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That meant by Yùyán, Wong was not just a pop artist attempting classical crossover but one whose music still had the lingering influence of all that came before: jangle pop, dream pop, ethereal wave, downtempo and more. If we're lucky enough, our memories will stay fresh as pineapple. Encounters don't last long, dreams can die, and our memories can fade away. As we transit into a new decade, we reflect on our encounters, dreams & memories. Not just an artist who experimented with different trends and styles but one that built and learnt from each release. 'What a difference a day makes.' Time is fleeting.
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Wong at her peak (by now, she hasn’t made solo music for almost two decades) was a rare pop star. The results are delightful: playful and rich yet deadly serious, always on the brink of the dramatic.
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Yùyán was another peak for Wong, a record that attempted to cross pop with both Western and Chinese orchestral and chamber influences in a way I’d never heard previously. Zhǐ ài mòshēng rén is baggier still, though not without plenty of highlights and never particularly unenjoyable. I’d say that, even without its bonus tracks, Chàngyóu is a little baggier than Fúzào – but that’s also because, as someone who speaks neither Cantonese nor Mandarin, Wong’s ballads rarely resonate with me. All three records were achieved in successive years and all with huge chart success, Wong taking bold creative risks and rewarding listeners for, as I’m pretty much demonstrating here, decades to come. Has any mega-pop star really, truly embraced the swells of the indie underground as successfully as Faye Wong? She followed the dream pop/ethereal wave/jangle pop masterpiece Fúzào (1996) with Chàngyóuand Zhǐ ài mòshēng rén, works that saw dream pop meet folk pop, downtempo and trip hop, before realising classical crossover ambitions on Yùyán.