Diary entry 31

Year 2001
Entry I/2001

Dear Friends,

It's great to be back. Back here in Asia, back here on stage, back here with all of you! It's been a long time since I last wrote in my weekly diary, but here I am with a new album, "The One And Only". I missed you all so much and I thank you thank you thank you for the patience and support you have shown me in the interim. Lots of love to all the fans!!! There is so much that I need to share with you, and I still believe the weekly diary is the best place to do it, so thanks for reading!
As always, this album is very different from ones that I have done in the past. But I'm not going to do a song by song break down in this week's diary, I'll save that for later. Instead, I want to share a little with you about the last year and a half of my life, since "Forever's First Day". Perhaps it will give you some insight into understanding the reasons behind this album's changes, both musical and personal.
At first, when my album was released on September 27, the feedback was quite mixed. I actually expected this to be the reaction because of the more mature song-writing approach, a rougher live sound, and a more artsy image. A surge of positive and negative e-mails flooded my mailbox: "This is Leehom's best album yet!", "I like the old Leehom better!", "I like the songs, 'Bian Huai(#8)' and 'Bai Hu Li(#7)'", and "Leehom really needs a haircut!" were all popular titles.
Today, in my journal, I want to stress one point: I am the same Leehom you have known since the days of "Love Rival Beethoven". I am the same Williams College graduate born and raised in Rochester NY, who wrote "Frozen Dreams" with his fans in the summer of 1998. I am still the dreamer with strong ideals in his music, striving to communicate with young audiences, working hard to be the best musician that he can be. You all should understand that this is still who I am, and nothing will ever change that. Some recent events in my life have merely brought out different sides of me. These events are the ups and downs and imperfections in life, which like grains of sand in an oyster, may be painful, but often have beautiful results. The results, in this case, are the songs of my new album.
Last year was a rough time for me. I spent the entirety of the lonely year living in hotels; rarely did I ever even have the opportunity to see my friends and family. In addition, rumors about me were written up by the tabloids on several occasions...but that is all in the past now.
The events of the year and a half, both the good and the bad, are all reflected in this album's songs, giving what I believe to be an honest and accurate portrait of my feelings at this stage in my life. I have changed naturally, as always, in response to different experiences. However, it is important for my fans to know that who I am, and what I stand for, is still intact, along with my pride, integrity and dreams. I'm writing to you this week from my hotel in Taipei. Thanks for listening and we'll talk more next week!

Peace on Earth, Leehom