Girl's Dorm

Girl's Dorm (Chinese: 女生宿舍; pinyin: Nǚshēng Sùshè) is the debut studio album by Taiwanese Mandopop girl group S.H.E, released by HIM International Music on 11 September 2001.[1] Produced by Wu Hsiung and Power Station, it incorporates music genres such as pop, R&B, pop rock, and eurobeat.

Girl's Dorm
Studio album by
S.H.E
Released11 September 2001 (2001-09-11)
Recorded2000-2001
GenreMandopop
Length42:01
LanguageMandarin
LabelHIM International Music
Producer
S.H.E chronology
Girl's Dorm
(2001)		 Youth Society
(2002)

Despite its release unfortunately coinciding with the September 11 attacks, it still ended up being a commercial success. Girl's Dorm sold an impressive 150,000 copies in Taiwan, ranking top 20 in the year's album sales in the country,[2] and 750,000 throughout Asia. S.H.E was shortlisted for Best New Artist at the 13th Golden Melody Awards in 2002 for their work on this album.[3]

Background and development

On August 8, 2000, HIM International Music held a singing competition titled "Universal 2000 Talent and Beauty Girl Contest" with the goal of finding new artists for them to sign to their label. The contest's finals were broadcast on China Television's TV Citizen; with the winner being Selina Jen.[4] After some time Grand Music in addition handpicked finalists Hebe Tien and Ella Chen,[4] placing the three girls into a girl group titled S.H.E. At the time of the formation, Selina, who was still in college, Hebe, who was in high school, and Ella, who was in vocational school, took advantage of the school holidays to go north to Taipei for recording and training sessions. After Hebe and Ella graduated, the three S.H.E members prepared for their debut by rooming together in a college-styled dormitory so that their record label could test out their chemistry.[5] The Chinese name for the album Nǚshēng Sùshè (女生宿舍) literally translates into girls dormitory, which pays tribute to the group's past living quarters.

S.H.E's management mapped out the styles of the three members at the time, and each gave them their representative English names: Selina is a name variant of Selene, the goddess of the Moon in Greek mythology. She represents "gentleness" and her representative color is pink. Hebe is named after Hebe, the goddess and personification of youth in Greek mythology and religion. She represents "confidence" and her representative color is green. Ella, who represents "courage", is an English short form of Helen, which is from the Greek Helene meaning "torch" or "light", and her representative color is blue.[6][7] Selina revealed in 2009 that their English names were also changed to fit the group name. Selina named herself Cola, while Hebe was called Anita, while Ella called herself Water pre-debut.[8]

Writing and production
"Not Yet Lovers" is the Chinese version of Destiny's Child's "Brown Eyes"

Prolific musicians such as Power Station, Yuan Wei-jen, Tso An-an and Tanya Chua participated in the record's production. This album is the only one in which each member has her own solos to date: Hebe's solos were "Someone Loves You Instead of Me" and "Too Much", Selina's "Forgotten to Forget About You", and Ella's was "Don't". Labelmates Power Station composed the songs "Fridge" and "Are You All Right". "Beauty Up My Life" is a hyperactive Eurobeat styled track that is heavily influenced by Para Para and includes Japanese language lyrics. Most of the lyrics in this album were written by Wu Hsiung; from Youth Society onwards, most of the lyrics are by Shi Rencheng. "Not Yet Lovers" is a swoony R&B style song that was originally recorded under the title "Brown Eyes" by Destiny's Child for their 2001 studio album Survivor. Beyoncé and Walter Afanasieff are both credited as composers on the track while the lyrics were translated into Mandarin Chinese by Derek Shih. The lyrics delicately convey girls' yearning and expectations for love.

Release and Reception

The album was released on September 11, 2001. Despite its release unfortunately coinciding with the September 11 attacks, it still ended up selling an impressive 150,000 copies in Taiwan and 750,000 throughout Asia, making it a commercial success. It became the 16th best selling album in Taiwan that year, a notable feat for a debut group. The opening track "Not Yet Lovers" was a unprecedented smash hit that catapulted the group to superstardom and is one of their signature songs. Three of the songs in this album ("Beauty Up My Life", "Too Much" and "He Is") would be used to endorse Wacoal, SoGo and Digimaster, respectively.

