Sometimes as we look back, we see a cascade of rain streaming down a pain of glass, blurring the world we left behind. Even though we came from "back there," we can never recall the exact details as it's always in motion. Memories are malleable liquid dreams. But, once we focus a bit closer, we can see our own reflection looking back at us. It could be sharp or it could be askew. On this particular night, my mirrored-self seem to be washing down the cafe window along with the icy December rain but, my apparition never truly breaks, it's only an abstraction. What does my reflection see? Does it see an older self... substantiation full of regrets? Which side of the pain is ethereal? Which one is misconstrued?
It's tough to live with no regrets. Faye Wong (王菲) knows. She tells us in her song No Regrets (执迷不悔) which was released in 1993 on the album with the same name. No Regrets (执迷不悔), the Mandarin version with lyrics written by Faye, is the 2nd track on the A side of the album while, the Cantonese is the last song, the 10th song of the album on the B side. I'm not sure which version I like better. Although, I am a bit partial to the Cantonese version. This is the first Faye Wong album I bought. I love it so much that I ended up double dipping for the CD version about a year later. Back in 1993 Faye Wong was known as Shirley Wong (王靖雯). She changed her name later that year (around late '93 and early '94) and officially become Faye Wong (王菲). With the name change she brought an alternative sound to CantoPop which a lot of people were not ready for but, it was quickly accepted. Faye Wong can be credited for changing the perception of music in Hong Kong.
If Faye Wong's name seems familiar to you, you might know her from Wong Kar Wai's (王家衛) movie, Chungking Express (重慶森林). She played the eccentric girl working at the snack bar. Faye Wong won the Stockholm Film Festival award for Best Actress in that role. Hong Kong in the 90's bred a lot of acting and music talents. I believe Wong Kar Wai as a director can be credited for bringing out the best performances from actors. Especially from inexperienced actors at the time, like Faye Wong or Jacky Cheung (張學友). As for singing... It feels like I'm not giving enough credit to Faye when I say that she has talent. She is truly incredible. Her cover of the Cranberries' Dreams, Dream Person (夢中人) is better then the original. The highs and lows in the song that she hits, with such smoothness... There's no way I can do her justice by talking about her. You just go to listen for yourself. Actually, you might have listened to Faye Wong's singing before. If you ever played Final Fantasy 8 or know anyone who has, you might have heard Eyes On Me. Nobuo Uematsu (植松 伸夫), the composer for the music of most of the Final Fantasy games collaborated with Faye Wong in 1999 to record the very first video game song with vocals. Again, I'm talking too much here. Check out both versions of No Regrets (执迷不悔) on the bottom. I'm pretty sure that you will not regret it.
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