Myself is the eleventh studio album by Taiwanese singer Jolin Tsai. It was released on 13 August 2010, by Warner Music Taiwan. Andrew Chen, Adia, and Paula Ma handled its production with a variety of collaborators including Danielle Senior, Scott Wild, Gabriel Ssezibwa, Rene Prang, Lars Quang, Nik Quang, Jonas Saeed, and Pia Sjöberg. The album is based on the concept of party, and it was Tsai's most participated album to date. The album received mixed response from music critics, it was praised as a new benchmark for Chinese dance-pop albums, but it was also criticized as having an imbalance between commerciality and musicality. The album achieved commercial success, it has sold more than 65,000 copies in Taiwan, and it became the fourth best-selling album and the best-selling album by a female artist of the year in the region. The music video of the track "Honey Trap" received a Golden Melody Award nomination for Best Music Video. In order to promote the album further, Tsai embarked her third concert tour Myself World Tour on 24 December 2010 at Taipei Arena in Taipei, Taiwan and continued throughout Asia, Europe, and Oceania before concluding on 13 April 2013 at Kaohsiung Arena in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Background and development
On 27 March 2009, Tsai released her tenth studio album Butterfly. With more than 120,000 copies have been pre-orderred, Butterfly became the album with the highest pre-order volume in Taiwan's history. The album has sold more than 190,000 in Taiwan, and it became the best-selling album of the year in the region. On 28 March 2009, Tsai embarked Butterfly Campus Tour at Chung Hua University in Hsinchu, Taiwan, and it concluded on 10 May 2009 at Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology in Tainan, Taiwan. On 9 May 2009, Tsai held Butterfly Concert at Taichung Citizen Square in Taichung, Taiwan.On 24 May 2009, Tsai held Slow Life Concert at Riverside Live House in Taipei, Taiwan.On 9 October 2009, Tsai released her fifth live album Love & Live, and it documented both her Butterfly Concert and Slow Life Concert. On 15 October 2009, Tsai founded her own entertainment company Eternal with her manager Ke Fu-hung to manage Tsai's day-to-day business affairs and coordinate the production and enforcement of copyright for Tsai's own sound recordings and concerts. In March 2010, media reported that Tsai's eleventh studio album would be released in July of the year, and Sam Chen, the president of Warner Music Greater China, said: "The album will have many international collaborations, with a budget of more than NT$50 million." On 27 April 2010, Tsai released a promotional song titled "Heartbeat of Taiwan" for the Taiwan Pavilion at Expo 2010. In July 2010, Tsai invited Ahn Hyung Suk, who has collaborated with TVXQ, and Benny Ninja, who starred as a judge on America's Next Top Model, to choreograph for the album. On 12 July 2010, Tsai attended a press conference for China's Got Talent and played a promotional song, which later revealed as the track "Black-Haird Beautiful Girl" on the album.
Writing and production
On 14 June 2010, Tsai released the track "Take Immediate Action" through China Mobile's Migu Music. The song was written by Neoh Kim Hin and Ooi Teng Fong who has collaborated with Tsai on the track "Agent J" from the album under the same title. Produced by Golden Melody Award winner for Single Producer of the Year Adia, it is a moderate sweet love song. On 14 July 2010, the album's lead single "Honey Trap" was released. Produced by Andrew Chen, the song was written by Luke Tsuei, Gino Chen, Danielle Senior, and Scott Wild. It is a house music with bass beat, synth timbre, and provocative lyrics, and Tsai rapped to present her sexy and deep voice. On 4 August 2010, Tsai released the track "Love Player", which was written by Gino Chen, Gabriel Ssezibwa, Rene Prang, Lars Quang, and Nik Quang. Produced by Andrew Chen, it is a moderate Eurodance love song. The song's rhythm complements Tsai's interpretation, and its lyrics depicted a love player two-timed a girl. The music style was what Tsai had never performed before, and Tsai indicated: "In fact, I have always wanted to do different love songs, no longer ballads, but slow songs with rhythm. I have been thinking about it for many years, so when I listened to the demo of this song, I was very excited. Fortunately, the company also supported me." The interlude "Missed Call" opens with a melody of "Honey Trap" and is followed by an intercept message after the disconnection of the destination phone. It is a situational scene of presenting confident love attitude delivered by "Honey Trap" turning to the plight of love. The interlude "Secret Talk" opens with voice message recorded by Tsai, and then a clamor of friends on the other end of the line. Tsai described: "The interlude