To Love (Faye Wong album)
To Love[1] (Chinese: 將愛; pinyin: Jiāng'ài) is a 2003 Mandarin album by Beijing-based C-pop singer Faye Wong.
| 將愛 Jiāng'ài (To Love) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 7 November 2003 | |||
| Genre | Mandopop | |||
| Length | 56:31 | |||
| Label | Sony Music | |||
| Producer | Faye Wong, Zhang Yadong | |||
| Faye Wong chronology | ||||
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This was Wong's 19th official studio album, and the first to be released by Sony Music Asia. As of 2013 it remains her last album to date.[2] Released on 7 November 2003, it has 13 tracks: 10 in Mandarin and 3 in Cantonese. Wong wrote the music and lyrics for 3 songs, the title track "To Love", "Leave Nothing" (不留) and "Sunshine Dearest" (陽寶), as well as the music for "April Snow" (四月雪).
Before the album's release, the Cantonese version of the title track "In the Name of Love" (假愛之名), with lyrics by Lin Xi, was banned in some areas such as mainland China and Malaysia because the lyrics mentioned opium.[3][4] Interviewed in December 2003, Wong said that she preferred her own Mandarin version of the song, which made no reference to drugs.[5]
Wong said that her favourite track was "MV", written by Nicholas Tse with whom she had had an on-off romance. She admitted that her song "Leave Nothing" was a reflection of her love life, but declined to identify the other persons referred to in the lyrics.[5]
The album also includes "Passenger" (乘客), a cover of Sophie Zelmani's "Going Home".
Asked about the pattern of 2-character titles for the songs, Wong said that this was not important, but reflects a modern habit of abbreviating things in everyday speech.[5]
Reception
To Love was more successful than her previous self-titled album, both financially and critically. It sold more than one million copies in Asia within a week of its release, half of those within China. Afterwards, she held numerous successful concerts for over a year; ticket sales in Hong Kong set a new record.[5]
Taipei Times called it a mixture of "saccharine pop and daring avant-garde".[6]
Variations
"All-In" versions were issued with the music videos on VCD and DVD. These versions had a different cover with a portrait of Faye Wong printed in black on a red background.
Track listing
| No. | Title | Unofficial translation | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Jiāng'ài" (將愛) | "To Love" | 4:09 |
| 2. | "Kōng Chéng" (空城) | "Desolate City" | 4:59 |
| 3. | "Bù Liú" (不留) | "Leave Nothing" | 4:23 |
| 4. | "Měi Cuò" (美錯) | "Beautiful Mistake" | 4:02 |
| 5. | "Chéngkè" (乘客) | "Passenger" | 4:40 |
| 6. | "Yáng Bǎo" (陽寶) | "Sunshine Dearest" | 4:06 |
| 7. | "Xuán Mù" (旋木) | "Carousel" | 4:13 |
| 8. | "Sìyuè Xuě" (四月雪) | "April Snow" | 4:28 |
| 9. | "Yè Zhuāng" (夜妝) | "Concealed Night" | 4:35 |
| 10. | "Yān" (烟) | "Smoke" / "Cigarette" | 4:15 |
| 11. | "MV" | 3:35 | |
| 12. | "Gá Oi Jī Mèhng" (假愛之名) | "In the Name of Love" | 4:09 |
| 13. | "Fā Sih Líuh" (花事了) | "Withered Flower" | 4:38 |
Tracks 1–10 are in Mandarin, and the last three are Cantonese. Tracks 12 and 13 are Cantonese versions of tracks 1 and 5 respectively.
References
- 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)."
- Chan, Boon (28 October 2011). "Faye's back". The Straits Times. Singapore. p. C2.
- China bans 'opium' song, BBC News, 30 October, 2003. Retrieved 1 May 2013.
- Pop diva Faye Wong performs in Kuala Lumpur, China Daily, 23 April 2004. Retrieved 25 September 2010.
- China diva, Faye Wang, changes her Ice Queen image?, Straits Times, 2 December 2003. Cited at China Daily. Retrieved 25 September 2010.
- Faye Wong is all woman, Taipei Times 2004-11-24. "Her most recent album, To Love (將愛, 2003), is a mosh of her two recent artistic tendencies: saccharine pop and daring avant-garde."