Category: Music

  • BiBi’s Sherlock Holmes

    I am just in love with this new track 福尔摩斯, which apparently is Sherlock Holmes’ name in Chinese xD. Can’t wait for the new album, and actually get hands on lyrics on WHY it’s called like that… like I did with Canned Fish~~~ LOL

    The arrangements on the song is quite simple compared to other more elaborate BiBi songs, but that styles suits her great because her voice sounds quite amazing. At first I was struck at how soft the song started, which then builds up. After a few listens — yes, I’ve listened to it multiple times already — it struck me like a really soft version of Eason Chan’s Exaggerate [1] which then turns into this classical sounding Stefanie Sun-type song. I love it. At the same time, you can listen to BiBi’s voice and it’s all the much better xD

  • First Mandarin lyric translation: Of course it’s BiBi’s Just to Meet You!

    I don’t want to say that I didn’t like the lyrics, but you gotta admit that there’s a certain beauty when the music and a voice can speak to you more than whatever the song can be about.

    Besides, being at very basic Mandarin level, this is probably the only level of lyrics that I can try to attempt to work with anyway… so I guess there’s nothing wrong with it. xD

    If you want the pinyin lyrics, head over here.

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  • BiBi for Elle China

    I never, in my life, would’ve thought that I would ever post a photoshoot featuring BiBi. Alas, here it is at the heels of promoting a new album and a new single — Black Apple [1] — BiBi looking quite fashion.

    I can almost hear her BiBi laugh in this picture.

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  • I can’t believe he said that~ Leehom Wang – Open Fire!

    I’ve attempted to sing Leehom’s new song six times already. The first time I saw it and he reached those verses in English… somehow I was deeply moved. LOL But I really can’t believe he’s saying all of this on the song. It’s really quite explosive.

    Also, the people complaining it sounds like Ke$ha – please, as if she has copyrighted autotuned vocals. Plus, Leehom sounds more Michael Jackson than anything, specially singing in English. And I’m fine with that, in fact… I kinda love the energy when he says those things.

    On the rough — seriously, are you going to trust my Google translation abilities? — multi-language lyric translation and pinyin below the break!

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  • OAOA with Mayday!

    Since I posted the OAOA MV on YAM Magazine, I haven’t been able to stop singing along to the song, which at first was stupid. I mean, REALLY — the song is called OAOA. If you speak Spanish, it just reminds you of the Teletubbies. Lucky that the song is actually called O.A.O.A, but still! I just couldn’t get passed that name… then I finally listen to it, and it has been non-stop butchering Mandarin while saying OAOA.

    Saying OAOA is as fun as singing Linda, Linda!!! Linda, Linda, Lindaaaaa~ xD

    What’s even more impressive about Mayday 3DNA is that it’s also going to be a movie, and not just a concert movie but a movie-movie, with a plot and all. Makes me want to see it even more.

    Pinyin lyrics after the break! So you can butcher Mandarin with me!

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  • What was that VMA Tribute to Britney?

    I feel terribly sad that this had to happen this way~

    It’s not like I sat through the VMA this year (the very first year that I chose not to, without counting the years I had no access to MTV), but having Jersey Shore introducing me nominees was too much for me to take… in the end, I tuned out and went for dinner.

    When I found out that MTV was going to do a Britney Spears tribute, I thought to myself “why?” because, well — for starters, Britney’s not dead. Plus, Britney’s been on the music stage for barely 10 years… and out of those ten years, only five had been actually unquestionably successful.

    So it pained me to have to see Britney accepting this because it means it’s just never gonna happen again. No, people. Do not expect Britney ever to recover her former glory, because it ain’t going to happen. But what’s worse is Britney (and her camp) accepting this poorly put together tribute… but who do we blame?

    It’s not like the music industry has being able to produce anyone to follow Britney’s footsteps — failing to produce someone who can at least lipsync and kickass dance like Britney used to be able to. So what does MTV do? Get no-name little girls to dance to a speed-up Britney mashup. Each of her tracks gets reduced to a 15sec. blurb in which the girls duplicate Britney’s ‘famous’ moves — it’s just chaos.

    And what does MTV do? They make Britney introduce Beyonce.

    That just… doesn’t make sense at all.

    Britney, you used to deserve so much better. Specially from MTV.

  • When Cpop Went Beyond American Pop

    Am I starting a series? Nah… I don’t think I can come up with a Jpop list xD

    Unlike the Kpop list which it focused 99% of the time on dance pop friendly tracks that went beyond American commercial pop, this “Cpop” list is… not really pop.

