Unnecessary to be perfect...

Recently I came across a survey of favourite albums and songs at Candy Lo's forum. It struck me then that I didn't have a ready answer for some of the questions. Although Candy is the only Chinese singer besides Sammi and hocc whom I own a close-to-complete collection of works, I am quite ashamed to realise that I didn't know her songs that well.

So I embarked on a refresher course of Candy's material. 不需要...完美得可怕 Unnecessary to be perfect; Miao; 貼近 Close to Candy; 色放 Colour Release; Muse; Fantasy; Mega Collection; 賞味人間 Taste of Life; My Collection; Candy's Airline; 花言巧語 Flower Talk; 4 Seasons in One Day. I have yet to work through the whole lot, but I am happily discovering and re-discovering stuff that I had neglected or forgotten about. For example, I love "戀愛很遠" (Love is Far Away) from "Candy's Airline", especially the part when the guitars and drums come crashing in. Reminds me of how I used to snub songs that relied heavily or even solely on synthesizers and computer programming. I love songs that use real musical instruments in their arrangements, hence my liking for rock.

To be honest, I found that even though Candy's earlier albums had more 'character', I actually enjoy listening to her later albums more. My first encounter with Candy was "深藍" (Deep Blue) at a year-end awards ceremony. I guess I like songs that straddle between commercial and alternative. Yes, a song should have character, otherwise it will be 'just another k-song'. But it should be likeable, meaningful and with a certain mass appeal, and importantly for me, it should be melodious. Those are my criteria for liking a song. And I find more of these type of songs in her later albums, though I think Candy has always tried to be careful not to let her albums end up sounding too commercialised. Her earlier works are perhaps not quite melodious enough for me. Die-hard fans from early days have expressed disappointment with Candy for taking on more and more k-songs. Well, they might be pleased with her latest plug 'Asura', which reminds me of songs in "Miao".

My favourite memory of Candy is definitely the time she came to Singapore for an autograph session. I had a very good impression of her. I thought she is very nice, humble and sincere, patiently signing autographs for everyone even though she had just recovered from some eye problems. She also did a short 6-song set. I had watched her performances on TV before and sometimes her live singing was not very good. But she was almost perfect during her performance at HRC. I was so impressed by her singing. If not for a short moment when she tripped over some lyrics, you could be forgiven to think that she was miming.

Still, her one shortcoming is that her voice and singing are not as good as Sammi or Hocc. But she makes up for it with her own unique style and ability to combine alternative and pop into an effective blend. Sometimes, it's unnecessary to be perfect.

P.S. I think that EP is great!