| The Time | |
| Type: | album |
| Artist: | Xu Weizhou |
| Cover: | The Time album cover.jpg |
| Released: | July 5, 2018 |
| Recorded: | 2017 |
| Label: | Baina Entertainment |
| Prev Title: | Light |
| Prev Year: | 2016 |
The Time is the second album and first full-length studio album of Chinese singer-songwriter Xu Weizhou. It is divided into four parts.
1st Quarter — 15 Minutes for Craziness:
The 1st quarter consists of 3 songs, namely: "So What", "Leave Me Alone" and "Edge of Darkness".[1] It was produced by Lee Shih Shiong.[2]
Timmy Xu Studio shared a 37-second highlight medley teaser of the 3 songs on August 6, 2017. Pre-sale has started on August 8 and was officially released on August 10.[3] [4] The album reached platinum record status in just 3 minutes and 3 seconds[5] and in a day, it has sold over 400,000 copies earning a double platinum record.[6] The day of its release, The Time album ranked first on QQ Music real-time chart and the online topic "Xu Weizhou The Time" reached more than 100 million reading within an hour.[7]
The official music video of "Leave Me Alone" was released on August 21[8] while "So What" on September 11[9] [10] at several Chinese streaming sites as well as YouTube. Both music video were shot in London. On April 2, 2018, the official music video of "Edge of Darkness" was released exclusively through the NetEase Music streaming service.[11]
2nd Quarter — 15 Minutes for Radiance:Xu released the whole 2nd quarter on October 20, 2017; same day of his 23rd birthday for free online.[12] [13] It consists of 3 songs, namely: "Glory", "Between Us" and "It's Always You".[14]
The official music video of "It's Always You" was released on October 31 at Miaopai and other Chinese streaming sites.[15]
3rd Quarter — 15 Minutes for Monologue:On December 12, 2017, the third quarter was released. It consists of one song and an audio of Xu talking. The track titles were "Cat" and "Confession". "Cat" was dedicated for Xu's fans and was written and produced by himself while the other one was Xu's "Confession" to "Baizhou" (his official fanclub).[16] Xu also participated in designing the album cover.[17] Before of its official release, Xu performed "Cat" on his Light 2017 concert in Shanghai on December 9.[18]
4th Quarter — 15 Minutes for Fantasy:The last quarter was officially released on January 31, 2018.[19] It consists of 3 songs, namely: "Orange Sky", "Maze" and "Rio".[20] "Maze" was first released as a Chinese promotional song for the American film on January 24 with some clips of the upcoming movie.[21] [22] The album cover was taken by an internationally renowned photographer Leslie Kee.[23]
On February 8, the official music video of "Orange Sky" was released.[24] [25] It was released at several Chinese streaming sites as well as Sony Music Taiwan's YouTube channel.
Xu first performed "So What" live followed by "Leave Me Alone" during the iQiyi Screaming Night Concert on August 19, 2017[26] and 2017 Fresh Asia Music Awards on August 27, respectively. On November 25, Xu performed "Glory" for the first time on television and won the weekly CCTV Global Chinese Music Chart.[27]
On December 9, 2017, Xu held a concert in Shanghai entitled Light 2017. He performed all his songs from the first two quarters of "The Time" and a new song from the next quarter entitled "Cat" as well as some songs on his previous album Light.[28] All tickets were sold out within 30 seconds.[29]
The 1st quarter has garnered positive reviews from music critics and music bloggers and 13 well-known music personnels and companies as well as 2 fans where invited to ask Xu regarding his album on Sina Weibo.[30]
Deng Ke, a famous music critic said that normally, an idol singer won't write or sing something hardcore but he said that he particularly like "Fading into the Night" out of the three which is quite popular.[31] He also added that "a singer should follow through his heart.." and "..the audience will naturally recognize it".[32]
Zhao Nanfang, also a music critic and an author from Toutiao praised that naming the 1st quarter "15 minutes for craziness" can be effective, has a very strong attraction and fully fit Xu's own singer physique because rock music is Xu's personal preference and it's an important way to identify singers.[33] He also praised the 2nd quarter upon its release and compared it to the previous quarter.[34]
Upon releasing the 2nd quarter, netizens praised the improvement of Xu's English pronunciation to his second pure English song "It's Always You".[35]
| Song | Chart (2017) | Peak Position |
|---|---|---|
| Leave Me Alone | Billboard Radio China Chart | 2[36] |
| China V Chart | 2[37] | |
| Fresh Asia Music Chart | 2[38] | |
| So What | Billboard Radio China Chart | 4[39] |
| China V Chart | 3[40] | |
| Fresh Asia Music Chart | 4[41] | |
| It's Always You | Billboard Radio China Chart | 7[42] |
| China V Chart | 1[43] | |
| Cat | Fresh Asia Music Chart | 6[44] |
| Maze | Billboard China Chart | 3[45] |
| Billboard Radio China Chart | 4[46] | |
| China V Chart | 2[47] | |
| Fresh Asia Music Chart | 4[48] | |
| Orange Sky | Billboard China Chart | 3[49] |
| China V Chart | 1[50] | |
| Fresh Asia Music Chart | 4[51] |