Frankly speaking, I am not much of a fan of Dato’ Siti Nurhaliza. I like her songs (the good ones only, mind you) but I honestly don’t see myself as a member of the fan club. Not by choice, at any rate. Without doubt, however, she is one of the best singers ever born in Malaysia. Maybe the world too, for that matter.

I had high expectations when her latest album, “Hadiah Daripada Hati” (Gift from the Heart), was released. I put her at the highest level when it comes to quality of songs, but when I listened to her album, I was severely disappointed. It’s just not… Siti Nurhaliza, if you know what I mean.

Out of 11 songs, I only like 3 of them. I admit that I am not the best person to make judgement on a song, but anybody who is not tone deaf would be able to tell whether a song is good to listen to or not, don’t you agree?

The 3 songs are:

1. Ku Mahu- Song & Music Arrangement: Audi Mok- Lyrics: Rina Khan
2. Melawan Kesepian- Song & Lyrics: Pongky Barata- Music Arrangement: Aubrey Suwito
3. Hati- Song & Music Arrangement: Sharon Paul- Lyrics: Shuhaimi Baba

I almost like 4 other songs but it would take some pushing to add them in the above list:

1. Mulanya Cinta- Song: Dick Lee- Lyrics: Adlin Aman Ramli

   - Music Arrangement: Aubrey Suwito

2. Tanpa Kalian- Song: Taufik- Lyrics: Taufik & Siti Nurhaliza

   - Music Arrangement: Aubrey Suwito

3. Sutramaya- Song & Music Arrangement: Aubrey Suwito- Lyrics: Tinta S.
4. Sekian Lama- Song, Lyrics & Music Arrangement: Azlan Abu Hassan

If this is a gift from the heart, then the only thing I can say is that the album does not seem to be a very sincere gift. One would expect something better, something grand from a grand personage like Dato’ Siti Nurhaliza. She’s the idol of millions; surely she can do better than this?

Out of 5, I give her a 2.

p/s… The outfit she wore during the launch (pic above) was really a disaster, designed by Rizman Ruzaini (2 guys). Such crap!