Music Obsessions – December 2022

A little late for this month’s Music Obsessions! Hard to imagine we are at the last one of this year. While I already got my Spotify Wrapped, I decided to do that with my final year round-up at the end of this month and do a little runthrough for January. Either way, there are still some good music that I’ve discovered or re-discovered.

恐懼蠶食心靈 Fear Eats The Soul – 鄭欣宜 Joyce Cheng

Joyce Cheng has really improved in her singing. While I’m not exactly a fan of all her music, I’ve been following her music more and more. Not only are her music videos done really well but the music itself from her voice and the emotions are all there. It really helps carry the song. This song and the way she sings it is quite a good match. Its nice to see that she’s able to embrace a lot of different music styles since I’ve shared probably three of her songs in Music Obsessions and each one has been different from the other.

比莉卡厲害 Billie is Incredible – Billie

A rough idea of what the song probably would be in English. I’m not quite sure the exact translation. This song is the main theme from Netflix Taiwanese series Mom Don’t Do That that aired a few months ago. The series itself is fantastic and I will be talking more about in an upcoming project that I will launch at the beginning of 2023. I’m in preparation mode as of the beginning of November and working hard to get things ready for January launch. Either way, this song is simply a lot of fun. The series is a ton of fun as well. Its happy and upbeat and that’s why its here.

烏梅子醬 The Dark Plum Sauce – 李榮浩 Ronghao Li

I honestly don’t listen to enough of Ronghao Li’s music. He writes some pretty great songs and none of that I’ve ever discovered have been bad. Its all pretty great ballads. This one actually feels a little bit of early Jay Chou from the music video to the rhythm itself. Its something that I’m rather nostalgic about since that was part of my teen years when music was the main emotional support. This song’s lyrics are also super sweet much like its title.

好想約你 – Gigi 炎明熹

This year’s new addition to my list of new artists that I think are pretty good is Gigi who was Hong Kong TVB’s Star Academy Season 1 winner. Its pretty nice to see there’s still some talent since most of the time when I listen to any new artists from Hong Kong shows, its all very disappointing. This song is pretty fun and cute and matches her age. Her voice reminds me really good female singers in the 90s which seems like its lost nowadays. Either way, the youthfulness of the song makes it so feel good.

藍奕邦 Pong Nan – Happy Prince 快樂王子

I wish that there was a better video for this song but I don’t talk about Pong Nan enough since from the beginning when he was making music, I loved a lot of his work. Most of his song’s lyrics are meaningful and thoughtful. It has this nice touch of intricacy that I’m a big fan of since it feels like its a rarity. As I was researching for this post, I learned that this song was actually the main theme song for a play.

Bonus: 我比从前更寂寞 I’m Lonelier Than Before – 陈慧娴 Priscilla Chan & 杨坤 Yang Kun
(Singing With Legends S4 Performance)

I’ve shared this song in a previous Music Obsessions (probably a few years ago) which is a pretty popular song of Yang Kun’s which he wrote during his depression and talks about the feeling of depression. Its a song that paired up with his distinctive voice is amazing. Truly heartfelt and deep. This time for the Singing With Legends show, he pairs up with Priscilla Chan to sing it together and it speaks volumes in a different way. Thinking about it, it sure is time to do a post for Priscilla Chan’s music (if I remember to do it next year).

That’s it for this Music Obsessions!
What have you been listening to?

Music Obsessions – October 2022

Another month has gone by and we’re in October. With the Halloween Marathon kicked off this week and feeling like things are relatively on track, its time to take a little moment and share some of the music I’ve been listening to in the past month as well as a few songs that’s been gradually added to the baby lullaby repertoire because my baby apparently listened to Chinese pop music in my belly and now thoroughly enjoys being put to sleep to that.

143 – Nana Ouyang 歐陽娜娜

As I’ve been watching a variety show with Nana Ouyang, I’ve been deep diving into her music lately. Its been a while since The Best Of You was released that I liked and shared previously, her latest release is one that I’ve really enjoyed. While its nothing too spectacular in terms of lyrics, I think what works really well as I listened to a lot of her music that her voice is very soothing and relaxing to listen to. I have a few other of her songs in rotation but this one does stand out to me.

