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 – October 2021

Welcome to this month’s music obsessions! The past month has been quite interesting. Looking back, there hasn’t been a lot of new music that I’ve discovered since I’ve been watching a lot of variety shows and stand-up comedy shows. However, fret not, just enough fun music to share this time around! As usual, some fun extras from variety show Singing With Legends at the end.

Let’s go!

不超级的马里奥 Mario Is Not A Superman – Ma Ye 马也

I love funky music like this that plays on video games or other pop culture stuff in their own twist. The whole song has some really fun lyrics about how Mario isn’t super in his pursuit for Princess Peach and whatnot which breaks the norm and its fairly entertaining over with its rhythm and music.

你不適合兩個人 You Aren’t Suitable for Two People – Sunnee 楊芸晴

While I never followed Rocket Girls 101 much, I actually do like Sunnee a lot whether its from her appearances in variety shows or her performance ability. I’ve been going back to listen to some of her singles and they all are pretty good. This is her latest single (I think) and while the music video has some awkward overacting, the song itself is pretty good. The whole thing is pretty simple but somehow Sunnee’s voice is one that I find so soothing to listen to.

違背的青春 Against Youth – Joker Xue 薛之謙

I don’t really actively follow Joker Xue’s music normally but whenever his music pops up wherever I always end up searching up the music since his voice is very unique mostly for how he sings. This time its from the new season of Singing With Legends where he performs this song. The performance itself is also pretty good (even if something funny happens) but there’s nothing better than sharing the original so here we go! Its also a different song from previous songs that I’ve shared before of Joker Xue’s songs as its not about love but more about youth and life itself.

不良少年 High School Punk- Lil Ghost小鬼王琳凯

I’ve shared a good few Lil Ghost’s songs at this point. Its pretty nice to see that as he develops his music career, he has proved that he is a great rapper and hip hop artist but also equally capable in other styles of music. The last few songs that he’s released has broken away from the usual hip hop style from when he started and has changed slowly but its always very upbeat and fun songs.

Pull Up- Panthepack

Panthepack has definitely been releasing their song’s very regularly now. The last few weeks had a few new releases. Jackson Wang creating this hip hop group really is quite interesting especially after I recognized the other three artists. One of them being more familiar as he was a mentor in Listen Up Season 1. Either way, their songs and music videos have pretty decent budget behind it and really good production value. I do like this one a lot as it does feature a lot of different hip hop artists from the Chinese entertainment industry in the video. Plus, its super upbeat and full of positive and happy vibes. Its like the joy of having fun with friends. Good times overall.

Extras from Variety Show “Singing With Legends Season 3”

I absolutely love the Chinese variety show Singing with Legends. At Season 3, this season has some of my favorite singers gathered together so suffice to say, I can’t give up a chance to share some of George Lam’s duets. Both songs are basically Hong Kong classics. The favorite is a mesh of Danny Chan’s song with a little snippet from Rod Stewart’s Sailing. Its a great new rendition.

The second is from their performance after the group’s have been formed in A Team for George Lam and Fox Hu. George Lam is one of my favorite singers even if I don’t listen all time. This song of his is one of my easily Top 5 favorite songs ever. This rendition definitely didn’t disappoint. Its hard to imagine that George Lam is 74 years old and still sings so incredibly good.

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

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 – January 2021

The first Music Obsessions of 2021! I do say that I had a few hard choices to make between what I was listening to more since there was some fun music this past month. Let’s check it out!

Ready Now – Lil Ghost

Out of ex-boy group Nine Percent, I do say that Lil Ghost was the one that has grown a lot in how I view his talent over the years after he left boy group competition Idol Producer. Lil Ghost Linkai Wang does have some good skills and some great producing skills and lyricist. His songs in the past while has really shown off a variety of styles and for him, Ready Now was one that I had dismissed when it first came out but lately, its one that I’ve enjoyed quite a bit especially with the ending bit where there’s a contrast of him whispering the lyrics.

Should’ve Let Go過 – Jackson Wang 王嘉爾 & 林俊傑 JJ Lin

Who doesn’t want to collaborate with JJ Lin, right? Being a similar type of artist, Jackson Wang’s voice blends really well with JJ Lin’s voice. Its actually quite rare to see two men in a duet but somehow there is a different feeling of two men reflecting on their past love life that seems to work. This one is very relaxing to listen to.

