Pimp Post: Park Hyo Shin

First post of the new year!  (Happy New Year, everyone :DD!!)  A collaborative (and long overdue) pimp post on one of the best singers in kpop ♥.  (And the Sungmin birthday, MBC and KBS gayo, DBSK does 2834920849320 things on New Year’s Eve posts coming soon XD!)

potensvita: He is one of the person that you will sit down and listen to him in silence. Because, you have nothing in your mind at that moment, at the moment when he opened his voice. It is husky and yet, calming. A voice filled with emotions and made you shivered because it is amazing.

How did I found out this man? Actually, I am a big fan of Mika Nakashima. One of her song, Yuki no Hana was resung by a male singer. I found out more about this male singer …. and he sang this remake in the ‘I Am Sorry, I Love You’ OST. It was fantastic and I am in love again. For a long long while, I don’t know about him, I don’t know his name until one day, I found out Park Hyo Shin was a close friend of Fly to The Sky.  They were planning to have a concert together.  It was a rumour and stayed a rumour.

Then, I decided that it is high time to find more about Park Hyo Shin. I sampled his songs.  (ALL OF THEM ARE FANTASTIC.)  Then, I found out he was the one that sang for the I am Sorry I love you OST.  AH, I went youtubing, sampling his singing clips. I was in love, BLUSHING EVEN.

His voice is that great.
He is simply breath taking.
His voice won over so many artists I knew.
He was my male counterpart of Mika Nakashima.

Tidbits:
1) Park Hyo Shin and Hwanhee (from FTTS) and Wheesung are from the same school.
2) Park Hyo Shin was discovered by a fellow singer named Lee So Ra.  God bless her.
3) Park Hyo Shin is famous because his voice. Even Wheesung said, everyone keep quiet when he was singing. to them, he is an alien.
4) Park Hyo Shin doesn’t know the existence of handphone. He don’t reply his friends message.
5) Park Hyo Shin is a movie addict.
6)  He was bullied very much by his company in 2007. If I was not wrong, he didn’t have a choice in the music he does. It was all very sad because they don’t respect him.  His concerts were put on and off and he didn’t have much time to rehearse for it. His encore song was Listen because he hoped that people can listen to him.
7) Even though he is mainly a ballad singer, he can DANCE lol.

He is someone that I won’t even consider an idol. An idol works hard to get the acknowledgement. But he just stood out with his voice.  And that is the highest compliment I can give to a singer.

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spazzes:  This is hilarious because I discovered Park Hyo Shin the exact same way that potensvita did XD.  I’m also a Mika Nakashima fan and loved ‘Yuki no Hana’, which led to me finding out that a Korean singer covered it and did a tremendous job ♥.   I LOVE THIS GUY A LOT.  He is one of my favorite male solo artists.  THAT VOICE!  Is so rare!   It’s deep and husky and all kinds of sexy, but there’s also a real warmth to it.  In that way that makes you want to grab a cup of hot cocoa and settle in with a good book XD.  I don’t really know how to explain it, so you should just download that zip file of songs and see what I mean.  I would also pretty much kill to see him perform live; he either sounds exactly like the CD or better *___*.   Highly recommended, especially if you love ballads.

He’s released five studio albums so far, all of which are wonderful but my favorite was his most recent one ‘Breeze Of Sea’, released back in January 2007.  If I remember correctly, he got really sick during his concert tour for ‘Breeze of Sea’ and had to stop all activities to recover.  And then his company sued him for an obscene amount of money :|.  I dunno, I hope that’s getting sorted out.  BUT!  He did participate in the Iljimae OST this past June and more recently, the Hwang Project ‘Welcome to the Fantastic World’ mini-album ♥♥♥.   Hopefully he’ll be back with another studio album soon ♥.  His fans miss him!

Pimp Post: Younha

So. I don’t know what took me so long to get into her music (maybe it’s cause I’m so picky about female singers lol), but I can’t stop listening to her songs these days. I think it all started with that beautiful collaboration with Epik High on their latest album, ‘Umbrella‘ *fangirls*. She’s very talented: her voice is gorgeous and unique, she plays the piano so well, she writes her own songs, HER LIVES AND SPECIAL STAGES ARE FREAKING AMAZING OMG, she taught herself Japanese as a child (and is now fluent), she’s so adorable, etc. Quite a remarkable 20-year-old ♥. I’m kind of surprised/disappointed that she had to go through so many auditions to get to where she is now, especially for not being pretty enough (wtf, she is pretty!), but whatever because I like her current musical style. Rejected by SM, really?!

