Jay Chou Exclamation Mark! Album Review

Shortly after my Proj Lab 3rd day post I decided to post THIS. After seeing the ludicrous reviews from a few websites I needed to post this to satisfy my own ego. lol.

First and foremost comparing 療傷燒肉粽 to 聽媽媽的話 r u serious bro? What a joke?! Both songs are not even similar! Wow. Am I hearing the same songs??

Generally I thought this album was plain average. Some great songs but a lot more pointless ones that overshadow them. And some parts of the great songs could have been instant classics had MR JAY put in more effort. Comparing the previous few albums, this is slightly better than 跨時代 worse than 我很忙.

1) 驚嘆號
How do I even start. Yea it's the typical No.1 slot song of his "movie-turn" albums...see 跨時代/龍戰騎士. Usually a softrock type of intro song, fast paced. Let's be fair and compare them on the basis of fast songs.   驚嘆號  has good heavy guitars, mature music blending, above average verse but the letdown is the chorus lol.
"號號號號號號號號" yea Mr Jay just steal from your old works again lah. Say you love it man. Just another song.6/10

2)迷魂曲
What the hell. When Mr Jay is at his best he's untouchable. But this. This song shows the worse side of his compositions. (However his worst still owns alot of others). The verse, typical, sounds recycled and mashed from previous 'club' songs of his. The only postitive thing is the chorus which is quite classic jay chou rumbling style and catchy too, but for his standard, NEH. I don't dig his clubbing songs at all. Same goes for 嘻哈空姐/蛇舞/扯. No more club songs pls.......4.5/10 (for his standards)

3)Mine Mine
Why are people raving over this song??? Can someone explain to me?? Hey, to me it is just AVERAGE, I have to be blunt! And made worst by TWO points - one, autotune. Two, the background rhythm is an exact copy of 我不配!. However the chorus is the worst of all!!! It's just some uncreative melody that any average artist can create! This is NOT Jay chou standard bro! Yea he's trying show off his english skills but omg. Yea putting in min nan is cool and all but the chorus just don't meet his high standards. It's an insult to 我不配. Really. Do not know why people can love this song so much. Have they ever heard his first few albums? Have they heard his truly classic R&B hits like 龍捲風/上海一九四三/黑色毛衣?? One word for this song -- OVERRATED. 5/10

4)公主病
Ok finally the first creative song from this album. The music is copied from 陽光宅男 (everone knows that already), but I have to give it to him, 公主病 is better. It's a very rare case of a sequel being better than its predecessor. Why? First he just randomly created this tune from Mr J Channel. Second 公主病 is more upbeat and lively, so much so that when I go back and listen to 陽光宅男 I feel that it's soooo slow and not as energetic. Also the melody is very catchy. It's not that type of chromatic-catchy but more in the vein of a strong, rock feel. You can hear the instruments, they are harder than  陽光宅男 and the part where   陽光宅男  goes into a solo,   公主病 replaces it with a breakdown instead. But somehow it's more catchy! Btw chorus was very well mixed. Great song. 8/10

5)你好嗎
Why is Mr Jay going in this minimalist style? I mean for the first of its kind (說了再見) it was ok, (didn't like it though) but doing it again...wow it's boring man! And disappointingly this is the only ballad in the whole damn album r u serious bro??! [This is the main problem with this album; whole lot of pointless experimental crap and compromising on his strengths i.e ballads and ZHONG GUO FENG...I'm sad =((] Before I get to the good points, the worst thing about this song is NO DRUM BEAT HAHA. You can't do this...stop this minimalist stuff and get back to real ballads like 說好的幸福呢/最長的電影 pls...(and I'm not even gonna compare to his first five albums' ballads cos' they are even better) But to the good points, the chorus is GOOD. Very Jay chou style, very similar to   最長的電影 as they both require singer to "biao ying" and sing like their dying. Wow and the chorus on the second time DID HE SING IT HIGH OR WHAT? I don't know what note it is but it's definitely up there with some of his highest ranged songs. Cue 擱淺/髮如雪 last part. As a song, not bad but please go back to the tried and proven formula - piano/violin/DRUMS combo thank you..7/10