    Popular music in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Mainland China (but mostly Taiwan) tends to be pop/rockish flare. Sure there are dance pop friendly, but even they have moved or are moving more towards pop/rock. They also love indie flavor, and accept not particularly attractiveness in their idols… even though there are some very good looking people who are immensely popular.

    To be completely honest, compared to Korea’s pop music charts, Chinese music charts have a broad variety. But then again, compared to Japan’s pop music charts (which is comprised of AKB48 and Arashi xD), even Kpop charts (mostly 2NE1 and Big Bang now that DBSK is gone) seem to have some variety. xD

    So this list of great Chinese music includes varying genres from R&B, pop/rock… more rockish, ballads (regular and of the indie type), etc. once again listed by year of release.

    Again, it’s a bit weak on the earlier years… but you are welcome to make suggestions (for any year). A few guidelines would be that they cannot be too indie (I couldn’t fit Cheer Cheen or Mavis Fan in the list because they don’t feel completely pop, if you know what I mean), must include MVs (so songs released as singles), not older than late 90s.

    Also… song must work as MV too. So no awesome songs but tacky videos. Sorry.

    [iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PL0C06C35FA9FC1C64&hl=en_US”]

    YouTube link.

    —

    What do you like about the Cpop industry?

    Who are your fave artists?

  • Remember when Christina Aguilera was Back to Basics?

    I finally bought the 2-disc Back to Basics concert DVD. I’ve become cheap because I buy other expensive stuff from Asia — I just spent $30 for a Bluray concert of Eason Chan because Exaggerate looked so freaking awesome. But I couldn’t spend more than 10$ for Back to Basics, even though I really liked the album.

    I had… a like/don’t care relationship with Christina Aguilera since her debut alongside Britney — I was always a Britney fan because she had ‘something’ which we can call ‘it’ and I always felt Christina didn’t have that thing that make you want to root for her… but I was often blown away with her voice anyway. I knew the few steps to Genie in a Bottle, What a Girl Wants and Come on Over… almost to heart. I also dug that she had spent some time singing in Spanish with some good quality ballads and that infectious Falsas Esperanzas. She was the prettiest during those days — do you remember how amazing she looked in the MV for Pero me Acuerdo de Ti [MV]?

    Her skin complexion then, non-sun-tanned and platinum blond, made a perfect match with the pinks which were highlights among all those grays.

    Then she went all Dirrty. I did have an issue with her Dirrty days, even though Beautiful and Fighter are a couple of her strongest songs and I appreciate the change to more grundgy or gothy looks, but her literally dirty look and the sexual nature of the concept just reminds me of Tara Reid in her Wild On days. It’s just really disgusting. In the end, I never bought that album and I sorta forgot about Aguilera (or Britney). In fact, during that transition, I was becoming a Pink fan — you can tell from this post.

    I have a point, bare with me.

    Alongisde my Back to Basics concert DVD, I bought the Pink: Live from Wembley Arena — which would be her I’m Not Dead tour, and I watched them back to back.

    It struck me that I could get a better sense of Christina watching the concert than I did with Pink. As I sat watching the second DVD, I thought to myself “wow, Back to Basics has a more cohesive theme than Pink’s concert.” To someone that considers herself a Pink fan, I felt a renew respect for Aguilera then.

    It was then that I got it.
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  • Eason Chan kills it with Exaggerate

    This is so amazing.

    Or how do you say it? 好看，好听！！我喜欢~

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99QVa8Q1F4g

    -edit-

    added Cantonese lyrics

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  • BSB Acapella and Feeling the Music

    How didn’t I ever see this BackStreet Boys performance? OMG, I must’ve been very disconnected from fandom to never hunt down what was up with that Black&Blue video collection.

    Though I’m a little tired of those BSB vs. Nsync fights online that I get to see from time to time when I browse through old videos on YouTube — seriously people, TEN freaking YEARS. Just… enough is enough. We don’t need more crazies on the net. [See my post on Gagaism].

    I gotta admit that vocal arrangement was… pretty cool.

    I had almost forgotten how good AJ used to sound, so soulful and raspy. They may not all harmonize because their voices are quite similar in range… but they sound tight.

    There’s a particular quote I got from the interview that I thought exemplify what I’ve been trying to say for a while… and why I think YAM Magazine is important. I love that Nick says it plainly:

    I think that’s what happens with people and music. They connect with certain songs, not necessarily the lyrics but sometimes with the way that they sound. They just connect and it can help them through things and it’s just… it’s their soul.

    Any thoughts on this?