follows 'Love Player'. The song is about a woman who shuts herself up at home after broke up, and her friends urge her to come out." Produced by Andrew Chen, "Party Star" was written by Matthew Yen, Gabriel Ssezibwa, Rene Prang, Lars Quang, and Nik Quang. Tsai provided a lot of personal ideas on its music arrangement and production, such as the simulated sound effect of police inspection, which made it have a strong sense of pictures. The interlude "Let's Start the Dance" paid tribute to vogue predecessors, Tsai described she saw some photos of drag queens in Benny Ninja's old photo album, and she added: "He detailed the history of voguing, because most of the voguing dancers in foreign countries are drag queens, so most of names I called in the interlude are famous drag queens." Produced by Adia, "Black-Haired Beautiful Girl" was written by Matthew Yen, Jonas Saeed, and Pia Sjöberg. The song is based on the concept of oriental black hair, and it described the inner and outer beauty of oriental women. It was influenced by the element of disco, and it depicted the independent feminist attitude. "Nothing Left to Say" was written by Neoh Kim Hin and Ooi Teng Fon, and it was produced by Andrew An. It merged urban pop with soft rock, the piano timbre also complements the R&B beat. Tsai described: "The song merged R&B with rock, so we didn't design too much sound shift, because the most iconic feature of R&B is sound shift, but we added rock, its lyrics and music arrangement are to let people express emotions, not to make a fuss about an imaginary illness or to sing with tenderness." The interlude "L'amour est parti" is a situational dialogue in French of breaking up between lovers, and it connected the preceding and the following. Tsai described: "I studied French during my break and wanted to put the language on the album, hoping to present the feeling of old movies, like those played on the black-and-white television." The track "Real Hurt" was written by David Ke and Jackey Yow, and it was produced by Paula Ma The song's lyrics are simple and resonant, and it took "small wound" as the entry point, describing the tough and fragile love relationship. The strings and piano melody of the song touch people's hearts, and it is a ballad describing the feelings of breaking up. The track "Macho Babe" was written by Luke Tsuei and Jo Hyun Chul, and it was produced by Adia. The song described the independence and courage of contemporary women. Tsai described: "Modern women do not need to please men to reflect their own value. The idea of 'Macho Babe' is not against men, but mainly to reflect women's personality, especially their independence and autonomy." The track "Butterflies in My Stomach" was written by Andrew Chen and Gino Chen and produced by Andrew Chen. The song was influenced by exotic music elements, and it depicted the ambiguity between men and women. Produced by Adia, the track "Let's Break Up" was written by David Ke and Tan Vui Chuan. The song is full of sadness and depression. The interlude "I Love You Too" reflects Tsai missed the most innocent moments of love.
Title and artwork
On 4 July 2010, Tsai revealed the album title would be "Vogue", and she indicated: "This is the most participated album since my debut, it reveals the most honest self, so I'm really looking forward to it. It is arguably the most exciting album I've ever made", adding that: "To me, vogue represents an attitude, a spirit, and a confidence, not only beautiful appearance or luxurious clothes, in my mind vogue represents a life attitude and real self." On 14 July 2010, Warner Music Taiwan announced the album title changed to "Vogueing", and Tsai described it was inspired by the dance of vogue and emphasizes the present continuous tense. On 21 August 2010, the album title changed to "Myself", and Tsai indicated: "I have spent a lot from the beginning, and it is the most dedicated album over the years, from lyrics and music to interludes, and to costumes and music videos, as long as I have any good ideas I will report to my label, and then invite professionals to provide more advice, so it is called 'Myself'." On 15 July 2010, Tsai released a series of promotional photos photographed in South Korea for the album. Tsai also gave some individual advice on the cover art and artwork, and she suggested to shoot the artwork in the water. The album has standard and pre-order editions, and their cover arts are different. The standard edition's cover art featured Tsai wearing a white petal shoulder pads with a blonde short wig, and the pre-order edition's cover art featured Tsai wearing black ripped tank top with windproof goggles. Tsai described: "This time I want to do a lot of different things, I actually want to show a more healthy sex appeal. When I tried to put on the blonde wig, I thought it looks cool and futuristic."
