Going back to China always revives my Taiwan pop kick. Just watched the most ridiculous Taiwanese drama on basketball — which is a subject the Chinese will never properly dramatize — called “篮球火 (Hot Shot)” and its cringe-worthiness is not the subject of the post, Alan Luo is. I forget how much I liked him, though I’m not exactly sure why:
Posted in: asian pop culture - fangirly | Tags: Chinese pop, Taiwanese pop
One of the things I’m surprised and grateful I got into this year was Chinese pop. I never actively stayed away from it or anything, but being involved with Kpop is like being in a long-term (very tedious, time-consuming) relationship. There just wasn’t room for another fascination. But then I randomly downloaded a Wang Lee Hom album and then came this guy, Khalil Fong.
Khalil Fong is a Chinese artist, born in Hawaii, raised in Shanghai. He’s pretty much an ABC like Wang Lee Hom but I feel like he’s less “polished”-ly Chinese than Leehom. I don’t mean this specifically regarding English-speaking skills but he grew up in Asia for the most part and his Chinese feels more genuine somehow. It doesn’t have an obvious American accent, whereas Leehom’s Chinese is painfully American even if he speaks perfectly and pronounces everything correctly. That lack of polished American sounding Chinese is something that adds to the authenticity of Khalil’s songs and sounds, I think. Even moreso, Khalil’s Mandarin accent is a Cantonese one, not an American one. When I listen to Khalil’s songs, I’m not listening to his pronunciation of words but to the music itself. I don’t think I can say the same for Leehom’s music — one, he likes doing English inserts in his songs and two, you can hear his American accent in his singing.
But back to Khalil’s music: “Wonderland” is an amazing album. It’s not an album from 2008 but it is definitely one of my favorites this year. It’s got SUCH a light sound, which manages to be a medley of jazz and acoustics and just . . . flavor. The lyrics are also really simple and uncomplicated but manage to say a lot of things all at once. Some lyrics from the beginning of “Love Song,” the italicized bits are my translations:
Love Song
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我寫了這首歌 是一首簡單歌
不複雜也不難唱的那一種歌
這不是 那種 只剩下那鋼琴的歌
也不是 那種 不能只是朋友的歌
這不是 那種 兩個人的故事寫在一本小說
那小說裡有誰在花田裡犯的錯
這就是 一首寫給你聽的一個Love Song 一直想寫一首
Love Song 你給了我一首
Love Song 那DJ會播放
這也許會上榜
不過我只想寫出一首I wrote a love song, it’s a simple love song
A song that is not complicated or difficult to sing
It’s not a “Express through the piano” type of song
Or a “We can’t only be friends” type of song
It’s not a “A novel written about two people” type of song
The kind of novel about someone making mistakes in flower fields*
It is, a song I wrote for you to listen toLove song, a song I’ve always wanted to write
Love song, a song you’ve given me
Love song, which the DJ will play
Which will also get on the charts
But, I only wrote one* This line is poking fun at all those fake, silly romantic impasses where the boy and girl have deep, quiet, thoughtful conversations with each other in “flower field” type settings, typical in romantic scenarios.
Two more songs from the album:
够不够 (Gou bu gou, Is it enough)Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
The first line from this song is great:
你爸爸妈妈不会随便让你嫁
有财能够讲话Your mom and dad wouldn’t randomly let you get married
If he has capabilities, he can speak未来 (Wei lai, Future)
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Every single song off the album is enjoyable. Pensive, reflective, soulful. ♥
Posted in: music recs - raving like mad | Tags: Chinese pop, Khalil Fong
haihm – haihm
I was kind of anticipating this album because she worked with Dong Bang Shin Ki on a song from their third album called “The Story Has Just Begun” (listen here) and it’s my favorite off that album so I wanted to see what she had up her sleeves. The songs on the album are all very pretty and I think they fall in the range of house, dance, and indie genres. It’s reminiscent of FreeTEMPO’s songs, but I didn’t think anything was particularly stand out. I think I, in general, am not very impressed with a lot of K-indie/experimental pieces. I think it’s a combo of really boring beats with WAY too mellow vocals. Good examples would be Humming Urban Stereo and Oldfish.
Big Bang – Number 1
Big Bang comes out with some insanely catchy hits but I never really LOVE anything from them. This album on the whole is very “whatever” for me, but anytime they release songs that have a sweet tempo that invokes some kind of nostalgia in me, I’m all over the song. I think at heart, I still like music that reminds me of something I love but can’t exactly pinpoint, which is the reason why I like music from Ibadi, Wang Lee Hom, some of DBSK’s ballads, and Utada Hikaru’s pieces. The song that really did that for me off Big Bang’s Number 1 is “Everything.” I love this song and how sincere (also: semi-horny) the lyrics are. I block the rap out of my mind but I love this non-rap line: “Cuz every little thing you do turns me on, and every time you speak, you touch my soul.” (I also just love Tae Yang’s voice.) The way the song starts off is a plus point for me. It’s eccentric and oddly upbeat/hopeful, which is something I don’t ever remember with Big Bang’s other songs. Finally, I have a song I really love and connect with in Big Bang. Whoopee!
Everything:
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FreeTEMPO – Imagery
I’ve heard FreeTEMPO’s “Sound” album and I LOVE that album and hoped that it would translate to “Imagery,” but unfortunately, it didn’t. There’s something slightly chaotic about the dance genre that unsettles me. It’s not full of screams and shriek or anything like that, but a lot of songs have this discord and this funky experimental feel about them that I can’t connect to. I’m sure a lot of people love this style, but it’s just not for me.
JJ Lin – Sixology
Saving the best for last! I LOVE this album. I didn’t go into it with any expectations, but man, what a good album. I forget that JJ Lin is maybe like the only other CPop artist other than Wang Lee Hom who actually puts out substantial music. My favorite song is definitely, definitely “不潮不用花錢” which some people have translated to “High Fashion,” but I dunno why. It literally means “Without trends, no need to spend money.” So an explanation of it would be, if you’re not trendy or you don’t keep up with trends, then you don’t need to spend money. The song is more like a message from JJ. I dug around blogs to find what the lyrics were and found that this is what JJ said about the song,
”每個人都可以有自己对潮流的看法，不需要随波逐流，人云亦云。潮流不一定代表时尚的衣服，而是一個人的成就，除了创造的一切，还有对生命的态度的融合体。“
This translates to,
“Everybody has their own interpretation of what ‘trendy’ is, but they don’t need to mindlessly follow it, doing what everyone else does. Trend doesn’t necessarily mean the most up-to-date clothing, but rather a person’s accomplishments. Other than everything a person puts out [to show others], it is the combination of that with the attitude one has towards life.”
OMG. I love him.
不潮不用花錢:
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Posted in: asian pop culture - music recs | Tags: Big Bang, Chinese pop, review
