Music Obsessions – December 2019

Its time for the final normal music obsessions for 2019! Its crazy, right? This one will not be Christmas-focused but it will have one with a special nearer to the holidays for some light-hearted and fun content. With that said, November was pretty crazy but I did find some fun music that I found almost all spontaneously during TV shows or TV drama.

Let’s check it out!

You Calling My Name – GOT7

I don’t listen to a lot of Kpop in general but I’m a big fan of Jackson Wang and he’s part of GOT7 which is why I ended up finding this one on Youtube when it first released. Its a really catchy tune and the video is pretty fun. The song is pretty good plus GOT7 has a good style to their voices and such. I’m definitely going to be looking up more of their songs.

大好事 (Great Thing)- 張洢豪 YiHao Zhang

I finished watching Wait, My Youth TV drama in November and it was so much fun! The soundtrack also was really good and it came down to deciding which of the three songs that I had in my playlist from the series that I wanted to share in this one and I came down to this one which is an original song and one that is more happy and positive, because who doesn’t like fun songs, right?

He Doesn’t Understand 他不懂 – Jason Zhang 張傑

I know that Jason Zhang for a while and I only really listened to his English single, Perfume earlier this year. Recently, I heard another one of his songs in Mandarin translated to be He Doesn’t Understand. I has really good lyrics and he has a pretty nice voice. Its one that has been on repeat on my playlist recently.

 錯過 (Missed) – 梁詠琪 Gigi Leung

Going back to a rather older song as I dive back into some Gigi Leung music. Gigi Leung is a singer that I’ve liked since I first started to like singing and music and all in high school so her music has followed me for a while. I’ve actually never heard of this one but still so great. Her voice works very well in this kind of slower music, not to mention, I actually like the lyrics also for this one.

WYTB – NEXT

The most recent song released on this list goes to WYTB by NEXT which was just released a week or so ago. After Nine Percent disbanded, NEXT carries a good portion of the members there. Oddly, Adam Fan isn’t part of this song, making me wonder whether he is still part of the group, although nothing says otherwise. Still, this one really does deliver as a few of these members are singers from Idol Producer that I really did like a lot. NEXT is always full of upbeat music every time I listen to them so always looking forward to their stuff even if they literally just got together this year. So lots of space to grow and release new content in the future.

That’s it for this Music Obsessions!
A mix of upbeat and energetic music and slow ballad type songs this time around!
This wraps up the year for Music Obsessions, at least the normal segment.

Look out for a Christmas themed one the week before the holidays!

Music Obsession: November 2019

 

Its hard to imagine that I survived the crazy that was October and in a blur, we have arrived in November. Surprisingly, I find some really fun music to get through all of the crazy which is great because music is what keeps me alive in my downtime. I’m just going to jump right in. Some of this was found through some of the little events I went to during the past month, others are just randomly in Youtube when I had time to peruse my subscribed channels.

Let’s check it out!

Flip – Theo 朱正廷

Its no surprise that out of the nine members of Nine Percent, well, the ex-Nine Percent now, my favorite member ever since the Idol Producer show is Theo. He is a fantastic dancer and even when I watched him in the different variety and reality shows, he just has a great personality, so I’m happy to see him finally coming out with his own EP.

Senkyaku Banrai 千客万来 – Daoko & Miyavi (‘Diner’ Main Theme)

I watched Diner during Festival du Nouveau Cinema. You can find the review HERE. Its one of my top 5 films of the festival which pretty much tops the movies and a part of its style has to go to its great soundtrack. While I couldn’t find a ton of the music, I did find its main theme and its very awesome music video. The video is full of energy and a fantastic bridge part that just elevates the entire song even more. Its great!

Bomba – UNINE

As Nine Percent disbands to their separate path, 2019’s group to come out is UNINE from Season 2 of Idol Producer. While I didn’t finish the show and now its locked for iQiyi subscribers only (which I’ll get back to eventually), UNINE is a group that I’m seeing their members show up in different reality and variety shows lately so I looked a little more into their music. I can’t say that I think the members are as talented as Nine Percent but UNINE does have a nice balance of talent and Bomba is a pretty fun song while I was looking up their songs. Plus, they are just a few months old as a group so they still have time to put out more stuff.

