AEE HK Music Awards

Cantopop has long lost its level of prestige with the dozens of different award shows that give out countless awards. It starts to become hard to tell which awards are really an "honor" and which are just pork chop awards. At the same time, still so many artists and songs go unrecognized. The same people win every year (Joey, Eason, I don't doubt you're very talented, but someone else deserves to win!) until it loses it's meaning. The year of 2012 was quite a great year for Cantopop, and the first ever AEE HK Music Awards hopes to recognize the people who may have not gotten the attention or accolades they deserve without giving out so many awards their meaning is lost.

Song Awards

Top 10 Songs of the Year

#10 - "The End/到此為止" by Shiga Lin

Ballads are nothing unfamiliar to the world of Cantopop, and although "The End" is nothing groundbreaking, it's still a beautifully composed and sung song. Shiga's vocals are gorgeous and full of heartbreaking emotion. The song is very personal and full of meaning, as it signified Shiga acknowledging, learning from, and moving on from a damaging scandal that hit her early last year. She deserves all the accolades she's received for this song, and does not go unnoticed here either.

#9 - "BB88" by Khalil Fong
Upbeat songs are not too common (and quite often they're not good either) in the HK music industry. Khalil released the most upbeat single of his career with "BB88", a pleasant surprise because it stays with his signature R&B sound, while also very creative, catchy, and fun!

#8 - "Drenched" by Wanting Qu
Although written in English by a China-based artist, "Drenched" became a huge hit following being used in the HK movie "Love in a Buff". The song is magical and absolutely beautiful with Wanting's deep and soulful vocals and the moving musical composition, so it just can not go unrecognized here!

#7 - "Cold Joke/冷笑話" by Fiona Sit
After a year of consistently releasing great singles, Fiona capped off the year with "Cold Joke", her most mature and best work yet. The song, from the lovely musical composition to her vocals, is full of so much emotion that you know it is very special to Fiona. There is feeling in every breath. The song is delivered with so much grace.

#6 - "Frail/孱弱" by Kelvin Kwan
Kelvin found his niche sound this year in alternative/rock influenced songs, and "Frail" is the cherry on top of a great year of experimenting with the new musical style. The song is gripping, slightly gritty, and full of angst, not something many Cantopop singers can pull off. It allows him to showcase his vocal abilities while keeping it fresh and original instead of the typical love ballad.

#5 - "So Dry/疗Dry" by Eric Suen
Eric finally returned with a new album again and completely took us by surprise with "So Dry". It's unlike anything he's ever written before. It's catchy, upbeat, but also creative, whimsical, with a message that's easy to relate to. Rarely is an upbeat Cantonese song that good! "So Dry" is the new working people's theme song.

#4 - "Death Row/斬立決" by Pakho Chau
Perhaps no other song leaves as much of an emotional impact following listening as "Death Row", as it honestly does leave you in a state of sadness. The song touches on the issue of cyber bullying and depicts the horrors through its well-written lyrics, a haunting melody, strong vocals by Pakho, and evokes so much emotion.

#3 - "Goodbye" by Dear Jane
After a year of sweeping up awards for "Yellow Fever", "Goodbye" is still a little shining gem that went mostly unnoticed and undecorated by awards. It is a phenomenal song that is heartfelt, moving, powerful, serene, wonderfully produced and polished. Tim sounds his best vocally with his gentle yet powerful delivery, and the instruments come together beautifully.

#2 - "Yesterday/昨天" by Mr.
Mr.'s "Yesterday" is hands down the best rock ballad of the year. It is a beautifully and wonderfully arranged. At a long length of 5:15, the song does not drag on, but continues to deliver to the very end and leaves an impact. The song is powerful, thoughtful, and meaningful. Alan's vocals anchor the song, and the instruments shine, particularly during the guitar solo.

