I never gave a fuck about the MTV boy band until its latest release Nếu Chỉ Sống Một Ngày. Its sixth album struck a cord that is very closed to my heart. As the title track suggested, what if you have one day to live? How would you live it? What do you do when you’re racing against time? Here’s the line that sums up one’s life: “Thời gian thôi đưa chớp mắt đã hết một đời.” Yes, life is over in just a blink of an eye.

“Nhắm Mắt” is another track that cuts straight to the core: “Nhắm mắt, một ngày mệt nhoài trôi qua… Cố thức giấc đi thôi nhận ra hôm nay tôi đây không là ngày hôm qua nữa.” Imagine waking up only to realize that you’re no longer the same as who you were yesterday. “Mặt Trời Màu Đen” is a tear-jerking dedication to those who could never see the sunlight and “Dioxin,” featuring 5 Dòng Kẻ, is an emotional tribute to the victims of Orange Agent.

The album opens with “Trở Về” to indicate the return of MTV. The boys disbanded in 2007 and now they are united as the men. Nếu Chỉ Sống Một Ngày marks a tremendous growth from being a banal pop-rock boy band to a matured, lyrical rock group.

Duc Tuan’s latest releases, By Request and Ky Niem, show that he has un-sissified his phrasing, which makes his tenor much more pleasant to the ear. As the title suggested, By Request is a collection of his most-requested songs, presumably by his fans. Duc Tuan has been very conceptualized in crafting his albums; therefore, he wouldn’t cut album with this much variety. The result is very disruptive experience. “Sac Mau” is the only track that stands out of the rest due to the ingenious use of Roland TR-808 (ripped out of Kanye West’s 808 & Heartbreak) and Vietnamese traditional instrumentation. “Thoi” is definitely not a Duc Tuan’s choice.

Ky Niem, on the other hand, is carefully selected by Duc Tuan. His choice of Pham Duy’s tunes created an introspection of the songwriter’s life. The title track is probably one of Pham Duy’s most covered classics and there are many better versions than this one. Duc Tuan’s rendition is not that bad. It’s just not unique. In contrast, “Chiec Kep Toc Thom Tho” is excellent. The semi-classical arrangement with a bit of ambient vibe provided the space that is essential for story-telling. “Chieu Ve Tren Song” is another heartfelt cover with string orchestration. The double disc, however, is unnecessary. The English version of “Giot Mua Tren La” as well as the three bonus tracks could have been left off to create one solid album.

Halie Loren has a damn fine of a voice (smoky and sultry), but the real deal, which is proven on her new release Heart First, is her simplified reinterpretation of standards. Her rendition of “My One and Only Love” is a perfect example. The bass-keyboard accompaniment gives her the space to build her emotion into the tune. The most interesting part about this cover is how she gradually departs away from the original melody. By the time she comes back after the brief piano solo to close out the tune, she has completely rewritten the melody with her own. Now that’s fucking jazz.

Her version of “Feeling Good” starts out naked (unaccompanied) and instead of swinging it up she keeps it slow and adds a country twang to the classic tune. Love the way she scats with the harmonica near the end. Even when she swings on “Taking a Chance on Love,” she does so gently to make sure her soul is felt. The band, which does an excellent job of backing and displaying her vocals throughout the album, also understands the important of playing “heart first.”

The album showcases quite a bit of variety ranging from the blues on the title track to the Latin groove on “Sway (Quien Sera)” to the Sade’s smoothness on “Waiting in Vain,” and yet the album comes together as a whole without interruption. The laid-back simplicity makes Heart First a pure late-night pleasure.

Nicki Minaj’s Roman Reloaded jumps off so hard I almost “Come On a Cone” when she puts her dick in my face. With her wicked flow, sexy swag and cocksure braggadocio, Minaj holds no backseat to her male counterparts including Weezy, The Boss and Killa Cam. In fact, she can be no less ruthless when addressing her rivals: “If I had a label I would never sign you hoes / Take you bitches to school than I Columbine these hoes.”

