Junsu’s singing voice takes me to a happy place. The moment after he sang the first line of the song, I want to listen to it again, and again and again. And that’s the thing too — I’m always newly impressed with Junsu’s voice, like each time I watch and listen to him sing is the first time I’ve ever done so. That’s skill.
I don’t think “Survivor” has very impressive choreography but it’s got a really great beat and is insanely addicting to listen to. And as lame as this sounds, I’m very proud of them for this performance. In my opinion, it’s easily their best Japanese performance in a while. I was really afraid somebody would slip up and mess up a note or something, and the competitiveness in me wanted them to do perfectly for their first Music Station appearance, but I am really relieved to say that I have no complaints about the performance as a whole. Phew!
This is a scene from “The Moonlight of Seoul,” (aka “Beastie Boys”) starring Yoon Kye Sang and Ha Jeong Woo. I hate this movie too much to go into a review, but I also loved this one minute enough to cut the scene out myself and up it to share, heh.
Nothing happens in the scene, but the music that’s used is mesmerizing. I have no idea what kind of genre the piece even is — ambiance? — but I feel submerged in calm. It goes perfectly with the idea of driving at night in a well-lit city.
The majority of 2008′s new music has come off as kind of dead and dull to me. Not a whole lot of good new stuff from the artists I keep up with / artists I randomly keep up with. But, I did inadvertently open myself up to a much larger ground in the music terrain. I discovered some old music that I happened to really fall in love with. Okay, so saying that I fell “in love” with the music puts a lot of stress on the poor songs, but I just meant that it was refreshing to listen to and made some kind of impact on me, sentimentally-speaking.
Favorite albums of the year,
Favorite songs of the year,
王力宏 – 你是我心内的一首歌 If I had to narrow this list down to only three songs, this song would come first. The music of this song isn’t very challenging or groundbreaking, but it evokes some sort of familiarity for me. Of course, Leehom was going for that note of sentimentality with the song. (It’s very Shanghai-tan-esque, no?) The song reminds me of spring and spring is a good time of the year.
方大同 – Love Song In orderly fashion, this song would come second. I love this song for its melody and for its lyrics. The lyrics are a “fuck you” to what Khalil perceives to be the typical love song. Khalil’s a very articulate guy and you can tell from his lyrics that he thinks a lot about life and music, which is the kind of thing you want in an artist. He makes his peers seem silly. If I had to recommend one artist from the Chinese pop scene (which encompasses a lot of ground), I’d recommend this guy, and this song. Listen to the song here.
동방신기 – Purple Line This seems like an eon ago, but I really did love this song and all the hype around it. This was the first dance hit that I anticipated the release of after I became a fan of the group, and compared to their previous dance hits — The Way U Are, Tri-Angle, Rising Sun, O-Jung.Ban.Hap — this one wasn’t shabby. It’s got GREAT use of bass and it feels very strong and relentless. Purple Line is the sort of song that I feel makes a statement and leads somewhere. Minus the most embarrassing use of an English line in all the history of non-English songs, this is the one song I would recommend for the ballad haters and the DBSK doubters. F’real.
张力尹 – One More Try I can probably sing this song in my sleep. Of all the music fandoms I dabble in, this song is the only thing that inspired me to actually contribute to fandom in non-graphical ways, in the form of lyric translations…which is not a lot at all, but my translation of this song coincided with my official decision to major in East Asian Studies, so it means a lot to me. This is also the best song off Zhang Li Yin’s resume and a very inspiration song that symbolizes the return of a girl who I’m really rooting for.
Ibadi – 오후가 흐르는 숲 Song three of the “if I had to narrow this list down to three songs” train of thought. This song is mind-bogglingly beautiful. The entire song just evokes such a sense of tranquility and peace that I will never be able to properly articulate it for you to feel, unless you were me.
I love the outfits a little bit too much, it makes me want to cry of joy at how slick they look. The shirt pattern, the pattern color, matched with the tie color, matched with the GOLD CUFF BUTTONS, and the hair! I love the maroon/navy blue/gold/black combo on anybody. The only problem I have with the gold buttons is that maybe the four front jacket enclosures makes the coat look too much like a peacoat but it’s not too big a deal.