舊日回憶的山丘 – 容祖兒 Joey Yung

Nothing like a jump back into time as I’ve recently been thinking about this song. Not quite sure why but its one of the earlier Joey Yung songs that I’ve always loved a lot both for its lyrics and its rhythm. Its also one of the songs that I’ve loved singing the most.

分手快樂(獨唱版) Break Up Happily – 梁靜茹 Fish Leong

The newest addition to this month’s lullaby session for our newborn has been this one. Fish Leong is one of my favorite singers ever so its not a surprise that a lot of her songs have entered into this month as I’ve been just following the songs I like to sing to my little one.

勇氣 Courage – 梁靜茹 Fish Leong

Can you see the theme that my brain thinks in terms of artist so of course, this month also had another Fish Leong song in the line-up! A little fun fact that I actually performed this one on stage for Chinese School performance back in mid-2000s (can’t remember the exact year anymore).

And of course, we have one more which is my absolute faves from Fish Leong below…

Fly Away – 梁靜茹Fish Leong

无与伦比的美丽 Incomparable Beautiful – Call Me By Fire S2 Performance

I usually don’t like sharing performance versions but Call Me By Fire S2 is back and I’m loving this year’s line-up even more than last year’s. I’ve never heard the original of this song before but this rendition is so touching mostly because its so romantic and the fact that I’ve been a big fan of the two people in this relationship since my youth days. It meant a lot to me even if it had nothing to do with me personally. Either way, the song title says it all and the performance was so beautiful.

That’s it for this Music Obsessions!
What have you been listening to?

Music Obsessions – December 2021 (& Spotify Wrapped)

The last Music Obsessions of 2021 is here as we dive into December’s edition. Usually I put in some holiday stuff but this year, with my 2021 use of Spotify, I had something fun to share with their Spotify Wrapped for 2021. I’ll still had a few other music from the past month for fun but I will do a little recap of some music that was surprisingly playing a lot in my playlist.

Let’s go!

陪你去流浪 Accompany You To Wander – Joker Xue 薛之謙

What is there to say about this one? I actually think this song is just really good. Joker Xue is really talented and I’ve shared quite a few of his songs before. His voice is really soothing especially when he is singing these slow love ballads. Not to mention the whole music video is nicely done with the snowscape and all.

Do You Know Me – 24 Herbs 廿四味

My friend is streaming Sleeping Dogs right now on Twitch and it made me realize that 24Herbs did songs for the soundtrack. Its how I landed on this song. I used to listen to a bit of their songs before which was mostly duets with Sammi Cheng but this one is pretty good and actually got to dive a little into the hip hop group themselves which actually has two members from LMF, a Hong Kong Cantonese hip hop group which basically was the first (or one of the first) to do something where rap was their main genre focus.

兩個你Double You – G.E.M.鄧紫棋

This song is a theme song for a Hong Kong TV series that I haven’t seen but I’m sure its just airing recently or airing soon but G.E.M. is a singer that has been on my radar this past year or two. She has a really powerful voice and this song sounds pretty good as well.

Spotify Wrapped Overview

Below is the Spotify Wrapped for this year. I never knew this stuff was done, especially since its just the beginning of December so feels a little early. I didn’t dive into all the top songs or stuff but just focused on the two mentioned here, the most played song and the most played song from my top artist. The other stuff, you can enjoy and have fun. I use Spotify mostly for Chinese music and I have multiple playlists which I only focus mostly on one which is why its very unified to one thing. Its made me think about merging some of the different music together on Spotify. I am new to it just this year so still figuring out what works best.

Top Song: 告白氣球 Love Confession – Jay Chou 周杰倫

Its not too odd to think this one is my top song considering its also a pretty top song on Youtube for Jay Chou and had quite some reach. Plus, it is a really good song. Its lighthearted and romantic and really has the Jay Chou style to it while still having an upbeat vibe to the whole thing.

到底要怎麼樣 – 小鬼王琳凯 Lil Ghost

I’m not going to lie that Lil Ghost being my top artist was a little odd. I do have a few songs from him and he did become quite a frequent artist that I would listen to because the past year or two has just been him being involved in a bunch of variety shows which highlighted a lot of his own music after Nine Percent disbanded making him probably one of the more music focused celebrity that came out of all the guys there since a lot either vanished or just shifted into the TV drama path. His songs are also really fun and upbeat, positively happy to listen to overall.