As a rap artist, what makes Minaj stands out is that she has her way with the beats. She just doesn’t rap over them. She exorcises them. With Roman Reloaded, however, Ménage à Trois attempts to move beyond hip-hop and the result is quite unfortunate. Auto-tuning with Chris Brown on “Right By My Side” is hinting at the departure point, but the real plunge is on “Sex in the Lounge,” where Lil Wayne makes it clear: “I lay her down and kiss her neck / Talk dirty to her / Like I get that pussy wetter than a dirty sewer.” That has to be the worse fucking punchline ever.

Roman Reloaded is like one of those shows that the opening act is way better than the entire presentation.

Last Saturday I came back to Lancaster to attend an old buddy’s wedding and to my surprise Phong Le was in the house. He sang, rapped and hosted the reception. He still needed tremendous improvement as a host, but he was quite entertaining as a singer/rapper.

After introducing the bride and the groom family, Phong Le along with the Jam (a local band in Philly) kicked off a dedication to the bride with his own spin on “Nail Nail Nail.” Apparently there were quite a bit of nail owners in the audience. Nail salon is still one of Vietnamese thriving businesses around Lancaster. The guys I used to hang out with are now in the nail industry. Although the song is meant to be positive, it has become some sort of a joke. One can tell the crowd was not too pleased.

Then Phong Le rapped one of his signature tunes “Ghe Map” (Fat Chicks). A quick glance around the room, there were a handful of fat girls in the audience and they weren’t impressed either. I was surprised that no Heineken bottle was flying his way. Lancaster girls were on their best behavior.

Although Phong Le’s rap has yet to impress me, what I really liked about him was that he gave his all. His presence had made my buddy’s wedding very special. I appreciate and thank him for that. I also respect him for the fact that he was not one of those singers who think they are too good to sing at wedding. Fuck them!

So I got through 94 episodes of 70 Years of Vietnamese Ballad (1930 – 2000) produced by Hoai Nam. While the program is informative, Hoai Nam makes so many careless mistakes like introducing Lam Phuong’s “Bai Tango Cho Em” but played Hoang Nguyen’s “Bai Tango Cho Rieng Em” and explaining bolero but played the chacha arrangement in “Tau Dem Nam Cu” performed by Thanh Thuy.

After making his apology he went on to defend how the rhythm is the structure of a song. He stated that a songwriter picked out a rhythm that would best fit for his lyrics; therefore, an arranger or producer should stick to the written rhythm. Making the change in the tempo would consider disrespectful to the songwriter. With that kind of thinking no wonder Vietnamese singers who covered ballad make no attempt in reviving old songs. I rather hear an old song with a creative, innovative makeover than just singing straight from what was written.

While I understand that Hoai Nam has limited resource and budget to produce such a broad program, he should put more efforts into the third segment, which is from 1975 to 2000. From late 1930s up to 1975, he has done a decent job of introducing many Vietnamese songwriters at that time. In the third segment, he reintroduced Tram Tu Thien, Ngo Thuy Mien, Lam Phuong, Anh Bang and Tu Cong Phung and yet never even mentioned Duong Thu who is in my opinion one of the renowned ballad songwriters.

Nevertheless I have to give Hoai Nam the credit for attempting to do quite a daunting task of covering 70 years of Vietnamese music. Listen if you have a chance or if you’re interested in learning about a bit of history about Vietnamese music.

What makes Stacey Kent so damn addictive is that I can enjoy the art of reinterpreation and the craft of enunciation simultaneously. Out of her nine albums, which being shuffled frequently on my iPhone, In Love Again stands out as an exceptional reimagination of Richard Rodgers’ music.

With her fresh approach, relaxed technique and warm intimacy, Kent has managed to escape the shadow of great jazz singers before her like Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra and Billie Holiday who had put their own signiture on Rodgers’ composition. Kent comes out swinging in such an easy-going manner on “Shall We Dance?” then retreats to late-night sophistication on “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered.”

Her mood swings up again on “My Heart Stood Still” and then quickly settles down on the sensational “It Never Entered My Mind.” The rare gem and my personal favorite on the songbook has to be the playful “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair.” She skillfully makes the transition from light swing to dark blues and the quintet, which made up of her husband and tenor saxophonist Jim Tomlinson, guitarist Colin Oxley, pianist Dave Newton, bassist Simon Thorpe and drummer Jasper Kviberg, knows exactly what to do behind her.

