I loved Yesterday

YUI's third album was released last Wednesday. Oh Yeah! I've pre-ordered my limited edition CD+DVD from Yee Hai in MP, but I foresee it's not gonna arrive for another couple of weeks or so. No worries. The songs are posted all over the net. It's amazing how popular she actually is internationally. It's even more amazing that local Malaysian dealers don't stock her products.

Tracklist:

01 Laugh away

02 My Generation

03 Find me

04 No way

05 Namidairo

06 Daydreamer

07 Love is all

08 I will love you

09 We will go

10 OH YEAH

11 My friend

12 LOVE & TRUTH

13 Am I wrong?

DVD Tracklist:

01 Good-bye days

02 I remember you

03 Rolling star

04 CHE.R.RY

05 Budokan live clips (2007.11.19)

Personal review:

Once again, YUI has managed to churn out fresh-sounds. Unlike many western artist, this girls' a workaholic.Since her debut 3 years ago, she's released 3 albums and 13 singles(that about 60 songs), done 2 tours, had a major concert at Nippon Budokan and had countless TV and magazine appearances. Not bad for a street singer who dropped out of school at 16. She's 21 now, and my only complaint about this album is that she has evolved so far, i sometimes miss the acoustic guitar-playing YUI that sang It's happy line. But her evolution is good in many ways and I support it. The songs on this album are much more technologically 'canggih' compared to when she first started. She's using a lot of effects, like distortion and layering. The fast songs on this album are encouraging and upbeat,with heavy punk rock influences. (Yes, she's definitely going in that direction)The lyrics are solid and uplifting. Tracks like laugh away, Oh Yeah, Daydreamer and my favourite We will go are a must when one is feeling down or sluggish or depressed. Just to give you a taste of her lyrics, here's a snippet of We will go , Translated(Courtesy of Uchihamel of Yui-Lover Forums):

Enough with the ‘there’s no other way out’ kind of expression

Who’s the victim? Who’s the perpetrator?

Even when we're soaking wet let's continue smiling!

Because I’ll always be right at your side

There’s no such thing as changing goals

I believe . Don’t forget, alright?

With you

Enough with the ‘there’s no other way out’ kind of expression

Who’s the victim? Who’s the perpetrator?

Even when we're soaking wet let's continue smiling!

Because I’ll always be right at your side

Isn’t this what you have been aiming for all this while?

Haven’t you been striving hard all this while?

Been watching such a you all along

Don’t escape/run away

We will go!!

The rock songs are even-ed out by string-infused ballads like Namidairo and Love and Truth ( both were singles released in 2007 and Feb 2008). Love and truth has to be the most dramatic thing she's released, the strings compliment her electric guitar smoothly.This song I feel really shows her versatility as a songwriter, switching effortlessly between punk and pop. Apart from that, the easy listening tunes "My friend" and "Am I wrong" makes the album less noisy and adds a contemplative character to it.One of YUI's gifts apart from being able to constantly come up with fresh sounds is her maturity in lyrics writing, her talent in capturing emotion into words. It's on par with some of my favourite english poets (e.g.Dickinson) Makes me want to listen over and over again. Worth all my money.(The limited edition costs 3 digits)

Last I checked, the album was number 1 on the Japan Oricon charts.

Kudos Yui. Gambatte Kudasai!

Wedding Report and More

Oh Yeah! Back from Jon and Jen's wedding and no time to post a report, until now. This is more of a photojournalism kinda thing. Enjoy:)

We left for Langkawi on friday afternoon on March 7th from the old subang airport(terminal 3), to take MAS Firefly. The guys were fascinated by helicopters, observe Eu-jynn.
The girls were mostly not bothered(Haha, that's an exaggeration), actually we were all trying to kill time before the flight. These pix were taken after we checked in already.
Got a chance to take a picture with my housemates...

We're ..Leaving on the jet plane, the extremely tiny jet plane. Above pix shows Gloria and Esther and Jeremy (a.k.a. the wedding planners), holding the cupcakes that got into some trouble with customs.Check out Soon Yen's pose in the bottom pix lar!(i just had to put this picture). We wedding guests filled up half the plane.

Arriving at Langkawi airport. Ellen seems to have something to say...Hmm?



Managed to capture this really sweet moment while walking behind Xiao and Judah(a.k.a. Mr.and Mrs Cheah, who are celebrated their anniversary in january)
That night all the girls gathered to give Jen a Hen's party (what's that? Ans:It's like a bachelorette night) The guys were in the next room with Jon.

Yes, laugh now, you never know what will happen next....Like having to see your future husband in ..ok..let's not say it.

Yea..that's right, chained together for life.The next morning (eh..wedding day already) a bunch of us went island hopping.The package included 3 islands, and a really wet boatride.First stop: Pulau Dayang Bunting

There was a fresh water lake there and we took some time out to go splashing and walking on this wooden walkway surrounding the lake.

As the pictures prove, Ellen has major phobia of wooden walkways, so we had to perform 'refugee rescue' when getting her off it. In her head, they're as scary as hanging bridges. Don't ask..just accept. Sometimes God gives us weird friends to make our lives more colourful, ne?Haha. We love u Ellen.

Amy was busy taking pictures..of trees. (Bottom pix courtesy of LamyLong)

The boatman took us afterwards to see the pregnant lady that gave the island its name. In my opinion, she's not pregnant lar..just maybe have some weight issues,that's all.(so bad)

2nd stop was Pulau Singa to feed the eagles, but couldn't get any good pix. The birds were too fast. 3rd stop was Pulau Bras Basah. The beach was super beautiful, water crystal clear, sand was white and clean.Couldn't resist it, so I went swimming in my T-shirt and shorts, and let myself dry out in the sun before heading back.

To prepare for the wedding....

Beautiful. They had it in Frangipani Beach Resort, 4 star place. Obviously not where we stayed. Couldn't afford to stay in places like these.Managed to catch the nervous groom offguard before the ceremony. All of us had to be on duty either as usherers or etc. I was doing doorgifts.Do you so and so, take so and so...Check out the natural sunset backdrop.This is one wedding I almost cried. I said almost.You may now kiss the bride..Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Mr and Mrs Jonathan Yap.*applause*
Even Charis was having a good time. Thank you Lord it didn't rain until the ceremony was over. They shifted us indoors for the wedding reception. The staff were very efficient, they ta-paued all the chairs, tables, whatnot in a flash to the indoor hall.We actually wanted to capture Pastor. D drinking booze, but too late, he put the glass down already.

Jasmine sick of her job.Wants to murder collegue. Poor thing wasn't even given a break when her boss gets married*sigh*You know you're a workaholic right, Jas?

Anyway, we went back to our hotel right after the reception in order to follow the latest results on the election. Stayed up until about 2am to learn that my hometown constituency is back to DAP after 5 years.Leaving Langkawi on Sunday afternoon.Jacky wishes he was flying business class. So do the rest of us.Managed to get this pix of Penang island as we flew over it. Penang had just fallen to DAP at this time.

So that's it . A weekend in pictures.