Muse (Jolin Tsai album)
Muse is the twelfth studio album by Taiwanese singer Jolin Tsai. It was released on September 14, 2012, by Warner Music Taiwan. Tsai collaborated with various producers on the record, including Michael Lin, Peggy Hsu, JJ Lin, and Tanya Chua. The artistically-flavored album houses tracks influenced by the elements of art, poetry, and dance.
The album received generally positive reviews upon release, with critics praising it a "pop masterpiece" and has the depth to reward repeated listens. Commercially, the album has sold more than 100,000 copies sold in Taiwan alone, and it became the third best-selling album and the best-selling album by a female artist of the year in the region.
The album received four Golden Melody Award nominations for Best Mandarin Album, Best Mandarin Female Singer, Best Music Video, and Song of the Year for the track "The Great Artist", and eventually it won for Song of the Year for "The Great Artist". The album also earned Tsai an MTV Europe Music Award nomination for Best Asian Act.
Background and development
On August 13, 2010, Tsai released her eleventh studio album Myself, it included eight dance-pop tracks, two ballad tracks, and five interludes, and she dedicated a lot of ideas for including production, lyrics, costumes, dancing, music videos on the album. 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 the region. On December 24, 2012, Tsai embarked her third concert tour Myself World Tour. On July 12, 2011, Tsai released a book titled Living Slim, and it has sold more than 120,000 copies in Taiwan. On December 31, 2011, Tsai appeared on the Hunan Television's 2011–2012 New Year's Concert, and her performance delivered highest ratings of the evening in China. In February 2012, Warner Music Greater China's president Sam Chen indicated Tsai's twelfth studio album would be released in summer of the year and was in the stage of listening demos. In April 2012, Tsai indicated it would probably have international collaboration on the album. In June 2012, Tsai indicated the album would be released in August of the year, and she would pick ten out of fifteen recorded songs to include on the album. Tsai's manager Tom Wang described: "She is very careful about the album and spends the most time recording it. Some of the songs were recorded again and again. She also put a lot of her own ideas on music, music video, and artwork." In the same month, Tsai revealed the songs on the album were already fifty percent complete, and indicated she recently practiced choreography three to four hours each day. In July 2012, Tsai revealed the album would be released around her birthday on September 15. In the same month, Tsai indicated she has finished recording the album and would shoot the album cover and artwork as well as music videos with European team.Writing and production
On August 15, 2012, Tsai released the album's lead single "The Great Artist". The track was written by Charite Viken Reinas, Eirik Johansen, Alexander Puntervold, Robin Jessen, Anne Judith Wik, Nermin Harambasic, Ronny Svendsen, and Golden Horse Award winner for Best Film Original Song Matthew Yen. The song described a love player from a female perspective, and it encouraged women to hold on to brave attitude and believe they will eventually meet true love. Produced by Michael Lin, the track was different from Tsai's previous dance songs with multiple emotional transitions and more difficult scales in the rap section. Tsai described: "The song is special, besides its heavy beat, it merged the genre of electronic music, the composition is something I've never tried to interpret before, and it encompassed my own attitude, since the lyrics by Matthew Yen is incisive, girls should have their own ideas, so when I record this song, I put myself into the personality of becoming a strong woman." On September 5, 2012, Tsai released the song "Wandering Poet" both written and produced by Peggy Hsu. It depicted from the opposite angle the joy and sorrow of an egocentric romantic poet. Peggy Hsu described: "The music arrangement seems to be telling a story. It is a little classical, but it is a little complicated with pitch shifts and changes of speed and rhythm. However, Tsai's singing style and tone made the song imply a poet's loneliness that can be understood by most people."Production done by Michael Lin, the track "Dr. Jolin" was written by Sten Iggy Strange Dahl, Johan Moraeus, Christoffer Wikberg, and Peggy Hsu. The song was inspired by the 2012 phenomenon, and it encouraged people to look at the real world with their true selves and humor. The track "Fantasy" was written by Mikko Tamminen, Udo Mechels, Rike Boomgaarden, and Greeny Wu. Produced by Michael Lin, the song was inspired by the emotional life of gay community, and Tsai described: "I Hope it dedicates true love to everyone, because in the world of love, everyone is equal." The track "Friday the 13th" was written by Pasi Siitonen, Adam Powers, Nalle Ahlstedt, and Jimmy Chou. Produced by Michael Lin, the song was inspired by the jokes among party friends, and it encouraged single people to have fun on Valentine's Day. Produced by Michael Lin, the track "Beast" was written by Tarmo Keranen, Karin Fransson, and Tsai herself. The song was Tsai's first songwriting work follows "Metronome" on her 2007 studio album Agent J, and Tsai described: "There are some happy or sad things going on around me, such as love stories and funny things, so they are always sources of inspiration." The track "Spying on You Behind the Fence" was written by Greeny Wu and produced by Michael Lin. The song's upbeat rhythm well complements its playful lyrics, it used "fence" to metaphor the distance of love, and it depicted people who in a love relationship often doubt their own happiness because of their pessimistic personality.
