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 – June 2021

The next Music Obsessions is here! The past month has been a little all over the place but there was some decent music overall. I’d say there’s a good mix of music this time around and a few are theme songs from recent movies and TV. Let’s go!

No Regrets 不遺憾 – 李榮浩 Ronghao Li

No Regrets is a theme song for a recently released film called My Love based on Korean film On Your Wedding Day. I’ve recently been listening to more of Ronghao Li as he has some really good music and writes pretty decent music and lyrics. This one is pretty nice in terms of lyrics and song.

It’s Love 是爱 – 何洛洛Luoluo He/張凌赫Linghe Zhang/顏安 An Yan/常斌Bin Chang
(Love Crossed – Ending Theme)

Okay…so I have to admit that I added this mostly because I’ve been absolutely in love with this series. It has a pretty unique premise and even for having some fairly new young cast, the acting is decent. It definitely feels like there’s some deliberate overacting for the “villain” character to create subtle comedy. I’ll talk about the series in a TV binge when its done. However, this song is the ending theme for Love Crossed. I have to also admit that I’ve been rooting for He Luoluo since his first appearance in Produce Camp 2019 and then in R1SE so its nice to see him expanding to TV and then using his singing and dancing abilities for this song. As a side note, I honestly feel like Youhug Media is trying to create the new “F4” using these guys called the Y4 in the series, especially with R1SE disbanding soon, it would make sense to get another boy group for He Luoluo. If you don’t know what F4 is, its a Meteor Garden reference.

這世界那麼多人 Empty World – Karen Mok 莫文蔚

Karen Mok is one of my absolute favorite singers. She has such a unique voice so I’m always excited when she releases a new song. This time its a song for a recently released Chinese film Love Will Tear Us Apart. I honestly think the movie sounds like pretty familiar Chinese romantic dramas and its with the guy in The Wandering Earth so maybe it’ll land on Netflix at some point. Its all speculation of course and if this becomes available online then I’ll check it out (which is hard since Chinese films are super hard to find and the minority filter through to international platforms. Either way, point is, this song has amazing lyrics that really hit me in the feels: “This world has so many people, so lucky that I have a us”.

好想好想你 Missing You – G.E.M.鄧紫棋

G.E.M. has been making frequent appearances on my music obsessions now. She’s been making some good music that I’ve really enjoyed plus the music videos has such decent production value as well. This one is a pretty simple song. No fancy techniques or whatnot but its such a comfortable song to listen to that I can’t but to play it repeat.

It’s OK To Be Sad – Janice Vidal 衛蘭

The latest song that’s been playing on repeat for myself that really hit me quite hard is this amazing and meaningful song. I think the title says it all and actually reminds me a lot of how I’m feeling sometimes. It doesn’t have translation for the song but I think if you watch through the music video itself, you will get a good idea of what its about and then by the time you get to the English lyrics at the end, then that’s pretty much where it hits the hardest. You can see below:

It’s okay to be sad
It’s okay to lose your mind
Life is not a childhood fantasy
Sometimes it appears to have no mercy
You may wanna pretend
But the way you laugh
Is a tragedy
It’s okay to be sad
It’s okay to lose your mind
When life brings the darkest misery
Let it be your strongest energy

彼方世界 -R1SE
(Dance Practice Version)

As R1SE is disbanding in a month or so, it seems fitting to share some of their music from the farewell album. For myself, its one of the groups that I watched this group debut from start to end from the Produce Camp 2019 so to me, this group has been quite a standout group whether its the music that they put out to even how the individuals has also spread out to participate in other things (music, variety shows, TV series, etc). They’ve had their own hardships especially with the pandemic cutting in between their limited time group, still, there is no doubt that this group is pretty good in terms of their dancing abilities and music production skills. They are fairly well-rounded. Its a pity that they have to end and I almost thought that they would get an extension but then they’ve also had a fair bit of bad publicity for some of the members from what I’ve skimmed here and there, but then that seems like the general trend nowadays for any idols that debut or want to debut. As for this song, I think its pretty good plus the dance is very well done and actually the dance transitions spell out each of the members first letter of their name which is pretty creative. Consider this a little bit of an extra!

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

Music Obsessions- July 2020

Welcome to the next Music Obsessions! We’re in a new month and as things seem to be heading in a better direction, music that I’ve has been fairly fun and matching the season to build up some nice energy!

Timelapse – Corsak

I can’t remember if I used Corsak’s song last month but this one was changed up to a band format in Chinese variety show Me To Us and it was so good that I had to hunt down the original. Its a very motivating song with a rather good message about growing up and dreams and such. Its been quite impressive to catch up with his music and definitely feel like he has some great potential to get bigger as he is a well-rounded musician. I’m definitely looking forward to see more of his music..actually…you’ll be seeing another selection of his later this post 😉

Ice Cream – ZTao

I’ve definitely shared Z.Tao’s music before but I’m also a little on and off with his songs. This one is a change in a style (from the music I’ve heard of his) and goes in a happy, summer and cute sort of song. I mean, its called Ice Cream so its a very sweet song and you don’t really need to know the lyrics and can hear it in the melody.

