Don't Stop is the second studio album by Taiwanese singer Jolin Tsai. It was released on April 26, 2000, by Universal and D Sound.[1] Produced by David Wu, Peter Lee, Paul Lee, and Chen Wei, it incorporated genres of pop, R&B, hip-hop, rock, and reggae. Her singing skills on the album were better than before, and her ballad interpretation became more emotional and delicate, while her uptempo song interpretation became more free and easy.[2]
Don't Stop | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | April 26, 2000 (2000-04-26) | |||
Genre | Pop | |||
Length | 41:04 | |||
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Jolin Tsai chronology | ||||
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Singles from Don't Stop | ||||
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It was well received by music critics, who commented that the dance tracks, which was flush with positive vibe and cheerful disposition,[3] set her off in a more dance-oriented direction.[1] It sold more than 500,000 copies in Taiwan,[4] becoming the year's second highest-selling album by a female artist and the year's sixth highest-selling album overall in the country.[5][6]
On September 10, 1999, Tsai released her debut studio album 1019, which sold more than 450,000 copies in Taiwan.[7] Around Christmas in 1999, Tsai flew to the Quad Studios in New York to record "Don't Stop", "Are You Happy", and "Eternity" for her new album, and she also worked with American photographer John N. on the cover and artwork for the album.[8]
"Don't Stop" is a Chinese version of S Club 7's "Bring It All Back," and its lyrics describe the young generation's fearless vision of dreams and attitude toward love. "Don't Stop", "Are You Happy", and "Eternity" were all recorded at the Quad Studios in New York, and four of black backing vocalists who had worked with Tsai on her album 1019 provided vocal harmony again for these three songs. "Sugar Sugar", which was originally sung by The Archies, sounds more hip-hop than the original version.[9]
With more than 140,000 copies were pre-ordered in Taiwan in the month before its release, Universal invited all record stores across Taiwan to attend three new-song preview events starting on April 11, 2000.[9] On April 16, 2000, Tsai held the Don't Stop Concert in Taichung, Taiwan.[10] On April 22, 2000, Tsai held a signing session in Taipei, Taiwan.[11] On June 1, 2000, Universal released the second edition of the album to celebrate the album's sales in Taiwan of more than 400,000 copies. It was limited to 50,000 copies and included a photo book.[12] On June 27, 2000, Tsai flew to Singapore to promote the album.[13] On July 1, 2000, she flew to Hong Kong to promote the album.[14] On July 10, 2000, Jolin Tsai held the Examinee Night Concert in Taipei, Taiwan.[15] On July 11, 2000, Universal released the third edition to celebrate the sales of more than 450,000 copies in Taiwan. It was limited to 50,000 copies and included three music videos and three live videos.[16] The album ranked 10th and 14th on the 2000 Taiwan Rose Records and Tachung Records year-end album sales charts, respectively.
On May 21, 2000, Tsai participated in the President and Vice President Inauguration Celebration Concert held by TVBS, and she performed "You Gotta Know" in the event.[17] On June 4 , 2000, Tsai participated in the TVBS-G television show Super Live 3-5, where she performed "You Gotta Know" and "What Kind of Love".[18] On July 9, 2000, she participated in the TVBS-G television show Super Live 3-5, where she performed "Everything's Gonna Be Alright" and "What Kind of Love".[7] Since then, Tsai has been performing songs from the album at various events.
