Album Review: Z-Chen – ‘Happiness’, ‘Love Tree’

Album release date: 2005, 2006
Genre: R&B, Cpop     
Review by: jct

Note: These two albums contain nearly the same songs, with only 2 new songs added to Love Tree. So, I wrote a review for both of them combined.

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In a perfect world, R&B singer, Z-Chen would be huge, while other, lesser-talented artists would flop instead of chart-topping successes. Z-Chen has a unique music style and his vocals are smooth and powerful. He might not top the charts, but Z-Chen is definitely an outstanding artist.

Hope & Love

In his 6th and 7th album, Happiness and Love Tree, respectively, Z-Chen continues with what he does best: creating music that tugs on your heartstrings. The albums are filled with a handful of slow and soothing songs with romantic lyrics. The title track of the 6th album, “Happiness” is a mid-tempo R&B song that he composed using a popular tune from the Cantonese song “Needing You Every Minute (分分钟需要你)” as a sample. The song is about being in love and understanding happiness in the process, as he smoothly sings in both Mandarin and Cantonese, “Loving you, I understand happiness/ It allows me to go through a rare and precious lecture/ Having you, I will become happier and also fulfilling”.  The title track of the 7th album, “Love Tree” is a slow-tempo R&B song about comparing one’s love to a tree. He sings, “The most painful thing in love is cannot lean close to each other/ But I will wait for you/ Recalling the season/ My love is a tree/ Never will it leave a step/ Snow and wind is so ruthless/ but I believe I can stand them all.”  Also deserving mentioning is the cover song of Shakin Stevens’ “Because I Love You”, as he sings completely in English to demonstrate his fluency in the language.

The albums do falter slightly as a couple of the songs may sound similar to the tracks from his previous albums. However, with his smooth vocals, the songs can still tug on the listener’s heartstrings and are pleasant to listen to. Although the two albums have nearly all the same songs, the addition of “Love Tree” and “Recovered” in the 7th album is certaintly welcoming. Overall, the two albums are very solid releases and are recommended for those who enjoy slow-tempo R&B and R&B/pop.

Overall Rating
Happiness - 4/5
Love Tree - 4.5/5

Tracklist

Happiness
1. 快樂 (Happiness)
2. Just Once
3. 讓時間開口 (Let The Time Say)
4. 擔心 (Worry)
5. 貼身情人 (Close Lover)
6. Because I Love You
7. 拖延 (Delay)
8. 樂天派 (Optimist)
9. 預言 (Premonition)
10. 放我的真心在你的手心 (Placing My Sincerity Into The Palm Of Your Hands)

Love Tree
1. 愛情樹 (Love Tree)
2. 快樂 (Happiness)
3. 痊癒 (Recovered)
4. 讓時間開口 (Let The Time Say)
5. Just Once
6. 擔心 (Worry)
7. 貼身情人 (Close Lover)
8. Because I Love You
9. 樂天派 (Optimist)
10. 預言 (Premonition)
11. 放我的真心在你的手心 (Placing My Sincerity Into The Palm Of Your Hands)