#1 - "Non-Vegetation/人非草木" by Kary Ng
Taking the top song honor is Kary with "Non-Vegetation". The composition and arrangement of the song (which consists of both piano and strings) coupled with Kary's soft but strong vocals is breathtaking and enchanting. Both a bit of sadness and sweetness is evoked. The song says that humans are not like vegetables and meant for living, which is exactly what Kary has been doing: living the life. "Non-Vegetation" is the best song of the year, and Kary's best yet.

Songs that narrowly missed getting placed or ultimately removed included G.E.M.'s "Someday I'll Fly" (meaningful, but in the end sounded generic), Raymond Lam's "Because of You" (lovely, but not outstanding), and Eason Chan's "Heavy Taste" (unique and catchy, but already heavily awarded).  I also really wanted to include Kary's "Ferociously", Fiona's "Better Me", and Pakho's "Irreversible", but excluded them as I didn't want to include more than one song from an artist.

Genre-Specific:

Best Ballad: "The End/到此為止" by Shiga Lin
The most beautifully composed and sung ballad of the year with a story behind it. Although ballads are vastly overdone in Cantopop, Shiga breathes a breath of fresh air into the type of song.

Best Dance Song: "Ferociously/狠狠" by Kary Ng
Dance songs in Cantopop are often poorly done, full of autotune, or just not catchy. Kary's "Ferociously" is catchy, funky, refreshing, with great choreography.

Best Rock Song: "Yellow Fever" by Dear Jane
Rock has found its way back into the mainstream Cantopop industry, a feat worth celebrating. Dear Jans's "Yellow Fever" is a catchy, infectious rock song with a great hook and intertwines dub step well.

Best Duet: "Lone Ranger Companion/獨行俠侶" by William So and Kay Tse
A great collaboration between William and Kay. The song has a lovely melody and the two talented artist's voices blend together and compliment each other very well, making it a more memorable duet.

Music Video Awards

Best Music Video: "Confessions/告白" by Kary Ng
The best music videos don't take away from the song, but compliment it and make it even better. In Kary's first attempt at directing, the MV of "Confessions" acts out the story and message in the lyrics. It depicts the emotional despair of a person who cheated in a relationship, and the one cheated on. The different shots and settings used done and chosen well. Everything from the shots of Kary resting her head on her boyfriend by the sea, to the ones of them hanging out happily in the past, to her singing as her dress flows with the wind are fantastic. The entire video does a spectacular job of boosting the emotion of the song.

Honorable mentions include Kelvin's "People of My Generation" for it's concept, Pakho's "Death Row" for it's art direction, and Eric's "So Dry" for it's creative use of animations. In general, I saw quite a few great music videos this year.

Album Awards

Album of the Year: "My January" by Kary Ng
"My January" went largely unrecognized by awards and deserves a lot more love.  "My January" is a collection of Kary's personal stories of love and life that flows smoothly from track to track until the very end.  It shows her maturation into a fine and talented young lady with songs that show her talent, feeling, and grace.

2nd Place: "Back to Wonderland" by Khalil Fong
Khalil returned to the funkier and retro sound and concept of his popular 2007 album "Wonderland", and it worked.  There's still the same R&B/soul style we know him for, but with a more upbeat and funky twist.  It's an album brighter and quicker in pace than his past works, and one that will have you swaying your head to the music.

3rd Place: "Self-Portrait" by Raymond Lam
Raymond genuinely surprised me with "Self-Portrait", a mature and creative piece of work that exhibited many different musical styles that all worked well with him.  Raymond may be known as more of an idol and not taken very seriously as a singer, but many overlook the fact that "Self-Portrait" is still a fantastic album and his best one yet.

Artist Awards

Most Promising Artist: Shiga Lin
Shiga showed potential as a newcomer, and over the last year has polished up her vocals to the point she's now one of the most beautiful and controlled young voices in HK. She did well with ballads such as "The End" and "Movin' On", and also the midtempo and inspiring "Run". She proved she is also strong and capable of overcoming hardship, which shows she can last a long time in this cutthroat industry. She breathes fresh air into the HK music industry, which is in need of youthful talent like her, so expect to see a lot more of her.

