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Jay Chow is famous for a singing style that falls halfway between mumbling and muttering. Unlike many performers, he's also distinguished by writing his own vocals and music. And he's an excellent musician as well. This is the second song of his we've showcased, and while the lyrics in our previous song were actually fairly well enunciated, in this one Jay's full vocal talents are on display. We suspect you'll need the annotated lyrics to figure it out.

And we quite like this song too. All of us except for Gail, who finds it somewhat strange. "What's up with Taiwanese singers," she suddenly asked while preparing this lesson for publication. "I mean... why do they use such strange metaphors? Is it supposed to be romantic to tell someone their cheeks are like tomatoes?" Some people overanalyze music. You be the judge.
 said on
May 7, 2009
I really like the Taiwanese accent actually. My teacher in second year was from Taiwan. It took a bit of adjusting to her accent, but I think it's a bit better for memorizing the tones because they're more emphasized.

 said on
May 7, 2009
There are quite a few parodies to this song that take the original videoclip and provide various different dirty lyrics as subtitles. For example, 骑李湘.
 said on
May 7, 2009
lol. that's great imron.

@gail - is the use of 了解 in the sentence 你是我唯一想要的了解 proper mandarin, or is that an artistic or Taiwanese variant? it feels strange to me to treat the verb as a noun that way.
 said on
May 7, 2009
even for Jay Chow, this song sets new standards for total incomprehensibility. I'm having trouble picking out the lyrics even though I know what they are.

 said on
May 7, 2009
@saunders,

It is not the proper mandarin. They made the sentence that way to meet the rhyming and syllable need. It happens in the lyrics sort of often, esp. in the Taiwanese songs.

@winslowtt,

I have the same problem with you as well :)

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com

 said on
May 7, 2009
@saunders,

Echo got the point. This is not the proper mandarin,了解 is a verb, and most of the verbs in Chinese can be used as a noun. This sounds weird, but it is the way people use it.

however, 了解is an exception. The singer used it in the same way to fulfill the rhythm needs. actually this sentence means,你是我唯一想要了解的(人)。

---Gail
 said on
May 7, 2009
Jay Chow is hard to be understood even for chinese people at the very beginning, but now he's much better. At least we chinese have no problem to understand him any more, and the pronunciation of this song is clear.

Enjoy guys!
 said on
June 8, 2009
Hey,

My Chinese teacher showed me a really cool version of the Jay Chow song 简单爱 by 小F4 because I couldn't understand the Jay Chow version at all...

It's much easier to understand and soooo cute.

Yeah I said cute, I'm not embarressed. I'm man enough...

^^

But yes I recommend a listening: http://www.imeem.com/people/rEN61a/music/RGGShVqf/xiao-f4-jian-dan-ai/
 said on
June 8, 2009
@mattjelly,

ja, you are right. the other day my collagues just said Jay Chow's songs are for 汉语高级 learners...

but they do have good music, and his lyrics is much clearer than before now.
 said on
September 6, 2009
So, you all have unknowingly made a Jay Chow fan out of me. I love this music! Something about the imagery in the lyrics... I've downloaded about 4 of his songs that I thus far like- including 蹈香, 彩红, and the ones on here, but could anyone give me some more recommendations?
 said on
September 6, 2009
@xiaodou,

龙卷风 is my favorite. (http://www.popupchinese.com/lessons/ktv-wednesday/jay-chow-tornado) I think 青花瓷,安静 and 最后的战役 are good too.

I still remember that my friend and I were joking that Jay Chow's songs should be put into the listening comprehensive of HSK tests. Then the tests would be as difficult as GRE.

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
September 6, 2009
My first Jay song was Simple Love. The world may mock me, but I still think it's a pretty decent tune. Easy lyrics and decently articulated so it's pretty easy to understand too. Also, my army of teenage girls will crush any detractors!
 said on
September 7, 2009
谢谢!
 said on
May 25, 2013
when i bought that cd in taipei like a thousand years ago the cd was also a dvd with two songs that you could watch in dvd player, does anyone remember that???
Mark Lesson Studied