Release and promotion
On 15 July 2010, Warner Music Taiwan announced the album would be available for pre-order on 20 July and released on 3 August. On 21 July 2010, Warner Music Taiwan announced the pro-order date postponed until 22 July and the release date postposed until 10 August. On 6 August 2010, Tsai held a promotional event for Honey Trap Voguing Creative Dance Competition in Taipei.On 9 August 2010, Warner Music Taiwan announced the release date postponed until 13 August. On 13 August 2010, the album was officially released, and it was based on the concept of party. The album includes eight dance songs, two ballads, and five interludes. Tsai described: "I have never tried to include a lot of dance songs on the album, though everyone remembers my music style is mainly dance-pop, foreign artists such as South Korean artists also love dance music. Maybe a lot of people go to karaoke box to sing ballads, but they may often prefer to listen to dance music in leisure time, so this time I suggested to my record label this concept album should be based on the concept of party, to make everyone happy, so it should be based on dance songs. Moreover, adding five interludes is something I've never done before, but I have heard such idea had been used in Western artist albums before, so I want to see if I can also put the idea in Mandarin albums, especially dance-pop albums." On the same date, Tsai held a press conference for the album in Beijing. On 15 August 2010, Tsai held s signing session for the album at Ximending in Taipei. On 21 August 2010, Tsai held two signing session at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi in Taichung and South Park in Tainan. On 22 August 2010, Tsai held a signing session at Dream Mall in Kaohsiung. On 25 August 2010, Tsai held a press conference in Taipei and announced the album peaked at number one on the weekly physical record charts of Five Music, G-Music, and Pok'elai. On 3 September 2010, Tsai held a signing session at Joy City in Beijing. On 11 September 2010, Tsai held the grand final of Honey Trap Voguing Creative Dance Competition in Taipei. On 14 October 2010, Tsai performed the choreography of "Honey Trap" together with 3,500 students at New Taipei Municipal Xiulang Elementary School. On 27 October 2010, Tsai held a signing session at Huaxing Times Plaza in Hangzhou. On 29 October 2010, Tsai released the deluxe edition of the album, and it includes six songs in remixed form, six music videos, and a behind-the-scenes clip. On 31 October 2010, Tsai held a signing session for the deluxe edition of the album at Ximending in Taipei. On 6 November 2010, Tsai held two signing session at Hanshin in Taichung and Kuang San Sogo in Kaohsiung. On 12 November 2010, media reported the album has sold more than 65,000 copies in Taiwan, and it became the fourth best-selling album and the best-selling album by a female artist of the year in Taiwan. On 28 December 2010, Tsai released a vinyl edition of the album. On 22 May 2011, Tsai held a signing session at Windsor KTV in Changsha.
Live performances
On 31 July 2010, Tsai attended the Taiwanese television showSuper King to perform the track "Honey Trap".On 5 August 2010, Tsai attended the Taiwanese television show 100% Entertainment to perform "Honey Trap". On 12 August 2010, Tsai attended the Taiwanese television show Power Sunday to perform "Honey Trap".On 16 August 2010, Tsai attended the television show 100% Entertainment to perform "Honey Trap" and "Love Player". On 27 August 2010, Tsai attended the Taiwanese television show One Million Star to perform "Honey Trap".On 30 August 2010, Tsai attended the television show 100% Entertainment to perform "Honey Trap". On 2 September 2010, Tsai attended the Chinese television show Singing & Dancing to perform "Honey Trap", "Love Player", and "Real Hurt". On 4 September 2010, Tsai attended the Chinese television show We Are Family to perform "Honey Trap" and "Take Immediate Action". On 22 August 2010, Tsai performed "Honey Trap" at the 2010 CCTV Mid-Autumn Festival Gala in Wuhu. On the same date, Tsai attended the Chinese television show Happy! to perform "Honey Trap", "Take Immediate Action", and "Real Hurt". On 24 August 2010, Tsai attended the Chinese television show Day Day Up to perform "Honey Trap" and "Real Hurt". On 10 October 2010, Tsai attended the grand final of China's Got Talent to perform "Black-Haird Beautiful Girl". On 15 November 2010, Tsai attended the television show 100% Entertainment to perform "Black-Haird Beautiful Girl". On 31 December 2010, Tsai performed "Honey Trap" and "Real Hurt" at the Open Your Dream New Year Countdown Concert in Kaohsiung. On the same date, Tsai performed "Honey Trap" and "Take Immediate Action" at the E-Da World New Year Countdown Concert in Kaohsiung. On 9 April 2011, Tsai performed "Honey Trap" at the 1st Global Chinese Golden Chart Awards in Taipei. On 24 April 2011, Tsai performed "Honey Trap" at the Music Radio China Top Chart Awards. Since then, Tsai has attended a series of events and performed songs from the album.
