Record Review: Jane Zhang's 'Believe in Jane'

A year after releasing her cleverly titled album Jane@Music, Jane Zhang is back again with a new 12-track album, Believe in Jane.

2009 was a busy year for the Chengdu poppet: she established her own record label, Show City Times, signed with Universal Music and even made her American TV singing debut on the Oprah Winfrey Show last May. The third place winner of 120,000 hopefuls in the 2005 season of Super Girl sure has come a long way.

Believe in Jane will continue to propel Zhang’s fast track success in the Mandopop world. The album is filled with catchy tunes, and is fabulously produced by acclaimed Taiwanese musician Adia. ‘I DO’ is one of those sweet, syrupy songs with a sing-along chorus that’s sure to capture the hearts and minds of Chinese teenyboppers everywhere. But even more striking is Zhang’s voice and range in her strongest ballad, ‘If This is Love’.

In China, Zhang has been compared to Mariah Carey and nicknamed ‘Dolphin Princess’. And if there was ever a doubt that she deserves it, listen to ‘됴繕 (Mellow High)’. There are no lyrics, just one minute and 36 seconds of “a-la-la-la, oh oh” to show off Zhang’s dolphin-whistle register abilities.

We get it, your voice can do things that normal mortals' cannot – but is this instrumental track with incomprehensible ooh’s and aah’s really necessary?