Music: Her discography info can be found HERE ^^. She started her career in Japan, releasing singles and a great debut album Go! Younha there before coming back to Korea and releasing the astounding A Perfect Day To Say I Love You, which won her much-deserved recognition in Korea. Her Korean album has a great jpop feel to it and her music, especially the piano-rock driven songs, is really fun to listen to. I love her voice! It’s so powerful and unique and so sweet to listen to. Please try her out and support her if you like what you hear :).

I’ve uploaded 9 of her songs (Password 486, Delete, Comet (Korean and Japanese versions), Yubikiri, 어린욕심 (feat. Wheesung), Omoide ni Dekinai, 오늘만, I Cry) + 3 songs she is featured in (Epik High’s ‘Umbrella’, Wheesung’s ‘Try Touching’, Ajoo’s ‘Paparazzi’) into a ZIP. And I uploaded Epik High’s Umbrella separately because even if you don’t want to download the whole ZIP, DEFINITELY SNAG THIS!

Videos: This girl seriously has some of the best special stages I’ve seen. She’s collaborated with a lot of big name artists like Epik High, Wheesung, and K. Will, and those duets are never anything less than AWESOME!
♥ YDH Love Letter; Password 486. alskdjfs I spent most of today finding and downloading as many of her live performances I could find lol. This is an extremely impressive live performance of ‘Password 486′ ~~ it’s quite a fast song and she has to play the piano too, but she makes it look so easy *___*.

♥ Music Bank; Password 486 + Love Love Love With Epik High. \:D/ If you can’t tell already, I absolutely LOVE ‘Password 486′. And ‘Love Love Love’ is, well, love. She sings it quite differently from the original female singer (Lee Young Jin of Casker), but alskdjf it sounds fantastic! She infused the song with so much energy. AND DID YOU KNOW SHE CAN RAP. It’s so cute when she forgets part of it and Mithra (♥) tries to save it haha. (I WANT THEM TO PERFORM ‘UMBRELLA’ TOGETHER OMG. I WOULD COMBUST OF HAPPINESS.)

♥ Music Bank; Left Heart, Password 486, and Music Is My Life With K. Will. Another special stage that blows me away. The first two performances are great, but the last one really takes the cake. I dunno, it’s so fitting that they’re singing that song and belting, “Music is my liiiiiiiiiiife~~!!” They both have wonderful voices.

♥ Music Bank; 다쳐도 좋아 + Comet With Wheesung. Have never written about Wheesung before, how terrible on my part, but I think he’s got one of the best voices in kpop. Maybe a pimp post for another day? Another really amazing special stage. I want to see them perform together again *___*. The first song is a beautiful ballad, the second is one of Younha’s best songs. I love the harmonization.

♥ YDH Love Letter; Try Touching With Wheesung. Try Touching (만져주기) was one of the best tracks off Wheesung’s fifth album, imo. AMAZING LIVE PERFORMANCE ALSKDJFKDSL. ♥♥♥♥♥. The audience looked so surprised and happy to see them in the beginning, rofl. Her vocals + Wheesung’s rapping = ULTIMATE WIN.

♥ English Covers; How Do I Live, If I Ain’t Got You, Because Of You, Always, Open Arms. I don’t know if she’s fluent in English, but she sings with hardly any accent at all. She’s has such a powerful voice *____*. I have a hard time picking a favorite of these covers, but I guess it would be ‘How Do I Live.’ That was an impressive live radio performance … and I don’t even like the original song too much lol. (I mean I just don’t like the song; I like Leann Rimes’ voices, though.)

♥ Comet (Houki Boshi); Korean Version on Music Core, Japanese version on POP JAM. I LOVE THIS SONG. Both versions. The Japanese version was used as the ending theme song for Bleach and became a hit on the Oricon charts. I think she’s the second Korean after BoA to reach the Oricon’s top 20 ^^. I guess I prefer the Korean version a little bit more since her voice seems more powerful in it, but oh man that POP JAM performance is so adorable! She looks so young and tiny and cute there *squishes*.

