Le Quyen – Neu Nhu Ngay Do & Acoustic
Fuck Minh Tuyet and let’s make it official—Le Quyen is the new hooker. On the street, a hooker is someone who offers sex for money. In music, a hooker is a singer who lives by the hooks and makes luscious love to the hooks.
Le Quyen’s volume 3, Neu Nhu Ngay Do, is packed with catchy, contagious choruses. Right off the opening title track, she drips her thick, husky vocals over the banal lyrics like honey and ginger over plain, white tofu. On the Chinese-melodic “Tha Thu Cho Em,” she wraps her big-ass pipe around the hilariously-heartbreaking lines, “Neu em ra di bay gio thi nhieu nguoi se trach moc / vi da ben nhau bao ngay ma gio day doi thay,” as if girls these days really give a fuck what people say. With “Roi Mot Mai,” she brings out her rockability that is a reminiscent of Phuong Thanh.
Just when I give up on her for going down the trendy, poppy path, Le Quyen Acoustic pulls me back and gives me some hope again. Unlike Minh Tuyet, Le Quyen is not a mediocre singer at best. She has a dark, raucous, powerful voice with a bit of range. Her jazzy cover of Jimmy Nguyen’s “Mai Mai Ben Em” is intoxicating. She knows how curl her raspy, smoky vocals around the acoustic picking guitar and sentimental sawing violin. On Tran Le Huynh’s “Chan Tinh,” she completely erased Van Truong and intimately made it all her own. With Phu Quang’s “Noi Nho Mua Dong,” songbird Le Quyen trenches her soul into a bitter cold winter night and her delivery is a resemblance of the younger Thanh Lam who I truly missed.
Acoustic has its stale moments with tracks like Thanh Tung’s “Mua Ngau,” Duc Huy’s “Neu Xa Nhau” and Ngoc Le’s “Xa Roi Tuoi Tho.” Yet as long as Le Quyen doesn’t waste her voice with lollipop tunes, she remains one of my favorite Vietnamese vocalists.
“Neu em ra di bay gio thi nhieu nguoi se trach moc / vi da ben nhau bao ngay ma gio day doi thay,”LOL
I haven’t listened to the album yet but the lyrics are so se^’n! Hopefully her sweet and sturdy voice will make up for the cheap words (and probably sugary melodies). I also hope that she has stopped dressing up like an overdosed hooker (torn jeans with fake gems sewn on them). I remember really enjoying her live performance in Tieng To Dong in HCMC, only to get disappointed by her studio recordings!
Female husky voices like this come a dime a dozen in VN. Minh Tuyet, although not a great singer, at least does not have this commonality.
Hehehe :) I am not at all surprised……
I like Le Quyen for her originality …
My mother likes Minh Tuyet so I guess that fact
speaks for itself.. My mother doesn ‘t like any
body who sings in general except may be for her
own daughter..
Hi Joseph,
Please name some “Female husky voices like this come a dime a dozen in VN”. Thanks.
PS
Let me guess you are living in a “ghetto” called Little Saigon right.
Just about every Viet boy and girl loves Minh Tuyet.. That is a fact..
what is more disturbing is that they also like her fashion sense !
Asians in general like delicate girls with feeble voices. I just don’t understand it. If you want something like that, buy yourself a Barbie Doll, why expect to see it in artists? Not too long ago, many Vietnamese were not happy that a Phillipina was chosen to sing in Miss Saigon (not that it was anything to die for). The reason to me was so clear: finding a Vietnamesefemale vocalist in the 90s who could sing louder than a kitten was almost an impossible task.
Thu Phuong, My Tam, Ngoc Anh, Thien Kim, Ho Ngoc Ha, Nguyen Hong Nhung, etc, and all the lesser known female viet singers generally go for the deep husky ashy manish tone. This was a fad and has stuck around for years now. Learn how to sing in your lowest register to it’s entirety and smoke some crack and you’ll get there eventually. Can anybody name a recently known female singer without the deep man-ish voice we all have come to call ordinary these days? Call me silly, but I prefer female with female-like voices. Same goes with male voices, Bang Kieu = no thanks.
Japanese, Philipina, Korean, Chinese female vocalists sound like women.
Vietnamese female singers these days (esp those within the country) = man-ish. This is a fact.
And please no assumptions here, I do not live in LS, nor do I love Minh Tuyet nor does living in a ghetto neighborhood effect my ability/inability to point out husky man-ish female voices.
Thanks.
i think someone’s getting their ‘joseph’s confused here. i’ve been using ‘Joseph’ with a capital J and i live near LS. however i think the other joseph made an astute observation here.
i guess you can’t assume anything these days… especially on the internet.
btw, i like Tam Doan more than Minh Tuyet
I like natural singing voices.. one that sing with heart and soul.. I am not into manly voices or barbie voices.. I like this woman singer and her namne is Shirley Horn . I don’t like any Viet female singer at the present time.
Minh Tuyet and Le Quyen are completely different vocal style. They just like orange and apple and you can not compare them. Just like the taste, some like orange more than apple and some don’t. For me, between the two, I like apple Le Quyen more because she fits my taste. However sometime I like to listen to orange Minh Tuyet too (in some songs). So the way I listens to music is defended on my mood.
Hahaha, you comment makes me laugh, tn. Hey, I like apple too and occasionally oranges to switch up the moods. :). You have to have Pho once in a while instead of rice all the time. Tiger Woods had tasted way too many Pho though. Too much MSG is not healthy for him. But I guess it helps him concentrate on the court.
A woman should sound like a woman? What has it got to do with a person’s arts? I don’t think singing accordingly to your gender says anything about your worth as an artist. You can sound like a woman if you are a woman, or a man if you are a man, and then what? I think it’s the ability that makes someone’s heart burn or explode or awaken that defines an artist’s talent.
