Bibi Zhou – Who Touched my Violin String

Release date: August 12, 2006
Label: Yuelin Music

Tracklist

  1. 号码 (Phone Number) [MV]
  2. 别爱我, 像爱个朋友 (Don’t Love Me, Like Loving a Friend) [MV]
  3. 喂! 喂! (Hello! Hello!) [MV]
  4. 谁动了我的琴弦 (Who Touched my Violin String) [MV]
  5. 那个那个 (That One, That One)
  6. 毒蘑菇 (Poisonous Mushroom)
  7. Silence
  8. 风筝 (Kite)
  9. 无人岛 (Deserted Island)
  10. 戴眼镜的女孩 (The Girl with Glasses) [MV]

Who Touched my Violin String marked mainland China Super Girl’s first runner-up Zhou Bichang’s (known simply as Bibi) debut, aptly mixing ballads that would become a signature style with off-beat sounding pop rhythm and blues.

The album opens with Phone Number (Hao Ma), a power ballad about a person meeting another through a wrong phone call — which is what the film The 601st Phone Call is about — and continues with the full of regret ballad Don’t Love me, Like Loving a Friend, penned by Taiwanese R&B rocker David Tao — one of Bibi’s musical influences.

It is in track 3, Hello! Hello! (or Hey! Hey!), when the album takes a turn, shifts energies and focuses on rhythm more than lyrics, but what a sound! It’s like a really charged rocking r&b pop, a sound that Bibi would later on experiment with more.

Track 4, which gives the album its title, is a zhongguo feng (Chinese-styled) ballad with R&B flare using a five-note scale typically used in Chinese folk music, and showcases Zhou’s voice and style range. While track 5 That One, That One, as well as track 6 Poisonous Mushroom continue Bibi’s experimental rocking rhythm and blues pop sound, with the latter being more influenced by R&B.

It is on the seventh track, Silence, where the album loses something. The song isn’t necessarily bad, but it sounds more like a regular ballad… even with Bibi’s quite soulful voice. The album seems to get back on track with Kite, another rocking rhythm and blues pop song; however, Who Touched my Violin String reaches its lowest point with the Europop sounding Deserted Island, which feels like it would have fit the album better at the end, instead of right before the sweet pop sounding ballad The Girl with Glasses.

Overall, Bibi’s debut is quite a worthy first album, despite the lack of idol quality… especially because of the lack of idol quality. From the first track until the sixth one, Who Touched my Violin String is basically pure perfection.

Rating: ★★★¾☆ 

Preview on Xiami.com | Like it? Buy the album on YesAsia.comHMV HKiTunes

amy

YAM Magazine editor, photographer, blogger, translator and part-time web designer. Film junkie, music junkie… and lately series (a.k.a. TV) junkie.

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