Sisters (A-Mei album)

Sisters (Lang-zh|t=姊妹) is the debut studio album by Taiwanese Puyuma singer A-Mei, released on December 13, 1996, by Forward Music.^[1] The album was primarily handled by Taiwanese producer Chang Yu-sheng, with the assistance of Yu Guangyan, Ma Yu-fen, Baby Chung, David Wu, and Chen Fu-ming. Musically, it experiments with genres such as pop, soul music, R&B, and adult contemporary to exhibit A-Mei's vocal talent and versatility.

Prior to the album's release date, the higher-ups at Forward Music fretted that A-Mei's aboriginal heritage would negatively impact the performance of the album, due to there still being widespread discrimination against indigenous people in Taiwan at the time. On the contrary however, Sisters ended up being a runaway success. The record topped the Taiwan IFPI chart for a total of nine consecutive weeks and sold a total of 1.21 million copies in Taiwan^[2] and 4 million in Asia.^[3] To promote Sisters, A-Mei and Forward Music released five singles; "You Don't Want Anything", "I'm a Dreamer on Air", "Cut Love", "Release" and the title track, all resulting into commercial success. The album's success paved the way for future popular Taiwanese aboriginal artists such as A-Lin and Jia Jia. Sisters currently ranks as the 4th highest selling album of all time in Taiwan.^[4]

Background and development[edit]

In 1992, A-Mei headed on a bus to Taipei and participated in the televised "Five Lights Singing Contest" on TTV Main Channel after encouragement from her father.^[5] She made it all the way through to the finals but lost in the final round.^[6] She was disappointed and was almost ready to give up interest in music competitions. A-Mei's father then encouraged her to attended the singing contest again in 1993. Her performances enchanted the judges and she was crowned champion in 1994.^[7] Unfortunately her father didn't live to see her victory due to him succumbing to his illness, leaving A-Mei devastated. After her father's death, A-Mei struggled to recall her passion for music until 1995 when she began to sing in local pubs with a rock band called "Relax" which was formed by her one of her cousins.^[6] Her pub performance impressed Taiwanese music producer Chang Yu-sheng and Chang Hsiao-yen, the head of Taiwanese record label Forward Music at the time. In March 1996, she signed a recording deal with Forward Music. After she signed a recording deal with Forward Music, she made an appearance on Chang Yu-sheng's album, Red Passion, which was released on July 12, 1996, where they sang a duet titled "The One Who Loved Me Most, Hurt Me The Most (最愛的人傷我最深)".^[8]

In November 1996, A-Mei was cordially invited to sing "I'm a Dreamer on Air (空中的夢想家)", the theme song for Taiwan's UFO Radio station, and gradually attracted more of the general public's attention by them only hearing her voice but not seeing her.^[9][10]

Writing and recording[edit]

Sisters was primarily handled by Taiwanese producer Chang Yu-sheng—who served as A-Mei's primary vocal tutor, producer and supervisor until his untimely death—with the assistance of Yu Guangyan, Ma Yu-fen, Baby Chung, David Wu, and Chen Fu-ming. The album's music incorporates a range of contemporary genres with a mix of slow ballads and up-tempo tracks, having been influenced by various genres and styles such as adult contemporary, funk, jazz and R&B. There are 10 full-length recorded songs on the album, all which features vocals from both A-Mei and various backing singers and choir members.

The lead single "You Don't Want Anything (原來你什麼都不要)" was originally sung by songstress Michelle Pan in February 1995 under the name "Who Makes Who Down (誰辜負誰)". Formerly planned to be on her album "It's Time to Wake Up (該醒了)", it was delayed due to the acquisition of UFO Records by Warner Music. The composer Guo Tzu authorized the lyricist Wu Yukang to re-write the lyrics for A-Mei to sing for her version of the song.^[11] The songs "Sisters (姊妹)" and "Seafoam Blue Tears (水藍色眼淚)" were written and composed solely by Chang Yu-sheng. In the song "Sisters (姊妹)" he added in traditional Puyuma musical elements and invited A-Mei's mother, sisters and other relatives to sing along with her in the joyful chorus. Lyrically, the song reflects on the deep love between sisters and family. In 2016, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of her debut, A-Mei sang a re-arranged version of the album's title track.^[12] The guitar laden ballad "Release (解脫)" was composed by Jonathan Koh and written by Daryl Yao and lyrically talks about finding a new direction and moving forward after a rough romantic breakup. "Impulse (衝動) is an R&B influenced track that was written by Yu Guangyan & Yu Meiming, with music composed by Baby Chung.