♥ Manwon Haengbok with SuJu. I always find some way to work them into my pimp posts, sorry ^^;;. This is so adorable; they (Kangin, a very shy Yesung, Shindong, Eunhyuk) immediately start singing her ‘Password 486′ when they see her, haha. I think Shindong even had it as his ringtone…? Her mission was “teletubbies in the shower.” They guess it correctly and then Heechul (with crazy hair lol!) and Siwon appear; they ask Younha which guy they think would be the nicest to her. I have no idea why they didn’t include Siwon in the list (!), but she picks Shindong, who breaks out in ‘Password 486′ to celebrate rofl. Heechul shoves him away and Eunhyuk yells, “Younha jjang!” ♥

♥ Ye Eun Manwon Haengbok. Oh, I was so ecstatic to see this. I like Ye Eun a looot and I didn’t know they were best friends in real life \:D/!! Younha’s only in the beginning for a little bit, but she’s so cute. I loved when she gives Ye Eun the winning aura, rofl. (And the rest of this video is so cute too. Ye Eun makes the 1000 won meal for Son Ho Young, who gets huffy at the Manwon Haengbok PD-nim XDDD. Oh man, the HSC episodes with Hoi v. T.O.P of Big Bang were so hilarious. RECOMMENDED.)

♥ MC Mong Radio; Younha Cries. You can read the description for what this video is about (I am a new fan of hers, so I don’t really know what this was about), but this is just here so I can say “Younha hwaiting!” and that MC Mong is really such a kind, kind person. I’m going off tangent now, but SHINee’s visit to his radio show was so touching cause they were crying when they had to give messages to their parents and MC Mong kept saying, “It’s okay, it’s okay. There’s pizza outside, please don’t cry.”

Hollywood Bowl Music Post

ONE MORE WEEK :DDDDDDDDDDDD. You can find the full list of artists HERE.

First of all, apologies to heliodus for taking sooooo freaking long to write this up ^^;;. She wasn’t familiar with all the artists that are going (and neither am I), but I did some looking around and thought I’d upload some songs by each artist. I don’t even have to say we’re in for a real treat, right? LOL. Some of kpop’s best are coming to this thing. I have heard songs from most of the artists popular with the younger generation, but I’m not at all familiar with the artists popular with the older generation (gah I re-wrote that about thirty times … I hope the ‘old’/'young’ thing isn’t offensive; I’m borrowing what khype wrote up at soompi XDDD). It was quite difficult to find songs by them, I’m sorry .___. And for some of these artists, I just uploaded songs I really enjoy by them and not really recent releases or what I think they’ll sing at the concert.

All of the songs — except for DBSK and SuJu-T, because I think most people probably have those — in ZIP files: Part 1, Part 2. This took me forever to upload, so please don’t hotlink ;___;.

♥ DBSK.
Purple Line | Yeo Haeng Gi | Evergreen.
Um this is easy, but I did it just to be complete lololol. I had those songs already uploaded so I just copy and pasted them in here. I don’t know how many songs they will be performing, but I do remember reading that there are less artists performing this year than there were last year, so each artist will get more time to perform. I think BoA performed four songs last year; it wouldn’t surprise me if DBSK performed four songs (or more sjdkfldjs omg) this year. I’m guessing ‘Purple Line’ and ‘Yeo Haeng Gi’ … not sure what else they’d perform though. Hopefully ‘O.Jung.Ban.Hap’ because DAMN I MUST SEE THAT IN PERSON.

♥ Super Junior T.
Rokkugoh | No One Like Me | Chutcha.
Also another easy one, but omgggggggg I’m really excited for this one. This is Eeteuk and Heechul’s North America debut! (10 Super Junior members performed last year; I don’t know why Heechul didn’t come, but Eeteuk and Kyuhyun were recovering from their car accident.) And I can’t wait to see the crack that is Rokkugoh performed live XDDD. SuJu-T is supposed to be releasing new songs soon, too! Apparently they’ve already recorded the title track of their new single. I don’t know if the new songs will be released before Hollywood Bowl (most likely not, it’s only three weeks one week away now), but you never know!