Singles
On 14 July 2010, Tsai released the lead single titled "Honey Trap" of the album. On 27 July 2010, Tsai released the music video of "Honey Trap", and it was directed by Cha Eun Taek who has collaborated with Rain and Lee Hyori. With a total budget of NT$10 million, the music video was filmed in Korea. Tsai also performed vogue in the music video, and she described: "In fact, I have always watched some performers voguing, when I first listened to the demo of "Honey Trap", I wanted to perform voguing, so I asked my choreographer to help me find a voguing teacher, and then he found the instructor of America's Next Top Model to teach me. The teacher told me the origin of voguing. He not only taught me the dance moves of voguing, but also taught me the meaning behind voguing, which is to have confidence and attitude." The song also paid tribute to Tsai's icon Madonna, and she indicated: "When you think of voguing, you think of Madonna's classic song "Vogue". I have always admired Madonna. She keeps changing her image to make all her fans feel that she works hard, which is a great inspiration for me." On 13 May 2011, the music video was nominated a Golden Melody Award for Best Music Video.On 20 October 2010, Tsai released the second single titled "Honey Trap ", and it additionally includes the track "Macho Babe ". The remix version of "Honey Trap" was remixed by George Leung, and that of "Macho Babe" was remixed by DJ Oscar. In January 2011, the single "Honey Trap" alongside other tracks "Nothing Left to Say" and "Love Player" reached number one, number twenty, and number fifty-five on the Hit FM Top 100 Singles of the Year.
Music videos
On 8 August 2010, Tsai released the music video of "Love Player", and it was directed by Marlboro Lai who has collaborated with Tsai on the music video of "Real Man", "Butterfly", and "Bravo Lover". Tsai also dedicated several ideas for the music video, including story script and color tone. The music video described a love player two-timed a girl, and the girl danced to relieve the negative feelings. Tsai added: "The lyrics of the song are about meeting a love player, so I told the director that we should stop talking about how a boy get rid of a girl, or a girl always cry. The song is a little bit mysterious and sexy, so I hope the director can show even though the boy made the girl heartbreak, the girl still has to live a good life and show her confidence. So in the video I took off clothes alone at home, did a little sexy dance move, and the mosaic is just a little trick." On 19 August 2010, Tsai released the music video of "Nothing Left to Say", and it was directed by Bill Chia who has collaborated with Tsai on the music videos of "Signature Gesture", "J-Game", and "Dancing Diva". The music video depicted the helpless emotion after lovers broke up. On 1 September 2010, Tsai released the music video of "Butterflies in My Stomach", and it was directed by Marlboro Lai. There is no special plot in the music video, Tsai only danced to interpret the song. On 7 September 2010, Tsai released the music video of "Take Immediate Action", it was directed by Marlboro Lai, and it was based on the concept of friends party. On 9 September 2010, Tsai released the music video of "Real Hurt", it was directed by Sam Hu, and it described the girl's loneliness after broke up. On 1 November 2010, Tsai released the music video of "Black-Haird Beautiful Girl", and it was directed in Shanghai by Kuang Sheng who has collaborated with Tsai on the music videos of "Magic", "36 Tricks of Love", and "Mr. Q".
