Music Obsessions – September 2018

Another month has gone by in 2018! Time for the monthly dose of music obsessions! A lot of random spontaneity this time around!

Lie A Little Better – Lucy Hale

If you did catch up with my last What’s Up episode, I talked about revisiting Pretty Little Liars. Which isn’t weird because as I was putting together posts and searching up some names and whatnot for Pretty Little Liars, I came across an article about Lucy Hale talking about how she wrote this song with Drew Van Acker on her mind which for those who don’t know plays a role in Pretty Little Liars and is a gorgeous guy who she has some romance/connection with and well, I personally ship them super hard. Either way, since I hadn’t heard this song or any of Lucy Hale’s songs, I decided to give it a go. Its not the best country music I’ve heard but I think its a cute and fun one. Its growing on me quite a bit.

Dear God – Hunter Hayes

I’m a huge fan of Hunter Hayes and its been a few years since he’s had music (or so it would seem for myself) but this year has seen him popping up again. I love the lyrics and the rhythm of this song as a whole. Really good stuff!

Spark – F.I.R.

If you follow me the Facebook page (you can check it out here), I wrote an extensive post about this one. The Outsiders was a breakout hit for Taiwanese TV series like maybe 10+ years ago and saw the rising of some big Taiwanese stars who went on to make some other movies and progress in their career paths with Blue Lan (I reviewed Easy Fortune Happy Life series HERE) and Dylan Kuo for starters and then also gave the rising of this 3 person rock band called F.I.R. They are honestly the real deal with great vocals and amazing composition talent for all their songs. Unfortunately, it almost felt like their fame came as quick as it left sadly. But now, its nice to see a revival of sorts for The Outsiders in movie form  and they got back F.I.R. to do the main theme song called Spark. I love it so much and have to find some way to see this movie eventually!

我在呢 (I’m Here) – Tank

A complete coincidence that we land on back to back songs for TV series. I’ve actually never heard of this one (as I don’t follow it as much as I did when I was in CEGEP (our 2 years between high school and university)). Tank doesn’t seem to make so much music anymore but I’ve always loved his stuff so I love the fact that this one is a slower, more romantic song and I still like it a lot. Reason being, I’m usually more captivated by his faster songs.

Rumors – R3HAB & Sofia Carson

Freshly released selection right here! Rumors was released this week. If you’ve been following this segment, you know that I love R3HAB. He is a great DJ producer or whatever you call it. It took a little moment to get used to Sofia Carson’s vocals here however, it kind of grew on me as the beat and rhythm went along and it just jived together awesomely.

Tribute to my Dad
Classic Cantonese Pop

80s Canto Pop is really awesome. Well, look past the really cheesy music videos, they still hold so much beauty in both the music and lyrics together. Lisa Wang is a significant pillar in the Hong Kong landscape and she’s done some great music. This is honestly just an example. Either way, if my dad was alive, he’d be celebrating his birthday tomorrow and while I’ve dialed back on getting these posts too personal, I’ve been thinking about things a lot and really wanted to share one of the many 80s classic songs that we used to listen to on car rides and that I still love to listen to and sing to every once in a while. I mean, I could’ve used Cantonese Opera but I’m sparing everyone a long video and their eardrums especially if you aren’t accustomed to it.

That’s it for this Music Obsessions!
What have you been listening to (preferably on repeat)?

Music Obsessions – July 2018

Its time for the next Music Obsessions!

This month has been a hot hot month in the music department. I found lots of great music but here are the top selections!

Lose It – Kane Brown

I think the past year’s most surprising and spontaneous find is Kane Brown. This guy has this uniquely deep voice and then delivers these really cool songs. Lose It is honestly one of my favorite. Its lighthearted and fun. Sometimes, country music is what pairs up well with the summer season and this one definitely makes me all warm and fuzzy.

Don’t Let Me Forget – Catherine McGrath feat Hunter Hayes

I love Hunter Hayes. I’ve probably talked about it before. This duet is quite good. There’s some beautiful lyrics and music. Both of their voices work together really well also. It took a while to warm up to the song but now, I feel so fantastic whenever I hear it go on on my playlist.

Polar – Curbi

Nothing rings in summer quite like electronic music. My absolute fave in a really long time is this one. I’ve never heard of Curbi before so it was just a random song I was checking out on Spinnin’ Records and what a pleasant surprise. Its energizing and mechanical and its exactly the style that I love.

Unlovely – Jason Mraz

I’ve loved Jason Mraz for a long time. His music is so upbeat and fun and just simply positive. Its what I love to listen to a lot in the summer (and all the time) because its so carefree. And Unlonely seriously gives me some of the vibes from his earlier music that had that really fun vibe like I’m Yours, for example.

The Other Side – Ruelle

Hurricane – Fleurie

Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments TV series is kind of ruling my life of late. I’m all behind the #SaveShadowhunters thing and I feel bad that I never actually watched it when it was airing episode by episode but then I also don’t have TV so I’m not sure how much the Netflix factors in. Either way, with that said, other than a ton of stuff that I love about it and I’ll talk about it in an upcoming TV Binge soon. I can literally run TV Binge posts for 2 weeks straight right now with all the backlog. Anyways, the soundtrack for Shadowhunters is really awesome. I almost did a full Music Obsessions special just for it (might still happen) but for now, lets start with these two songs.

