Welcome to February 2022’s Music Obsessions. Music hasn’t exactly been a huge focus as I shift away from finding music on Youtube and mostly listening via Spotify. I’m still building up my Spotify with some 90s-2000s Cantopop and Taiwan pop. The list is really some of the newer music from recent Chinese drama binges and then some older songs that I’ve been listening to more frequently on Spotify. Let’s check it out!
遙望 Looking Into The Distance – Adam Fan & Cheng Xiao
(“The World of Fantasy” End Theme)
Kicking of the year, I went back to the beginning of 2021 to find the TV series on iQiYi’s streaming platform that I had missed in an effort to do some catch up while letting the newer releases some time to accumulate some episodes. The first one is The World of Fantasy starring a debut acting effort by Adam Fan paired with Cheng Xiao. I will talk about the series itself again but their little end theme duet together is decent enough. The video does give a good idea of what the series is about and shows some of the production value behind the show. This song pops up quite a bit during the show and really works with the whole vibe of the fantasy world and their romance throughout.
Goodbye – 丁当 Ding Dang
(“Shining For One Thing” Theme)
I guess the above part about TV series was a bit of a lie since after The World of Fantasy, I shifted my plans when I saw this series pop up and all the episodes were released in one shot, which is super rare with Chinese dramas. Shining For One Thing kind of tricked me with their trailer into thinking that it felt like the whole background was inspired by the game “Life is Strange” although, I still think that some angles did feel like it could have been mildly inspired. Regardless, the TV series is pretty fantastic overall…a few issues but I will talk about in an upcoming review. With that said, this TV series had an amazing soundtrack in general and most of the songs are actually in English. With that said, I’m going to spam another 2 songs from the show that I liked a lot.
For Lovers – Shaw Qu
I think that when TV series use their actors if they can sing to do their music and have their own version, it does work really well. In this case, Shaw Qu (which I don’t know much about his background) has a decent voice and executes this song rather decently. His song shows up in the drama and its rather memorable. For those who don’t know, Shaw Qu is probably more known in the Western entertainment for being part of the rather divisive Chinese Netflix film The Wandering Earth (review). Recent days, he seems to be falling into these romantic films and TV series. A lot of people dismiss those things but I think this one does a good job. Still seeking out a film he released last year that I really want to see.
全世界在你身后 The World Is Behind You – 都智文 Baby.J
I honestly don’t have a lot to say about this song but man, this song appears when its the most romantic scenes so hard to really not notice it. Plus, its one of the songs with lyrics that fits the whole plot of the TV series. Not to mention, I like this singer’s voice quite a bit.
不拖不欠 – 鄭秀文 Sammi Cheng
The main theme for 1996’s Hong Kong romantic comedy Feel 100% starring Sammi Cheng and Ekin Cheng in their main leads brings this rather iconic song for Sammi Cheng. Its one of my all-time faves and one that has been playing on repeat in my mind. I might be a bit biased considering Sammi Cheng is one of my top 5 favorite singers ever so its always so nostalgic to listen to her music. Now to hunt down this film again…
默契 – 鄭秀文 Sammi Cheng
I completely forgot that this song from Sammi Cheng is actually from the theme for the sequel of Feel 100%. It explains why these two songs always connect together so well. Either way, also one of my favorite songs. I figured why not stick to this fantastic artist who has such a long discography. Some of the film buffs here who have seen some Hong Kong films might recognize her as a supporting character in Infernal Affairs.
That’s it for this week’s Music Obsessions.
What have you been listening to lately?
Tranquil Dreams 