My Anson Story

Why Anson Hu? Why not someone else?

Everyone probably has someone they admire, respect, like, love, or revere, like an idol in the entertainment industry. I am someone who loves interaction with others, and I love to study how the human mind works, since I am a crazy psychology student (no need to be afraid of me, I can't read minds!). Through my different life experiences, I have acquired high expectations for people in general because they must exceed the norms of what is out there. In other words, they must be unique, and the type of unique I am talking about is not the popular, nor the trendy stuff out there now.

I am not the 'fan girl' type. I love music, but I don't fall in love with people.


What happened then?  ------



There is definitely something about Anson Hu.

My Anson Story.

In 2012, Anson changed his English name to Tiger, but I'm going to leave my story as "My Anson Story."

I am a true music lover, ever since a long time ago. I can tell that I am because I can live without a tv, movies, games, sports..etc, but I cannot live without music. I cannot stand not listening to music on my spare time, as a hobby, or as entertainment. My starting point, or perhaps as far as my memory goes, was mainstream Western music: The Backstreet boys, Britney Spears, NSync, etc. As years go by, I see myself jumping around in search of the best music. Not everyone's best music, but rather my best music. What is the definition of my best music? I am not even sure, so that's how I began my journey.
I do like a lot of different styles of music. So for periods of time, I would listen to different languages, different styles, and different artists. Despite that I actually do like many styles, I naturally found my most favourite style of music: R&B. Of course, with a certain style, it comes with a certain singing technique. I started with western music, jumped around to different countries, landed on certain artists, liked some of them, but I've never stopped searching because it haven't found the type of music that would make me uncover my ears, make my eyes glow, and make my mouth crave for more: like an addiction of music, and that's what I call the best music. To me, looking for the best music, is almost like looking for my future partner, that's the way I see it.

I am born a Canadian, but I do have some Chinese blood in my ancestry. I did learn Chinese, specifically Cantonese when I was young, but never did it ever once strike me that maybe there is good Asian music. "I am born in the West, so I should listen to Western music!" Finally, I came across Jay Chou's music since a lot of people seemed to like his music, and through him, I've learned of other Chinese artists. I began to favour Chinese artists because there are many more of them who compose and sing their own music, and also, a lot of them do R&B style! I can say that R&B music didn't originate from the Chinese, but they impressed me because they have taken different styles of music and have worked them, and have perfected, played with, and experimented with that particular style of music to the next level. A good example of this is the fusion of Western pop and Traditional Chinese music/instruments. Once we find good things, its hard to back down, and then our expectations become higher, and higher, and then we become picky, right?

And so, my tower of pickiness began to accumulate through time. I started with my favourite R&B music, and then stuck with particular singers who can perform R&B well. Then, I started to prefer those singers who have a true vocal ability: those who are able to sing well in studio and live versions. After that, my attention shifted to "musicians" those who write, compose, and produce their own music! And then, to be terribly picky, I only like those musicians who are not only talented in their own creations, but should also be vocally skilled. Finally, my pickiness level has reached it's final stage when my parents complained about the music that I listen to:

"Singers these days don't have emotional expression anymore. If they're joyful, they should sound like they are joyful, and if they are full of sorrow, they should sound like they are full of sorrow. They no longer sing like they mean it, and they're fake."

Sad to hear this from my parents, but they were right. My final criteria for the best R&B music: the combination of the perfect vocals, the great composition of music, and the powerful expression in music - The all-in-one musician! For a period of time, I was wondering, is it even possible to achieve this? I often found artists with a certain talent, but I have yet to find one that is all-rounded. Is there anyone in the musical industry that can do this??


In 2008, it was the year I realized the existence of an artist, named Anson Hu Yan Bin, and it wasn't exactly what anyone would expect. At first, I knew him as the guy who sang the Mandarin version of 男人KTV "Karaoke Men". I had major hatred for him because at that point in time, I was very fond of that song, and I had given props to 側田 Justin Lo's original Cantonese version without any knowledge. I started to pay attention to forum arguments between the Cantonese and mandarin versions of 男人KTV. It was also the day when I found out the truth: Anson Hu was the original composer and singer of the song 男人KTV. I was still not convinced of his ability and I did some serious comparisons, just to convince myself that Justin Lo's version was the best one. I compared their recorded studio versions, music videos, live versions, and even the version where Justin and Anson Hu performed 男人KTV together. Unfortunately, through this process of comparison, I lost interest for Justin Lo's version of 男人KTV, and started listening to Anson's version instead.........

That's how Anson's first song came into my music world. Just like that.
As of now, I still regret that I had not discovered him earlier.