♥ Fly To The Sky.
Condition Of My Heart | Gravity | Missing You.
They’re one of my favorite groups ever *_____________*. I was lucky enough to see them in Hawaii back in February; can’t believe I’m going to see them again! I wrote a mini pimp post on them back in October and the zip link is still working, so go download that :)! They also recently released a remake album, which I have yet to listen to :/. I have no idea what they are most likely to sing, so I just chose my three favorite songs by them. Condition Of My Heart is especially spectacular.

♥ SG Wannabe.
내 사람 (Partner For Life) | Timeless | 아리랑.
Perhaps the most acclaimed ballad group in Korea. I’ve always wanted to see them perform live! Chae Dong Ha recently left the group though and has been replaced by Lee Suk-Hoon. I think SG Wannabe was one of the first groups announced for HB (well before CDH announced he was leaving the group), though … so I don’t really know who is coming XD. They recently had a new album out (with LSH singing in it), but I have yet to hear it and so I don’t know how LSH’s voice is. I’m sure it must be great though; he did beat out 500 other hopefuls in a 3-month long audition. Gah I fail so hard at writing this post because again I have no idea what they might sing, so I just picked my three favorites.

♥ Son Ho Young.
Yes | Love Brings Separation | Call Me 5500.
Y’ALL SHOULD BE REALLY EXCITED TO SEE THIS GUY PERFORM LIVE. I had a major spazz out when i found out he was coming … I hear he’s a truly amazing live performer :DDDDD! Is it wrong for me to hope that he wears something very revealing or rips his shirt off or something because omg he has the hottest body ever. And he sings well. I really enjoyed his solo album; I have to consider adding it to my yesasia cart, lol. I picked my three favorite songs off his solo album. (Also, if you’ve been watching Change, he seems sooooooo friendly and sweet. But he should never be transformed into a girl because … oh my XDD.)

♥ SNSD.
Kissing You | Girls’ Generation | Into The New World.
Okay, I know I haven’t been too kind to their music in the past XDD;; (I just recently said I’d rather walk into traffic than listen to their album and that was mean of me), but they actually can sing and dance. I’m just very picky about female singers and their music isn’t my thing (but I could change my mind when I see them perform live…), but if it’s yours, then you will really like them. But I’m NOT an anti; don’t get me wrong! They’re just a group I like more for their personalities than their music. I have a mega girlcrush on Sooyoung, if it isn’t totally obvious from the fact that I try to mention her whenever I can XD. Hyoyeon has SICK dancing skills *____* (HOMG I’VE WANTED TO POST THIS VIDEO SINCE FOREVER — and it’s too bad most SNSD songs don’t give her the opportunity to dance like that). I also really like Yoona and Yuri :). I don’t keep up with their music, but I think these are their three most popular songs.

♥ Lee Min Woo.
Stomp | Just One Night | Bump!!!
I loved seeing him on those K-variety shows like Xman and Love Letter (he’s hilarious and so adorable), but I still fail because I haven’t really followed his solo work, lol. (I’ve only kept up with Shin Hye Sung and Kim Dong Wan, who just released an amazing solo sophomore album btw!) I’ve only heard a handful of his songs but the ones I’ve heard are very upbeat and totally enjoyable. AND AND AND HAVE YOU SEEN HIM DANCE. He’s one of the best dancers in kpop … can’t wait to see him bring it next Saturday :).

♥ Chae Yeon
Two Of Us | My Love | Third Love.
Another familiar face on K-variety shows. I absolutely loved her on Xman, especially as part of that love triangle with Kim Jong Kook and Yoon Eun Hye, lol. She’s so cute and sexy :). And extremely likable, imo. I don’t have too many of her songs, but I do really like these three. Two Of Us is the song that made her famous and for good reason! SO CATCHY SJDKLFJKDLS. She’s quite a dancer as well, so we should be in for a great performance next Saturday!

♥ Moon Hee Jun.
G선상의 아리아 | To Live Is To Fight | 종이비행기.
To be honest, I haven’t followed any of the H.O.T members’ solo work besides Kangta. But this is gonna change, lol. I’ve only heard his special album (released about 2 months ago … and EXCELLENT, btw), but omg the songs are absolute love. It’s of the rock genre! And I think there could be a lot more rock in Korean music (the TRAX ~ where can you guys be ;____;…). I’m very excited to be able to see him at Hollywood Bowl (and that I have yet another artist to sjdkfljdkls over!).

