Cloudberry

As someone who's had vocal training and is studying Japanese, this song was absolutely painful to listen to. I can't really comment on the instrumental work--it sounds nice, but is unfortunately drowned out by the singing. So let's get to the vocals, since they're so prominent. Hsieh's vowels are very "wide", so the singing's very nasal. When she gets to the higher notes her voice gets quite flaky. She's put much effort into this, which is always a good thing--but sometimes the (nasal) forcefulness of her singing is actually quite abrasive, and clashes with the background, making both hard to listen to. With those two issues combined, I couldn't help but think that Hsieh sounded very much like a child throughout the song. For all of the work she put into this, it seems none of it went to studying Japanese enunciation. There's many unclean vowels, at times even the consonants aren't pronounced right (it's "zutto" with a Z, not a TS), and the strange emphasis (and lack of) on certain syllables will leave anyone familiar with the language nonplussed. I was, however, pleasantly surprised at how close she was to the R, though it was a little soft in some places. That trill is usually the most difficult thing for native English speakers to to learn. Hsieh has a lot of enthusiasm, and a lot of potential. But she really needs professional training. And for god's sake, if you're going to sing a song in another language, study the enunciation.