My love for the ‘Twins’
Majority of people in the world believe that they have a purpose, something they were born to do before their life is over. There are those who believe that their purpose is to teach, heal an even mentor others. Others, the more artistic people believe that their purpose is to create through art and music. While some have the talent to sing and create music, others play the important role of being the audience, the people who appreciate the music. For musicians, there exists the need to express a feeling, to get some form of attention or the need to create and share the musician’s vision through music. Though venturing into music may be based on some form of personal desire, artists with common agendas and a common passion for music often end up collaborating in songs while others decide to form music bands. Whether for the purpose of seeking recognition or reaching the world through music, music groups and bands are common and often work together to produce high quality masterpieces. From a very young age, music was a significant part of my life. Even though I could not sing, at least not professionally, I was exposed to various music genres where I got to listen to various artists among which were the ‘Twins’.
Twins was a Hong Kong Cantopop due created by Emperor Entertainment Group in 2001. The group comprised of Gillian Chung and Charlene Choi, two girls that became not only popular in Hong Kong but also recognized as one of the top bands in China. Their fan base comprised of people from Taiwan, Canada, United States and Malaysia to mention a few. Their popularity was based on the quality of the songs they produced and they evolution from targeting youths to producing music that attracted wider and diverse type of audience. From the very first day I listened to their first album, I became a loyal fan and bought all of their twelve Cantonese studio albums, all four of their live albums, all of their compilation and Mandarin studio albums. Their music got me hooked especially because of its good quality and rhythm, proof of their quality being the dominance of their music singles dominance in various musical charts.
During one of her Hong Kong summer vacations, Chung worked as a part time model as was the case with Choi who appeared in various advertisements and eventually became famous after participating in a Y2K television program, radio television Hong Kong. The two eventually met and formed the group ‘Twins’ which was later signed by Emperor Entertainment Group. The Twins released their first EP in 2001 and my all time favorite track was ‘open love, secret love, tutoring institute’ which went on to become a hit single. In its first week of selling, the EP went platinum and my love for the Twins’ music was so great that I could not help but feel excited for their success. They went on to release a second EP in November the same year and my love for their music grew as I listened to every song.
One thing I loved about the Twins’ music is that they always remained relevant and sang about issues that their fans could relate with. In 2002 for example, they released their third EP. Being close to the Chinese New Year, the EP had a single titled Ma Bao 668 which was a greeting song to welcome the New Year. After three successful EP’s, the Twins released their first debut album in 2002 followed by a second album the same year. The success of the albums was great and with the new songs and music videos, their fan base grew tremendously.
The year 2002 was quite busy for the Twins as it was also the year they held their first concert. I remember how sad I felt not being able to attend not only their first concert but also the two that followed in 2003 especially the ones held in Guangzhou. Being a student, I had other priorities and responsibilities that made it impossible to attend any of the concerts regardless of how badly I wanted to. However, I still followed the music lives of the Twins, sharing their various achievements from a distance. My admiration for their music was shared by a significant number of people across the globe and in the time between 2001 and 2003, the Twins successfully won a total of 72 awards. The awards were received from major media organizations in Hong Kong such as TVB and Metro Radio.
I remember the excitement I felt hearing the song Bian Bian Bian as the theme song for the movie titled ‘The Twins Effect’. The song was sung by the Twins and Jackie Chang, a renowned movie actor not only in china but across the world. Despite Jackie Chang’s prowess in acting, I admit that the Twin’s song in the movie made me like it even more. The song was part of the songs released in the Twin’s third album released in 2003. The theme song was however chosen from the second version of the album released in June the same year.
Another thing that I found intriguing about the Twins is their diversity in type of music and their ability to reach different types of audiences. In 2004 for instance, they released children albums specifically intended for children. The tracks in the albums comprised of stories and nursery rhymes that appealed to younger audiences. To add on to their appeal, they released an album called magic whose songs told stories of how magical the world of music could be. I remember wishing that such music existed back in the days when I was young.
In 2005, the devastating rumors that the Twins were splitting up started to circulate the media and I could not help but feel sad. I was a great fan of the duo and a separation meant that I could no longer enjoy the excitement and thrill of anticipating the moment I hear a new song from the Twins. Despite the rumors, the Twins not only attended the MTV Asia Awards in 2006 but also celebrated their sixth anniversary together in 2007 and went on a concert tour to North America. Their story took a sad turn in 2008 when private images of Gillian were leaked online forcing her to hide from the public eye. On July that year, the Twins announced that they would be splitting up and even though they came back together to release an album in 2011 and later in 2012, the separation caused a significant amount of damage to the duo.
My passion for their music will always remain strong and steadfast. I often find myself replaying most of their songs during my free time. Even though they are not the only group I listen to, I tend to favor their music and listen to it often. To me, music is an art, a way of the artist expressing themselves through words. Often times, I feel as if I can see the vivid picture that the artist is trying to paint through the lyrics in the song. Such is the feeling I get when listening to music by the Twins.