… and the Wonder Girls are no longer going, but I have to upload this because it is so jfksldjfklds addictive: Irony. HOMG I LOVE THIS SONG; SO FREAKING CATCHY. And I think it’s wayyyyyyyyyyy better than Tell Me.

Pimp Post: Monday Kiz

I just read on soompi that one of the members, Kim Min Soo, died today in a motorcycle accident. I’m extremely sad to hear of it. He was only 23 years old, which is just way too young to go ;____;. I’m sorry I’m only getting this pimp post up now. I actually wrote part of it up earlier last week (and I don’t want to change around the tenses), but never got around to finishing it up and posting it until now >>.

Monday Kiz is an absolutely amazing ballad/R&B duo, made up of Lee Jin Sung (이진성) and Kim Min Soo (김민수). They debuted at the end of 2005, when both of them were only 20 years old *____*. I enjoy watching debut performances to see how much artists have improved over the years (and also cause most artists look so adorably nervous and scared to death in their debut performance — SuJu, I’m looking at you XD), but … these guys were flawless. It didn’t even look like a debut performance; you’d think they had been performing for years! I can’t find a link on youtube anymore, but I know I have it downloaded somewhere and will try to find it. If you like SG Wannabe or V.O.S, you’ll love these guys. They’re one of my favorite groups :). Please do try them out! They’re very, very underrated and … I really have no idea why. (They definitely have the voices and their songs are amazing!) But it looks like this is changing; they just released their 3rd album earlier this month and it’s doing well with sales apparently. Most popular album yet! And yes, it’s quality with a capital Q, as is expected.

SONGS. They don’t have any bad songs, end of story. sjdklfjlds I could gush about their voices all day. Both of them have the potential to make it as solo artists ~ very strong and beautiful voices! Perfect music for studying (have you ever tried studying to O.Jung.Ban.Hap or something? It’s impossible) and for just relaxing to. Zipped some songs I really like by them HERE. Included in the zip: 가슴으로 외쳐 (feat. Rhymer), Bye Bye Bye, 하늘아 제발, 새 살, 남자야, 신기루, and 발자국.

VIDEOS. It’s kind of hard to find their videos on youtube, unfortunately… but OHMYGOSH @ THEIR LIVE PERFORMANCES. They sound exactly like they do on the studio versions *__________*. I foam at the mouth at their harmonizations.
♥ M!Countdown; 가슴으로 외쳐 (feat. Rhymer). I looooooooooooooooove this song (track 3 off their most recent album); I like how the beat is so catchy and tinged with sadness at the same time. It’s pretty amazing. Love the rap part in the middle too. Their new album had been earning them a ton of new fans too, which makes KMS’s untimely passing even more tragic. Man.
♥ 가슴으로 외쳐, 흉터 Music Videos. Need to watch these music videos one right after each other, cause they tell a story together. It’s genius. AND SO SAD. GAH, KOREA MAKES THE SADDEST MUSIC VIDEOS EVER. I’m not going to lie ~ I do enjoy the “U” and “Purple Line” type music videos where everything is eye candy and hot dancing, but these story type music videos are awesome to watch too. Now where are my tissues.
♥ YDH Love Letter; Bye Bye Bye. I THINK THIS COULD BE MY FAVORITE SONG BY THEM (although 가슴으로 외쳐 comes pretty close). This is an extremely impressive live performance of the song. The harmonization kills me, especially all the vocal crazies at the end from Lee Jin Sung. Wow *_________*.
♥ Music Core; 남자야 (A Man). This was one of my favorites off their second album, El Condor Pasa. I’m not sure why the cameraman seems to avoid zooming up on KMS, hmmm. They both sound sooooo good, though. Exactly like how they do on the CD.
♥ I-Concert 06; 이런남자. A song off their debut album and also one of my favorites. I lovelovelove this performance; they’re both singing their hearts out :*. It makes me kind of sad to watch it again now cause they both performed so freaking well and … we’re never going to see them perform together again :(.
♥ Kim Min Soo + Friend Karaoking. This was before Monday Kiz debuted … KMS is the guy on the left ^^. (I don’t know who the other guy is, but he has a lovely voice as well.) Absolutely amazing ~ I can’t believe this is just them karaoking! OMG OMG OMG.

