Info

Album: 未來式 / Will’s Future (Buy Album)

Artist: 潘瑋柏 / Wilber Pan

Release Date: July 18, 2008

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Blurb

It appears to be the trend for artists who released a new studio album last year to release a compilation album this year, with a couple of new songs and a reworked playlist of oldies. Wilber Pan (潘瑋柏) is no exception, following up his album Play it Cool last year, comes this compilation album Will’s Future (literally, 未來式 means “past tense”).

Two new songs here, Summer’s Craziness (夏日瘋) and Changing Planes (轉機). Summer’s Craziness is a fun and upbeat song, with a similar music video. Of course, it’s getting to be a little late in the summer, but we still have three more weeks until school starts again, so keep the spirit going.

Changing Planes, on the other hand, is another one of those melancholy songs with an opening (at least with the music video) of a girl telling the guy -  they have to break up/can’t see each other/insert sad thing here - at the start.

Catch the music videos after the break.
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Album: It’s Hyorish (Buy Album)

Artist: 이효리 / Hyori Lee

Release Date: June 24, 2008

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Tracklisting:

1. 천하무적 이효리 (The Invincible/Unrivaled Hyori Lee)
2. Lesson
3. U-Go-Girl - with 낯선
4. 사진첩  (Photo Album)
5. 이발소 집 딸 (A Barbershop’s Daughter)
6. Don’t Cry
7. 괜찮아질까요 (Do You Think It’ll Be Ok?)
8. SexyBoy - with 휘성
9. 빨간자동차 - with 김건모 (Red Car)
10. Hey Mr. Big
11. P.P.P (Punky Punky Party)- With 낯선
12. My Life
13. Unusual

(Thanks Vince Jeong for the translation)

Review By: sky

Review

Following the controversy over her last album, “Dark Angel“, which was released in February 2006, Hyori Lee has been pretty quiet in the Korean music scene. She released a few singles here and there in the year 2007, namely Anycall and Toc Toc Toc, but fans were unsure about what would happen to their favorite sexy Korean idol. In May 2008, Hyori Lee broke the silence by collaborating with Jung JaeJyung in singing A Cat on the Roof. This digital single strayed from Hyori Lee’s image from previous albums, and allowed fans to see a dramatic change in her. The question on everyone’s mind was, did she change for the better? That question was answered with the release of her third and latest album, It’s Hyorish in July 2008. The album was met with mixed reactions, and it’s really up to the listener to decide if they like it or not.

The first track, 천하무적 이효리 (Unrivaled), comes across as a sophisticated track. The second track, Lesson, is more upbeat, and more poppish. Both these tracks show the listener that Hyori Lee has become more diverse in her singing since her last album, and make the listener wonder what surprises lay in store ahead. U-Go-Girl, the third track, is more hip hop-ish with slower beats, and shows that Hyori has not neglected the hip hop aspect of her fan base. Ensuing is 사진첩 (Photo Album), and is a slow track that leans towards the jazz. She even does scanting at the end of the song ( in some broken English) and if one listens closely enough, you can hear beatboxing too. This reviewer takes it as a sign that Hyori is trying to fuse hip hop and jazz, which to me is a pretty wicked fusion. 이발소 집 딸 (A Barbershop’s Daughter), is a more cheerful song, with the voices of children in the beginning. They have brief chatter before the actual song, and also join in during the chorus. I think this song is a piece of work, because I’m a sucker for choruses, and the voices of the children blend quite well with Hyori’s voice. Don’t Cry returns to the sophisticated beat of 천하무적 이효리 (Unrivaled). 괜찮아질까요? (Do You Think It’ll Be Ok?) is a slow jam featuring well known hip hop artist Wheesung, and is quite easy listening.

In the ensuing tracks, SexyBoy and 빨간자동차  (Red car), Hyori returns to an upbeat tempo, and even tries her hand at reggae in 빨간자동차  (Red car), which is quite an interesting genre to hear her sing. Hey Mr. Big is a techno-ish track that can get stuck in one’s head. P.P.P (Punky Punky Party) is my vote for the most annoying song of the album, but somehow balances out the album that one has heard thus far. My Life is an interesting track that seems to be Hyori’s autobiography in the album, and is quite catchy. Lastly, to conclude the album, she returns to her hip hop roots with Unusual. Perhaps it’s a statement to tell all her fans that no matter how many changes have occurred, she’s still Hyori Lee.

I for one found this album a really good buy. At first I thought my favorite Korean artiste had gone mainstream like most other good singers that I had liked previously, but after listening to it more and more, I feel that this album has just added another list of genres that could be defined as the Hyori Lee sound. Don’t just take my word for it, buy the album and decide for yourself!
See the music video for U-Go-Girl after the break. Read the rest of this entry »

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Artists: 群星 / Various Artists

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Blurb

This year’s Olympics truly is a proud moment for all those of Chinese descent throughout the world, regardless of the political controversies that have surrounded it. Just as sports unite people regardless of political affiliation, background, or creed, music can do so too.