Beside, a woman can sound like a woman and be powerful at the same time. Think Thai Thanh, Le Thu or My Hanh. Sounding like a woman doesn’t mean you have to sound like a chipmonk.
Sauve has spoken ! How have you been??
I believe that songs should be sung with ease and naturalness.. not forced, constrive or showing off vocal skills…….. When an artist touches listeners’ heart and soul.. she /he has done her job.. doesn’t matter if she sounds strong, weak or manly.. It just have to convey that sincere feeling of pain, joy, sadness.
I can do more than just speak :P
Ooops, I’m OK, Thu Hoai. Thanks for asking. What about yourself? Actually I’m a bit depressed because I have a big final project due tomorrow but still have a long way to go. Trashing Donny’s site is always a nice excuse for taking a break!
Suave I need to ask you something. Can you email me at
[email protected]
Suave cheer up.. dont’ be depressed.. I will cheer you up OK???
Email me and I will cheer u up promise :) !
You don’t need to sound weak to sound like woman, but you definitely do not have to sound like a man!
Ngoc Lan.
Enough said.
Hey Thu Hoai, I completed my Final Project last night, just in time for my computer at home to act up! I am writing this from work where emailing is banned. Will email you tonight. Thank you. Your words made me feel better already. Hopefully you won’t ask me any tricky questions. I only answer naughty questions. All others will be ignored LOL
I like how ThuHoai put it…sing it w ease & naturalness n not forcing it. So many young singers try to over do certain notes to show off their vocals w o realizing that they have screwed up the song.
On the side not, there’s a new soon to be up n coming singer name Vo Tien Dung out of the ATL area, you guys should pay attention if u hear this guy. He’s great!!!
I try to sing it that way. Hopefully Visualgui readers will support my CD to be released soon !
Ssuve you are a too funny.. You reminds me of my very good friend !
I do absolutely agree with Joseph on some of his points. There are really a ton of female with those husky deep manly voice (your list lacks the famous Hong Ngoc, Hoang Le Vy). Nowadays, the singers in VN really sound alike. You will hear either those deep husky voices, or those baby voices (like May Trang, Bao Thy, Thu Thuy…). I like singers whose voice really stand out and unique. Example: Dam Vinh Hung, Ngoc Ha( not Ho Ngoc Ha), Minh Tuyet (I have yet to find another female that has a voice that is similar to Minh Tuyet), Tam Doan (her voice is unique in her gerne of music).
I love these female singers: Hong Nhung,Thanh Lam, Ngoc Lan, Thai Thanh, Le Thu, Thanh Tuyen, Thanh Thuy, KhanhLY, Khanh Ha, Phuong Thanh, Siu Black, Tran Thu Ha, Bao yen, Nha Phuong, Thai Hien, Ngoc Anh, Ho Ngoc Ha, Le Quyen..
Why shouldnt we embrace husky voice? Why shouldnt we embrace soft feminine voice? Why only listen to nhac tien chien? Why shouldnt we listen to new music? Nhac sen, nhac xua…watever…Embrace them all i’d say if they sound good, unique and of course listen to the good songs of each singer…Soft voice, Strong voice, feminine voice, manly voice..there’s always songs suitable for each voice..
Eat com, eat pho, hu tieu, banh mi, bun, che troi nuoc, chinese, vietnamese, italian, American, japanese, Thai…eat them all…Be a Tiger!! haha
Amen!!! I am 100% with you Lam Dien.(:
It’s my first time to post although been reading your blog for quite a while. Simple because i couldn’t agree more with your comments on Le Quyen Acoustic album. I never liked “Mai mai ben em” until her rendition. Really reminded me of Amy Winehouse in a way. Happy Holidays!
Le Quyen’s Vol.1, Vol.2 and Vol.3 are all beautiful. Soultry voice and very “quyến rũ”. She CAN sing. Those young ladies taunting their bodies on TN Paris Video simply cannot sing for shit including Minh Tuyet. I like Khanh Ha as well, listen only :-). I simply cannot watch her sing, what’s up with her crazy mouth/lips contortion ? It was not like that before.
Another thing about Le Quyen’s Vol. 3 that i found a bit annoying is her constant “rung giọng / ngân” if you listen carefully. Those can be done at proper passage but not ALL the time. Shit … it reminds me of Nhu Quynh stupid shaking lips when she sings.
haha thanks tn
We have something in common…must hang out and eat and listen to good music one day..hehe
Well i was listening to this LQ cd on way to work this morning..not yet impressed!!
Khanh Ha mimics the lips of my favorite Ms. Francois Hardy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQGNpRnFNgM
I am into the old songs by ms. Hardy lately.
TA,
Thank you for your comment, you are so right about those BAD singer on Thuy Nga. I do not know why Vietnamese like listen to bad singing.
oh please stfu people…i didnt mean to sound so harsh but for g0d sake enjoy the fricking music, if you dont like it, there are others who will..okay fine this person is ur favorite and u can find a million good things to say and other also can find a million bad things to say..so whos right and whos wrong…for me I LIKE LE QUYEN, AND Joseph, stfu please, if everyone have the same taste as you this world is fricking dull as i see it…we gotta have varieties..Minh Tuyet, Le Quyen i like them both in different ways..they music also very different so u cannot combine the two together….enjoy the music please…if you dont liek her. dont listen to her thats all…
Good review! Le quyen’s voice indeed sounds like “con diem.” And I love it!!!!! :)
Pay attention to the song “Lang man tren doi”… len doi..len doi.. tren tham co non muot xanh. Listen to this one when you are half drunk with a sexy chick!
Good luck!