The track "Not Yet Lovers" is listed at number 3 on Hit Fm Taiwan's Hit Fm Annual Top 100 Singles Chart (Hit-Fm年度百首單曲) for 2001.[9]

S.H.E was shortlisted for Best New Artist at the 13th Golden Melody Awards in 2002 for their work on this album.[10]

Music videos
Joseph Chang, stars as the male lead in the music video for "Not Yet Lovers"

The karaoke VCD included fully choreographed music videos for "Not Yet Lovers", "Beauty Up My Life", "Fridge", and "Too Much." The videos for "Are You All Right" and "He is Him" were essentially edited footage of S.H.E singing those respective songs. "Not Yet Lovers" is a story of three girls (Selina, Hebe, and Ella) fawning over the same boy (Joseph Chang), but deciding that their friendship is evidently more valuable.

Track listing
No.TitleLyricsMusicArrangementLength
1."戀人未滿" (Not Yet Lovers)Derek ShihBeyoncé Knowles, Walter AfanasieffBabyC4:36
2."Beauty Up My Life"Wu Hsiung, Tseng Chien HaoAnan ZuoDavid Lu2:54
3."冰箱" (Fridge)Wu HsiungYou Chiu HsingRay Huang4:28
4."H.B.O"Wu Hsiung, Anan ZuoAnan ZuoRay Huang3:34
5."Too Much" (Hebe solo)Yao ChienTanya ChuaTanya Chua3:13
6."妳還好不好" (Are You All Right) (Selina and Ella duet)Pai Chin FaKico ShihJay Hung4:43
7."替我愛你" (Let Her Love You for Me) (Hebe solo)Huang Tsu YinTommy WuTu Ying4:46
8."他就是他" (He is Him)Wu HsiungChen Ying HsuRay Huang4:35
9."別" (Don't) (Ella solo)Wu HsiungJudy Chen, Ian Chen, Chen Cheng ChingWu Ching Lung4:23
10."忘記把你忘記" (Forgot to Forget about You) (Selina solo)Wu HsiungAnan ZuoWu Ching Lung4:49
Total length:42:01


References
  1. (in Chinese) HIM International Music Girl's Dorm album info 11 September 2001. Retrieved 2011-04-08
  2. "2001唱片銷售統計＠PMW 2009年度華語專輯總銷售榜單｜PChome 個人新聞台". 2019-04-06. Archived from the original on 2019-04-06. Retrieved 2022-10-31.
  3. (in Chinese) GIO, Taiwan 13th Golden Melody Awards nomination list Archived September 29, 2011, at the Wayback Machine 28 April 2004. Retrieved 2011-0509
  4. (in Chinese) Sina.com. S.H.E's Life Story, Part 2: The Universal Talent and Beauty Girl Contest. September 14, 2007. Retrieved February 13, 2007.
  5. (in Chinese) S.H.E's Life Story, Part 3: The Days in the Girls Dormitory Archived 2005-03-10 at the Wayback Machine. September 14, 2004.
  6. 梅衍儂 (2018-08-09). "嘟比嘟哇、H.B.O是啥碗糕？ASOS、S.H.E改名後變更紅". 聯合報. Archived from the original on 2018-08-11. Retrieved 2018-08-11.
  7. 陳薈涵 (2018-09-06). "重現火吻、摘金榮耀！S.H.E砸千萬拍《17》MV逼哭死忠粉". 蘋果日報. Archived from the original on 2019-02-17. Retrieved 2018-09-06.
  8. xup3i1in9 (2009-12-06), Selina爆料S.H.E出道前的英文名字, archived from the original on 2021-12-22, retrieved 2018-04-26
  9. (in Chinese) HITO Radio Hit Fm Annual Top 100 Singles Chart 2001 (#1-50)
  10. (in Chinese) GIO, Taiwan 13th Golden Melody Awards nomination list Archived September 29, 2011, at the Wayback Machine 28 April 2004. Retrieved 2011-0509
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