Eric Chou(周兴哲) - The Chaos After You(如果雨之后) Album Thoughts(Mandopop)

1 Without Her   
2 易碎品 
3 Another You   
4 如果雨之后 
5 I See You Everywhere   
6 永不失联的爱 
7 快乐一次拥有 
8 同义词 
9 黏黏 
10 我知道要微笑 
 


   Mister boy wonder known as Eric Chou is back for his third full length album. I could have never imagined that Eric Chou would captivate people in Taiwan like he has with his first two albums. He hit the scene at just nineteen years old creating music that gave off the makings of having a young creator. It was his lyrics and musical composition however, that had the potential to be far beyond his years. The Chaos After You is Eric's third album to be released just for all his adoring fans who call him the prince of love ballads. He was born in Taiwan and was partly raised in Boston USA so that's the secret behind his English ability.

   The Chaos After You introduces a electro dance pop style that seems like Eric was dying to whip out on fans for the last few years. Both albums before explored this genre before but only as an after thought to the boyish ballads presented. The album before this one had a more pop sound. Its just that to me the songs didn't sound like Eric Chou songs to me. Instead the track list was a bunch of songs that could have been recycled from popular American artists. Not saying that Chaos doesn't have some of this same feel because it does. What's different is that Eric took the dynamics that made his first album come alive and added that to his third album effort. He uses bilingual lyrics that go back and forth between English and Mandarin. The transition of languages brings the upmost stress on the lyrical content about experiencing loss in love. Then from the lyrics, the album is pretty much dance pop for the lonely hearted. Many of the tracks are similar to remixes of Eric's ballad tracks if he would ever do pop remixes of them. They focus on getting out of your chair and on your feet as the tracks contain many dance breaks after Eric sings the choruses. There's still a place made for ballads on The Chaos After You too.  I See You Everywhere uses the same theme of dance break sequence only without the actually beat. Listeners are given acoustic and electric guitar playing mixed with the tune of a classical guitar in place of the tired pop beat. Some people will like this album while others won't. Reasons probably being that the album might be a far departure from what some of his fans expect from him. A huge appearance of maturity is very present in this album compared to the "wet behind the ears" vibe his debut had.

   Eric still has a voice that can go as high as ever in his falsetto range. I sat down and while listening to this album waited for him to give me that high range again. He held out on me expect on a few tracks. When he got to those notes, It was so beautiful that I was given constant life instantly. You have to love this guy for having a voice that can put millions of people under his spell at a young age.

   Eric Chou made improvements in all the right places. The Chaos After You was an improvement from his sophomore release in my opinion. I would like to hear him sing a rock/classical track for his next album. That would be awesome…. Just the murmurs of a foreign fan.