Most Improved Artist: TIE, Fiona Sit and Kelvin Kwan
Fiona first debuted back in 2004 as a singer with potential, but her vocals weren't always too reliable and she had trouble gaining success.  Yet, her voice and control has improved heaps and bounds over the years and she found lots of momentum in 2012 and exerted many different musical styles in her album "Filicious".  All the singles released were hits, and she was able to hold her own concert at the HK Coliseum for the first time.  She too, is steadily becoming a young lady worthy of respect as an artist and will soon emerge as one of the best.

It has been an exciting and impressive year for Kelvin.  He made a comeback to the industry last year, but successfully shed his image and past this year.  He's no longer someone to be associated with his scandal back in 2009, but as the man and talented young artist he is today.  His "Occupation" EP showed he is capable of many musical styles and found a niche in a more gritty and rock influenced type of music.  He has involved himself in the creative process of his music and tried his hand at directing one of his music videos.  This may not have been expected, but Kelvin has vastly improved and is quickly becoming one of the most talented and worth noticing young singers in Hong Kong.

The best singer/band awards are the top honors of the AEE HK Music Awards.  They're judged by the performances of the artists this year, which include the quality of material they've released and the success they achieved, as opposed to just whose the most popular.

Best Band: Dear Jane
Dear Jane was the rising band of 2012 as they achieved great critical and commercial success, sweeping up countless awards for "Yellow Fever", putting them on the map.  They're helping bring rock to the mainstream Cantopop with their more unique punk influences and honest and passionate music.  It's been great seeing them see reach new heights this year, and it's only expected that 2013 be an even better year for them.

Best Female Singer: Kary Ng
Winning the top song award, best dance song, best music video, and best album, it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise as Kary grabs the top honor of Best Female Singer.  It's truly been a fantastic year for her and it showed the completion of her transformation into a young woman and musical artist.  She's became one of the shining stars of the Cantopop industry, since she has both years of experience and youth (she is only 26 years old but has been in the industry since around 15).  Mark my words, she is going to become the next pop diva.  Move over Joey Yung!

Best Male Singer: Kelvin Kwan
This may come as a surprise to some people and met with mixed response, but it's been an exciting and impressive year for Kelvin.  He made a comeback to the industry last year, but successfully shed his image and past this year.  He's no longer someone to be associated with his scandal back in 2009, but as the man and talented young artist he is today.  His "Occupation" EP showed he is capable of many musical styles and as mentioned above, found a niche in a more gritty and rock influenced type of music.  He has involved himself in the creative process of his music and tried his hand at directing one of his music videos.  This may not have been expected, but Kelvin is quickly becoming one of the most talented and worth noticing young singers in Hong Kong. ***Update 11/2/13**** I had intended to update this a LONG time ago, but then...life happened, so I never got the chance. This comes awfully late, but I thought it was worth changing before the next awards comes around.

Best Male Singer: Pakho Chau
After I had originally posted this, I had listened to Pakho's music more in-depth and was blown away by the material he released in 2012, as well as all he had accomplished. Pakho has gone from a fresh-faced idol in his early days to an accomplished singer, songwriter, composer, and occasionally music video director (he directed Shiga Lin's "Time for Love" MV). He has evolved into one of the most respectable and versatile young artists today, and is a force to be reckoned with. The singles he released this year were all among the best of 2012.  "Death Row", "Imperfect","無力挽回/Irreversible", and "只有一事不成全你/There's Only 
One Thing I Won't Help You With" were all phenomenal singles that showed his talent, passion, artistic touch, 
and maturity. Pakho topped off his strongest year yet with his much anticipated first HK Coliseum concert as 
well as a compilation album, both titled "Imperfect." He has truly come far and secured himself as a staple of 
the Cantopop music industry. With Pakho, there is hope for continuous fresh and high quality Cantonese music 
as he continues to take the industry by storm.

This wraps up the first AEE HK Music Awards!  The results may look much different than the existing award shows, but my goal was to recognize those who usually do not receive the awards I think they deserve.  What do you think was the best of 2012?  Comment with your thoughts!

