Jiahui & Cheryl at the press conference in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah |
Members of the press were presented with an autographed copy of their collaboration album, The Impressoul 01 |
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Dinoza from Breeze, Cheryl Lee, Wu Jiahui and I outside Chocolate Factory in KK Times Square, where they were performing that night. |
What do you take
away from a song that you listen to for the first time? The impression the
melody leaves on you? Or do you hear the soul of the song - the message only
the lyrics can tell? Wu Jiahui and Cheryl Lee show Breeze what happens when the
two emotions collide with their debut collaboration album, The Impressoul 01.
Fans of the
Malaysian Chinese scene will know Cheryl first and foremost as a radio DJ for
988FM, and a TV host for 8TV. Starting out at the tender age of 20, Cheryl is a
household name in the entertainment industry, but few realise her main passion
is writing. Having released 3 books, being a columnist for fashion magazines
such as Nu You and Jmen, Cheryl loves penning lyrics the most. She has written lyrics for other artistes such
as Nicholas Teo and Jessie Lee, but debuted her singing career when she
launched a soundtrack album for popular TV series The Age Of Glory in which she
wrote and sang the main & end theme song.
Jiahui
however is no stranger to the music scene, having already carved a name for
himself as a multiple award winning composer since 2003. His impressive list of
published work includes songs popularized by big international names such as
Karen Mok, Nicholas Tse, Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau and many more. He released his
own debut album in 2008 and immediately rose to fame in Malaysia, Singapore and
Taiwan.
Most people
know the duo for their previous romance – they were a couple for almost 2 years
before coming up with this collaboration idea in August 2012. After realising
that they just weren’t compatible as lovers, but have amazing chemistry as
musicians, they decided to pour all their emotions into the 6 songs that are
totally composed, written and produced by the two.
Admittedly,
it wasn’t an easy road to completing the album as there were many disagreements
along the way, but Cheryl says that this helped them understand themselves and
each other better. When asked if there was any chance they’d get back together
though, the unanimously answered that it would be impossible as they already
experienced that they cannot live together other than through music.
Both Cheryl
and Jiahui share a mutual favourite on the album, which is the song “Chan”,
which means “Tangled”. Jiahui says he likes it because the melody is quite
complicated, and although it was originally written for Cheryl, they decided it
suited his voice better. As for Cheryl, she explains the reason behind the
quite repetitive lyrics: During a breakup, everything you do will somehow be
about that one person, even a glass of water can stir up memories of your time
together.
When asked
to describe each other, Jiahui reveals that Cheryl is an ambitious woman, and
sometimes finds it hard to choose which path she would like to go down first.
She’s also extremely independent, but revels in the support from those close to
her. Cheryl jokes that Jiahui likes to “cover macho” when he’s scared, meaning
that he likes to talk a lot to hide his fears. She also let us in on a little
secret that even Jiahui didn’t know until now: The song “Be Yours Be Mine” is
actually about Jiahui himself!
So what’s
next for the duo, seeing as they have very different personal projects? Cheryl
starts shooting for a Malaysian – Singaporean Chinese New Year movie next week,
and Jiahui is focusing on song production for other local artists, while
running his newly set up company: Dreammy Studio.
The
Impressoul 01 is already available in Malaysia, and has launched digitally in
Hong Kong. It will also be launched in Singapore and Taiwan. You can find out
more about Cheryl at www.facebook.com/CherylLeeXinYi and Jiahui at www.facebook.com/im.WuJiaHui
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A photo of the actual article in Breeze. Mom helped me snap a photo as I'm not in Sabah at the moment to see it myself! |
Are you a fan of Cheryl or Jiahui? Drop me a comment and tell me what you thought of their album! =)
Til next time,
Calista xx
I love their album. Wonderful melody by Jiahui and nicely written lyrics by Cheryl.
ReplyDeleteYeah it's quite a good album! Happy to have scored an autographed copy! ;p
Deleteso nice that you can meet with both of them :)
ReplyDeleteThey were very nice and down-to-earth people! =)
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