"David Tao" , At Last, Reviewed

"David Tao"

The bluish cover of David's debut album speaks for its music, unleashing a current of ethereal R&B charisma. Yet, so infused with elements of Blues, it is a collection of tender whispers and fierce confessions of love/temperament. Smooth, but singing from his soul, juvenility fueled his voice with power as he rejects the clichéd portrayal of love in conventional ballads.

7.9/10

In a flash question interview 22 years ago, David Tao was asked to give his first impression of the words mentioned on the top of his head.

-"Blue,"

-"The cover of my first album."

-"911,"

-"Horrifying."

-"Taiwan,"

-"My hometown."

To claim David as an American-raised R&B singer and credit his attachment to Western music culture as the fountainhead of his success would simply be dogmatizing. The musicality of his debut album (self-titled album): David Tao, was like a screen of fresh air charged with his indigenous roots to his Taiwanese culture, and covered in sheaths of latter mixtures with Blues and Jazz. 

The Chinese entertainment industry/press organizations commends a rising artist by offering titles and labels in order to "glorify" the level of competence of these artists. To further aggrandize Tao's accomplishments, "the Babyface of China" was born. In most occasions, these bungle attempts to overstate one's accomplishments are nearly satirical, while in this case, to realistically consider characterizing the surge Tao initiated, claiming his position as "Babyface" was an apt description of his status. Well, at least the first 3 albums he recorded were worthy of this name.

Taken during David's most iconic tour-"Soul Power"

Tao opens with an evocative anecdote in "Airport Take Off," where the rumbling of an airplane engine sets the stage for a verisimilitude of abandonment. The song captures the sense of desolation experienced by a man waiting for a lover who has left. The song "Airport at 10:30" showcases the mood swings and regretfulness after the realization of losing his lover, to whom he once offered great devotion. A lyrical tone is adopted, crooning "we could've been so good together" and "Is it always this way? We once had each other just to one day come apart." The melody draws inspiration from Lionel Richie's blues hit "Eazy," while Tao flexes his gifted voice with extemporaneous riffs and switches between head voice and falsetto. To finish up this subtle narration, Tao recorded the sound of an airplane landing, marking the end of a heartbreaking relationship.

"Airport at 10:30" from Soul Power HK

Tao is more than just a storyteller and classic "playboy" mirage in R&B; this depth also reflects Wawa's heartfelt lyrics and his rich incorporation of Chinese roots in musicality. "Blue Moon" is just an appetizer of his tastefulness in composition: something worth mentioning is the Chinese track name for this song, "Shatan(沙滩）", which is the leading motif of the song. The color blue is truly of great assistance to those who are unfamiliar with Mandarin, since the entire song is consisted with imageries of bluish elements, with the lyrics of the chorus sang with an melancholy timbre: "我的心，我的心，蓝蓝的（My heart, my soul, all feeling blue)". Some might argue the power of music can be resonated without the help of words, saying music can be apperceived beyond barriers. Again, the pragmatics behind any language possesses an interplay of culture and the people, recognizing Tao's un-hurriedness not merely adhered toward the horniness and sex-driven R&B norms but a sense of confession and easiness.

One of the most ingenious David Tao productions is "Spring Wind(望春风）“, a reimagined indigenous Taiwanese derry composed with an uplifting acapella arrangement and delivered with a cherishing tone toward his love interest. As we all know, male R&B artists almost instinctively speak of their romantic partner frivolously. The supposed sexiness and masculinity of males are often delineated with flexing one's competence in mate selection and women throwing themselves into his arms-underdeveloped and cliched, of course. In this track, admiration of a young lady's purity and countenance was manifested, while the frail confesses her implicit love language to a young lad. 

In terms of lyrics, according to the lyricist Li Linqiu's later memories and scholars' textual research, this song should be derived from the "Romance of the Western Chamber(西厢记）" "The shadow of the flower moves across the wall, I wonder if it is the beauty coming（隔墙花影动，疑是玉人来）". In terms of the song, the traditional method of composing the song by ignoring two intervals in the seven intervals is not only comparable to other popular tunes, but also more beautiful in artistic conception. Therefore, the Taiwanese tune of Wang Chunfeng, which has the special high flat tone, high low tone, low short tone, etc. in the Minnan dialect, is often regarded by foreign musicians as the best example of Taiwanese songs.

David Tao's addition in vernacular lyrics and modernized adaption sets him apart from others making half-baked attempts in the acclimatization of R&B.

"谁说女人心难猜

 欠个人来爱

 花开当折直须摘

 青春最可爱

 自己买花自己戴

 爱恨多自在

 只为人生不重来

 何不放开怀

 谁说女人心难猜

 欠个人来爱

 花开当折直须摘

 青春最可爱"

"Who says women’s hearts are hard to guess,

 owing someone their love?

 When flowers bloom, you must pick them

 Youth is the cutest

 Buy flowers and wear them yourself

 Love and hate freely

 Just for the sake of the unrepeatable life

 Why not open your heart

 Who says women’s hearts are hard to guess?

 owing someone their love

 When flowers bloom, you must pick them

 Youth is the cutest"

Tao’s conceptualization of happiness and love almost contradicts the earlier part of the song. As the independence of women shifted from an unfeigned movement to a slogan and, eventually, a symbol exploited as propaganda by both male and female artists, it became increasingly rare to find a Taiwanese R&B singer in the '90s who truly voiced concerns for women’s issues. "Buying flowers and wear them yourself", and "(not)owing someone their love" are mundane, but heartfelt, just like his own persona.