Fresh Face Old Taste

Cao Thai Son is yet another new kid on the block who tries to recover matured music with his recordings, Le Da. Unfortunately, his baby voice—small, sugary, shallow—does not make the standards, such as Trinh Cong Son’s “Roi Doi Di Nhe,” Ngo Thuy Mien’s “Ao Lua Ha Dong” and Pham Dinh Chuong’s “Mong Duoi Hoa,” stand out. Even though he has pushed his delivery on the title track, his restricted vocal ability doesn’t allow him to reach deep into the sentimental ballad. The worse performance is when he switches up his flow on Tu Vu’s “Gai Xuan.” The syrupy phrasing combined with the emphatic singing is simply infuriating. Nice try, Son.