Call of Heroes 危城 – Shin 信

We are going back a few years now to 2017 as I rediscover this song which I’ve never actually added onto my Favorite playlist on Youtube. Shin is a really great singer and as I watch him and his daughter in the Chinese variety show When I Grow Up currently, its actually made me want to revisit his music as he is incredibly talented. One of my favorite songs from him, other than the song that put him on the map, is this one.  A lot of high energy music this time but I’ve always been a fan of songs with the traditional Chinese music sort of flair mixed into it.

帥到分手 –周湯豪 Nick Chou

So..I fell out of the Taiwanese music scene for a while and as I start diving back in to catch up TV series and movies and such, I’m also obviously getting back to music and the most random find which just appeared on my Youtube suggestions was this song. Don’t know this singer, never heard of this song but it looked fun so I checked it out and its been just playing on repeat. I do have to say that some angles of him looks like Jackson Wang and his style reminds a lot of Alan Kuo. Apparently, I’ve missed some good stuff. I’m not sure if its the lyrics or the tune or the energy but its really good and once I catch up with some other stuff, I’ll be going back to hunt down more of Nick Chou’s songs.

都是你害的 All You Did – 畢書盡 Bii

In the whole Taiwanese drama catch-up phase and after a really fun conversation with my good friend visiting from out of town, I ended up FINALLY starting up Bromance which made me want to rediscover Bii who plays a supporting role in the drama. Bii actually is a pretty decent actor but he is a phenomenal singer. He writes his own songs and you can see the growth he has had from the first time that I listened to his music to now, which I have a pick of his for next month probably.

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

Music Obsessions – October 2019

A month sure flies by as we get to October! There’s been a decent amount of music that I’ve liked and discovered and its going to be a longer list than usual. Its all some fun songs and a nice mix of different genres so hopefully you’ll find something that you like as well!

See You In My Dream 偷偷看你 – Jeric 陳傑瑞

I’m a crazy person with ridiculously bad attention span so Love is Deep only has 4 episodes and I never got around to finishing it (got to add that back to my to-do list). That aside, they did have a midway change in their theme song in the second half to this very adorable song that caught my ears at the first line of lyrics and the fun tune. The lyrics translated: There’s Tow kinds of love, you’re either a cat or a dog, you’re born the sticky-type or proud and need little attention.” So freakin’ adorable, right? Turns out after I saw this video that the singer Jeric actually had a small role here that appeared in a few episodes.

If Only – AMei 張惠妹 & Qiyuan Zheng & Pan Dong

I’ve taken a little break from Super Vocal 2 to let it pile up a few more episodes and I’m not a huge fan of the Mango TV app as it also casts really poorly on Chromecast so this song is from a few episodes ago. This song was originally a collaboration between AMei Zhang and Andrea Bocelli. They changed into a trio and then added in some dialogue and whatnot. People say that Qiyuan Zheng has bad English and breaks the song but I love his voice and it just melts me regardless of whatever accent. If Only is my go-to song this past month whenever I’m under huge stress or not feeling too positive. Love it so much!

Love You 3000 愛你 3000 – Will Pan 潘瑋柏 (feat. 黃旭Boom & 肖恩恩Sean T)

Will Pan has vanished a few years from the scene (at least it feels that way) and its pretty nice to see him coming back. He was always known for his super fun upbeat songs. This time, he collaborates with Boom and Sean T (people that I’ve never heard of) and the style here is pretty nice. Its very smooth and fun.

Won’t Cry 說好不哭 – Jay Chou 周杰倫 & Mayday Ashin 五月天阿信

Trending #1 on Youtube INTERNATIONALLY, if you were on Youtube for the week of this song’s release, you might have seen it on the front page of your feed. I couldn’t be happier to see Jay Chou and Mayday’s Ashin’s collab have better success than that. They are two of my favorite singers and this song is really awesome. The music video is done really well also. I say it all the time. Everyone has their dominating domain, in Jay Chou’s case, music, singer and music production is where he is at his best!