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

Music Obsessions – February 2018

Its February and right in time for the Valentine’s special! So we’re going to do some romantic songs here. Honestly, my past month has been quite reminescent in catching up with Hong Kong pop music from singers that I’ve listened to before. I’ll have some other fun stuff as usual 🙂

Let’s go!

This Girl – Hunter Hayes 

Fun and energetic is what I love about Hunter Hayes’ songs. His love songs are always so positive and its really a nice and happy time to listen to.

真命天子 The One – Sammi Cheng

One of my ultimate favorite singers is Sammi Cheng. To me, she’s quite the queen of 90’s Hong Kong pop music. She is fantastic and within her tons of songs, I remember really love this one because of how happy it is especially when it was the theme of a 20 episode Hong Kong TV series that I really enjoyed a lot. She sings about the feelings of meeting and being with “the one”. I love how she uses heartbeat sounds to start the song.

你的男人 Your Man -Andy Hui

Quite the coincidence that I’ve always recently been listening to Andy Hui and catching up with his music. He also happens to be Sammi Cheng’s husband and their careers started in the 90’s at about the same time and their love story is quite something as they were together for a long time, broke up and then went back together and are married since a few years back. However, this song actually starts at around the 1:30 point as the story here is about a man growing out of his bad habits to be his girlfriend’s man and be able to save up to propose and get married debt-free. Andy Hui sings really  nice love songs and I’ve always been a fan.

最後最後 Last Dance -Fiona Sit

Probably the song that I’ve been listening the most on repeat in this month’s selection and one that is somewhat of a bittersweet story told by this music video about the song Last Dance. I can’t say that Fiona Sit is my favorite singer because she never had this very impressive vocal talents but her music is very catchy especially when one of her breakout songs translated is called Letter to Keanu Reeves and its incredibly cute. I’ve been reminiscing and listening to that one when I saw this song pop up in the recommended and its a newer song but her vocals are really quite good now and the song here is beautiful about the last dance of a couple that broke up over a stupid argument and the guy comes back after a few years for a last dance before he leaves to go back home.

手望 – Hins Cheung & Ivana Wong 

I’ve been a fan of Hins Cheung since the release of his first album. I can’t believe how long its been since he’s been in the business. Time sure does fly by. Before I stopped listening to Cantopop for a while, one of the last songs I listened to a lot was this duet between him and Ivana Wong (who is vouched by Jacky Cheung, who happens to be a king of the industry in 90’s and is one of the best singers ever in my opinion). This song is quite romantic. Unfortunately, there is a pun element to the title so I’m not exactly sure how to translate it. However, their vocals and the tune is just so awesome.

For the additional fun bit:

Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir – Free Dance ‘Moulin Rouge’ Canadian Skating Nationals 2018

I used to watch the Figure Skating Nationals and Olympics and everything all the time with my dad. After he passed, I actually stopped for whatever reason. I saw a post on this on Facebook the other day. Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir are amazing and got a perfect score for this routine. You could feel the beauty in their dance and coordination and it did feel like they were so in sync. It helps that they chose one of my favorite soundtracks, Moulin Rouge, which I listen to all the time.

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

Music Obsessions [November 2017]

Its November!!! Its kind of hard to really acknowledge how fast 2017 has gone by. Perhaps its being busy with all the projects and all the life stuff that just keeps bombarding us. The past month was one that needed a lot of music to get through. Sure, we had vacation so music for the road but also a lot of big decisions and stressful times and frustrating bits. We made it through and I can’t say that music wasn’t a big part of it since its always there for me. The Voice Season 13 finished up their blind auditions and the battles which took a lot of my time as well so maybe we will see some influence here. It always kicks up my desire to sing all the time so I went back to check on some 90s Hong Kong pop since that is how I got into the whole loving to sing.

Let’s check it out!

Live Goes On – Grasshopper 草蜢

Yesterday’s Song – Hunter Hayes

Evolution of Boy Bands – Kurt Hugo Schneider ft Sam Tsui & Michael Constantino

Freeze Time – Jonathan Roy x Deepend

誰明浪子心 (Who Understands a Drifter’s Heart) – Dave Wong

A nice mix of some upbeat music and some Hong Kong pop from old and new. I just realized as I was compiling this that I was listening to a lot of songs on repeat so it was pretty  hard to narrow it all down. Here are the ones that has been playing the most on repeat. There’s not really much to say. The other stuff on my Youtube playlist are some of The Voice battles.

Happy Sunday!
What have you been listening to?

Can I have a break now?

I’ve written and deleted and rewritten this post.  As some of you might have notice (if you didn’t, its ok also), I almost wanted to skip it but then I figured on December 1st will be my announcement and updates so I figured, I’d get it over with.

Just a warning: its something of a rant partially with a positive twist (hopefully) to help ease some meli-melo (whats that word in english? mishmash) of feelings.

