably be good too) album.
Terence Lam has a new Mandarin album, which is exciting until you listen and you’re like, “wait a minute… these are all just Mandarin versions of his Cantonese songs.” So not that exciting, but at least there are a few new arrangements.
Women in Mandopop: Eve Ai’s got a new album, also produced by George Chen (who produced Ordeal by Pearls), Yisa Yu’s got a new one, Karencici’s got a new one, Yuki Hsu’s (?) got a new one, Angela Chang’s got half of a new one, and Sandee Chan’s got a new onen acoustic live album.
Enno Cheng’s got a new Hokkien single out with Korean artist Lang Lee. There’s an announcement for a new album with the concert announcement, though she’s pretty hush-hush on all the details.
Find the latest Canto Wrap and Mando Gap playlists on Spotify and me on Twitter here.