前程似錦 – 陳立農 Leo Chen ＆李現 Xian Li

I never knew that movies did songs to celebrate the end of the filming but this might be the first time and its for this upcoming movie with Xian Li and Leo Chen (when this post releases, he will be now called ex-Nine Percent member as their contract for the group ended in early October…sadly). Either way, the song is happy and fun and has some nice snippets of their filming process that is great adveristing because now I can’t wait for the film’s release, so maybe eventually get to see it here. Two of Xian Li’s works (Love O2O: The Movie & Tientsin Mystic) has been on Netflix so I’m crossing my fingers that Netflix will pick this one up also.

No Accidents 沒有意外 – KUN 蔡徐坤

Its probably no coincidence that a few of the Nine Percent members have been showing up more frequently with new projects of late. No Accident has been out for a while but Kun promoted it recently on Happy Camp as a new song on his album. I don’t follow Kun a lot as his singles before didn’t quite work for me but this one though, definitely does. He could work a little on the falsetto more but overall, this is a nice song. He did the lyrics for this one and its written pretty well actually, which shouldn’t be a surprise since during Idol Producer, he did show some production skills also.

Soldier at War – Ben Wiggins (from Anna and the Apocalypse)

I’m going to be lying if a lot of music from Anna and the Apocalypse isn’t topping my play list right now. In the heart of what I could find on YouTube and the Halloween month going on right now, here’s one with zombies performed by Ben Wiggins called Soldier At War and happens to be one of the songs that I like quite a lot.

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

Music Obsessions – January 2019

2019 is here! A new background for the banner of this segment as well. I think it matches well for it and adds a little change. I shared a lot of music last month for Christmas and for normal stuff. We are continuing on now into January. I’m going to be honest that my listening habits haven’t really changed much. I’m still very much into the An Oriental Odyssey soundtrack with a few other songs that I’ve found here and there.

Aside from that, I posted on Instagram that I did cleaning and dug out all my music albums and found all my Nicholas Tse albums, which is quite numerous so I’ve been going through the albums again. I’ll share some of the music for next Music Obsessions.

Its a more balanced mix this time around between Chinese music and other stuff. Let’s check it out!

有點甜 – 汪蘇瀧

I first heard this song in Love O2O and its a catchy and cute song. It reminded me a lot of this year’s Learn to Meow that I had shared a few months ago. This one might actually be a little more cute especially since the lyrics are very sweet. Match the title of the song which translates to “A Little Sweet”.

叹相思-阿兰
(An Oriental Odyssey Ending Theme)

I’m still getting over An Oriental Odyssey ending and slowly rewatching it but then I’m focusing my efforts on a lot of backlog thats been so long that I need to rewatch to be able to write about. However, its soundtrack is just so fantastic that I keep listening to it. My last two weeks have been a true obsession with listening to the ending theme (as well as the opening theme since I love that one the most and shared it last month). It has a very oriental feeling with some traditional music bits to it.

Wait Another Day – Mike Williams x Mesto

Mike Williams has been fire this year. He has dropped a lot of music that I’ve liked a lot in 2018. Most of them end up in my faves. I liked it before but I feel like he is really finding his space and getting better at making some very coherent music, at least matches my tastes in electronic music.

No.23 Paris 巴黎23号 – Yoja Jiang 蒋瑶佳

One of the guests that landed on The Inn, which I’m currently watching was Yoja Jiang who talked about her struggles as a musician. Because of that I started looking up her music and found this single. I love her style of music and the way she sings. It is unique to her and I guess that is why it might be harder to yield a fanbase. Either way, this one has been playing on repeat for a while. I like the rhythm and the lyrics quite a bit.

Don’t Sleep – Chromeo (feat. French Montana & Stefflon Don)

Its been a while since I’ve listened to Chromeo. They had some huge hits and then kind of fell of my map at least for a while. I’m not sure how I found this one, maybe through looking at other music or listening to their previous hit on the radio or something and went looking for some new stuff. Chromeo has a very unique style, a little nostalgic and slightly funky. I like this one quite a bit.