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RIP ♥.
My condolences to Kim Min Soo’s family and friends, especially Lee Jin Sung (stay strong!).

Pimp Post: Chinese Music, Part 1

(LOL my friend sent me that picture of JJ Lin a while ago and I had to use it somewhere. I know it’s not super flattering, but whatever, I adore him and he gets his own tag haha ♥. Oh and because I can, I’m going to make a really biased plug for him XDD. If you download nothing else, please at least try him out~!)

Collab post I wrote up with pinkandsparkly! (You can view her post HERE.) We both wrote books on each of the songs, so there will be a part 2 (with more artists like Leehom and F.I.R), so stay tuned ^^. Anyway, Chinese music! I have a lot of friends who are into Korean and Japanese music, but refuse, for whatever reason, to listen to Chinese music. And I know soompi is a kpop site, but … there’s an unnerving amount of Chinese music hate there, lol. So we wrote this post trying to convince you that there is really terrific Chinese music out there, if you know where to look. Six artists here: Anson Hu, JJ Lin, Jay Chou, Khalil Fong, Mayday, and Nicholas Teo. We hope you find something you like!

Download all the songs in a ZIP. I’m sorry that it’s so huge for only 14 songs, but lots of good music here so I would recommend downloading it!

1. JJ LIN
♥ Cao Cao [preview] [download]
spazzes: JJ LIN IS MY #1 ARTIST OF ALL TIME ♥! If you’ve never heard his music, you really are missing out! His voice is freaking AMAZING. He doesn’t really sing with a vibrato, but his voice is so clear and so BEAUTIFUL djfklsjdklf. He writes all of his own songs (and plays the piano very well) and has composed many terrific songs for other artists. Very, very talented guy. He’s got a really cute personality too ^^. Cao Cao is my favorite song from him (although I love most, if not all of his songs). And I love how dynamic it is (rock edge for the win) ♥. Gosh. I command you to download this XDD. One of my favorite songs ever, from any artist.
pinkandsparkly: I LOVE JJ LIN TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! He is probably my favourite solo artist IN THE WHOLE WORLD *—————–* The first song I heard by him, was no.89757, I remember thinking that the robot looked really different to him XDD I LOVE this guy’s voice, it’s magnetic, it really is *——-* Cao Cao is one of my favourite JJ songs, I just loooooove the rock edge to this song, it’s so catchy, and just….FANTASTIC :DDDDDDD

♥ Mermaid [preview] [download]
spazzes: I LOVE LOVE LOVE this song. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like this song … even some of my friends who are anti-Asian-music love this song, so…. XD. I own his live CDs and his live rendition of this song is freaking amazing *____*! It’s a difficult song to sing live, imo, especially with all those high notes, but this boy rarely misses a note. A very, very consistent performer; he never lets me down ♥. (He’s really great at working the crowd too, lol. He’s always waving at the audience.) A must download; this is a song that really shows off his beautiful voice.
pinkandsparkly: FAVOURITE JJ LIN SONG EVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. I love the use of traditional instruments in this song, it fits the song so well. And I adore the doubling of his voice in some bits, the only thing better than JJ Lin singing, is 2 JJ Lins singing XDDDD This song is very catchy, one of the only songs that I could remember, after only hearing it once. After I heard it for the first time, I had it on repeat for a week XDDD THAT’S HOW GOOD THIS SONG IS, GO DOWNLOAD NOW.