6)療傷燒肉粽
I like this song! The chorus keep looping in my head; I can't get it off! It's the kind of song when you first listen you know it's good. Yea, it might suit a female singer better but I guess his voice is cute enough to pull it off. And one thing-people are saying the   燒...肉...粽 part will be sang over and over but please, no. It's the chorus. This is one of the more creative melodies he's come up with in the past 3 albums. Very catchy, very pop, serves its purpose well. The song I've looped the most in the album. As a song it's nothing special but I say again, the chorus. It's addictive. 8/10

7)琴傷
Well this might be the one I'd start to appreciate more and more each day. Quite a weird song but after a feel listens and reading comments you can hear the similarities. So if we put it into catergory it's similar to 夜的第七章 and 夜曲(rap part). Although the aforementioned are much better but this has it's own unique taste, I'd say. The chorus- intriguing. However the part that is starting to grow on me is the background music during the chorus. The du dudu du dudu du dudu du dudu part. Very arrogant sounding. Yea people all rave on the piano part etc etc great reference etc etc yea I give him credit being able to mash it into the song but this is Jay chou...who should be CREATING the piano lick instead of just copy and paste. I need a few more listens. Right now, 7/10

8)水手怕水
牛仔很忙/魔術先生/水手怕水 -- they are a trio. Listen all three after one another for full effect. Everybody likes this kind of cute cowboyish song. But they are just that. Rarely will you see them make anyone's top Jay songs. But I understand, this type of 'gimmick' songs are necessary for variety so good, come out with more of these! 6.5/10

9)世界未末日
Easily, THE song of the album. Wow. I love it. Nobody should even argue otherwise because non of the other songs can even fight with this. At first listen I was shocked: "WHAT the intro has the 晴天 feel!" And that got me real excited. And Jay did not disappoint. For the first time in a long time this is the only song that has two verse types; the intro verse PLUS and build up verse. What does it mean, simple. He is not rushing into the chorus and I really love songs like that, when it's slowly built. In an industry of verse-chorus-verse-chorus this really stands out. Amplified by the fact it's a rock/guitar driven number. The part where the drums kicks in and he sings to the beat is the best part of the whole album. And at first I thought it was the chorus but bang, the drums intensities and out comes a brillant chorus! It really HAS THE END OF MOVIE/WORLD ENDING FEEL~~ I love it. Again, best Jay chou song in the album but one small criticism.

WHY DID HE NOT SING THE BUILD UP VERSE AGAIN ON THE SECOND PART...wanna cry...go hear again...verse1-building up verse-chorus-verse1-chorus-end.

If only had he sang the build up verse, this would have been perfect. Even without a bridge! Wow. How hard could it be to just add the build up verse again? Album time restrictions? Even so he should REMOVE those pointless crap and sing the damn build up verse again!! The song gets a 9/10 but had he sang the build up verse AND added a bridge it would be PERFECT.
What I'm saying is verse1-bu verse-chorus-verse1-bu verse-chorus-bridge-chorus Wow that would have KILLED it!

10)皮影戲
Wow. Can't believe it. The zhong guo feng lick in this rap song is the only ZGF part in the whole album!!! I'M SAD. Really want to say a big F to Mr Jay for NO ZGF song in this album!!! ZGF is HIS TRADEMARK BRO! Wow.
Whatever, this is another forgettable, pointless, .......
Haix. 5/10

11)超跑女神
Oh-Oh~... Sounds average at first, needs repeated listens. The thing that sucks for 超跑女神 is it's fighting a losing battle with   療傷燒肉粽 in the album. But the problem is the album only needed either one. Why did he put both in one album baffles me.  超跑女神  is not bad but would have had more credibility if put in another album with nothing fighting with it.   療傷燒肉粽  just overshadows it, sad to say. Point to note:   你專心在畫睫毛　我專心在等你笑
你唇膏　塗抹少少　撒嬌　討好　我收到
Is a classic, pure Jay style. But a shame, it only lasted few seconds.
Oh. The  龍捲風 piano touch is cute too. 7/10

That's it.

Three (+): He still can create ultra-catchy melody, he is not ditching rap, and  世界未末日 .
Three (-): NO ZGF. Too much experimental crap. Unbalanced song variety.