| Girls' Dorm | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | S.H.E |
| Cover: | SHE-CD01.JPG |
| Recorded: | 2000–2001 |
| Genre: | Mandopop |
| Language: | Mandarin |
| Label: | HIM International Music |
| Next Title: | Youth Society |
| Next Year: | 2002 |
Girls' Dorm is the debut studio album by Taiwanese girl group S.H.E. It was released in Taiwan and across Asia on September 11, 2001, by HIM International Music.[1] Produced by Wu Hsiung and Power Station, it incorporates music genres such as pop, R&B, pop rock, and eurobeat.
Despite being released on the same day as the September 11 attacks, the album experienced commercial success. Girls' Dorm sold 150,000 copies in Taiwan, ranking top 20 in the year's album sales in the country,[2] and has since sold 750,000 copies throughout Asia. After the album's success, S.H.E was shortlisted for Best New Artist at the 13th Golden Melody Awards in 2002.[3]
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. 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.
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 blockbuster 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.
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" became a runaway 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" was listed at number 3 on Hit Fm Taiwan's Hit FM Top 100 Singles of the Year chart for 2001.[8] S.H.E was shortlisted for Best New Artist at the 13th Golden Melody Awards in 2002 for their work on this album.
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.