Tag: music video

  • Olena Usenko’s Vazhil (Leverage)

    I am an old person that still browses channels, though with channel rotation on cable provider, it is hard to keep up with what was taken offline and what new channels they come up with. I recently mourned the taking of MTV’s 00, which I’m guessing was the Euro-based version of MTV’s music rotation. The channel used to feature a number of mid-2000s music that I used to listen to, as well as mid-2000s songs I only heard in Canada, and mid-2000s Euro music hits I had never heard before.

    So while browsing channels today, I stumbled upon Kids Stars (channel) that feature music done by kids. To my surprise, many of the songs that were featured were also Armenian (Betty’s People of the Sun), Belarusian (Zina Bless’s Towards the Wind Навстречу ветру), and even Hindi? I stuck around because I heard a song that reminded me of Christina Aguilera’s Hurt [MV] and gave me overall Aguilera vocal vibes. The problem? The channel only displayed the word “Lever” with a string numerical code that I couldn’t use.

    7693327254339e1c6d90bad672904c93

    In case anyone is doing the searching the old school way.

    Picking up random lyrics to google? No such luck.

    The song, of course, ended up being Ukrainian singer Олена Усенко Olena Usenko’s Vazhil (Важіль), which does translate to “Lever,” but as per Eurovision Jr. translation, it’s “Leverage.” The song is, however, mostly promoted with its Ukrainian transliteration of Vazhil.

    Thanks to SongFinger.gg for making my search nightmare easier, I guess.

    Olena Usenko was a participant in the 5th season of Ukraine’s The Voice Kids, though she didn’t make it through the blind audition stage.

  • Lettres de Krakovie by Clavel

    I figured I should post this music video that I discovered about a month ago while working on data for this year’s Annecy =D

    Set to French composer Arnold Turboust’s Lettres de Krakovie, it’s a stunning animation done by French collective Clavel, formed by Antoine Dahan, Clément Delaby and Rayan Takhedmit; who did this equally gorgeous short for Annecy 2023.

    The video is also available on Les Monstres’s Vimeo channel.

    From what I could find, it doesn’t seem to be a single from any current Arnold Turboust album, though it might be the first single of a yet-to-be announced one.

    Music by Arnold Turboust
    Music video directed by Antoine Dahan, Clement Delaby, Rayan Takhedmit
    Produced by : Les Monstres (Nicolas Mongin, Hélène Orjebin)

    Storyboard : Rayan Takhedmit
    Concept Art : Antoine Dahan, Clement Delaby, Rayan Takhedmit
    Character design : Antoine Dahan
    Layout Posing : Antoine Dahan, Clement Delaby, Étienne Faivre
    Layout Background : Rayan Rayan Takhedmit
    Colorscript and Layout painting : Clement Delaby
    Animation : Antoine Dahan, Sixtine Dano, Clément Delaby, Étienne Faivre, Camille Lherminier, Juliette Navarro, Chloé Niquet, Pierre Rougemont, Rayan Takhedmit, Nicolas Verdier
    Clean / Colo : Sam Bellanger, Amy Calohard, Antoine Dahan, Chloé Niquet, Rayan Takhedmit
    Compositing / Edit : Clément Delaby, Rayan Takhedmit

    Lyrics : Edith Fambuena
    Music PRoducer : Nicolas Borne
    Music mastering : Louis Mc Guire
    Publishing : Adelaide Pop Music

  • But she cries, cries, cries in her lonely heart

    I never really bothered with Halsey before (I’m old, this blog is old. This is a self-hosted blog.), but her sampling of Britney’s Lucky was really well done, and the music video directed by Gia Coppola took it home. It pains me to read whether Britney gave her consent for the sample, but then felt the music video somehow violated some unspoken deal, but then took it all back and called it fake news. The whole project made me nostalgic and blue.

    I often think (a lot lately) about how audiences (and now fervent fandoms) literally live off and suck the life out of our supposed favorite stars. Tear them to pieces while they’re up on the spotlight and kick them when they’re down, only to regret having forgotten them in time when they’re gone. Whichever the way— tragic death or slow and lonely. “I wonder what happened to them?“

    It’s sad that she seems to regret making a comeback due to mean comments from her own fans, because her whole vibe has really taken me back to the late 90s early 2000s, especially in this “stripped” version of the song where she wears baggie jeans and hot pink glasses. The colored glasses really really took me back in time.

    Thank you for this beautiful, yet sad, homage to pop stars.

  • Looks like someone’s a Yu Aoi fan – NINA’s Love Like This

    Having debuted back in 2022 under the name Song Soowoo (송수우) with the edgy-sounding song Love Me or Hate Me [MV], Song is back under the name NINA (니나) [almost impossible to look up without running into other Ninas] with the music video for Love Like This, directed by Jonah George.

    Alt link available at Super Sound Bugs!