Song Review: Kary Ng's "狠狠/Ferociously"

Kary Ng goes retro for her latest single "狠狠/Ferociously", making it her first dance oriented song in years!  Known for her midtempo songs and love ballads, the young female songstress increases her versatility and well roundedness with her newest plug.

"Ferociously" details a love affair at its most intense with a retro electronic dance musical style, making it a unique, catchy, and addictive song.  There are some attempts at Cantopop dance songs every now and then, most of which I don't thoroughly enjoy because they tend to feel like they're too Western influenced, not innovative, and often, overdosed with auto tune.  "Ferociously" is my favorite Cantopop dance song now.  It's not only upbeat, catchy, and something you could actually dance to, but also stylish, creative, refreshing, and different.  I love the uniquely retro style of the song, which fits Kary very well.  It's great that Kary and her musical team are trying new things, and I'm looking forward to hearing more dance songs from her!

The MV has Kary herself dancing for the first time in an MV since her solo debut days, which I think is great.  She looks so much more mature and better now!  The only thing is I wish they could release a full version of the dance sequence, as you only see bits and pieces of it.  The "evil pig" masks were quite freaky and creepy, and were apparently part of an abstract theme which sought to say Kary could overcome evil like that.  I don't think this theme was executed too well, but at least it was creative and amusing.  The plot of the MV is questionable, but it's nice to see more effort being put into Cantopop music videos.  The MV is fun, quirky, and well shot.

This has quickly become one of my new favorites from Kary.  She is only getting better and better!  "Ferociously" is definitely a song worth checking out, especially if you're looking for something fun and different.

Song Review: Kary Ng's "告白/Confessions"

Kary's latest single "告白", which translates to "Confessions", perfectly fits into the mainstream type of Cantopop.  It joins the abundant amount of love ballads that have been released in HK for decades, but doesn't fail to impress nevertheless.  It could have sounded generic, but stops itself from doing so as the beautiful and sad melody, as well as Kary's lovely and strong vocals are captivating.

The song opens with Kary singing ever so softly, uttering the words with such heart and emotion.  The lyrics and her singing depict such sadness, pain, and emotion.  The piano and guitar strings contribute to the song's sad yet beautiful composition.  Having started with soft singing, Kary uses more power as she flows into the song's climax.  Yet throughout the whole song, it feels likes she's still holding back, never fully letting her heart out, making the song even more heartbreaking.

Although already quite outstanding, the music video is wonderfully done and evokes even more emotion and beauty out of the song.  If it's one major flaw of most Cantopop music videos, its the low budget and effort.  Some are good, but most fail to be anything special, never mind make the song better than it already is.  Kary's MV tells a story, makes use of different filming locations and shots, and creates such a powerful and emotional feel.  The MV depicts the once happy and loving relationship that has turned sour (from a third party?), and how both are now struggling over themselves, with the emphasis put on the guy's disintegrating mentality and happiness.  It has some beautiful shots, from Kary and her ex-boyfriend standing by the ocean, to their happy memories with each other with the balloons and pictures, and the shots of Kary singing in a deserted location with her dress blowing against the wind.

Kary looks absolutely gorgeous in the video.  This single, from the song itself to the video, shows how she's become such a talented, beautiful, and grown woman.  Despite her age, she has unexpectedly become one of the most talented young female singers in Hong Kong today.  This is a great follow up to her superb album "Myself", and I'm anticipating whatever is to come.  As a loyal Kary fan, I'm so happy to see how far she's come and how much she's grown up.  "Confessions" is such a saddening yet powerful and beautiful song, and definitely one of the most memorable love related ballads in a long time.

Broadening the Horizons: The Start of Interest in Asian Entertainment

Asian Entertainment Experience turns three months old today! :D

In celebration of the three month anniversary of Asian Entertainment Experience, we are writing a special edition of "Broadening the Horizons". Instead of focusing on a specific artist, this time, we will share how we got into Asian entertainment in the first place. Everyone's story is different, including ours. We hope that you will share your story as well!

