Customer Reviews

Wanton Desires

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Colors of Wind" is my favorate, very romantic, very imaginative, and very philosophical (with kind of Zen spirit)! "Wanton Desires" is very creative, it brings the boring Chinese menu items to a song in such a fun and comfortable way, lively depicts many Chinese immigrants' life...The fact that we may have wonton every now and then seems to be a trivial thing, however, wanton is the very way of making a living for quite some people and their families, it has much more meaning than a simple food... Neko has a keen observation on the things around and has an intuitive inspiration from her experiences. Her voice is very special, somewhat similar to a famous Chinese singer named Deng LiJun, plus Neko has more Jazz , R&B, or even Chinese folksong elements. As far as "Yao Song", I like it, it keeps my spirit high ! Jimmy @ New York

Rarely does one hear a debut album that could be followed up successfully in so many different directions. Neko can deliver a bouncy pop hook (Butterfly Girl and the Chinese version of the Yao Song), channel Karen Carpenter or early Olivia Newton John (So In Love, 3 Little Words, Friend) and -- my favorite -- adopt the smoky, sultry chanteuse (Tangled, Delirious). If you want to discover a new crossover artist before she goes into heavy rotation on VH1, buy this album now.

I just heard Neko singing today. She can sing (did a great job with "God Bless America"), but this collection of songs does not show that. She tries to be unique and clever in terms of lyrical content ("You cause this Wanton Desire / to Dim Sum lights and Szechuan fire") but fails, appearing eccentric in lyrics and cliche in style. The music is lacking (except for the beautiful "Colors of the Wind"). Could have been much much better, but it was a nice effort so I'll be generous and give it two stars.

This CD is a wonderful collection of pop songs from Chinese-American singer Neko. She has a sweet yet commanding voice both in English and Chinese. The eclectic songs range from dance ("The Yao Song") to jazz ("Three Little Words") to Ballads ("So In Love"). My favorites are "Me No Butterfly Girl", which I can't get out of my head, and "Wanton Desires" with its double-entendre puns such as "You cause this Wanton Desire to dim sum lights and Szechuan fire". Producer-musician Dean Bailin also does a great job of integrating Chinese instruments (sampled?) and modern music. Kudos also to his guitar playing, particularly on "3 Little Words". Go out and buy it.