    Which, if you’ve seen the Bugs thumbnail on YouTube, looks Yu Aoi-inspired. I say Yu Aoi-inspired, because it’s mostly Yuki Tanada’s One Million Yen Girl and heavily references Shunji Iwai’s Hana & Alice for obvious shots. However, it also heavily references Iwai’s 1995 Asian hit Love Letter which has inspired a whole generation of filmmakers [1][2] and idols.

  • Yu Aoi for Hoshikuzu Scat’s Shinjuku Chanson by Shiraishi Kazuya

    I like mentioned back in April [1], Yu-chan is featured on Hoshikuzu Scat’s (星屑スキャット) most recent music video directed by Birds Without Names director Shiraishi Kazuya~ The song, titled Shinjuku Chanson (新宿シャンソン), is featured on Kesho-shitsu (化粧室), the first album of the drag queen group, and was written by multi-talented illustrator-actor-writer Lily Franky.

    ‘Tis a thing of beauty~

  • You Are Forever my Dearest~

    I think there might have been an extra coma on the YT subs, that I may have put on my screencap, but whatever.

    Feelings. Feelings were had. Maybe not the song as a whole, I still think World Without Tears (沒有眼淚的世界) [LV] is much more interesting musically, but the music video for Dearest (親愛的) [MV] by Chen Hung-i (陈宏一) totally sells it. I cried so much, I’ve been crying quite easy these past couple of days. Hwasa made me cry with her short version of Lee Moon Se’s (이문세) Whistle (휘파람). Then this, and now Leehom.

    Dearest, you will forever be Baba’s baby.
    A kiss on your cheek, so you sleep well through the night.
    Dearest, no matter how long the road,
    my love will be with you because
    you are forever my Dearest.

    我很想你，爸爸~

  • Bless that Soft Mochi-Cheek Leader

    Mamamoo has been delivering all weekend, I’ve been emo all weekend. [I also finished watching Meri Pyaari Bindu, and I was not ready, yo~ Extra emo] I’ve become that kinda fan, tho. LOL The one that finishes work on time for music shows broadcasts, and sets alarms for VLive sessions LOL I’ve set up repeat YouTube playlists and I’ve been checking the charts every few hours. I pre-ordered my double-album (because duh! SUN-BAE-NIM leader-nim said so LOL [truthfully, though, I did that before she said it]), I’m still waiting for it to be shipped (foes of international, farthest away regions) AND I also bought the album on iTunes.

    Confession! On teasers and first few listens, Yes I Am [MV] wasn’t my jam. Now it is. It’s kinda how it was with Um Oh Ah Yeh and You’re the Best— those live shows get you going. Have you see the Music Core one? It’s already been subtitled, fan chants and all, BLESSED! Thank you to whoever did that, y’all really take care of us.

    AZEGAG, however, damn~ that’s my jam.

    There’s different kinds of fans listening to Mamamoo~

    • Listener 1: Those who didn’t like either AZEGAG and Yes I Am (probably just liked You’re the Best or Decalcomanie, unlikely both)
    • Fan 2: Yes I Am > AZEGAG
    • Fan 3: Yes I Am saved summer!
    • Fan 4: AZEGAG! Can’t get it out of my head HELP! Those trolls! Only Mamamoo.
    • Fan 5: Straight-up Moomoo. Loves all songs, has no favorites, all songs are their children.

  • Happy Bday, You, Big Mochi, You~

    Mamamoo Leader SUN-BAE-NIM, yo! Happy Bday, you big ray of sunshine! Thank you for being who you are and for treating all the Mamamoo kids so well, especially when you’re a kid yourself. Thank you for giving so much of yourself, but, please! Don’t spoil us so much~ Always take good care of yourself, be healthy and, most of all, happy!

    Thank you for always spending so much time sharing with the fans, even on your special day. And thank the Mamamoo kids who, despite the picking on, love Solar so much to the point that she shows us her Yeba grin. Love her and protect her.

    There’s also a version available on CJ Entertainment. And their VLive.

  • Just Discovering the Amazingness of Ivana Wong~

    So I was browsing album covers on Xiami when I ran into the one for Ivana Wong’s latest single, Goi Sei Dik Faai Lok (該死的快樂, translated to Damn Happy)… which turns out has a brand new video. And I was like- where have you been all my life when I started going down her discography~

    Jyu Jat (如一, As One) is great. Siu Sau Seot (小手術, Minor Surgery) is amazing with the Lyrics Video. It’s also helping me practice my Cantonese xD My jyutping game is totally poor. I also hate that sometimes I’m fixing my music library and it’s not Cantonese but Mandarin, so I gotta fix my romanization. But I’m totally digging her music. More her less popular songs that are not straight up sappy ballads. Her piano skills seem to be on point.

    Not new talent, but total new discovery.

  • Kent’s Back with Då Som Nu För Alltid

    Yo~ that’s one heck of a great teaser for an upcoming album. Looks and sounds epic.

    The best? Kent gets us, songs are available for stream on YouTube. Thank you so much~

    Looks like the album is available everywhere on iTunes but the US xD