That’s it for this Music Obsessions!
Do you use Spotify? What did your Spotify Wrapped look like?

Music Obsessions: July 2021

Another month has passed by! Its time for the next Music Obsessions! A decent mix this time from Cantopop to collabs and c-pop. All of them pretty fun!

Raining – Lil Ghost

Lil Ghost is one of those new musical artists from idol shows that really have constantly surprised me. First with his rap and hip hop music when he first debut solo after Nine Percent and then when he joined the second season of Our Song where he paired up with Coco Lee and probably learned quite a bit. Which leads to his latest music which is a change in style focusing more on his singing vocal abilities than his rap. I think there’a still some room for improvement but overall, the style and vibe from the music is so uplifting that its so happy to listen to.

The Way You Make Me Feel – 莫文蔚 Karen Mok

Big fan of Karen Mok right here. She has such a unique voice and singing style. Plus, nowadays cantopop is slowly losing out on quality (in my opinion) so when singers from the 90s and 00s come out with new music, its so awesome. I really like the style of her latest music videos which are so happy and positive.

Happy For You – Lukas Graham (feat. 衛蘭 Janice Vidal)

I have been listening to Janice Vidal again who I think doesn’t put out enough music and is pretty underrated. Refer to last month’s music obsessions when I shared “It’s Okay To Be Sad”. Here she does a collab with Lukas Graham for his song Happy For You and adding in that cantopop lyrics and style which a lovely mesh.

Zoom – R1SE

I’m still going through a bit of a ending phase as R1SE disbanded this past month. While I think they had good potential and whatnot, the different members seem to be popping up here and there whether its TV series or variety shows, etc. In time we will see how the members will do. However, as their farewell album’s main theme, ZOOM is a pretty good song. Cool and fun and pretty much shows off how this boy group is really good. Honestly, I think that after Nine Percent, this group is pretty solid. If only this year’s Youth With You group had formed, it would maybe have been another potentially solid one. With that said, I’ve gone on a tangent…

时光少年 Back to Youth – 胡夏 Fox Hu
(Flourish In Time’s Main Theme)

Ending it on the main theme song for Flourish in Time which is playing on Tencent right now and one that I’ve grown to like a lot. I left it on the side a little so that I can binge the last few episodes and not have to wait it out for the ending episodes. Fox Hu is renowned for being a singer of theme songs (although he has proved that he is capable of much more) and this song is pretty good. I like both the lyrics and melody and lot. It fits this kind of schoolyard romance.

That’s it for this Music Obsessions!
What have you been listening to lately?

Music Obsessions – March 2020

Welcome to March 2020! Its time to do a monthly roundup of music that’s been on my playlist! Its been quite a mixed bag and some of it is from various phases I’ve gone through and shows I’ve been watching and whatnot.

Just Let It Be – Dimash

A few years ago, I heard Dimash’s first performance on I am a Singer 2017 snippet and it was awesome! He sang this French song called S.O.S. Although there were pronunciation issues, his voice is amazing because of its range and control. I hadn’t realized that he had released music since then but then I found this song and its just awesome. Its nice to see him break out of his classic music and head into something that brings both this classical skills to something a little fast-paced and modern.

Amazing [Find Yourself Ending Theme] – 林世民 Shimin Lin

I just finished Find Yourself this past week and TV binge is coming up soon. A little backlog this year so it’ll happen soon. The ending theme for Find Yourself was unusually an English song, albeit a little language issues in the lyrics but the rhythm and the singing is pretty soothing. Because of that, then it played during the series, it actually matched a lot of the scenes well and this one kind of really grew on me over the process of watching the 40 episodes.

皮囊 Pi Nang – 蕭敬騰 Jam Hsiao

I can’t believe that I haven’t shared songs from Jam Hsiao sooner. This Taiwanese singer actually came to fame around the time that I had fallen out of Chinese music so he’s somewhat of a newer discovery. Jam Hsiao is part of The Singer 2020 this year and he has a killer voice with a wonderful grasp on the falsetto and higher pitches plus he likes fast, quirky and more hard rock style plus adding on his performances, it all works really well. This song is amazing. Honestly, it seems like a fun one to just sing to your heart’s content (even if its not going to be easy to sing).

《爸爸去哪儿》第五季主题曲MV
Dad Where Are We Going 5 Theme Song

I went back the past month to check out Season 5 of Dad Where Are We Going because of my recent wrapping up of Ashes of Love and my new obsession with the actor Alan Deng. In this reality show where celebrity dads take their young children on various trips to challenge and build their bond, Deng Lun takes on the trial dad where he takes care of a little girl who seems to have some social media fame. Its just incredibly cute and heartwarming to watch. This theme song is so cute that I can’t help to listen to it non-stop. Plus, almost all of these dads were celebrities that I grew up with: Jordan Chan (from Young and Dangerous series), Will Liu (Taiwanese singer where I went through a phase of loving his album), Wu Chun (from ex-Taiwanese boy band Fahrenheit).

等爱 -[“海棠经雨胭脂透”片尾曲MV] – 邓伦 & 阿兰

Well, I did say that I’ve been looking up Alan Deng’s stuff so while I haven’t went on to other TV series yet but I did find that he has a talent for singing and this song for last year’s series Blossom in Heart is a beautiful duet that he does. It has some more harmonizing moments with the female singer Ah Lan, who I also do like her music. I’m still debating whether to watch this series since it seems to hit a few things I don’t like about TV series from the snippets here so we’ll see. However, this song has been playing on repeat! Love it!

That’s it for this Music Obsessions!
Its been a pretty solid month for music discoveries!
I actually had to make some decisions to not overload!

What have you been listening to?

Music Obsessions – February 2020

Welcome to February 2020! Its time for the Music Obsessions to kick off this month! I usually take February as a love song expose of sorts but somehow this time, this time is a bit of a mix. The starting and ending song are more up-beat but nothing related to love however, the middle stuff is all about love stories as they are all theme from movies or TV shows. Let’s take a look!

Daydreamer 白日夢想家 – Vision Wei 魏晨

If there’s anything that I love from discovering the amazing Who’s The Murderer, its how it adds in so many great celebrity investigators and the best one that I’ve found is Vision Wei who is great in the variety show but at the same time, it gave me the motivation to look up his music and so far, this one is absolutely fave. Its upbeat and fun and the video isn’t is done really well. Its one that makes me all happy and a great way to kick off this Music Obsessions.

A Kind Of Sorrow 有一種悲傷 – A-Lin

I haven’t seen the actual movie, More Than Blue that this song is for. I am hoping to watch it at some point as it looks really good. A-Lin is a phenomenal singer with great vocals. Her voice is just exceptional and emotional. I love listening to her music and this one is no different.

天地無霜 (Ashes of Love Main Theme) – Andy Yang 楊紫 & Allen Deng 鄧倫

I’ve already expressed my obsession with Ashes of Love. This TV series really is amazing. I’m working on the TV binge but at the same time, the main theme is this wonderful duet from the main leads who are not actual singers but actually do a great job. Its captivating whenever this song appears in the series as well. At the same time, there is a solo version for just Allen Deng which is equally great. Allen Deng is my biggest discovery from the show and I’ve been finding traces of his musical talent and not just his acting talent. For fun, here is the solo version:

Don’t Cry 不哭 – Rocket Girls 101 Sunnee 火箭少女101 楊芸晴

I’m not a huge fan of Rocket Girls 101 in general. They have some okay songs but I can’t say that I’m completely behind their music but individually, some of the members are very good as they branch off to do their own things. My fave vocalist in the group does go to Sunnee who is unique in herself and as I look up more of her music after watching her participating in Masked Singer China, its definitely had some great finds. My fave goes out to this promotional song for the movie version of Cry Me A Sad River. I haven’t seen the movie but the TV series was one of my top series of 2019.

Blah Blah & WYTB – NEXT (Zhejiang New Year’s 2020 Gala Performance)

Ending it off on a high note, I wanted to open with NEXT as its more upbeat. I might have shared WYTB and maybe a snippet of Blah Blah before but Blah Blah is one of my favorite songs from this group. I think Yuehua Entertainment really found gold with putting this group together as a part of them definitely have the idol stars. Of course, it helps that they got a great gig with having a reality show for Mango TV called Master in the House that shared a bit of who each of them are and their aspirations, giving each of them a chance to learn from some great musicians and celebrities in the music industry. They are all very well-rounded and I can see great things in the future for them. They are only like 1.5 years since the creation of the group so still lots of time to get even better.

That’s it for this Music Obsessions!
What have you been listening to?