Tsai released a single for the album, "Don't Stop," which reached number 17 on the Hit FM Top 100 Singles of the Year chart in 2000.[19] The music videos of "Don't Stop" and "Are You Happy" were both directed by Tony Lin,[20] with Taiwanese actress Claire Chien appearing in the music video of "Are You Happy".[21] The music video of "You Gotta Know" was directed by Kuang Sheng.[22] The music video of "What Kind of Love" was directed by JP Huang, and it features Taiwanese actor Michael Chang.[23] The music video of "Sugar Sugar" was directed by Showx2.[24]
The cover of the album is a headshot of Tsai, whose messy bangs and half-smiling facial expression showed the innocence and immatureness of young girl.[1]
Tencent Entertainment's Shuwa commented: "Different from the first record, Jolin Tsai's second album has changed the strategy of ballad as lead single and replaced with cheerful and lively music, but what's still same is the expression of girls' feelings. So whether it's "Don't Stop", "You Gotta Know", or "Are You Happy", they all describe the emotions of young girls. In terms of songwriting, those well-known songwriters including Kuo Heng-chi, Jerry Huang, and Michael Tu contributed a lot of popularity to the album. Peter Lee, Paul Lee, and David Wu who had collaborated with Tsai on her first album remained as producers of the album, and the first-time collaboration with Chen Wei on "You Gotta Know" also created a great spark. Although the album has added the music elements of rock and reggae, but the performance is relatively conservative, basically these songs were placed nearly last tracks on the album. There's no denying that pop is still the main style."[1]
Sina Music's Stephen Lee commented: "Jolin Tsai's first album 1019 is a more R&B album, this time Don't Stop almost has no R&B, and replaced with typical Taiwan's mainstream pop music. It seems the record label hasn't made up its mind yet. Recently I read a news said that Jolin Tsai will go to Japan to be the junior fellow of Hikaru Utada, wouldn't that just bring her back to R&B? We'll see then. So far, Don't Stop, it's still pretty good, though it's pretty simple, but it's kind of interesting among the mainstream records, her singing skills can still be heard quite strong, her future looks promising."[25]
Sohu Music's San Shi Yisheng commented: "Her dance songs are full of positive vibe and lyrical songs are charming enough, met all the criteria of young female singers to become popular, so it is not surprising that she will break out of the crowd of new artists at the end of the century."[3]
The song "Don't Stop" won a China Music Award for Top Songs and a Top Chinese Music Award for Best Dance Song (Hong Kong/Taiwan).[26][27]
No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Producer(s) | Length |
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1. | "Don't Stop" | Mao Mao |
| Paul Lee | 3:34 |
2. | "Are You Happy" (你快樂嗎) | Kiki Hu | Michael Tu | David Wu | 4:36 |
3. | "What Kind of Love" (什麼樣的愛) | Jerry Huang | Jimmy Ye | Peter Lee | 4:01 |
4. | "You Gotta Know" | Lu Hsueh-han | Chen Wei | Chen Wei | 4:00 |
5. | "Eternity" (永恆) | Chuang Ching-wen | Peter Lee | Peter Lee | 4:19 |
6. | "Everything's Gonna Be Alright" (嗨) | Benny Chen | Chervun Liew | Paul Lee | 3:52 |
7. | "Words of Loneliness" (孤單的人總說無所謂) | Wu Yu-kang | Kuo Heng-chi | David Wu | 4:56 |
8. | "Floating" (飄浮) | Mao Mao | Paul Lee | Paul Lee | 4:05 |
9. | "Love Song for You" (唱這首歌) | Chuang Ching-wen | Lee Soo-young | David Wu | 3:51 |
10. | "Sugar Sugar" | Andy Kim | Jeff Barry | David Wu | 3:50 |
Total length: | 41:04 |
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "Don't Stop" / "Out on the Street" / "Sugar Sugar" (live video) | 16:45 |
2. | "Are You Happy" (live video) | 4:16 |
3. | "You Gotta Know" (live video) | 6:00 |
4. | "You Gotta Know" (music video) | 4:00 |
5. | "What Kind of Love" (music video) | 3:59 |
6. | "Are Your Happy" (music video) | 4:36 |
Total length: | 39:36 |
Region | Date | Format(s) | Edition | Distributor |
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China | April 26, 2000 |
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Standard | Meika |
Indonesia | Cassette | Universal | ||
Taiwan |
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June 1, 2000 | CD | Second | ||
July 11, 2000 | CD+VCD | Third | ||
May 24, 2005 | CD | Reissues |
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