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Love Exercise (Chinese: 愛的練習語) is a cover album of Taiwanese singer Jolin Tsai. It was released on October 31, 2008, by Gold Typhoon and Mars.[1] It contains covers of 10 English classic songs, and it released simultaneously with her book publication under the same title. Tsai collaborated with various producers on the album, including Paula Ma, Peter Lee, Jim Lee, Daniel Bi, Paul Lee, and Adia.[2] It was scheduled to be released on March 7, 2008, but it was forced to be postponed due to the personnel change in her former record label and the withdrawal from the entire Asian market of EMI in the same year.[3]

Love Exercise
Studio album by Jolin Tsai
Released	October 31, 2008 (2008-10-31)
Genre	Pop
Length	41:09
Label	Gold Typhoon Mars
Producer	Paula Ma Peter Lee Jim Lee Daniel Bi Paul Lee Adia
Jolin Tsai chronology
Agent J (2007) Love Exercise (2008) Jeneration (2009)

The album received negative reviews from music critics, and it was criticized the lack of creativity in production.[4] It sold more than 30,000 copies in Taiwan without any actual promotion,[5] and it became the year's highest-selling Western-language album in the country.[6]

Background and development

On September 21, 2007, Tsai released her ninth studio album Agent J, and it released simultaneously with the film under the same title. The album has sold more than 200,000 copies in Taiwan,[7] and it became the best-selling album of the year in Taiwan.[8] On October 17, 2007, Tsai was invited to attend the premiere of Australian singer Kylie Minogue's documentary film White Diamond, and announced her collaboration with Minogue on the song titled "In My Arms" would be released in November 26, 2007 on the Asian edition of Minogue's album X.[9] On December 14, 2007, Tsai continued with her Dancing Forever World Tour.[10] In January 2008, media reported Tsai has begun working on her English album planned to be released around the Chinese New Year of the year, the album would complement her book publication under the same title, and it would contain her covers of Sarah McLachlan's "Angel" and the Carpenters's song.[11] Before then, Tsai released two English books Jolin's English Diary Book (2005) and Jolin's Party (2006), and they has sold more than 120,000 copies and 150,000 copies respectively.[12] In the same month, Capitol announced the album has been scheduled to be available for pre-order on February 14 and officially released on March 7. Tsai described it is fast and effective to learn English through listening to English songs, and she added: "So far, I still like to learn English through listening to English songs." The album includes ten love-oriented English songs, it complements the book under the same title, and the lyrics of the songs as starting point to explain the vocabulary and grammar in lyrics. In February 2008, the album was forced to be delayed due to the personnel change in EMI Greater China, Tsai's manager Howard Chiang said the budget of the album is more than NT$5 million, and he asked EMI to decide on the release date for the album as soon as possible.[13] In March 2008, media reported the withdrawal from the entire Asian market of EMI would be occurred after the Easter.[14] In June 2008, Howard Chiang said Tsai could not bolster the promotion for the album anymore, since there would be a scheduling conflict with other projects since July.[15] In July 2008, media reported Tsai had learnt a hula hoop dance for the album.[16] On August 3, 2008, former president of EMI Asia, Norman Cheng, announced he would acquire all the shares in EMI Greater China, including EMI in Taiwan, Gold Label in Hong Kong, and Push Typhoon in China, and he would found a new record company named Gold Typhoon.[17] In the same month, Tsai said the album would be released in September or October.[18]

Release and promotion

On October 14, 2008, Gold Typhoon announced the album would be available for pre-order on October 17 and officially released on October 31. On October 20, 2008, the album's lead track "I Won't Last a Day Without You" was released.[19] On October 30, 2008, Gold Typhoon released the music video of "I Won't Last a Day Without You", it was directed by Marlboro Lai and featured Taiwanese actor Nathon Yang. The album debuted at number one on the weekly Western-language record charts of Five Music and G-Music in Taiwan.[20] On November 23, 2008, the music video of "When You Say Nothing at All" was released by Gold Typhoon, it was directed by Hooya Chen.[21] On November 28, 2008, Gold Typhoon released the LOHAS edition of the album.[22] In December 2008, the music video of "Lady Marmalade" was released, and it was directed by Hooya Production. As of December 31, 2008, the album has sold more than 30,000 copies in Taiwan without any actual promotion, and it became the best-selling Western-language album of the year in the region.[23] The track "I Won't Last a Day Without You" reached number seven on the Hit FM Top 100 Singles of the Year.[24]

Critical reception

Writing for NetEase, Lin Juli described: "The production is very similar to the original, the music arraignment is traditional, basically there is nothing special from the original version."[25] NetEase's Cabin wrote: "Although the album was forced to be released due to the approval procedure, leading to the low sales. The cover album includes ten English love songs around Tsai's love feelings, and it's the album's so-called 'concept'. All the ten love songs are hits of their original performers, on the other hand, Tsai added more of her perception and understanding when recording those songs, with the successful music arraignment, Tsai sang in her own style."[26] Tencent writer Shu Wa described: "The production is not fine enough, and the songs she covered are too classic, leading to a lot of negative reception."[27]

Track listing

Release history

Region	Date	Edition(s)	Format	Label	Ref.
Various	October 31, 2008	Standard	Digital download	Gold Typhoon	[28]
China			CD		[29]
	December 15, 2008	Deluxe			[30]
	February 9, 2009	LOHAS			[31]
Taiwan	October 31, 2008	Standard			[32]
	November 28, 2008	LOHAS			[33]

References

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