So! I’ve been feeling things are getting out of hand and ridiculous especially in the health department.  Remember in the end of September I posted THIS? Ah, that fantastic 20 minutes as a one-eyed pirate….well, check this out!

Revisited

Yup, thats right! I had to go to the ophthalmologist again and he had to make two incisions! I tell you, that needle doesn’t any less scary or painful. Plus the anaesthesia had pretty much gone at the second incision and every bit of it, I felt it!  It was quite the experience to not move while in pain.  Excuse my teary eyes in the picture, the anaesthesia was completely gone by the time I got home so every facial expression hurt like mad. So, lets skip the details on that, the diagnosis is that I need to see a dermatologist.  Luckily, they had an opening the Monday after.

My lovely antibiotics!

My dermatologist was super detailed and prescribed me a whole month of antibiotics. More? I think I’ve been on all of them this year with my ear infection in the summer, then eye antibiotics for the eye thing and then now my skin.  So, I’m back to my whole bad skin problem that I thought I had left behind in college.  Now, I’m back on my face wash and a daily moisturiser.  After this month, I already have some topical gel to help.  All I can do now is laugh, right? It’ll get better…soon…just gotta be patient!

In the meantime, I’m heading into some huge changes in life or preparing for it.  So my mind and time is spread pretty thin between that (which I’ll talk about it when the time is right) and writing my novel.  I don’t know how I’ll crank out another 12,000 words but its going to happen for Saturday at midnight.  Somehow, word sprints aren’t all too effective. Plus, my story took a lot of unexpected turns and now its not really quite what I imagined it to be so we’re back to the spontaneous stage.  My characters are pretty flawed and yesterday, it just hit me how I should’ve approached it in a different way, so I’m doing the last bit in this new way.  The first part will be when I do an edit and more edit.  Goal now is to finish and move on, brush away the proofreader and critic in me.  Its moving along though…it’ll get there. Need to keep that confidence there!

As I wrote when I pinned this, so true but so hard to do!

As for the changes, when its done, I’m sure it’ll be great.  For now, its just a tad on the stressful side! I’ll be happy when December hits and things clear up.  Whats nice is that this slowing down on the blog recharged me a bit and I’ve figured a bit how I want this blog to go.  I’ll talk about that in my updates this weekend 🙂 I promise that I’ll ask for all of your opinions to help me out, so remember to check back for that!

You know how things always have a way of balancing itself, even just a little.  I believe in letting that little good thing make my day so here we go. I came home to a little surprise gift earlier last week..

Minion USB key!

And then there was one of the orchids blooming.  Its super beautiful…not exactly here because the plant is actually not feeling too well.  My mom is treating it.

Orchid

Do you know the name of this orchid in English? I only know its name in Chinese.  Maybe one of you can help me out 🙂

I’m telling you right now that 2013 is kicking me in the @$$ big time and I’m hoping 2014 drops by soon and that it will be better? My positivity need a slight bit of recharge.  Especially with some not so great news coming from my family front.  I’ve been a frequent patient at clinics and a visitor of hospitals for loved ones.  Its at this point I go: COME ON! GIVE ME A BREAK!

Then I get my little ball of comfort who has been cuddling with me a lot more

And then I remember this!

I think I managed to bring some positivity.  My go-to has been to pump up the music and just sing at the top of my lungs and then do my push-ups and crunches to pump up my energy.  Its a good strategy 🙂

I seriously love it when David at Lead. Learn. Live posts these because hey, you know what, that describes me.  I knew there was a word for it: melomanie 🙂

On that note, I’m going to leave you with some music that I’ve been listening to on repeat.  By the way, Hunter Hayes‘ I Want Crazy is still on repeat for me but this is just additional one!

Who doesn’t some The Fray? I know I do!

And just a little bonus as I was putting this up, my absolute fave, Hong Kong singer, composer, actor and young entrepreneur (my idol) Nicholas Tse came out with the music video fro his new song for a new movie in collaboration with 24 Herbs.  You might know 24 Herbs from their involvement in the soundtrack for the video game Sleeping Dogs.

Its a pretty meaningful song.  And the movie looks pretty outstanding as well. The chorus translates something like this:

How can you pretend that you are so great? I want to scream. Humans are arrogant to think they rule the earth, Trying to destroy it more every day. How can you pretend that you are so great? I going to stand up for it. Silence will cause the future to deteriorate. Keep your position, Love is the strongest!

That probably makes no sense but thats my best shot at the translation.  Its a bit hard to translate certain terms because they don’t exactly exist in English. If you want me to translate the rap, comment below and I’ll give that my best shot 🙂 Pretty much the message is to not be selfish, protect the planet and stop being ignorant of the disaster around us.

I promise a more relaxing post later today,k? I finished this sometime last night after a few hours of putting this together on and off between writing!

Fellow Wrimos, Keep it up! We can do it! 🙂

Hopefully this wasn’t too depressing. I tried to be positive. Remember, announcements and updates on Sunday 🙂

Happy Friday and stay positive! Stay healthy! Hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving and if you go out for the Black Friday sales, best of luck to you in grabbing everything you need!