Recently, singer Hoang Quyen has just released the album "A Diary of Melody" (Diary of Melody) consisting of 8 songs composed and produced by her, selected from more than 30 songs released in a short period of time. "A Diary of Melody" is like a diary displaying thoughts about the beauty of love and life, like the experiences of singer Hoang Quyen in her twenties.
Hoang Quyen took a turning point in her career when she released a new album, becoming a singer and songwriter.
This is the 4th studio album in 10 years of Hoang Quyen's singing career, but it is the album that marks the beginning of her journey from a pop singer to the singer-songwriter realm (artists who sing their own compositions). It is also the beginning of Hoang Quyen on a great journey and goes beyond the shadow of her senior Vietnamese divas to become a songwriter and tell love stories through melodies, through life experiences, and through musical aspirations.
Sharing about the birth of the album "A Diary of Melody" after 10 years of singing, singer Hoang Quyen said: "I wanted to transform my diary pages into melodies. When I was 27 years old, when I started composing, it was like one day, I was a water tank and had an excuse to turn on the tap. And then, whatever I thought of, the melody flowed out. At that time, I felt like a new door opened to welcome me into another world. I felt more love when I wrote music. Gradually, my approach to life also became more objective when I wrote. That was the most wonderful experience when I made this album. I think, it was a very special new beginning, for a different life, maybe I have grown up now?".
Exhibition space
Still Pop - the musical style that Hoang Quyen pursues, but in A Diary of Melody, the blend of Jazz, Rock, and even the hint of folk colors have blended together to create a new and modern musical spirit, giving wings to the female singer's voice to be close, romantic and seductive. Her voice is at ease, "in control" even though the classical and heroic qualities of the "storyteller" who stands outside the trend and pampers the audience are still very strong.
Not only stopping at writing songs, "A Diary of Melody" is also a breakthrough for Hoang Quyen in the role of producer when directly participating in the music making process with domestic and international collaborators, aiming for uniformity from the composition, arrangement with live band, release...
The participation of many international artists who co-created with Hoang Quyen in the album A Diary of Melody can be mentioned as Thanh Bui, Benjamin James (arranging chords); Tim Vander (music producer of Adele, Taylor Swift...). This album also has a step forward in production when collaborating with the world's leading record label Abbey Road London in the mastering stage (the final step of the audio post-production process, balancing audio elements and optimizing playback on all multimedia systems).
An installation featuring Hoang Quyen's music placed in the exhibition space
In this project, Thanh Bui and Hoang Quyen sang a duet of the Vietnamese-English bilingual song “Colors”. Talking about this collaboration, Thanh Bui said he was impressed by Hoang Quyen’s talent and diva-like voice. The musician affirmed that he really likes to collaborate with young artists with passion and thinking like Hoang Thuy Linh or Hoang Quyen because he believes that they will create a new mark for Vietnamese music.
The album “A Diary of Melody” is housed in a limited edition lacquer box of 100 copies as a work of art. The digital version is also released on online music platforms. Inside is a music disc with 8 songs composed by Hoang Quyen and an Artbook "A Diary of Melody" as a diary of the project, keeping music, poems or art paintings.
The album “A Diary of Melody” is housed in a limited edition of 100 lacquer boxes as a work of art.
The album is currently on display at the art exhibition "Quyen Gallery No.1", displaying and performing music combined with painting and installation art at Vincom VCCA Contemporary Art Center (B1-R3, Royal City 72A Nguyen Trai, Thanh Xuan, Hanoi) from August 10 to September 4, 2023.
The exhibition includes a screening of a music video - painting by singer Hoang Quyen and artist Vu Dinh Tuan titled "Please let today flow away", combined with the display of nearly 40 silk paintings, oil paintings, lacquer paintings, and installation art as an inspirational and inner connection of famous artists: Artist Vu Dinh Tuan, Artist Tao Linh, Artist Nguyen Tran Cuong, Artist Vu Hiep, Artist Nguyen Manh Thang, Artist Le Dang Ninh.
In the first release of her compositions with the album A Diary of Melody, Hoang Quyen chose 8/30 songs that she wrote.
Singer Hoang Quyen said: “This is a new project, a moving museum that shows the harmony in the souls of artists, carrying the spirit of 'interculturality' when interweaving art forms in the same space and time”. With this exhibition project, I must say that I am very lucky to receive many nods from authors who are in tune with me in terms of ideas. We work together, giving each other energy to create more of our own works. Therefore, this exhibition is like a connection between artists at that time”.