♥ Killer [preview] [download]
spazzes: RECOMMENDED LIKE WHOA. From his most recent album (released June 2007), West Side. The MV for this song was pretty controversial (the extended version has scenes of JJ cutting a girl’s heart out, ick) … I think it was even banned in a few countries. I know some people who didn’t like this new, dark image (and I’ll admit I was a bit traumatized at psychotic!JJ Lin at first 8D), but honestly, this is a REALLY fantastic song. The piano melody that repeats throughout the song is so addictive. And his voice is jdkslfjkdlsjfd LOVELY AS EVER. His entire West Side album was one of my favorites all last year, actually. I’m not the only one who thought it was fantastic; this album has sold almost 2 million copies to date. Another thing I really like about this guy? Despite selling a crapload of albums, he hasn’t let his success go to his head ♥. He’s still so modest and down-to-earth and omg sjdkfljds I WILL SEE HIM PERFORM LIVE ONE DAY.
pinkandsparkly: Ooo, Spazzes, TAKE ME WITH YOU WHEN YOU GO TO HIS CONCERT!!!!! *prepares doggy cage* XDDD No, I will see him perform live one day. He’s one of the few artists who manages to sound brilliant live as well as in recordings *————* I was one of those people who was a bit “er…..” when I heard about the “Killer” MV, I mean, come on, it’s JJ Lin! He’s so smiley! and squishy! XD I didn’t like this song at first, but now I LOVE IT. The beat is INCREDIBLY catchy, like WOAH :DDDDDDD Some people think that it’s a bit repetitive, but I LIKE the repetitive-ness of the song, I think it’s nice, and I’m quite glad that he decided to try something new, new=good :DDDD I don’t think we’ve mentioned this in any of the other JJ Lin comments above, but did you know that this guy’s English is AWESOME? As in, NO ACCENT WHATSOEVER. *—————* THAT IS SO ATTRACTIVE.

2. Jay Chou
♥ Lovely Woman [preview] [download]
spazzes: Here’s another very talented guy … he also writes all of his own songs (in addition to songs for other artists), plays the piano insanely well, directs and acts in movies (I liked ‘Secret’ a lot and I just pretend that ‘Initial D’ never happened rofl), and is just awesome in general. And he can sing. I know he gets a lot of flack for being not-so-good in live performances, but there IS something really sexy and addicting about his voice. His compositions are ace. Lovely Woman is the first track of his debut album and probably my favorite song by him ♥.
pinkandsparkly: OMG, JAY CHOU. He write some of the best songs. We had such a hard time choosing which songs of his to include in this post (actually, we had that problem with all the artists, that’s why there’ll be a part 2!) He gets criticised quite a bit for his singing, he seems to mumble his words, but his voice, without a doubt, is quite attractive. I see the “mumbling” as his “signature”, it helps me to spot his songs, lol XDD This song has a really nice laid-back feel to it, and the melody is extremely catchy. And yes, he directs most of his own MVs and has also directed 2 movies, and, like Spazzes, I also like to pretend that “Initial D” was just one of my psychotic hallucinations XDDD “Secret” is a great movie though, the piano battle in it is legendary *———-*

♥ Love Before The Century [preview] [download]
spazzes: From his second album, Fantasy, probably my favorite album as a whole from him. And this is my favorite song off that album. I’ve read translations for this song and it’s sooooooo romantic sjkdfljds ♥. This was the first song I ever heard from this guy and it got me hooked 8D. I don’t understand Chinese, so it doesn’t bother me, but apparently he mumbles a lot in this song…? XDD. I think his voice is sexy, though. Oh I remember watching the music video for this and reading that he also writes and directs all his MVs ^^.
pinkandsparkly: First Jay Chou song I ever heard too (cos someone gave me his Fantasy CD, and this is the first track on it XD). Like Spazzes, his Fantasy album is probably my favourite Jay Chou album as a whole (his 4th album comes a very close second) and this song is probably one of my favourites from that album, so yes, DO TRY IT :DDD.

3. NICHOLAS TEO
♥ Tears From Polaris [preview] [download]
pinkandsparkly: This song is LOOOOOOOOVE <333333 SOOO GOOOOOOOOOOOOD. It’s pretty much a tub of strawberries dunked in chocolate, coated with caramel, topped with whipped cream, and then drizzled with hot fudge. That’s how good it is :P It’s a nice slow ballad, and imo, it suits his voice perfectly <3 This song was used as the ending song, in the TW drama “Smiling Pasta”. Oo, and I love the use of string instruments in this song, very nice :DDD.
spazzes: This guy has been recommended to me loads of time in the past, but I never bothered checking out his music until pinkandsparkly sent me some mp3s. And then it was instant love, lol. He’s got a really lovely voice and this is indeed a beautiful ballad. Do check this out; I’m sure you will want to try out more of his music after you hear this, rofl. I know I did!

♥ Prince [preview] [download]
pinkandsparkly: Title track of his latest album (“Prince”). