Info

Song: 萍聚 / Strangers Meeting

Album: 畢業幹什麼 / What’s Graduation For? (Buy Album)

Artist: Witness & 蕭淑慎 / Witness & Cecilia Hsiao

Release Date: June 2003

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Blurb

While I’m still listening over “On The Run,” there’s an old song I’ve been meaning to post for sometime. (I keep a playlist in iTunes with songs I’m going to post, and I almost never am able to keep up with it, due to the numerous new albums coming out all the time.)

This song, 萍聚 (roughly translated as Strangers Meeting, or Meeting By Chance), is commonly known as an old classic, or an “oldie” for folk songs. It’s often sung at middle-agers’ karaoke sessions. I particularly remember one horrid rendition by some random old person at Kuala Lumpur. When sung well, the song is really moving. When bad, it’s scary. It’s usually sung at graduations or leaving (insert random thing here).

This particular song was included in a compilation album called 畢業幹什麼 or “What’s Graduation For?” It included many classics, and new songs. This is one of them. Think of it as a new take on an old classic. It’s sung by a rapper, Witness (who I am unable to find any further information from) and 蕭淑慎, who has also appeared before in 光良’s music video for 第一次.

The music video itself for this song is a bit confusing, I don’t really know what to make of it. But I really like this song, and let me know what you think about it!

The album artwork’s funny too, if you get what it means.
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Info

Song: 彩虹 / Rainbow

Album: 我很忙 / On the Run (Buy Album)

Artist: 周杰倫 / Jay Chou

To Be Released On: November 2, 2007

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Blurb

Perhaps I’m a bit late, but another song from Jay Chou has surfaced. Called 彩虹 (Rainbow), it is more along the lines of 退後 from the last album. This is certainly good news, because it shows that On The Run is going to encompass a large variety of genres and styles, just like the previous albums.
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Info

Song: 薇多莉亞的秘密 / Victoria’s Secret

Album: STAR (Buy Album)

Artist: 張惠妹 / A-Mei

Release Date: August 3, 2007

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Blurb

A-Mei is one of the few singers who is actually aboriginal Taiwanese (basically, not ethnically Han). Of course, she still sings in Mandarin, because no one really understands the Formosan languages anymore.

I actually listened to the song before I figured out the translation of the track title, so I must admit that I was a bit surprised/taken aback. This song contrasts nicely with the other slower and more softer songs on the album.

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Info

Song: 想太多 / Think Too Much

Album: 想太多 / Think Too Much (Buy Album)

Artist: 李玖哲 / Nicky Lee

Release Date: October 16, 2007

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Blurb

Nicky Lee (李玖哲) is actually not from Taiwan, nor Malaysia, nor China. He’s actually a Korean-American, and is a relatively recent entry to the Chinese/Mandarin music stage. He first gained recognition for his album last year, “Baby Is Me” (Baby 是我), and appeared in many songs with other artists like Vivian Hsu’s “So-so” and 阿沁’s (Real of F.I.R.) “記得愛.” (Remembering Love) In these songs, he has shown he is indeed good at many different genres of music, and his new album “Think Too Much” is a good indicator of that. (Of course, the translation of 想太多 as “Think Too Much” is Chinglish at its best.)

While the later songs in the album are primarily R&B (including one featuring Vanness Wu, called 小胖子的一天 (Little Fatty’s Day), the first and title track is probably the most soulful song I’ve heard for some time. Viewers will notice the abnormal amount of violence in the music video - random slapping, kicking cakes, throwing dishes all over the place.

And unlike other songs, this is a song about past love not fulfilled, not current or future love. I find that also particularly hard to find in Chinese music, generally.

If anyone can identify the Korean actress in the music video, please let me know in the comments! Thanks!
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Info

Song: Love Letter

Album: Love Letter - EP (Buy EP)

Artist: 권보아 / BoA

Release Date: September 26, 2007

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Blurb

BoA’s latest Japanese single just came out. Called “Love Letter,” it’ll be the first non-Chinese song here on azn.music. I’d write more, but I’m still learning Japanese, so すみません！
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Info

Song: 戀愛達人 / Expert Lover

Album: 達人 Show / Expert Show (Buy Album)

Artist: 羅志祥 (+小S ) / Show Luo

Release Date: October 22, 2004

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Blurb

With another walk down memory lane here, with this song that was released three years ago. I first discovered this song on a mix CD, and spent two years listening to it without knowing who sang it or where it was from. Then I looked up the lyrics, and then found out what the song was. It’s from Show Luo’s (Also known as Alan Luo) album, 達人 Show. Incidentally, all his albums have the word “Show” in them, including his latest one released last year, “SPESHOW”, a play on the word “special”.
This song also features 徐熙娣, better known as 小S.
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Info

Song: 心動心痛 / Heartache

Album: 彩虹天堂 / Rainbow Heaven (Buy Album)

Artist: 劉畊宏 / Will Liu

Release Date: December 30, 2005

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Blurb

Here is an older song that I recently discovered, but it’s really good. Literally, the song name is 心動心痛, or “heart moving, heart breaking” - but I translated it as Heartache all the same. It is a duet by Will Liu (劉畊宏) and Evonne Hsu (許慧欣). Will Liu, though not that well-known, is commonly referred to as Jay Chou’s “best friend”, and as such many of his songs’ melody were composed by Jay Chou, and it is easy to hear the similarities between their two styles of singing. For the most part, however, Will is a singer of slow songs and is more well-known for that.
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Info

Song: 牛仔很忙 / Cowboy on the Run

Album: 我很忙 / On the Run

Artist: 周杰倫 / Jay Chou

To Be Released On: November 2, 2007

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Blurb

Jay Chou has always maintained a punctual schedule of coming out with a new album every year, and this year, he finally is coming out with his 8th album - 我很忙 (literally, “I’m Busy”, or “On the Run“. This album is his first full-length album (not counting the soundtrack for Secret) to be released under his own record label, JVR Productions. If one glance at the album art/preview imagery doesn’t give you an idea of what’s in store for you, then you obviously haven’t heard of cowboys.

That’s right - “On the Run” actually has - *gasp* - country/Western music? Quite interesting, and that would be an understatement. I confess, I was shocked when I found out. According to 周董 (A honorific meaning something like President Chou) himself, he’s never had a song in the style of Western music, and he had wanted to try it out. Hence, the cowboy hats, the chaps, and the bandanna.

This will surely be one of the more controversial releases of the year. Overall, the net consensus of people is confusion. There are those who really admire 周董 for going out and trying new styles, while there are those who criticize him for coming out with a “kiddie” song.

Myself? I’m split. First off, I’ve never liked country or Western music at all, and I actually have always derided it as the music of cowboys, with them singing about how they lost their horse or got gored by a steer. (The other type of music I really dislike is heavy metal.) At the same time, however, I think that a huge part of Jay’s success is that he’s been able to branch out into many styles and genres of music, and that he’d be pretty boring if all he did was stick to a single genre. Of course, I’m sure there will be other non-Western songs in the album, and that Jay will not become a country musician any time soon. I guess this a type of self-discovery then?

Let me know what you think in the comments. I’m interested in hearing what people think about “Cowboy on the Run.” Is Jay still 屌 or not?
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