仲夏满天心 Midsummer Full of Love – Yisa Yu 郁可唯
(“Midsummer Full of Love” Main Theme)

Midsummer Full of Love is a series that took me by surprise. It ended up being a lot better than I had expected and the soundtrack was also pretty good. The main theme here is sang by Yisa Yu who I personally love. She has this fantastic voice that works with so many genres plus some songs really show that control she has over how she sings. Sure, she’s had better songs than this one but seeing as I just finished binging this one over the holidays, this song has been one that I’ve been listening to a lot.

Di Da Di – Coco Lee

Coco Lee and Lil Ghost ends up on the list for their duet on Our Song 2. These two pair-up with some great end-results. Coco Lee’s blend of this song and Lil Ghost’s Ready Now is one of my faves and I’ll add that at the bottom as a bonus however, this did lead me to listen to Di Da Di which is a fantastic song. Coco Lee is definitely a wonderful singer that I sometimes forget about but nothing like a singing show to remind us of how great she is.

U – Jasper Liu

Compared to a lot of people, Jasper Liu is fairly new to me. I’ve only seen him in Twogether (review) before and haven’t gotten around to watching the 2 series available on Netflix of his. Its mostly because he showed up on the Taiwan series scene after I stopped watching it. Lately, he’s been popping on my radar especially since he used this song as his intro for this new Chinese variety show, When We Write Love Story. He does have a good voice and the song is pretty lighthearted and fun.

BONUS:
Di Da Di + Ready Now Medley (Our Song S2 performance) – Coco Lee & Lil Ghost

This is the song that I’ve been listening to the most. Top 5 song of this year’s Our Song for sure. The blend of the two songs brings out the essence of both. Its so much fun to listen to and the “chemistry” between the two is best shown in this performance.

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

Music Obsessions – April 2020

April is upon us! 2020 is going by crazy fast and spring is already here! The world’s a bit crazy right now but its why music is so important! At least for myself, I have coincidentally been watching a lot of music-related variety shows, making this Music Obsessions a little more padded than normal. I just can’t choose and really want to share it all! Its different music genres and a little slow and a little fast as well to give it a little balance. Hopefully you will like it!

GOOD NIGHT – Lil Ghost 小鬼

We start off with something fun and light. Lil Ghost (Linkai Wang) previously a member of Nine Percent, released this song back in 2018 however, I only caught this because of variety show Our Song. Lil Ghost is one of the most talented young rappers in the Chinese music landscape that really has a lot of potential and while I might not have seen it so much in Idol Producer, the many variety shows that he’s been in really shows off his personality as well as his talent. At least on-screen, he brings a lot of positive vibes and that’s really great.

Half Moon Serenade 月半小夜曲 – Hacken Lee 李克勤 & Charlie Zhou 周深 (“Our Song” performance)

Hacken Lee and Charlie Zhou’s every single performance in Our Song was all my favorite so it all comes down to which song I love personally a lot and my favorite song of Hacken Lee (definitely in top 5 singles) goes to Half Moon Serenade and they do a fantastic job here. Its how their voices play off each other really well and also how they manage to pair together so well.

Remaining Years 餘年 – Sean Xiao 肖戰

Sean Xiao has been through a rather ridiculous situation in my opinion early in March, right when I started checking out his stuff, peaked by interest after Who’s The Murderer and then his stellar performances in Our Song and my interest in checking out The Untamed eventually (but haven’t yet). I ended up finding this song that I’ve put on repeat a whole lot. He is a very talented singer who started out in a boy group XNINE but ended up pursuing an acting career nowadays but he still has really good voice. Remaining Years is a song in last year’s series Joy of Life (that I also didn’t see but my mom is currently watching) and its really the song and how it sounds that I find has a hard element to learn how to sing.

The Younger Me 少年 – Wakin Chau 周華健

Wakin Chau is more like my parents music but I grew up as a little girl listening to him and knowing a lot of his song in the 80s and 90s. So many memory songs and he has a unique voice that you can just recognize right away. His latest album took him years to put together and the lyrics here (while not written by him) is incredibly meaningful and kind of grabs me everytime. I’ll translate the Chorus and ending verse:

Some people we don’t see again, Some dreams have been forgotten
I sing every song to keep the happiness
Some roads are hard to walk, Some pains take a lifetime to heal
I can still smile and live

Sometimes its too late to settle, The years have passed before your soul
Fortunately there is a little faith, Accompanying us to go through everyday
Don’t forget your heart’s younger self, The wild and brave younger self at the start

100 Ways – Jackson Wang

Adding an English song to the mix! Jackson Wang makes some pretty fantastic music videos. While I can’t say that I love a lot of his music, mostly because I’m pretty picky with his style of music. However, 100 Ways is definitely my fave so far and the one that I’ve replayed the most. Its upbeat and fun. The lyrics is a tad repetitive but the whole song’s rhythm and beat just works so catchy!

