Hebe Tien - 无人知晓 Time Will Tell (Album Review)

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Time Will Tell is Hebe Tien's first album since leaving her previous record label and striking it out on her own. As Selina Jen, her S.H.E groupmate, put it, this is her first release after "becoming a grown-up". It is therefore an album that's especially anticipated, an album that serves as a statement of what Hebe is capable of on her own.

Hebe's previous 4 albums have revolved around themes and concepts; "To Hebe" was a compilation of songs that she wanted to sing and would set out her direction in the years to come, "My Love" was an album exploring various themes of love, "Insignificance" looked at the place of each person in the vast world, and "Day by Day" took on the importance of the self, and of each moment, in life.

Hebe abandons this concept-driven approach in "Time Will Tell". Time Will Tell, lit. translated as "Nobody Knows" is exactly what it says on the tin; time will tell what this album becomes against the backdrop of her work, past and future. It is simply an album, she says, that expresses her thoughts and the feelings she has at this moment in time. That's perhaps one of Hebe's attractions as a singer, though: her songs chart her growth and change.

It is worth noting that 6 out of the 11 songs on this album were first released as singles; Let It..., Anything Goes, One After Another, You Should Know About It, A Song For You and Irony of Love in that order. There were really only 4 songs that were completely new to listeners.

1. Intro
This is a short & slow, mostly instrumental piece that has Hebe singing a few lines from A Song For You: "I'll gift you my soul; or a song, bring you diving into the deep. I'll lend you my secrets; a few lonely words I say to myself."

As far as intros go, this does work in setting out the mood of the album, which Hebe considers to be the collection of her experiences and feelings over the years. It lends an intimacy to the album that I can appreciate.

No rating because it's an intro.




2. 先知 You Should Know About It
We have already heard this electropop song previously, but I was surprised to hear it follow the intro, as one of her rare upbeat songs. The first time I heard it, it called to mind her previous releases Learning From Drunk and Pretty Woman. Hebe taking on this genre of songs actually gives me conflicted emotions because it's one I associate with Hebe because she is so good at bringing out the mood of these songs; yet her vocals are always a little too cool, and sometimes the rhythm seems too fast for her. You Should Know About It feels like a v3 with better vocal control. Her producer for this album, George Chen, also deserves praise for the management and vocal direction of this song. Taking imperfect cuts, not overly correcting them, in order to focus on the mood does indeed bring out her best. However, fast-paced songs are still not her best, and as excellent as this song is in capturing the excitement of falling in love, her vocals still seem a bit weak on this one, and somewhat airy. It's certainly a very enjoyable song though.

3.5/5




3. 田 Crop Circles
This song was the one that took me by surprise most, and belongs to the indie side of her discography, along with Insignificance and Beautiful Prophecy. It leans into darker mystery, which she has previously shown herself capable of in covers such as Florence and the Machine's Girl With One Eye and Emily Haines' Doctor Blind, but which she had yet to challenge in her own discography. It is also an interesting follow up to You Should Know About It, which was so giddily cheerful. I thought it matched, after all, with the electronic instruments, but it set up an interesting parallelism, both songs being about the unknown when it comes to matters of the heart. Her vocals are, again, focused on the stylistic. However, I'd say that she uses her vocals to much greater effect here, probably because it's at a pace which she's comfortable with, and the coolness of her vocals complements rather than needs to be balanced against the melody. The airiness here is also a nice touch, rather than distraction. It is also nice to see her still challenging her limits.

4.5/5




4. 底里歇斯 Hysteria
This kind of indie-rock with jazz elements is exactly what I've been wanting from Hebe since she proved her ability with her cover of Jolin Tsai's Dancing Diva and of Sandee Chan's Nicholas, so I was pleasantly surprised with this song. There's a certain kind of cool danger that Hebe tends to bring out in such songs, and I really appreciate that. Besides, the instrumentals in this song are delicious, as Hebe called this song. Delicious based on its name, di li xie si and the concept that there are some things in this world that you want desperately, that are delicious and yet that we simply cannot have, and that craving drives one into hysteria. Hebe sounds very in her element in this song, making good use of her higher register. The lines "Even if the whole world is against the idea, all craving is in the subconscious anyway" and "Even if the whole world is against the idea, the whole human race has to take a deep breath anyway" are especially striking sung in her chest voice, a nice contrast.

5/5




5. 一一 One, After Another
As mentioned earlier, we are indeed familiar with One, After Another. This song is interesting in terms of instrumentals and structure. It does give a sense of rewinding time, and if I had to link it to another song, it would probably be Insignificance. With a complex concept and complex lyrics, this song requires the listener to put in some thought in deciphering lyrics like "From the petty tricks and the great principles, we first came out; We took the honest and the genius, and worshipped them".

One after another is an exploration of the theme of blindly following popular opinions. One After Another can be understood as, one after another experience of trying to chase a common idea and common event we slowly lose ourselves. So this song says, stop pretending, time's running out, let's go back to the very beginning and find ourselves, and if we're lucky enough, let's use our ability to love - even if a thousand people go against me, they shan't bend my will. There's no turning back time, there's only the scenery i've left behind. I will keep moving forward no matter what.

