Le Kieu Nhu – Tinh Khuc Nguyen Nhat Huy

Le Kieu Nhu can hardly sing, yet she knows how to get you hooked just like the way she had Nguyen Nhat Huy on the tip of her finger. The man who was responsible for the mega hit “Nguoi Ve Cuoi Pho” is now focusing his energy on the young, trying-to-be-sexy chick. Who can blame him? A man has to do what a man has to do.

Let’s be fair. Le Kieu Nhu is not a bad vocalist. In “Tinh Nhu,” an opening track off her second album Tinh Khuc Nguyen Nhat Huy, she rides the cha-cha tempo like a drunken chick in a karaoke bar, but she manages to pull it off. Her out-of-tune delivery and odd phrasings make the cute tune so damn amusing. Despite her limited vocal ability, she could soar like a bird with a wounded wing in the slow-ballad “Tinh Si.” In contrast, she sounds weightless on “Cuoc Tinh Chiem Bao,” as she tries to float with the Jacuzzi-jazz arrangement. If her voice wouldn’t put you to a snoozing mode, the smooth saxophone would.

Then again, who wouldn’t feel bad for someone who croons the last words for her lover (“Lan Cuoi Cho Nguoi Tinh”) with such benevolent? Never mind the generic, computer-generated rhythm, just listen to the way she delivers the refrain: “Tha anh dung den trong doi / De em dung qua hy vong / De trong long khong mang dang cay / Loi yeu nao nhu con gio bay / Gio em tin ai nua day?” She makes you feel guilty but in a pleasure way.