Few people can be like Thanh Lam.

Returning to music with a highly creative single, "queen" Thanh Lam shows that she still has a lot of passion and is always ready to venture into challenging styles.

2024 saw a strong comeback for Thanh Lam in reaching a new audience. No longer confined to the image of the passionate, powerful "singing woman" that often sparked controversy, Thanh Lam moved closer to younger audiences through the program Our Song , where she covered new songs and showcased her performing and dancing abilities.

However, for long-time fans of Thanh Lam, they still love her style of venturing into challenging genres and her unique, passionate singing style that no one can imitate. Participating in Our Song is not a move that completely changes Thanh Lam's direction, but rather a way to reinvent herself, engage with current musical trends, and once again showcase the class of one of the four contemporary Vietnamese divas.

The clearest evidence is in her latest single, "The Couple ," where Thanh Lam doesn't use the elements currently dominating the market or the style of music she sang in "Our Song ." Instead, she opts for something unique and innovative that only Thanh Lam dares to do.

New innovations in contemporary folk art

Thanh Lam has always been considered one of the leading figures since the concept of "contemporary folk" became widely used in Vietnamese music in the early 21st century, following a series of albums that were highly praised by both the public and critics.

While "White Clouds Flying Back" beautifully and elegantly showcased the diva's captivating voice with compositions by Quốc Trung and Dương Thụ, the series of albums collaborating with composer Lê Minh Sơn, such as "Sunrise" and "You & Night," revealed a more free-spirited and spontaneous Thanh Lam. To this day, these albums continue to significantly influence Thanh Lam's singing and performance style.

In recent years, besides focusing on large-scale stages and concerts, Thanh Lam has continued to explore this genre with a series of songs in collaboration with composer Nguyen Vinh Tien. "Tuong Phu The" is the first official single from this duo after a series of songs were uploaded to the composer's YouTube channel.

And the fans' wait for an album that truly reflects Thanh Lam's signature style, rather than cover or remake projects, was not in vain. "Tuong Phu The" (Husband and Wife) clearly demonstrates her ambition to reaffirm the unwavering leading position of the female singer in contemporary folk music.

The single "The Couple" showcases a very ambitious and creative Thanh Lam.

Unlike the currently popular approach of combining folk music with electronic elements and EDM, Thanh Lam remains faithful to traditional instruments by inviting a series of high-quality musicians: violinists Trinh Minh Hien and My Huong, pianist Thanh Vuong, zither player Van Mai, two-stringed fiddle player Xuan Hien, bamboo flute and piccolo player Ngoc Anh,... all of whom Thanh Lam's team specifically acknowledges as a very important part of the song.

Indeed, the combination of Vietnamese folk instruments with modern international instruments created an incredibly impressive performance. While the zither, two-stringed fiddle, and bamboo flute brought a rich atmosphere reminiscent of traditional Vietnamese folk music, the violin, cello, and piano added a dramatic Western feel, and the orchestra, consisting of drums, guitar, and bass, provided a modern element in the background. The instrumental interlude combining violin, drums, and zither in the middle of the piece was truly priceless, creating an explosive moment that has been absent from contemporary folk music in Vietnam for a long time.

To coordinate such a complex array of instruments, the role of producer Tran Duc Minh and the post-production work of musician Tran Thanh Phuong were crucial. Each instrument had its moment to shine, and when combined, each sound was distinctly separate.

And notably, Thanh Lam proved her diva status by skillfully balancing the dazzling brilliance of the instrumentals with a perfectly controlled vocal performance. When the instruments shone, she sang softly; when the instruments faded, Thanh Lam unleashed her powerful voice. This ensured that the entire song was never dull or forgettable, but always vibrant and energetic. Thanh Lam also didn't hesitate to maintain her signature laugh at the end of the song, preserving the carefree spirit evident throughout this single , "The Couple's General ."

Thanh Lam collaborated with Nguyen Vinh Tien.

During the boom of the "contemporary folk" movement in 2004-2005, composer Nguyen Vinh Tien emerged as a phenomenon. Despite lacking formal musical training, he possessed compositions that clearly reflected the genre and left a deep impression on audiences. His songs, performed by singer Ngoc Khue, such as " My Grandmother," "The Dewdrop Flies Up," and " The Reed Bird Searching for Its Shadow," remain some of the most representative works of the genre he pursued.

In recent years, Nguyen Vinh Tien has continued to produce popular songs such as "Letter from Hanoi " sung by diva Hong Nhung, or " If I Were a Woman, Maybe You Were Me" performed by Tung Duong. In particular, the collaboration between Nguyen Vinh Tien and Thanh Lam on the song " Cutting the Tiet Tien Duyen " (Cutting the Tiet Tien Duyen) caused a stir among fans, who eagerly awaited more collaborations between this songwriter-singer duo.

Thanh Lam and Nguyen Vinh Tien have a very good chemistry in the film "The Couple" .

"The Couple's General" still retains the style that has made Nguyen Vinh Tien famous since his debut with "My Grandmother" : lyrics rich in poetic quality, and a complex, unpredictable melody. However, while his previous songs often featured imagery of the countryside or unique, metaphorical ideas, "The Couple's General" is a gentle, easy-to-understand love song with somewhat modern comparisons such as , "Meeting each other makes you want to meet again, like coffee with sugar and then craving more milk, like the cold winter making you long for the warm spring."

This further enhances the song's novelty, as it is built on a rather "traditional" theme and a very poetic rhyming structure ("Husband and wife, even without taking pictures together, are already captivated by each other's portraits, meeting and laughing shyly") , but it is interspersed with appropriately unconventional elements that fit seamlessly with the diverse instrumental arrangements, ranging from folk to contemporary.

There are sections where Nguyen Vinh Tien wrote very difficult lyrics with constantly changing rhythm and meter : "Holding hands to meet friends, even though we've only just met / Holding hands to go home to greet parents, and then becoming husband and wife." These are beautiful verses, but setting them to music is a challenge for the singer. And Thanh Lam has been incredibly skillful in handling such lyrics. The female singer still sings every word clearly even when constantly switching from singing to speaking, especially the heavy tones, which she performs flawlessly.

"Tướng phu thê" (Husband and Wife General) is a promising opening track for the album "Cuốn phim" (The Film), a collaboration between Thanh Lam and Nguyễn Vĩnh Tiến. Its unique composition, both poetic and musical, combined with a skillful yet free-spirited voice and an ambitious arrangement, makes "Tướng phu thê" a highly creative and distinctive song. Clearly, "Queen" Thanh Lam is back and more energetic than ever for projects only she can complete thoroughly.