曜 – R1SE

After Nine Percent disbanded, the next boy group that I’ve been most interested in their progress is R1SE. Its a bit sad that these groups coming out of these competition shows are limited contracts since this group definitely jives well together and has some unique views on how they do their shows and you can see when they have a lot more control in the variety show We Are Blazing just like when they were in Produce Camp 2019. This song is for their one year group anniversary and it really does show their capability in both their vocals and dance performance plus I like the beat a lot.

Chasing – Corsak

I told you that there was another Corsak song! This is a very different song but its an uplifting song that has really grown on me over repeat listens.

元气畅想 – EzGoin乐队
(Me to Us Finale – Special Performance)

Big fan of Me to Us! This band-focused competition show was a ton of fun to watch. Although, this group ended up losing before the big finale, they obviously had enough popularity to get them back for the sponsor song that they wrote which is also very fun and positive. Its all about the happy and no pressure mood and they really do deliver especially bringing in elements of sound effects for the zero calorie carbonated water brand. Very clever and definitely a nice one. Sure, I could go with the final performance or the collab performance with Nicholas Tse of the winning band (which I had originally wanted) but this song goes a little better with the theme of this month’s music obsessions.

As an extra:

Of course, I won’t give up a chance to share anything with Nicholas Tse so here is a snippet of the performance (since I’m pretty sure the full performance has some kind of copyright claim that they can’t release on Youtube). Sad because the whole performance would have the really great part where he shows off his electric guitar skills. I would say that this song definitely defined Nicholas Tse in his early days in the music business but also gave him the bad boy Canto-rock music edge that not a lot of people were doing so this was a highlight point (when is it not when it comes to Nicholas Tse for me…) when he chose this one as a collab song with Tarzan band. The lyrics are fast so I can understand why the lead singer of Tarzan had issues with learning Cantonese lyrics. Still a great performance. Man, Nicholas Tse is awesome! Its been 20 years and he is still fantastic.

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

Music Obsessions – September 2019

Another month as passed by. Its been a very odd month since it feels like I haven’t quite found a ton of new music but then there’s been some interesting finds at the same time. Its been quite random or related to whatever I’ve been watching and such.

好好說 – Sammi Cheng 鄭秀文

If we were to talk about a singer that I’ve adored for a long time, it has to go to Sammi Cheng who inspired a lot of my own love for pop music in terms of female singers especially for Cantonese pop music. This song is for her upcoming movie which I hope to get a chance to see as I like a few people in the cast as well but I absolutely love this song. The lyrics and her singing and everything: still love her even after so very long (we’re talking almost two decades).

谁都别吝啬 – R1SE

I was a bit skeptical of R1SE or lets say, Produce Camp but this group has really made its mark as its been associated with a lot of different songs for TV shows and having their own music and such. Its definitely nice to be on the Tencent platform or to have come out of a show on the Tencent platform. Adding into their own singing abilities, its a group that works. As much as I like this song, I do hope that they all get to find their place as a few of the boys in this group are quite good at the overall music production from lyrics to music. Hopefully, they’ll get a chance to flex those skills. For now, their music is always a constant fun and energetic company.

Bad Guy – Billie Eilish

Its taken a few listens but I’ve been into this song lately. The video is a bit weird in my opinion but hey, the song is quite fun. I’m not sure whether its going to be a permanent thing in my playlist but this past month, its been quite entertaining to have on and keeping the energy level high.

The Coming One 3 Highlights
White – Rohar Ye & Tian Yi

漂浮群岛 – 张颜齐 & 洪一诺

The Coming One 3 is done but I can’t get over the collabs show they did. That episode was my favorite and these two performances above are my absolutely faves.  I’m doing it as a unit because they are simply highlights from the show. Both of them didn’t end up winning in the end but these two girls are my faves of the competition. Rohar Ye is my absolute fave right from her first song so I’m hoping she continues tackling the rest of the colors and make them into songs while still making other songs true to her style because I’m totally down for it. She’s different and its very indie and I’m not sure the audience she’s aiming for will easily accept it but I sure hope she still finds a way. On that note, White is a great song. She’s done Blue and Black at this point during the competition.

我還是沒改變 I’ll Never Change – 大壯 DZ

DZ has come out with three singles at this point, I think. And all of them are really good. They remind me a lot of the really nice days of music when songs were filled with well-written lyrics as well as nice ballads/tunes. Its one of the reason why I like DZ and his work so much. Three for three is not easy and I hope that he keeps making music and keeps such a high quality.

忘情森巴舞 -草蜢 Grasshopper

I really wanted to add in this one for this round-up even if this time feels a tad heavy. Hong Kong has been on my mind a lot lately and being a long-time fan of Grasshopper since I was young, I wanted to share something from the 80s that always makes me happy to listen to. Its very dated but hey, its been playing on repeat these days on my playlist. Grasshopper members may all be in their 50s but they really remind us of staying young at heart as they still give great performances full of energy and pull of their dances and stuff well still.

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

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?