我说了算(I Have the Final Say) – Nicholas Tse, Jam Hsiao & Karry Wang
(Me to Us performance)

Me to Us is a great variety show that has really only started. Putting together Nicholas Tse, Jam Hsiao and Karry Wang, the former two who I know more than the latter. Nicholas Tse wrote this song for the first performance of Me To Us as they all sing it together. Its just all kinds of awesome. I can’t fangirl over the fact that I just thought back that its been 20 years that I’ve been a fan of Nicholas Tse and his performance is every bit as fantastic now than when I first heard his songs in 2000 (maybe even 1999). Not to mention, this song is so fun and powerfully rock!

When I Met You當遇見你  – Yuning Liu 劉宇寧
(Ending Theme “Skate Into Love”)

I kind of debated whether to put this here since I might end up using this video as a part of the TV binge when I finish Skate Into Love but you know what, I truly have been lately the most obsessed with this one. I have shared a few of Yuning Liu’s songs before and this one is also really cute and romantic and fits this series a lot. There’s some great singing going on here from Yuning Liu as well.

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

Music Obsessions – July 2019

We’re at the next Music Obsessions! Passing the halfway point and its been a fun month of discovering a lot of new music and whatnot, mostly inspired by the variety shows and TV series that I’m watching. There’s quite the mix here from rap to pop to boy groups to upbeat and fun. Hopefully you will have fun and discover something new!

Let’s check it out!

別叫我達芬奇 Don’t Call Me Da Vinci – Lil Ghost 小鬼

Kicking off one of the members of Nine Percent’s single that came out in April (I think). Because of Beautiful Youth, I had a new appreciation for his talent since he didn’t quite appeal to me when I was watching Idol Producer. While I’m not exactly into his rap style, I like this one a lot. Its been on my mind a lot and its very catchy. Not to mention, after watching Beautiful Youth, I like his personality so I’m looking forward to see what other music he comes up with.

3201公里 3021 Miles- 费启鸣 Qiming Fei

Talking about Beautiful Youth, this is one of the songs for the show sang by one of the members. Ever since watching Lipstick Prince, QiMing Fei has been on my radar. He has a really nice voice except he hasn’t quite had a lot of original work yet. He does mostly covers but this one is an original song and its really nice. The perfect road trip song, I’d say.

Rule Breaker – Nine Percent

Because of Idol Producer and Beautiful Youth, its without question that they have some link to the Nine Percent music and showcase a few of their songs. In the process, I discovered this one which I like quite a bit. Its upbeat and highlights on all of their strengths as both dancers and singers and rappers. So far, I’d have to say that this group is pretty well-rounded talent as one of the groups to come out of these boy band training camps/competition although I’m not sure the concept behind why the group disbands after a certain time frame (which is in October of this year, I think).

R1SE – R1SE
(MIB: International Promo Song for China)

The most recent group to come out of these training competition things is R1SE from Produce Camp. I was a tad skeptical about this show at the beginning but I’m going to admit that while I think a few of the members have some training to be more well-rounded in their skills, there are some that are quite impressive. Plus, they do have the attitude for it. They’ve only been a group for a little while and have this one song which is being used as the China promotional song for MIB International, which you can’t expect anything less when you have Tencent being the production unit for the show in the first place. Still, its an upbeat song with some badass-ness to it.

Let’s Shut Up & Dance – Jason DeRulo, Lay Zhang, NCT 127

Man, it seems Idol Producer has really gotten into me lately. The host of Idol Producer is Lay Zhang and he was at the MET gala lately and after some more research, he was actually in a collaboration with Jason DeRulo and and such. Its pretty awesome because he’s very talented, especially in the dancing area. Plus, his songs are always a ton of fun and really catchy like Sheep and Namanana. His latest song is Honey which I like but still getting into it.

That’s it for this Music Obsessions!
I have a lot of new music so I bumped some of it to the next round-up (since I’m sure music is the lesser priority in the coming month).
What have you been listening to lately?