Therefore, there has been a number of songs that have been about the Olympics, and especially from Taiwan, since everyone there is Chinese by culture anyways (please, no politically charged comments).

Here we have three Mandarin songs all themed regarding the Olympics:

The first is probably the most well-known, since if you watched the brilliant opening ceremony of the Olympics you must have seen it. The song’s name is You and Me, and is sung by Liu Huan (famous before us teenagers’ time) and English singer Sarah Brightman. It truly is a beautiful song, with excellent vocals, and it’s very inspiring, truly embodies the team spirit of the Games.

Second is Jay Chou’s “Infinite Lands” (lit. A Thousand Mountains and a Myriad Waters, a Chinese idiom) - also an inspirational song, with his own style. It also talks about the world coming together, but as the song name implies, it’s more China-centric.

Last is Jolin Tsai’s “Run Run” (lit. Give way, Give way - the characters were only chosen because they sound like “run”). It’s about running and basically urging people on.

Enjoy these songs, and enjoy the Olympics!
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Song: 是什麼音樂讓你覺得舒服 / What Kind of Music Makes You Comfortable (Song Link)

Artist: J.Wu (feat. MC Hot Dog & 大支)

Album: 本色 / Original Colors

Released: July 25, 2008

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Blurb

Recently, I figured out how to tune in to HitFM (Taiwan’s premier music radio station) via my Mac, and one of the songs that was played was this - What Kind of Music Makes You Comfortable (是什麼音樂讓你覺得舒服). It has one of the longest names I have ever seen in a Chinese song.

Who sings the song and where it comes from is not easy to find out either - it’s not listed on many sites, and eventually I was able to find out that it’s from a compilation album released by EMI called 本色, or Original Colors. The artist, J. WU, I am not familiar with either, but it features two guest artists - MC Hot Dog (who I am familiar with) and 大支 (don’t know).

This song is an R&B/Hip-hop song, with a rap part by MC Hot Dog, who fills it right in with his usual delightfully vulgar lyrics (feel free to disagree with me on delightful), and 大支’s “this is a pen 這是一支筆不對 這是A片” - “No, ‘this is a pen’ does not mean ‘this is a pen’, it means porn”.

It’s a good song, good rhythm, good beats. What’d we call a hidden gem, I guess. No music video yet, sorry guys.

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Song: 純屬意外 / Pure Accident (Song Link)

Artist: 許慧欣 / Evonne Hsu

Released: May 2008

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Blurb

Evonne Hsu’s been away for quite some time - the last album she released was two years ago, and due to a variety of factors, she hasn’t been in the public spotlight lately. However, word on the Internets is that she will be releasing her new album in July, and this song, Pure Accident (純屬意外) will mostly be on that album.

Check it out! The music video that’s been released to the public is only a 2-minute excerpt, take note of that.
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Album: From Now On (Buy Album)

Artist: 張棟樑 / Nicholas Teo

Release Date: April 18, 2008

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Blurb

Here comes the “Prince,” Nicholas Teo himself (again)! Capping up a very successful last year with 王子 and the television series 微笑Pasta, he’s released his first compilation album with three new songs. Check them out!

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Album: Red Cyndi (Buy Album）

Artist: 王心凌 / Cyndi Wang

Release Date: February 29, 2008

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Blurb

Another couple months, and another Cyndi Wang album comes out. Red Cyndi isn’t a studio album, but rather a compilation of her previous hits along with three new songs, which are featured here. (Also note that I have midterms, so I’m unlikely to be back until middle of next week). For those who like her, 看一看吧.

Hi Hi Bye Bye is one of those poppy, perhaps silly songs - take a look at the music video after the break to get an idea. Furthermore, it incorporates another children’s song into the melody. 因為是你, on the other hand, is a slow, romantic song, while 水仙 has a fair bit of 中國風 in it, with traditional instruments, but with a remixed Cyndi beat.

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Album: 原來我不帥 電視原聲帶 / Pretty Ugly OST (Buy Album)

Artist: Various Artists

Released: February 1, 2008

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Blurb

When I first heard of 原來我不帥, starring JJ Lin - I thought, that actually makes sense. In an age where many people become famous music artists simply because they look good (both in the East and West), JJ Lin actually stands out as one of the not-so-good looking ones. (Some say Jay Chou as well) However, his musical talent is unquestioned, and as I have made clear in other blog posts around here, I think that looks should never be a limiting factor in determining someone’s talent.

So the OST to this TV series has one new song by JJ himself -  期待你的愛, and some other songs by Nicky Lee, Hu Ling, and Kym. An interesting playlist.

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