https://asianpopweekly.com/reviews/album-reviews/album-review-elva-hsiao-%E8%95%AD%E4%BA%9E%E8%BB%92-naked-truth-%E8%B5%A4%E8%A3%B8%E7%9C%9F%E7%9B%B8/?fbclid=IwAR07otP882rl7DnnLjaHOBeD2y7SqALqjdPSpMcPA6PXog5fjTmlGcqgl9o
Asian Pop Weekly 碟評:蕭亞軒《赤裸真相》
幾中肯
有讚有彈
Starting work on the album in 2017, Elva was perhaps inspired by her unexpected personal and professional misfortunes, using music as therapy to manage the imperfections in her life. Indeed, the idea behind Naked Truth is to bare to the world the real Elva, even though it may not be easy to swallow. The result is a collection of songs, although sonically quite separate, tied together by their relevance to Elva’s lived experience, making the record a much more mature and indeed personal affair than arguably any of her prior recordings.
The album’s slower moments are also diverse, and are high in quality. “Driving Away 你不是蝴蝶” is an inspiring mid-tempo ballad which inspires the listener to spread their wings and break free from whatever confines them. “My Little Soldier” meanwhile is somewhat of an artistic triumph; a sonic journey from darkness into the light, and a stunning way to close off the album. No doubt inspired by her own personal struggles, the opening minutes of the track are dark and brooding and filled with self doubt, but as the track builds it is clear that through being motivated by her unwillingness to accept defeat, she comes out stronger on the other side.
Despite the praise, Naked Truth is far from peak Elva. The problem with taking three years to prepare a record means that certain trends that may have at one point been exciting end up sounding somewhat stale, which is the case on several tracks here