掌声鼓励 [full applause]

aska yang guided by jonathan lee in his pop jazz album

now this is belated but how sweet it is.

aska yang zong wei, the controversial reality superstar singing contest champion, who got himself entangled in a law suit for more than a year, is now finally free to do his first serious solo album.

and he got jonathan lee to help him. not only the music is typical like jonathan lee, aska himself sounds a bit like the maestro.

so, what's the problem? absolutely no problem! this album has attracted plenty of controversy since its release, most industry pundits agree that the music is great but the way aska imitates jonathan lee is unacceptable.

no fuss for us. first, it is smart of him to engage jonathan lee as a producer. look, there is plenty of crap nowadays, getting jonathan lee is like getting a guarantee in quality. you know it will be good, but you won't be sure of the sales la. jonathan lee, with his star-studded production team of malaysians like mac chew (arrangement and keyboard), lewis pragasam (drums), and andy peterson (bass) is the best ever team chinese pop has ever seen. this team will never put a foot wrong.

what about sounding like jonathan lee? we don't think so. we think aska still maintain his own character, tho' the jonathan lee influences are here and there.

ultimately, as an album to relaunch a new artiste's damaged career, this is a smart calculated move. the music, very much pop jazz, thanks to the always brilliant mac chew, may not be what the teeny boppers want, but hey, this is the kind of music that WE,  the mature buyers, want! we applaud the music label for being bold and swim against the commercial tide.

the only accusation cynics may attack is the lack of character on aska yang. we really don't care too much. ultimately, there is no chinese pop album better than this in 2011.

naturally we declare this album "chinese pop album of the year, 2011".