While the melodies and the lyrics are familiar, Kent makes them sound new again simply by singing from her heart and soul. In Love Again can be summed up in one line and she has done so flawlessly: “It’s easy to remember, but so hard to forget.”

It’s quite rare to hear an entire Vietnamese album with only original tunes. Quái Vật Tí Hon (Lil’ Monsters) is an experiential rock group that does just that with its debut Đường Về. Yet what makes the album so attractive (even to none-rock listener like myself) is the combination of skillful storytelling and clever incorporation of Vietnamese traditional folks melody into modern rock.

“Vì Đời” is easily one of the highlights from the album, or at least to me, because I can related to the lyrics: “Vợ mình đẹp nhất hành tinh / Người tình đẹp nhất lúc bình minh / Vì đời có tài nên thường linh tinh.” Công Hải, lead vocalist who penned all the lyrics, knows the important of clear communication; therefore, he keeps his singing simple and stays within his raspy range. “Ô Trống” takes me back to my childhood years. I can’t recall the words, but I can hum to the melody.

Minified down to just acoustic strumming guitar, Công Hải pours out his drunken soul on “Vợ Ơi, Anh Sai Rồi.” Elsewhere, “Kẻ Lạ Mặt” recounts an incident in which he walked into his lover making out with a stranger. Đường Về is worth listening even if you aren’t into rock. Then again as much as I find the personal narrative to be engaging, the rock guitar riffs are too much noise for me to return for more.

Nathan Lee has a hush, handsome timbre, but he’s not making the most out of his voice. On M, a Valentine’s special release, his delivery is way too breathy. He needs to learn to control his breathing particularly on ballads. His rendition of “Cơn Mưa Hạ” is weak and lacking of confidence. All I feel is air blowing, not summer rain dropping.

If I were to produce his album, I would make him sing an octave lower, especially on “Dòng Sông Kỷ Niệm.” He should have concentrated more on his lower notes and not exceeded the mid range. His version of “Khi Người Yêu Tôi Khóc” would have been much more hipnotizing if he sang it in the bass tone.

I know I shouldn’t be so tough on the kid. For crying out loud, he’s making a Valentine’s special album. I am not sure if I would even recommend this album for Valentine’s Day, unless your love life is filled with “Tàn Tro,” “Tan Tác,” “Xa Em Kỷ Niệm,” and “Ngàn Năm Vẫn Đợi.” Sounds more like a heartbreak to me.

Listening to Ngoc Khue’s Ben Bo Ao Nha Minh on my way to work gives me nostalgia and makes me realize that I haven’t heard a Vietnamese groundbreaking album like this in ages. Out of all the singing contests in Vietnam, Sao Mai Diem Hen 2004 introduced two rare talents up to date: Tung Duong and Ngoc Khue.

Nowadays singing competitions only produced pop singers with grand voice but no vision. Vietnam Idol 2010 Uyen Linh shook up the Vietnamese pop scene. She became an instant phenomenon and yet her new release Giac Mo Toi under producer Quoc Trung’s direction is a disappointment. Rather than taking her far out, Quoc Trung constraints her with pop-rock template. In a year making, he only produced seven tracks for the album and six of them were rerecorded from the contest. The arrangement of “Chi La Giac Mo” takes away the rawness she performed on stage accompanied by simple strumming guitar. Her version of “Sao Chang Ve Voi Em” immediately brings Hong Nhung’s to mind. Her English on Al Green’s “Take Me To The River” is decent, but she hasn’t quite mastered the language’s nuances.

Luong Viet Quang won the people’s vote in Sao Mai Diem Hen 2010 and released his debut titled Can Ban (Basic) under the direction of My Tam. Recognizing his likable voice, My Tam picked out pop ballads like “Dem Nam Mo Pho,” “Boi The Ta Yeu Nhau” and “Doc Thoai.” The minimal, elegant arrangements allow Luong Viet Quang to sing right on the melodies. It makes perfect sense why the album is called Can Ban. Let’s hope that Luong Viet Quang will break out of the basic training in his next release, but I highly doubt it.