Iris' story: How I got into TVB Dramas, C-Pop, and Korean music

How did I get into TVB dramas? I was not interested in them growing up, like many other kids. The main reason was probably because I spoke and understood no Cantonese at the time. I mostly watched little kid programs when in elementary school and then Disney Channel and Nickelodeon. Something happened in 2008 when I was in the 7th grade though. With the downfall of the two networks, I became sick of the increasingly juvenile programming. At 12 years old, I still considered myself too young for prime time TV and was convinced there was too much sex and violence in American shows. I wanted a balance between the two.

With my mom starting to watch TVB dramas again by downloading and exchanging DVDs, I started becoming exposed to them once again. The first TVB series I was sucked into was "Forensic Heroes II". Two of my closest friends and I all followed it and talked about it. There was no turning back from there, as I started watching TVB series in my free time. I enjoyed the characters, plots, etc. My other early TVB series included "Catch Me Now", and "War of In-Laws II", which are still two of my favorites to this day. Since I didn't understand Cantonese, I watched with English subtitles. My selection was limited, and I watched almost everything that was available.

Soon, just watching the series stopped becoming enough. I started researching the series, the actors, and TVB itself. I also wanted to read other people's thoughts, as well as share my own. I fondly followed TVB blogs, particularly the now closed TVB Musings. I was a silent reader and spent hours reading the blogger's in-depth, well written, and witty works relating to TVB. Shortly before he did his last post, I started commenting and we had discussions about the series and his posts. This became inspiration for me to create my own TVB blog. From that, TVB Interaction was born, an outlet for me to share my excessive thoughts. I still credit MetalAZNWarrior of TVB Musings for developing my interest in TVB, blogging, and writing. He is my "si fu"/mentor.

Due to watching TVB series, I naturally started becoming exposed to Cantopop music again. It started with downloading theme songs I liked, to slowly discovering actual Cantopop singers. Singers I first started listening are Eric Suen, G.E.M., Patrick Tang, and Kary Ng. These four are who got me into the genre, and remain my favorites to this day.

The quality of TVB's series continued to decline, and as a result, so did my interest in them. However, my interest in Hong Kong entertainment didn't die as I developed a new fascination: the artists themselves. Not in the gossip and scandals, but the real life personalities of TVB artists. This gave me more reasons to like them. As time elapsed though and the quality of TVB series gets even worse, I become even less interested. It is my favorite artists like Ruco Chan, Raymond Wong, Myolie Wu, Kate Tsui, Fala Chen, etc that retain the interest.

While I continued to listen to Eric, G.E.M., Patrick, and Kary, my interest in Cantopop itself slowed for a while. I listened to them when they came up on my iPod, but stopped actively looking up and downloading new Cantopop music. A couple months ago, the interest suddenly returned upon the release of Eric's album "Never Said Goodbye".  I started downloading new Cantopop music once again.  This time around, I started exploring more.  Instead of just listening to pop, I looked into rock, R&B, blues, etc.  Recently, I've been loving Kelvin Kwan for his experimental nature into different musical styles, Khalil Fong for his R&B and blues music, and the band Mr. for their rock sound.

For the longest time, I was turned off from K-Pop due to all the girl groups and boy bands, whose generally juvenile and cutesy styles were not my cup of tea.  Thanks to Niki and her great recommendations though, I have been slowly opening myself up to Korean music since the beginning of the year.  However, not the stuff that most international K-Pop fans are into.  I've been finding myself much more attracted to the lesser known and under appreciated solo artists Younha, known for her pop rock style, and the soulful ALi.  I also love the hip hop oriented Epik High and now inactive pop rock band Loveholic.  Of course, those who have been reading my posts, know I'm also a big fan of the fierce girl group Miss A.

