Play World Tour (album)


Play World Tour is the seventh live album by Taiwanese singer Jolin Tsai. It was released on January 30, 2018, by Warner Music Taiwan on DVD and Blu-ray formats. Tsai embarked on the concert tour of the same name for promotion of her thirteenth studio album, Play. The performances at the Taipei Arena in Taipei, Taiwan during May 22–25, 2015 were documented for video release. The recording was directed by Leo Hsu and post-production supervised by 3 Aqua Entertainment.
The album received generally positive feedback from critics, who pricks Tsai's musical and entertaining living performance as highlight. The album only released physical copy in Taiwan, it reached the top of the weekly video album charts of Chia Chia, Eslite, Five Music, G-Music, Kuang Nan, PChome, Pok'elai, and YesAsia, and it topped the year-end charts of Five Music, Kuang Nan, and Pok'elai in 2018.

Background and development

In October 2014, Tsai confirmed that her thirteenth studio album, Play, would be released on November 15 and would embark on a concert tour afterwards for promotion of the album. The album Play has sold more than 85,000 copies in Taiwan, and it became the third best-selling album and the best-selling album by a female artist of 2014 in Taiwan. Play also received ten Golden Melody Award nominations, and eventually won for Best Mandarin Album and Best Vocal Recording Album. In February 2015, Tsai announced the Play World Tour began on May 22, 2015, in Taipei, Taiwan, at the Taipei Arena would be available for sale on April 12. The concert tour collaborated with American entertainment company Live Nation Entertainment, and it was directed by Travis Payne, who has collaborated with Michael Jackson and Lady Gaga, and Stacy Walker. At the same time, the media reported that the budget of the concert tour exceeded NT$100 million. On November 17, 2015, the video release of the concert tour rumored to be finished recording. Comprising 34 shows, the tour visited 23 cities in Asia and North America and concluded on July 16, 2016, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at the Stadium Merdeka.
On September 30, 2016, Tsai as a representative of Asian artists attended the International Music Summit's Asia-Pacific event, and she said that no plans for a live album release of Play World Tour during a backstage interview. On the same date, Tsai together with Swedish DJ Alesso released an English single titled "I Wanna know" and performed the song at the Storm Music Festival in Shanghai afterwards. On October 31, 2016, Tsai released a single titled "Ego-Holic" with Taiwanese musician Starr Chen. On December 24, 2016, Tsai attended the 10th Migu Music Awards, and in a backstage interview she confirmed that she would release a live album of Play World Tour in response to the great demand by fans. In 2017, Tsai released a series of singles, including "Give Love" for the 2017 Mother's Day and a related public interest campaign presented by the Taiwan television station Da Ai Television, "We Are One" featuring Dutch DJ Hardwell, "On Happiness Road" for the 2018 Taiwanese animated film under the same title, and "Stand Up" for the Chinese film Monster Hunt 2. On April 11, 2017, Tsai's manager confirmed that the video release of the concert tour has been finished the rough cut. On October 30, 2017, Warner Music Taiwan's manager Sam Chen said that the album was scheduled to be released in December as well as confirmed that a Blu-ray format would be released. In December 2017, Tsai confirmed the album would be released in January 2018.

Release and promotion

On December 23, 2017, Tsai announced the album which scheduled to be officially released on January 30, 2018 would be available for pre-order on January 3. The album included 29 live tracks of Play World Tour, four We're All Difference, Yet the Same series documentary short films directed by Hou Chi-jan and Gavin Lin, and one behind-the-scenes footage. Warner Music Taiwan confirmed that the video was recorded by 26 sets of ground and aerial camera, and more than 400 hours of source material have been distilled into a two-hour concert film. Since December 24, 2017, Warner Music Taiwan posted one teaser in each following three days. On January 2, 2018, Tsai held a press conference for the live album at Lihpao Land in Taichung, Taiwan, and released a 8-minute teaser of the album. On January 29, 2018, Tsai held the Double Play Fan Meeting for promotion of the album at the Taipei International Convention Center in Taipei, Taiwan. On January 29, 2018, the concert film was first broadcast exclusively on Line TV in Taiwan. On February 6, 2018, the concert film was broadcast exclusively on Tencent Video and Migu Music in China. The album only released physical copy in Taiwan, it reached the top of the weekly video album charts of Chia Chia, Eslite, Five Music, G-Music, Kuang Nan, PChome, Pok'elai, and YesAsia, and it topped the year-end charts of Five Music, Kuang Nan, and Pok'elai in 2018.

Critical reception

Taiwan's PlayMusic gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, and it wrote that it was "another magnum opus of the Taiwan's pop diva, the costume, stage, and dance are refreshing, it showed us the high quality of C-pop music, as well as made people more look forward to Tsai's later work", adding that: "We can hear that Tsai's vocal has improved a lot compared with her previous few albums, in addition to her better breath support, Tsai's vocal expression, rhythm, and emotion became more vivid, she can now handle whether fast songs or slow songs with more ease, and she performs with a lot more confidence, musically she rearranged all the music for the show and made the whole show looks more smoothly."

Track listing

Personnel

Live Shooting Crew:
Behind the scenes:
Others:

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history