"Color Photos" was another track written by Greeny Wu and produced by Michael Lin. Tsai described the song reminded her of photos that fans collected for her, and she added: "Everyone's every photo is full of kinds of feelings, even if photos have begun to yellowed or faded, but memory is still as beautiful as color of the past." The track "Someone" was written by Golden Melody Award winner for Album Producer of the Year Chen Hui-ting and produced by Michael Lin. Tsai expressed her appreciation for Tizzy Bac's live performing style, and she hoped to explore more of her vocal potential with the song. Produced by Golden Melody Award winner for Best Mandarin Male Singer JJ Lin, the track "Mosaic" was written by JJ Lin and Tsai's manager Tom Wang. The song depicted a woman who lost herself in love to appeal to a man's vision. Produced by Golden Melody Award winner for Album Producer of the Year Tanya Chua, the track "I" was written by Tanya Chua and Xiao Han. Tanya Chua described: "When I met with Tsai, she said she wanted to sing a song exclusively for herself. Although it is ballad but it is not a love song, it is about facing herself without spotlight and applause completely. I was touched by her willingness to share her vulnerability, so I asked Xiao Han to write the lyrics for her, I hope through "I" we can walk into Tsai's inner world, and feel we are all the same." Michael Lin served as the executive producer of the album, and the album was mastered by Tom Coyne who has collaborated with Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and Adele.
Title and artwork
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Muses are nine inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and arts. In current English usage, "muse" can refer to a person who inspires an artist, musician, or writer. Tsai described: "The meaning behind 'Muse' is inspiration. For me, art is not only profound and difficult for people to understand, but it is actually something you live around. Maybe some people use paintings to convey what they feel, so I'm singing and performing, so I want to bring art to my performance." On July 23, 2012, Tsai released a series of promotional photos for the album, and they were photographed by Guillaume Millet who has collaborated with Vogue Paris and featured Tsai with costume designed by Chen Shao-yen. Chen Shao-yen described: " inspired by French show girls of the 1930s, at that moment divas often performed in a neutral yet sexy outfits, exuding a charming glamour, much like Tsai herself and this album." With a total of NT$8 million budget, this series of promotional photos were photographed in Paris, France. The second series of promotional photos were photographed at Musée des Arts Forains in Paris, France, and they featured Tsai wearing costumes designed again by Chen Shao-yen. Chen Shao-yen described: "After listened to her "The Great Artist", her graceful dance moves emerged in my mind, but the lyrics used the great artist to describe love player, I think this song encourages girls to have both sexy and brave attitude to deal with love, so I had an inspiration to design the outfit that hugged her curves cleverly." The promotional photos photographed in France were included on the pre-order version "Muse of Dream", and the cover art and artwork for another pre-order version "Muse of Love" featured Tsai wearing outfits designed by Tomas Chan. The cover art for the single "The Great Artist" featured Tsai wearing silver headdress of Miao people in Yunnan, China, and the collector said the headdress was acquired by his ancestor when he traveled to China in the 18th or 19th century. The cover art and artwork for the album's standard edition were photographed by Tong Meng, and the album package was designed by Aaron Nieh. The cover art and artwork for the album's deluxe edition were photographed by Liang Su, and the package was designed again by Aaron Nieh.Release and promotion
On August 22, 2012, Warner Music Taiwan announced the album was available for pre-order today and was scheduled to be released on September 14 of the month, and they indicated the album had two pre-order versions, "Muse of Dream" and "Muse of Love". On August 23, 2012, Warner Music Taiwan embarked The Great Artist Parody Contest, and Tsai held a promotional event on September 4 for the contest in Taipei, Taiwan. On September 13, 2012, Tsai held a press conference for the album release at Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, China. On September 16 and 29, Tsai held two signing sessions Taroko Mall in Taichung and Ximending Theater Street in Taipei, Taiwan. On September 26, 2012, Tsai held a press conference in Taipei, Taiwan and announced the album reached number one on the weekly physical record charts including Chia Chia, Eslite, Five Music, G-Music, Kuang Nan, and Pok'elai, and peaked at number one on the digital charts including Fox, iTunes, KISS Radio, KKBox, MTV, MyMusic, Omusic, and I Radio FM96. On October 6, 2012, Tsai held the Muse Concert in Tainan, Taiwan, and she performed all the tracks from the album on the concert. On October 7, 2012, Tsai held a signing session at Dream Mall in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. On October 20, 2012, Tsai held a signing session at Harrods in London, United Kingdom. On October 26, 2012, Tsai released the deluxe edition of the album, and it includes five music videos and eleven live tracks from her Muse Concert. On October 28, 2012, Tsai held a signing session for the album's deluxe edition and the grand final of The Great Artist Parody Contest. The album reached number two, number two, and number eight on the Taiwan's physical record charts of Five Music, G-Music, and Pok'elai respectively. As of the end of 2012, the album has sold more than 95,000 copies in Taiwan, and it became the third best-selling album and best-selling album by a female artist of the year in the country.Live performances