That’s it for January 2019 Music Obsessions!
What have you been listening to?

Music Obsessions – October 2018

Its October already! Halloween marathon is upon us but I’m sorry, this isn’t going to be a Halloween themed post. Before we jump back to horror content, we’re going to listen to some songs that have caught my ears this past month. As some of you know by now (even if the TV binge might not be up yet), I had quite the adventure watching the new Meteor Garden. I got sucked into this black hole where a minimum amount of work got done until I cut myself off after a few days of watching it and it invading every moment of my life. Doesn’t help the focusing for work part. Anyways, I went on a little journey to explore the Chinese TV series scene and especially the cast in this Meteor Garden and landed on some variety shows and that just opened up a lot of other stuff which leads to this very much Meteor Garden and Tangents focus!

The Love You Want (Midnight Version) – Penny Dai

One of the things about Meteor Garden in this modernized reboot is that it changes around the original soundtrack. A few of the songs at least. This one is my favorite song from Meteor Garden, in 2001 and this Midnight Version might just top that one so much. Its so relaxing to listen to and it just gets all the feels. Try 49 episodes worth of it. I tell you, this one choked me up sometimes in the different stuff with some of the other episodes. And well, the video is just one of the episodes that just murdered my tear ducts and I cried like 2 episodes in a row. Suffice to say, its got all the feels.

I Don’t Even Think About It – Dylan Wang

Dylan Wang isn’t exactly a great singer. In some shows, he admits that and that is part of the charm of him. His style and boyish charm is what makes him stand out in Meteor Garden and I think this charm shows off the style he has where he can pull off this rock sort of style while he actually is best when he raps. I’ll probably share some of that eventually, but not this time.

Never Thought Of – Dylan Wang, Guan Hong, Connor Leong, Caesar Wu (new F4)

Final choice is something like a theme song or one of them sang by this new F4 made up by Dylan Wang, Guan Hong (aka Darren Chen), Caesar Wu and Connor Leong. I won’t put too many of them as it does reveal a lot of the main plot lines and I kind of want to get more people to watch this if its something that is in your interests.

So moving onto my educating myself of these 4 young actors and landing on some cool variety shows and finding some new songs that has been my absolute obsessions.

Welcome to my Small Small World – Happy Camp hosts with guests F4 & others

I don’t follow Chinese variety shows much. I did start watching the Hunan Channel for the Come Sing With Me show but because of the whole F4 understanding these young actors, I ended up discovering Happy Camp and boy, is it a fun show! I love it so much! This is a segment this summer that ended after a series of episodes themed for a concert. This is one of the songs that came out of it and I just love how fun it is.

Sincerely Yours – A Si feat. Yoga Lin

Because of the above episode and thanks to an incredible job sang by Connor Leong, I discovered this song called Sincerely Yours which is in line for probably my favorite song this year. Its so awesome. The singing, the lyrics and the tune all works so well together.

Can you tell that while I’m a big fan of the F4? I see a different path for each of them and there’s something about Connor Leong’s very boyish charm and like the boy next door style that makes him so fun to watch, especially when he is on the show a lot too. He was part of writing this song with this lovely girl and this song is incredible. I spent a few days learning how to sing it because it takes some time to nail the lyrics.

Learn to Meow – Xiao Panpan & Xiao Fengfeng

Well, also from the Happy Camp episode mentioned before, Dylan Wang completely lost the tune in the most adorable way and sang this song, Learn to Meow. I might not be down for listening to a messed up version from Dylan Wang but the actual version is cute as heck. They have a little adorable movement/dance sequence. If some of you don’t know, I love cats and actually I act like a cat a lot when I’m around the house, like random meowing and imitating my cat and stuff. Its a little ridiculous but my husband calls me “Kitty” so that doesn’t help. Which makes this song kind of everything me, even the lyrics nail some of my personality. Guess why this made it on the list and why I sing and listen to this one a lot too.

That’s it for this month’s Music Obsessions!
I can guarantee these songs are still playing on for the next month.

How about you? What have you been listening to?