對於許多藝術家來說，最終目標是製作既具有藝術價值又足夠吸引觀眾的音樂。
蘇珮卿 Paige Su 正在取得這種平衡。這位受過古典訓練的創作歌手運用高藝術性實驗流行音樂獲得了她在法國Harpe Au Max和日本No Maps Creative Convention等國際音樂節的邀請，以及台灣金音獎、金曲獎的獎項和多項提名，充滿表現台灣出身的她豐盛的創造力和獨創性。
蘇珮卿的聲音——源於她的多重樂器演奏（電豎琴/鋼琴/合成器/長笛/bansuri印度笛/Beats等）——不僅適合喜歡冒險的人，在她令人驚嘆的新專輯《你將永遠活在我的歌裡》中更可以完全聽到她在音樂裡與這些多元樂器裡高駕馭度的自由。
這是一張 11 首曲目的專輯，模糊了流行、實驗音樂、古典民謠世界音樂、爵士樂和搖滾樂之間的界限，同時闡述了蘇珮卿從黑暗和死亡幽谷到重生的光明、接受，還有最重要的是，愛。
2020 年和 2021年，她被診斷出罹患癌症，生活一切中斷，全然被掏空，然後在疫情期間接受了超過一年的治療，加劇疾病身體不適與被人群隔離的孤立感。 “當你經歷過這樣的事情時，你明白什麼是重要的。你了解生活本身的重量，知道我們大多數時候是多麼近視，追逐那些無關緊要的事情，而光生命本身已是一件多了不起的事情。”
2021年初，經過一段時間的創作休眠，蘇珮卿開始流出歌曲——有時在半夜，她會快速在手機語音備忘錄錄音來捕捉想法。大約一個月的時間她寫了10多首歌曲，專輯就這樣成形了，”她說。 “我覺得當時有什麼東西在照耀著我。”
此專輯大部分是在珮卿台灣的家裡、錄音室錄音製作。她也在線上跨時區與捷克國立交響樂團連線錄音，並遠赴奧克拉荷馬州的知名Leon Russell 的 The Church Studio 完成專輯。她擔當所有歌曲的製作人角色，並邀請到了知名金曲製作人陳君豪、程杰還有他的長期夥伴Cody Byassee來共同製作，也邀請到了曾榮獲金曲獎的Martijn Vanbuel、玩弦四度參與編曲與錄音。在好萊塢的白金母帶後期工程師Paricia傳送母帶時還特地親自寫了一封信給珮卿，告知她對於此張專輯的驚艷與感動。
專輯亮點包括已發行並廣獲好評、闡述劫後重生的實驗搖滾單曲“This Is Trouble”，充分展現蘇珮卿在電豎琴與樂團成員詮釋上獨一無二的創造力與超高技巧。“Involuntary Adventures”，道出生活上不可預測性的鬥爭，聽起來像 Radiohead 翻唱爵士樂和 trip-hop 的超酷碰撞，以及“Things Will Never Be The Same”，一首非常親密的鋼琴民謠，這首歌是專輯從黑暗到光明之旅的關鍵點。然後是主打歌 ”You’ll Live Forever in My Songs”，它出現了兩次——第一次是在家錄製的demo（背景是先生與兒子在談論早餐），然後是專輯的華麗收尾，以數十名珮卿的好朋友和家人的大合唱。
面對生活中的黑暗對蘇珮卿來說是很自然的，她說：“越深入，就會發現越多的美。”
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曲目 Track list：
1. You’ll Live Forever in My Songs (Voice Memo)
2. Involuntary Adventures 3. Don’t Cut Me Away4. This Is Trouble5. Things Will Never Be the Same6. Take It One Day at a Time 7. My Inner Palace8. You’re My Blessing 9. Hold Me Tight10. Next Lifetime (feat. Czech National Symphony Orchestra)11. You’ll Live Forever in My Songs
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Paige Su - You’ll Live Forever in My Songs
“WOW! What an achingly beautiful and powerful record” - Patricia Sullivan (Mastering engineer)
“Utterly breathtaking!!” - Mitch Mosk (Atwood Magazine)
“Su’s vocals are alluring, driving home every word.” - Joe Eckstein (Consequence)
For many artists, the ultimate goal is to make music that’s both artistically valuable and appealing enough to attract an audience.
Paige Su is striking that balance. The classically trained Taiwanese singer-songwriter’s experimental pop music has earned her invitations to prestigious international music festivals such as Harpe Au Max in France and the No Maps Creative Convention in Japan, as well as an award and several nominations from the Golden Indie Music Awards, which recognize Taiwanese music for creativity and originality.
But Su’s sound - stemming from her multi-instrumentalism (electric harp/piano/synths/flute/ bansuri/ drum programming & more) - isn't just for the adventurous. It has also landed her tours and performances with Eastern pop stars like Yoga Lin, Joanna Wang and Waa Wei, as well as a record deal with a major label – a deal she has since ended in favor of an independent path.
You can hear that freedom on her stunning new album You’ll Live Forever in My Songs, an 11-track collection that blurs the lines between pop, classical, jazz and experimental music, while at the same time tracing Su’s own life-journey from darkness and the specter of death to lightness, acceptance and, above all, love.
The arc of the album is tied directly to Su’s own experience in 2020 and 2021, when she was diagnosed with cancer and then went through a year of treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic, which only heightened the isolation of the experience. (She is in remission and feeling great now.)
“When you go through things like that, you come out with a completely different take on life,” Su said. “You see what’s important. You understand the weight of life itself and how nearsighted we are most of the time, chasing things that don’t really matter when living by itself is such a marvelous thing.”
In early 2021, after a period of creative dormancy, songs started flowing out of Su – sometimes in the middle of the night, when she would quickly record a voice memo to capture the idea.
“Then I’d write something the next day and they would make sense together. The lyrics and the music all came out in about a month’s time,” she said. “I just felt like something was shining down on me.”
Su recorded You’ll Live Forever in My Songs with her husband and close collaborator Cody Byassee at home, in studios across Taiwan and at Leon Russell’s The Church Studio in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Highlights include the song “Involuntary Adventures,” which grapples with the unpredictability of life and sounds like Radiohead covering an ultra-cool collision of jazz and trip-hop, as well as “Things Will Never Be The Same,” a deeply intimate piano ballad that serves as the pivot point in the album’s journey from dark to light. And then there’s the title track, which appears twice – first as a home-recorded demo (complete with Byassee and the couple’s son in the background talking about breakfast), and then as the album’s gorgeous closer, featuring a backing chorus of dozens of Su’s friends and family.
“I will always be singing right here for you my dear, my love,” she sings in the song’s chorus, as if she’s speaking from the great beyond. “Whenever you need me, whenever you miss me, I’m right here.”
“For me, facing the darkness in life is very natural, and the deeper you go, the more beauty you’ll find.” Su said.
