What makes Hebe Tien such a good singer

grainy

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It's the details for me really. She really really cares about the details.

To me, Hebe's charisma is the kind that draws me in with the details. I don't really want to take my eyes off her when she's performing because it feels like I'll miss something. It seems like she's so completely absorbed in it that it's her feelings behind the persona of the song.




The consistency in her cover of this song is amazing, and it's interesting. It's not just the techniques she's keeping consistent, it's the emotions she wants to bring out as well. She hasn't got choreographed movements, and she's in different moods and conditions, but she's careful to stay in the emotional state of the song and make each word in each line serve a purpose.




Her stylistic choices are incredibly deliberate too.
The opening lines of this cover - "Simpler. Say what you want to say more simply." are sung very cleanly. But the next line, I don't have the technical understanding of how she sang it, but whatever she introduced into her vocal tone made the next line "Moving forward, please leave feelings out of it/After all, you're not an actor." just feel like a lot of hurt. The final line of that stanza, "Don't design so many plots" takes those qualities out again, but she shortens the pronunciation of "design" and lengthens the pronunciation of "plots" to create a tone of resignation.
Within these 4 lines she already creates a visual story. But she takes it further in each stanza, with the intention of engaging different emotions in each stanza, creating depth and layers. Of note is at 4:00, the line "This appearance of nonchalance is my final performance" the way she suddenly pitches final up calls to mind voice cracks - effective when it comes to conveying the setting of the persona's resolve to step aside for their partner's happiness.

But, Hebe always improves and that was then, she's even better at it now. The range of what she can express has increased, she doesn't have to focus on just one emotion at a time too, which brings a refreshing complexity to her songs.
This cover shows that off nicely:



At 1:00 - 1:09: "It's you who entices [1:03] me into, again and again, descend into madness deep in the night" the sudden shift in stylistic choices - as if a fall has taken place, one that leaves the persona cold and afraid.

Her current ability to digest the song's story and design the way she uses the song down to every note and word to convey her message is most evident in Anything Goes:




Lyrics by Leanne Li on YouTube:

[English Translation]
Is it even possible to simply fall asleep soundly
Without dreaming a fancy dream
Is it even possible to simply breathe freely
Without living a complicated life

Is it possible to be neither brave nor timid;
to have neither doubts nor faith in anything…
Is it possible to be void:
Be neither clever nor clumsy; be afraid of neither making mistakes
Nor being righteous
If possible,
May I liberate myself like a pouring rainstorm
May I shatter myself into some rocky debris
May I fully blossom, and become a rosy cloud

Is it even possible for me to be understood?
When I get trapped, down within a swamp
May I still set my spirit free, up into the sky
May I merely embrace myself, just to begin with?

Great to finally learn that — Yes, indeed I can be neither brave nor timid.
I can have neither doubts nor faith in anything…
I can become void:
Be neither clever nor clumsy; be afraid of neither making mistakes
Nor being righteous

Can I, then, liberate myself like a pouring rainstorm
Can I, then, shattered myself into some rocky debris
Can I, then, fully blossom, and become a rosy cloud

Is it even important for me to be understood?
When I get trapped, down within a swamp
Can I set my own spirit free, up into the sky
Can I dearly embrace myself, finally?

Perhaps I can indeed choose
To become the dust or the stars
To become the ocean or the air
To fully become myself, and finally, to let myself go
Everything is possible, and anything goes

But who can really choose one’s fate in the end?
I might intend to go somewhere, only end up elsewhere
I might share a romantic encounter with someone, yet share my love story with another
Perhaps, one day I will have seen all the extraordinary sights in the world, yet only to find myself becoming nothing but an ordinary sight in other people’s eyes ——
Regardless, I tell myself: Anything goes. Anything goes.
Please, just allow me to comfort myself, to begin with.
 

BlueNose

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I find Hebe so admirable, it really feels like she takes into account every detail to serve a good perf. And has the chops/smarts to experiment in small and subtle ways that I don’t notice from others. She even gets better at this as time goes on seeing her performance in Anything Goes. Every word and expression has intent and a meaning for her delivery
 

abra

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One thing I appreciate about Hebe's artistry is how she's very serious about her craft but it shows not as conformism but rather a willingness to have fun and experiment with her sound and delivery.
 
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