"Cut Love (剪愛)" was written by producer Michael Tu to his wife Huang Qishan. However, after the two divorced, Michael Tu gave this song to A-Mei to sing,^[13] and the lyrics of "Cut Love (剪愛)" were filled in by Eric Lin.^[14] The snazzy soul influenced song "Betrayal (背叛)" was written by KiKi Hu and composed by David Wu. "Love Until You Can't Receive (愛到不能收)" was composed by Jonathan Koh and written by Wang Zhongyan. Musically a Latin soul-influenced pop ballad, the torch song describes the feeling of emotional scars in a relationship. It features drums, guitars, and digital synthesizers. The synthesizer-heavy ballad "Seriously (認真)" is composed by Chen Chih-yuan and written by Zhang Fanglu. "I'm a Dreamer on Air (空中的夢想家)" was also composed by Chen Chih-yuan with lyrics handled by Andy Yang and musically is a slow, dreamy pop and R&B ballad.

Commercial performance and legacy[edit]

where she was dubbed as "Taiwan's Madonna" or "Queen of Mandopop".

Commercially, Sisters experienced huge success in the Sinophone world. The album sold 300,000 copies within a week of its release, and sales in Taiwan exceeded one million by 1997.^[15] According to various published sources and journalists, the album, in total, sold 1.21 million units in Taiwan alone^[16] and 4 million throughout Asia.^[17] It topped Taiwan's IFPI chart for a record breaking nine weeks.^[18][19] Sisters is ranked the fourth highest-selling album of all time in Taiwan behind two album entries by Jacky Cheung and A-Mei's own album Bad Boy.^[20][21] The success of Sisters also awarded A-Mei with numerous accolades and recognition. The lead single "You Don't Want Anything" won the "Silver Award for Most Popular Mandarin Song" at the 1997 Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Music Awards Presentation. The album also won a Gold Record at the 1997 Hong Kong Golden Disc Awards Ceremony, won one of the top ten excellent albums and top ten singles of 1997 by the Chinese Musicians Exchange Association, and eventually was placed at #10 in the selection of the "200 Best Taiwanese Popular Music Albums".^[22]

Despite there still being widespread discrimination for Taiwanese aborigines at the time of its release, Sisters defied expectations and A-Mei became the very first A-lister to repeatedly flaunt her aboriginal identity to the media.^[23][24] The commercial performance of Sisters surprised Forward Music, since they had no expectations it being so well-received, who even forgot to sign her up for the 8th Golden Melody Awards.^[25] As a result to the album's success in the 1990s, A-Mei was noted by journalists and commentators as a trendsetter in the Greater China region, where her influence was dubbed as "sister power".^[26] Consequently, some journalists described her meteoric rise to the top to the experiences of Madonna.^[27] This comparison inspired Western media to dub A-Mei with honorific titles such as the "Queen of Mandopop" or "Taiwan's Madonna".^[28]

Before the release of Sisters, there were many singers with Taiwanese aboriginal ancestry in Taiwan's entertainment industry, such as Yulunana Tanivu, Shen Wen-cheng, Sammi Kao, Wan Sha Lang, Qian Bai Hui, Gao Jin Sumei among others. But it wasn't until A-Mei's rise to fame that a popular singer in Taiwan would continually emphasize being aboriginal to the media. Many later generations of Aboriginal singers, such as A-Lin, Jia Jia, Francesca Kao, Landy Wen, Samingad and others all praise A-Mei as the godmother of Aboriginal pop music. Many Aboriginal singers began to attract attention because of the appearance of A-Mei.^[29]

Track listing[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

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