On September 15, 2012, Tsai performed "The Great Artist", "Dr. Jolin", "Wandering Poet", and "I" on the Beijing date of Myself World Tour, and then she continued to perform tracks from the album on other dates of the tour. On September 30, 2012, Tsai performed "The Great Artist" at the 2012 CCTV Mid-Autumn Festival Gala. On October 13, 2012, Tsai recorded the Chinese television show Happy Camp and performed "The Great Artist" and "Mosaic"; The show was broadcast on November 3 of the year. On November 5, 2012, Tsai recorded the Chinese television show Your Face Sounds Familiar and performed "Fantasy" and "Dr. Jolin"; The show was broadcast on November 18 of the year. On December 31, 2012, Tsai performed "Beast" and "The Great Artist" at the Hunan TV 2013 New Year Countdown Night Concert. On January 19, 2013, Tsai attended the 8th KKBox Music Awards and performed "The Great Artist", "Fantasy", and "Dr. Jolin". On January 30, 2012, Tsai performed "The Great Artist", "Beast", "Fantasy", and "Dr. Jolin" at the Taiwan Music Night in Paris, France. On April 18, 2012, Tsai attended the 17th China Music Awards in Macau and performed "The Great Artist" and "Dr. Jolin". On May 17, 2012, Tsai performed "The Great Artist" and "Dr. Jolin" at the 3rd Global Chinese Golden Chart North America Concert in Vancouver, Canada. On June 2, 2013, Tsai attended the 2012 Hito Music Awards and performed "The Great Artist" and "Dr. Jolin". On June 6, 2013, Tsai attended the 24th Golden Melody Awards and performed "The Great Artist". On June 14, 2013, Tsai attended as special guest to perform "Mosaic" together with JJ Lin on the Taipei date of his Timeline World Tour. On August 24, 2013, Tsai attended the 2013 Summer Super Slippa and performed "The Great Artist" together with Mayday. Since then, Tsai has attended a series of events and performed songs from the album.Singles
On August 15, 2012, the album's lead single "The Great Artist" was released, and its music video was released on August 22 of the year. The music video was directed by Muh Chen, and it was the first time that Tsai collaborated with him. The music video was set in a "futuristic salon", Muh Chen described: "In the 17th and 18th centuries, salon was the social occasion and cultural center where French bourgeoisie and aristocrats talked about literature and art. The hosts of salon were all women aristocrats with intelligence, grace, and knowledge. The feminism background coincided with the lyrics of 'The Great Artist'." With a total of NT $8 million budget, the music video took 38 hours in Kaohsiung and Taipei to film, and five costumes in the music video were designed by three designers. The music video has both story version and dance version, and the choreography in the music video was choreographed by Parris Goebel, who has choreographed for artists including Jennifer Lopez. On August 23, 2012, Tsai held a promotional event for the music video at Taipei Circle in Taipei, Taiwan. The music video reached number nine on the Taiwan's YouTube year-end chart of 2012, it was nominated for a Golden Melody Award for Best Music Video and a Berlin Music Video Award for Best Visual Effects, and it won for an International Design Award for Graphic Design Bronze Prize and a Golden Pin Design Award for Communication Design. The music video also made Tsai the first female artist to receive full score on YinYueTai. On January 2, 2013, the single "The Great Artist" alongside other tracks "Wandering Poet" and "Dr. Jolin" reached number two, number ten, and number twenty-four on the Hit FM Top 100 Singles of the Year respectively.Music videos
On September 11, 2012, Tsai released the music video of "Wandering Poet" directed by Golden Melody Award winner for Best Music Video JP Huang, and it starred the Golden Bell Award winner for Best Actress Ariel Lin and Austin Lin. The music video depicted the actress falling in love with an eccentric romantic poet, and the actress found what she had was actually a duplicated love. Tsai described: "In preparing to record the song, I also thought of the leading actress in Black Swan, maybe every girl has two sides when dealing with love, the one is external, and the other is internal, many girls are not good at expressing their joy and sorrow, they hide all the feelings, the singer me is like the 'Black Swan', and the actress Ariel Lin is like the 'White Swan'." On September 24, 2012, Tsai released the music video of "Dr. Jolin", and it was directed by Marlboro Lai who has collaborated with Tsai on the music videos of "Dancing Diva", "Sun Will Never Set", and "Real Man". In the music video, Tsai played a doctor in the "future world", and there would be an interchange of gender attribute between men and women; It revealed Tsai's support for the gender equality. On October 3, 2012, Tsai released the music video of "Mosaic", which was directed by Taipei Film Award winner for Best Director Chen Hung-i. The music video made full use of black and white colors in order to highlight the vibe of the ballad. On October 15, 2012, Tsai released the music video of "Spying on You Behind the Fence" directed by Golden Melody Award winner for Best Music Video Jude Chen. The music video opens with a black cat, which is a metaphor for women's caution in love. Its color tone and scene are full of European style, and the shooting angle shows the actual sense of spying. On October 25, 2012, Tsai released the music video of "Fantasy", and it was directed by Bill Chia who has collaborated with Tsai on the music videos of "Signature Gesture", "J-Game", "Nothing Left to Say". It was set in the "Garden of Eden" and filmed at the Future Pavilion of Taipei Expo Park in Taipei, Taiwan. It depicted people of different races, colors, and genders are all worthy of love. Tsai described: "In fact, there are many such love happened in our life now, no matter male or female, there are such lovers around me. I think love is equal, the music video brought the story of "Garden of Eden" to the present, which is in line with the lyrics of 'Fantasy'." On December 10, 2012, Tsai released the music video of "I", and it was directed by Golden Bell Award winner for Mini-Series/TV Movie Fu Tien-yu. It set the scene for Tsai to look back at her pure self without makeup after removed her complicated makeup on the stage. On February 22, 2013, Tsai released the music videos of both "Color Photos" and "Friday the 13th" together, which were directed by Jade Chen, and the former starred Johnny Yang and Phoebe Lin. On March 13, 2013, Tsai released the music video of "Beast" directed by Bill Chia, and it depicted the struggle between the consciousness and unconsciousness.Critical reception
The album received generally positive reviews upon release. British journalist Michael McCarthy commented: "It's pure pop goodness, bathed in rich kaleidoscopic color, the sort of pop that has the depth to reward repeated listens." Tencent Entertainment gave the album 7 out of 10 stars, reasoning that: "Although Muse is still based on pop, the overall vibe is quite different from that of Tsai's previous albums of recent years." Freshmusic gave the album 7.5 out of 10 stars, and it described the album "has gradually revealed a different from the past which was too gaudy, and it marked the beginning of her new phase." PlayMusic's critic Hui-lan gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, and she added: "The music arrangement and mixing effect of the album's dance songs are particularly excellent, the singer has a sweet, clear, and powerful voice, which shows the singing ability that a diva-level singer should definitely have. If ballads can test a singer's vocals, singing dance songs is also an advantage." Cool-Style's writer Jamie Lee described the album: "In terms of the album's overall production and breakthrough, Muse is definitely one of the best albums of the year." Hit FM listed the album as one of the "Top 10 Albums of 2012".Accolades
On September 17, 2012, the nominees for the 2012 MTV Europe Music Awards were announced, and Tsai earned an nomination for Best Asian Act. On January 19, 2013, Tsai won a KKBox Music Award for Top 10 Singers of the Year. On April 9, 2013, the album won for a Global Chinese Golden Chart Award for Best Chinese Album, the track "The Great Artist" won for Top 20 Songs of the Year, and Tsai won for Best Female Singer. On April 13, 2013, Tsai earned a V Chart Award for Best Hong Kong/Taiwan Female Singer. On April 19, 2013, Tsai won a China Music Award for Most Influencing Popular Asian Singer, and the album won for Best Hong Kong/Taiwan Album. On April 26, 2013, Tsai won a Music Radio China Top Chart Award for Most Popular Hong Kong/Taiwan Female Singer, and the track "The Great Artist" won for Top Hong Kong/Taiwan Song of the Year. On May 10, 2013, Tsai won a Global Chinese Music Award for Top 5 Popular Female Singers, and the track "The Great Artist" won for Top 20 Popular Songs of the Year. On May 22, 2013, the nominees for the 24th Golden Melody Awards were announced, Tsai was nominated for Best Mandarin Female Singer, the album was nominated for Best Mandarin Album, and the track "The Great Artist" was nominated for Song of the Year and Best Music Video. On June 2, 2013, Tsai received three Hito Music Awards for Best Female Singer, Global Media Recommend Female Singer, and Global Outstanding Mandarin Singer, and the track "The Great Artist" won for Top 10 Mandarin Songs of the Year. On July 6, 2013, "The Great Artist" earned a Golden Melody Award for Song of the Year. On November 22, 2013, Tsai won a Singapore Hit Award for Most Popular Award, and the track "Mosaic" won for Top 10 Songs of the Year.Track listing
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
| Chart | Position |
| Taiwanese Albums | 8 |