Of course, my main interest remains Hong Kong entertainment, which includes dramas and music.  With this interest, I'm starting to understand and speak Cantonese (I can now watch TVB dramas without subtitles without getting too lost), and even starting to pick up a little Mandarin.  Being Chinese, I feel a more personal connection with it.  However, at the end of the day, I appreciate and can like anything as long as it's good.  My interest in Asian entertainment has not died, it continues to grow.

Niki's Story: How I got  into all things Asian Entertainment.

I grew up exposed to dramas from Hong Kong and Mainland China. Being Viet I watched them dubbed and for the longest time thought they were Vietnamese (despite the obvious contrast in the dialogue and mouthing). I was particularly fond of ancient series and loved the cool fighting and powers the characters had. Knowing that the series were set in China (even though I still thought it was a Viet product xP), I developed an interest in Chinese. After growing up realized that the dramas weren't originally in Vietnamese, so I did some research and found out about english subtitle.

By that time, I was mesmerized by Taiwanese dramas so I spent the summer of 6th grade clearing out all the dramas that were available to me. Soon I had gone through most (if not all) Taiwanese dramas available at that time. I moved forward to something new and found out about TVB. I found out by searching up my old dramas that I loved when I was a kid. At first, I wasn't used to Cantonese, being more exposed to Mandarin, so I felt awkward with the change. As a result, I trailed away from TVB for a while and tried watching Japanese dramas. I watched several dramas, but didn't get too into it, so I ended up going back to TVB. Only then did I get hooked onto TVB. Same as Iris, one of the first TVB dramas I had watch (subbed) was FOH2. I had watched the first one dubbed and fell in love, when I saw the second one I was immediately hooked again. From then on I continued in my TVB marathon and once again was running out of dramas to watch.

Because of the lack of dramas I turned to music. I became involved with Taiwanese music first, most of the songs came from the dramas I had watched. Slowly I discovered the artists and learned more about them. From there I was addicted to Fahrenheit and later S.H.E., the two bands that til this day are my favorites.

Also as a supplement I picked up on mangas. My first series was Sakura Card captor. I remember going to the library every week and checking out several book, making sure that I didn't skip any volume. As my interest in mangas grew I started watching animes and picked up on Japanese music along the wa. Most of the music, again, came from the shows.

At this point I had no interest in K-pop or K- dramas, but a trip to Viet Nam quickly changed that. My two cousins were both very interested in k-pop and they soon pulled me into the K-pop world. They first showed me Big Bang's "Haru Haru," Super Junior's "Sorry Sorry" and "It's You", and SNSD's "Gee." I found myself completely addicted by the catchy melodies. I spent the entire summer reasearching and learing more about the artists. That was in early 2009, and I soon learned all there was to learn about K-pop. I also found myself getting more and more disappointed by the new groups.

During freshman year I met Iris and found out our mutual interest in TVB. As we got to know each other better she introduced me to her blog, TVB Interaction. Seeing Iris' blog made me want to start a blog of my own. However, I was hesitant in doing so. After starting the Korean Entertainment Club with Dani and Pinki at our school, I decided to ask Iris to help me create the blog for our club.

Through the blog, Iris and I got to know each other even better. We started to talk about music and exchanged the artists we like to one another. As a result I got into Canto-pop. From Iris' recommendations I  got to know G.E.M., Eric Suen, Kary Ng, and several other artists as well. On the other hand I introduced Iris to Epik High, Younha, and ALi. As I introduced her to Epik High I found myself mesmerized by their music. Iris and I continued to research other types of music and found an interest in something other than pop. (Iris: I also got her into Kelvin, Khalil, and Mr.'s music as well! ;))

Throughout my life I was surrounded by Asian Entertainment and culture, so there's no surprise that it would become a big part of my life. The interest has definitively grown in the past years and will continue to grow.

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Author's Note: I hope I did not bore everybody with the story of how I got into Asian entertainment!  Niki and I have been meaning to do something like this for a while, and thought our three month anniversary would be a good time to do so.  For those wondering why we're celebrating our three month anniversary...it's because for the previous month milestones, we either forgot or could not remember in time to do anything.  So congratulations to AE Experience for making it to a quarter of a year!  In our opinion, this blog is only getting started and continues to develop!

