Li Yuchun, you’re doing a world tour? I suspect you’re not including me… but, oh well. Your promo poster is flawless. I mean, nothing out of the design-ordinary, but you look like pure gloss.
You know when BiBi had her make-over [1], I was flabbergasted? I don’t think it ever happened between you and me. I’ve been more interested in your film career than music, to be honest. You weren’t bad in Bodyguards and Assassins, and you definitely had your scenes in The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate. xD
Alright~ Bibi taking on My Heart Will Go On kinda took me by surprise — have no idea who’s on the guitar — but I like the arrangement they did to the song kinda straying from the actual song, because very few can give Celine Dion a fresh spin.
Bibi oversang a bit, coz I have the inkling that she was trying to cover up for something~~~
DUDE, his English. I don’t mind that you mispronounce one or two words, but all the lyrics sound like gibberish. It’s completely distracting, and a pity that had to turn out this way because it’s a really refreshing arrangement.
Then there’s BiBi taking on Whitney.
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”]
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What do you like about the Cpop industry?
Who are your fave artists?
This one turned out to be really awesome, if I may say so myself.
Of course, I have been trying to put this together since last year, LOL – so it’d better be good, right? Though, I know there are some repeat tracks if you’ve followed the blog, I think it’s fair to say that the combination of songs has a nice flow. It’s turned out to be a really moody list~
You can check my previous Chinese Music Playlists [1][2]
[iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PL4603C993E0B0D0BB&hl=en_US”]
*Note: There’s some blurred nudity and depictions of sex in that video.
You can check the playlist on YouTube.
I just finally burnt Zhong Ping Huang’s (黄中平) name in my head.
Because of A-Mei’s latest MV.
Having realized that he’s made my favorite Faye Wong video, I just spent all night “curating” a list of 77 MVs of some of the music videos he’s directed since 1997… but only of the artists I follow… otherwise the list is just endless~
Most of the time, his style is described as just about style, emotion and composition. Though, I have seen a few of those that have something resembling a plot.
Faye Wong – Bu Liu/ Nothing Left
I think that video captures what I essentially love about Faye Wong.
LOL it reached over 70 comments in just a few hours. It was crazy coming back home and seeing my inbox filled with LiveJournal replies. And here it is, the old article on YAM008 “Where is the CPop Scene Going?”
Check out the LJ discussion here.
Ah, I knew I had heard about Jiang Yingrong before. And of course, I had. It was that time I was passionately discussing the state of Cpop as commercial pop compared to commercial pop in America, and commercial pop in S.Korea — I don’t think I discussed Jpop.
Anyway, Jiang Yingrong won last year’s Supergirl (yeah, that same contest that found us Chris Lee, BiBi and Jane Zhang… thankyouverymuch), and it just goes to show you the changing tides in the cpop scene. In her third single Bad Angel (aka. Hui Tian Shi – but, you know, Bad Angel is so much easier), she looks a little bit Zhao Wei, a little bit Rihanna, and a little bit Natalie Portman on V Mag by Mario Testino — yeah, I just pulled that out because I know a lot of NP’s photoshoots…
plus, you know, it’s Testino. xD
She sounds a little too electronic on it too, so you won’t be able to judge much.
Not really feeling Bad Angel, but I really REALLY dug her first single (was it the first? or second?) titled Ba Wo Ni de Mei… or you know, subbed – Seize your Beauty. It’s really catchy, and the hook “everything” line is funny. Everysing xD Everysing.
Hi, AfterEllen has a post on women in Boy Style. Ahhh Boy Style [1], I gotta admit dude… wearing slacks and shirts, it’s just so much more comfy than having to wear some dress with high heels.
And yes, Christina Hendricks is pretty awesome.
that is fascinating.
For one thing, Chris Lee doesn’t have the best voice, she doesn’t have the best dancing, or the best lyrics in her album. However, she writes her own music and lyrics — she seemed to have done so in her self-titled album — , she dances, she even directs her own music videos [one of them Youth of China], and has begun her acting career — in the awarded Hong Kong production of Bodyguards and Assassins, for which she was named Best Newcomer of the Year by the Hong Kong Directors Guild. To top it all off, she’s tall — at least, taller than her Asian counterparts — has an amazing face, and stands out from a crowd by being Chris Lee in a room full of other women.
Multiple-talent threats are often easy to hate because they think they do it all, but in reality they don’t really excel at anything. A few singers who think they can act come to mind, or actors that think they can sing. And even though, Chris may not really excel in any, she’s so difficult to hate because she doesn’t have that superiority air that plagues self-professed artistes. Every time she’s on stage performing or receiving some award, she stands there with an air of a person that’s cool, but also with hints of humility.
In the latest edition of Super Boy — the show like American Idol in China but only for guys — had contestant Liu Zhu, who’s now shot to popularity in Baidu searches after appearing on the show dressed like a girl.
His feminine look and delicate voice made guest-judge Annie Meigui turn on the interrogation hat with questions regarding gender-testing, and even asking for Liu Zhu’s address (so that people could harass?). In the end, judge Ding Wei intervened by saying they were not there to judge his gender identity, but his talent.