Touring
In August 2010, Tsai indicated that she would start a concert tour around this year's Christmas. On 15 November 2010, Tsai held a press conference in Taipei for her third concert tour titled Myself World Tour, she announced it would embark on 24 December at Taipei Arena in Taipei, and she has invited vogue dancer Benny Ninja to be the special guest of the concert tour. The concert tour was based on the concept of national party, and it was produced by Eternal, Young Hope, and Super Dome. The concert tour concluded on 13 April 2013 at Kaohsiung Arena in Kaohsiung.Comprising 35 shows, the concert tour grossed NT$1.5 billion and played in front of 600,000 people from 31 cities in Asia, Europe, and Oceania. On 19 October 2013, Tsai released her sixth live album Myself World Tour, and it documented the Taipei dates of the tour on 22–23 December 2012 at Taipei Arena.
Critical reception
The album received mixed response from music critics. Writing for NetEase, Wang Shuo commented: "Tsai did not blindly pursue fashion, but adopted dance-rock, which seems to be more in line with contemporary people's appreciation of dance music." Liu Shuiji wrote: "This time Tsai worked very attentively, the overall vocal performance is stable, the album has an average quality and a good consistency, the music arrangement is also a highlight, but the album's concept is too gimmicky, it doesn't reflect her actual inner thoughts, perhaps it is just the imbalance between commerciality and musicality, it will be a problem that continues to trouble her." Xiong Ziang called it a "clear, well-made Chinese dance-pop album." Lin Juli of NetEase described: "The inadequacy is not the conception, but the music itself." Liang Xiaohui wrote: "Looking at the album as a whole, it intended to become Tsai's new milestone. Although it is conservative and imperfect, we have to admit the album is still her another successful attempt", adding that: "Perhaps, in the future, when we look back on C-pop diva of the early 21st century, the name that first comes to our mind would be Jolin Tsai rather than others, just like when we look back on the second half of the 20th century, we can never avoid the sparkling name of Madonna." Writing for Tencent, Lan Hudie rated the album 3.5 out of 5 stars, reasoning that: "Although it has diverse styles and well-made production, the album lacks of her impression left on the audience originally." Lao You gave the album 3.2 out of 5 stars, and commented: "The well-made music arrangement directly exposes the dryness of melody. This is the first time that no tracks on Tsai's album has potential to be popular. After listened to the whole album, besides its music arrangement, there is no memory points, and it is undoubtedly fatal." Shui Shui rated the album 3.8 out of 5 stars, and wrote: "There's nothing special about the five Interludes, and those make people have a feeling that they were added deliberately." San Shiyisheng gave the album 3 out of 5 stars, and described: "Even though there is still room of improvement for most songs, the dance-oriented singer has done enough in terms of the integrity and consistency of the album." Shu Wa gave the album 3.8 out of 5 stars, reasoning that: "The difference between the actual content and what they asserted is big, and it exposes Tsai's awkwardness and entanglement on music." Writing for Sina, Eric commented: "The music direction of this album is mature compared to her previous works, giving full play to her dancing talent, heading for 'dance-pop queen'", adding that: "Looking at the whole album, Tsai once again shows her amazing sincerity, no matter the dance or music, it can be said is elaborate, in order to complement the concept album, they also offer a big budget for the visuals."
Accolades
On 15 January 2011, the track "Love Player" won Baidu Hot Point for Top 10 Hong Kong/Taiwan of the Year. On 16 January 2011, Tsai won a KKBox Music Award for Top 10 Singers of the Year. On 21 January 2011, Tsai won a China Original Music Pop Chart for Best Taiwan Female Singer. On 2 February 2011, Tsai won for Super Star for Top 10 Mandarin Female Singers of the Year. On 26 March, Tsai won two My Astro Music Awards for Best Overseas Female Singer and Hosts Voted Best Overseas Female Singer, the track "Honey Trap" won for Best Dance Song and Top 20 Songs of the Year, and the track "Love Player" won for Top 20 Songs of the Year. On 9 April 2011, Tsai won for two Global Chinese Golden Chart Awards for Most Popular Female Singer and DJ Favorite Artist of the Year, and the track "Honey Trap" won for Top 20 Songs of the Year and Hit FMSong of the Year. On 24 April 2011, Tsai won a Music Radio China Top Chart Award for Most Popular Hong Kong/Taiwan Female Singer, and the track "Honey Trap" won for Music Radio Song of the Year and Top Hong Kong/Taiwan Songs of the Year. On 13 May 2011, the nominees for the 22nd Golden Melody Awards were announced, and the music video of "Honey Trap" earned an nomination for Best Music Video.
