Perhaps the highlight of the record is the track which the album is named after. As the song feels ready to explode to new heights, the listener is greeted with an all-absorbing extended outro, adding to the tracks overall ingenuity. As Elva sings about putting into practice celebrating living in the present, she is engrossed by a luscious electronic backdrop which offers up new intricacies upon repeated listens. The album continues to build momentum with “Celebrate Everyday 不如先慶祝能在一起”, a luxurious mid-tempo rich in depth and texture. Elva sings about the loneliness that comes from a lack of in-person interaction and complains of being unable to distinguish between reality and illusion, until the chorus crashes in as if it really is an emergency situation. Despite its dancey façade, the track dishes up an attack on the hypocritical nature of internet culture, and the lack of meaning that online relationships have.
Opening track “Lonely 911” is an immersive electro-pop track which suitably sets the scene for the rest of the record. The result is a collection of songs, although sonically quite separate, tied together by their relevance to Elva’s lived experience, making the record a much more mature and indeed personal affair than arguably any of her prior recordings. Indeed, the idea behind Naked Truth is to bare to the world the real Elva, even though it may not be easy to swallow. Starting work on the album in 2017, Elva was perhaps inspired by her unexpected personal and professional misfortunes, using music as therapy to manage the imperfections in her life. With this is mind, it may not be surprising that Elva took her time on 15th record Naked Truth 赤裸真相, a full six years since her last outing. A series of personal issues only solidified this, and it seemed that Elva might simply become a remnant of a past era of music. However, complaints of becoming increasingly derivative, followed by 2014’s commercial car crash Shut Up & Kiss Me 不解釋親吻 (which was far below the quality of records put out by her contemporaries) caused her to hit the emergency brake on her career.
It started strong, with a series of on-trend electro-pop records which showed Elva at her bulletproof best. The 2010’s were not particularly kind to Mandopop superstar Elva Hsiao 蕭亞軒.
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