Starting from 男人KTV, it had led me to listen to 蝴蝶 "Butterfly". I was severely addicted to his song because it was too beautifully created: the composition, his voice, his expression, and the Chinese instruments. With such an attractive song, who wouldn't venture further to listen to his other creations? At that point in time, I found 3 other songs: 告訴我 "Tell Me", 和尚"Monk", and 毒藥 "Poison". By now, I know that they're not Anson's best, but for weeks, I had the same songs in repeat, repeat, and repeat. It did not take me long to decide that I needed to search for all his music.


Even if you didn't give special attention to each of Anson's songs, you can pop all of his songs into a playlist and listen to them all at once, and it would not disappoint you at all. Anson never sticks with one style. At first, I took him as an R&B singer because 'everyone else says so,' but this isn't the case. He isn't just an R&B singer, but an fact one who plays with various styles and is highly capable of singing them: ballads, rap, rock, soul, electric...........and even the classic Traditional Chinese songs. You will be amazed at how different each song can be. If you didn't like the sound of one song, you are bound to like another song of his, just because he's special like that. Each and every one of his songs has a zing to it.
Anson is someone who would give a lot of thought, time and effort into composing any song, and you will be able to hear that extra effort. It is not rare if you find alternative, and unfinished demos lying around because he would produce many versions before he settles down onto his final product. As an example, his beautiful 瀟湘雨 "Rain Of Love" has a demo version released as a short anime theme song. I actually do love his demo version slightly more than the finalized version!


It wasn't long before I noticed something about Anson. He is a talented musician, and quite unique. Anson is easily known in China as the "musically talented singer-songwriter." Some common comments made about his talents are: his attractive and exquisite voice, his wide range and singing ability, his ability to produce addicting Traditional Chinese-styled fused modern songs, his amazing improvisation skills to compose a song anytime and anywhere, and his powerful expression of music in his voice and his songs. However, what people don't notice is his musical talents: he is a singer upfront, but he's also a natural talented composer behind his music. I call him a music-geek because of his way of playing with music and his unstoppable passion and talent for producing music throughout the years. He knows how play with a variety of styles, and knows exactly how to blend his voice with his music, and do it perfectly. He never stops playing with new styles, it never ceases to amaze me song by song, and performance after performance. It's just Fresh.  Every.  Time.

When I say unique, he really is really unique. He isn't that regular super-good looking artist that everyone expects every artist to be. He isn't the artist that would say what everyone else would want to hear, so everyone perceives him as being arrogant. Finally, he isn't that artist who would rely on his company to commercialize him so his music would be popular. How many artists in the music industry are music geeks, are multi-talented, and the music they produce has to please themselves first, then the audience? How many artists are sincere when they smile? And finally, how many artists really mean it when they say they care about quality music? You probably know what I am going to say. Yes, he's the one.


Anson's music became a part of my life. His music has been there to inspire me, to give me comfort, to make me cry, and to make me smile. I've been through my toughest times with his songs by my side, and to give me comfort when no one was there. During my happiness moments, his music was playing in the background to give me that extra lift in my life. Finally, when I felt like no one understood my point-of-view when my loved one has left me in the cold, Anson's voice and music is my source of comfort, and I feel like Anson understands what we often go through with love. If you listen to Anson's voice, you will feel his power of expressivity in emotion, and you will feel it in his music, no doubt.

I won't be detailing on Anson's history, if you would like to find out about his breakthrough in the Asian music industry, you might want to read about him here.

Anson started out in 2002, and I discovered him in 2008, isn't that too late? When I actually discovered Anson says a lot about his popularity. Right, he's not exactly that popular. His popularity is limited probably due to the fact that he's just a Mainland Chinese artist. How many people actually go crazy for a China pop artist? You hear people falling for Korean, or Japanese, then recently the Taiwanese artists, when do you actually hear someone following a China artist? For me, I don't exactly care about the trend, I look for the artists who are good, and are actually good at what they are doing. I usually give up on celebrities after a year or two because they become popular, then they change their style of music and ways of doing. I still follow Anson for a reason: his values, attitude, and persistence about music has stayed similar for 10 years. Don't get me wrong, his styles of music do change, but with every song, he challenges himself and will always strive to surpass his old ones. The most important part is: no matter how much he changes, his music will always will be the best of him, and it will always be the best music to his audience, and then of course, the best to me.


To end off, I can proudly, and to finally say that after quite some years of searching, I have found my BEST music: and it is Anson's. He's my one and only - the all-in-one musician with quality. 




Thank you for reading.



What's your Anson story?