A summary of the various ideas in this song is: like the mobius strip, no matter how the world turns, and for how long it turns, we will meet again. A lot of times it may look like as if we are on two opposing poles, but in actual fact we are connected as one whole. Just as happiness is not forever, disappointment need not necessarily be followed by despair. Once we have moved on from our slumps, it will be another new beginning. Once you have returned to the beginning, you begin from the first step; one, and then one experience after another, one by one you gain experience and understanding.

It's overall a song that upon first encounter, is extremely confusing. Yet, the soothing quality of her vocals shine through on this one. I can't explain it, but it's grown on me. There's a certain kind of gentleness to this song, that coupled with the instrumentals, make it very replayable despite my struggling to find a connection to it. Additionally, with the MV budget and the quality of production, I honestly thought that this would be titular single. Instead, it became the title of her second world tour.

Its place in the album is interesting though; the rewinding effect that comes through is fairly well-placed, because from this song onwards, the album felt very much in line with what Hebe has done previously, or that I would expect from her.

4.5/5




6. 皆可 Anything Goes
This song was released as a single right before One, After Another, and honestly when I heard it I also thought it would be the titular single. I quite love this song, honestly, and the production value is so excellent; the sampling of natural sounds was a stroke of genius. Again, if I had to link it to a previous release, it would be Insignificance, but this time due to the emphasis on the self in relation to the environment. This song released at the end of June, honestly came at a difficult time in my personal life, and during quarantine. The lyrics therefore hit especially hard then, especially given how open they are to interpretation. For that reason, I have a special fondness for it. But even if not, I strongly recommend this as a top release of 2020. Hebe's vocals, and her improvements since her last tour, shone through so splendidly in this one as well; her lower register, which she developed more actively in her solo career, is as attractive as ever, and yet she's managed to mix in to greater effect her higher register as well. The tensions of this song are so masterfully handled that it feels endlessly layered.

I previously posted translations for this song here:

5/5




7. 无人知晓 Untold
The true titular song of this album, Untold/Nobody Knows/Time Will Tell. I will say that even with its strong competitors One After Another and Anything Goes, upon hearing this song, I could only say - this is definitely deserving of title song status. Hebe has built her career on the strength of her ballads, such as Lonely Lonely is Fine, You Better Not Think About Me and A Little Happiness and this is just- next level performance. She combines all the angst, longing, tenderness, hurt, and layers that she has been practicing how to emote in song endlessly and pulls off a flawless performance in the studio. This is absolutely the best of Hebe Tien as she is now, and the depths of this song are just- exquisite.

5/5




8. 讽刺的情书 Irony of Love (Satire of a Love Letter)
This song goes back to Hebe's roots as a singer, employing a singing technique that is much cleaner than what she generally uses in her solo work. An R&B ballad, it's both fresh yet classic, and is a song that certainly has its place on a Hebe album. There isn't much else to say about it, because the only real thought I had was "Ah, as expected of Hebe".

3.5/5




9. 人什么的最麻烦了 People Are the Worst
Hebe tends to have a song or two on her albums that have narrative lyrics, telling a story, such as The Apartment Without A Manager and Super Mary, and I tend to enjoy them very much. The same holds true of People Are the Worst, which is the last song that hadn't yet been released prior to the album release. This song carries with it an intentional dissonance between the breeziness of the melody, the lightness of her tone, and the bleakness of the lyrics. This works though, because the disconnect is really what the song is about. However, I'd say her vocals do sound a little strained here and while it doesn't affect my enjoyment of the song and somewhat adds to the sense of the singer/narrator barely keeping it together, it is noticeable.




3.5/5

10. 悬日 Let It...
The much-anticipated lead single of the album, Let It... is a slow ballad that wasn't the strongest opening, honestly. While deserving of its status as a single, it seemed far more suited as an OST - it's easy to mistake this ballad as a boring one, because its depths are somewhat tied to its lyrics; this ballad calls to mind waves on a calm lake. Nevertheless, it's a very soothing ballad, that again demonstrates Hebe's strengths. With narrative lyrics that call to mind the poetry of Soulmate, this ballad leaves one with a certain kind of warmness and heartache.

3.5/5




11. 或是一首歌 A Song For You
I liked this song immediately, upon listening to it. This song just calls to mind chilling by the beachside, it's a song that would fit in amazingly at the Spring Wave and Strawberry music festivals. I wondered if Hebe included this song with the prospect of attending music festivals in mind. A collaboration with deca joins, their style is very much evident in this song. Yet, it also feels like a song from Hebe as a singer post-2018, very much in line with her style and thinking; she once said that fans are closest to her when they listen to her sing, because that is her innermost feelings finding expression. Regardless, this song is probably one of her warmest offerings, full of tenderness. In the album, it also brings us round to a full circle, in closing with A Song For You. Yet, unlike the intro, this version takes the distance away.

4/5





Overall album rating: 4.5/5

I'd say this is definitely a solid offering from Hebe, and it might be my favourite album yet, displacing Insignificance. It's an album that feels more fully Hebe; linked to previous releases, yet better and more mature. It truly feels like Hebe has poured her decade's worth of activity as a solo singer into this album, and in a time where title songs tend to take all the focus and effort, I really appreciated her hard work and full efforts in producing a complete album, where each song could be released as a single. I also felt very strongly from this album that Hebe truly walks her talk; S.H.E members always speak of the importance of being oneself, and this album is so Hebe.
 
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