Niki's Note: Thank you for supporting AEE this far and as Iris has said, our blog is still starting out and has a long road ahead.We have many things planned for the future so stay tuned! ;D

Kary Ng - "Myself" Album Review

As a young teenager, Kary started off as a back up singer to Stephy Tang in the bubblegum pop band "Cookies". With her sweet but strong voice, it was clear she had the most talent. Kary embarked on a solo career as a pop/rock artist and her future has only continued to look brighter.

Despite being only 25 years old, Kary has had years of experience in the music industry, matured, and has blossomed into one of the best young singers in Hong Kong.

Kary Ng returns with her new album "Myself", her most solid and consistent full length album yet. She has grown into a young lady, and it shows. As always, the music is of pop and rock influence. At the same time, she also experiments with other elements, including R&B and even a little jazz, and does it right. Orchestra strings are often heard as well, creating a pleasing and well-polished sound.

Most albums will have a couple highlights and then several mediocre or "filler" songs. However, each track on "Myself" is unique and strong.

A more in-depth look...



"歸宿/Final Destination" is a wonderful combination of instruments and synthetic elements along with her signature pop sound.  The song starts with a strong orchestral introduction.  She is able to show her range in the song as well, as she hits both low and high notes.  While "Final Destination" may seem like a solid and well produced track, it's only a preview of the great music that is about to follow.


"我本人/Myself" is a softer and more mellow track where Kary sings more gently. The strings sounded lovely here and the music gave off a slightly magical feel.  This track was a critical and commercial success, and for good reason.  It is beautifully composed and sung.

" 東京三月/Tokoyo for Three Months" boosts R&B beats and a softly singing Kary, resulting in a soothing song.


Less is more is what “吴哥窟/Angkor Wat” proves.  The song makes no attempt to stretch Kary's voice, yet each note and vocal is executed gently yet beautifully.  What is perhaps most unique about this is the old time feel, which is further reflected in the music video.  It is an emotional but subtle song that is wonderfully crafted.

"未晚/Not Too Late" is a more upbeat song, but keeps the sound of the album consist by keeping a mellow and serene feel.  Kary's vocals are very sweet here and I love the instrumental.

"現在已經是夜深/The Middle of the Night" feels unlike any other song Kary has released with its jazz influence. Very refreshing.

"海枯石烂/Even If the Seas Run Dry and the Rocks Crumble" is another beautiful sounding track possessing a more typical C-Pop ballad feel.  It's not too slow, but rather, relaxing and calming.  Unlike many of the songs that maintain a more stable pace though, "Even If the Seas Run Dry and the Rocks Crumble" reaches a powerful and beautiful climax and closes with a strong ending.

"不遠不近/Not Far, Not Near" is perhaps the song with the most R&B influence, this is of my personal favorites on the album. The la la's Kary sings towards the ends are surprisingly infectious and sweet, yet not annoying at all.

The feel of "初會/First Encounter" is similar to "Even If the Seas Run Dry and the Rocks Crumble" with its C-Pop ballad feel and heavy reliance with traditional instruments.  This results in a lovely song, and I especially love the bridge.

"幾個字/A Few Words", the last track, has the most jazz influence and even contains a hint of the blues. Unique and soothing, this sounds like something one would sing at a club or bar.

Although there are songs that stand out and are more memorable than others, each song is solid and lovely to listen to. There is no weak link. The whole album gives off a very soothing and relaxing vibe. Unlike her past albums, Kary goes for a more mellow and unique sound. This resulted in consistency and quality. No song feels out of place, yet it doesn't feel repetitive.

Personal favorites: "Myself", "Angkor Wat", and "Not Far, Not Near".

Overall
On "Myself", Kary proves she has matured and that she has what it takes to keep making quality music. She covers new territory by experimenting with different genres while staying true to her style, resulting in a wonderful album. She is also one of the few with a sweet and genuine sounding voice while having good range. "Myself" is a superb album and Kary's best yet.