Started out as a middle-schooler band in 2011, the all-female group FIESTER @fiester6hk “re-debuted” in 2020 with new vocalist Alison So and the new song Raze the Old to Raise the New, returning to the music scene with a drastic shift to the metal genre.
The song tells the story of a girl who indulged in makeup and affectation but then confronted her undecorated (or even cruel) self and broke out of the mold. An allegory for the band’s decade-long journey, it brings a refreshing voice to Cantopop with Japanesque hard rock and female screaming vocals.
Interestingly, the lyrics are written in saam kap dai (三及第), which is a combination of Cantonese, Classical Chinese, and Standard Chinese. This writing style is unique to Cantonese and can be found in many popular Cantopop songs.
FIESTER - 《秋去冬來》 Raze the Old to Raise the New
睇不到井底井底有多深
tai2 bat1 dou3 zeng2 dai2 zeng2 dai2 jau5 do1 sam1
I cannot see how deep the well is
Here, the Cantonese 睇 (tai2, to see) is used instead of 看 (hon3) from the Standard Chinese expression 看不到 (hon3 bat1 dou3, can’t see).
只知道一朝失足會下沉
zi2 zi1 dou6 jat1 ziu1 sat1 zuk1 wui2 haa6 cam4
I only know that one misstep (失足 sat1 zuk1, lit. “to lose a foot”) is all it takes to fall
While the rest of the sentence is written in Standard Chinese, 一朝 (jat1 ziu1, one morning / one day) is a Classical Chinese expression.
可惜置身低處往事不堪
ho2 sik1 zi3 san1 dai1 cyu3 wong5 si6 bat1 ham1
Unfortunately, down there, with unbearable past,
Both 置身 (zi3 san1, lit. “to place oneself”) and 往事不堪 (wong5 si6 bat1 ham1, or “unbearable events of the past”) are the Classical Chinese style, while the rest is Standard Chinese.
美好難過問
mei5 hou2 naan4 gwo3 man6
I can’t bother about beauty
營造了殘忍
jing4 zou6 liu5 caan4 jan2
Cruelty (殘忍 caan4 jan2) is all that’s left
Regularly releasing new songs now, FIESTER has also been doing metal covers of other Cantopop new-releases on social media, including Jer Lau’s 狂人日記 (“A Madman’s Diary”), Jay Fung’s Miss Somebody, and more.
If you like this song, check out:
BEFORE WE FADE AWAY — FIESTER
燦爛一次 — FIESTER
凡人對抗命運 — 鐵樹蘭 Tie Shu Lan @tieshulan
CAN YOU HEAR US — 逆流 NiLiu @niliu_official