3-Faced (Courageous Version)

Despite Elva's voice being well-suited for soul and R&B, 3-Faced takes a direction far closer to performance-oriented dance tracks and typical Karaoke-friendly ballads. That path is set from opening track I'll Be There (Track 1), a bass-driven dance track that will surely create an intricate dance routine for Elva's next concert. It also gives the album an energetic opening that grabs your attention immediately. Not as effective among the dance tracks is single More More More (Track 4), co-produced by Elva herself , which features a similar bombastic electronic-dance rhythm. A cover of a British pop song, More More More again creates an opportunity for Elva to show off her dance talent, but its repetitive hook ("Mooore moooore moooooore!") is repeated to the point of annoyance, giving the song a very short shelf life.

Elva's producer made a wise choice in picking relatively obscure songs to cover, avoiding comparison by most listeners. The best among the three cover songs is Baby Girl (Track 8), an R&B dance track that shows off Elva's ability in handling songs of such genre. The heavy use of background vocals in its chorus and Elva's vocal style here all seem to channel a Chinese version of Namie Amuro in her current "hip-pop" stage. Meanwhile, "Hereafter" (Track 7) is a ballad that's serviceable as a mid-album track, despite a pedestrian composition that fails to make the track stand out amongst the other ballads on the album.

On the other hand, the original dance tracks on 3-Faced are far more effective than the covers. The hip-hop dance track "Match Degree "(Track 6) boasts an energetic arrangement by Korean-American producer Jae Chong and even rap sections by Elva that actually don't prove to be distracting. The Chen Wei-produced Hey Girl (Track 9) has a repetitive hook and an electronic-dance style similar to More More More, but it works better because it actually utilizes Elva's vocal to great effect.

As expected, the ballads work far better at showing Elva's vocal skills, though most of them lean towards mainstream Karaoke-friendly territory. Prime example is single "Impulse" (Track 2), which sports a simple and catchy melody that's easy to digest, but Elva sometimes tries too hard to deliver the song in the style of an R&B diva in an attempt to outdo the composition. "Both Lonely" (Track 3) is more appropriate for such a delivery, especially because the composition of the R&B ballad is more suited to Elva's vocal style. However, Elva is trapped by the repetitive chorus and not given much chance to stretch her voice. She does get to venture to a new vocal style with "Similar to Love" (Track 10). Produced by singer/producer Kay Huang, the quiet ballad gives Elva a chance to show a more vulnerable side of her voice, dropping the diva-style R&B delivery listeners are used to hearing. The result is easily the best ballad on the album.

The album title 3-Faced is supposed to mean that the album shows three different sides of Elva. However, that theme only works lyrically, with the only truly clear distinction being the one between the dance tracks and the ballads. Like any good pop album, both genres get to excel in equal measures, despite missteps along the way and overall 3-Faced is as entertaining as pop albums can be these days. While 3-Faced is indeed a turning point in Elva's entertainment career, it isn't quite a significant step in her musical career. Someday, Elva will eventually make a full-blown, diva-level album that will match the monetary value of that new contract. Until then, this will do just fine.

by Kevin Ma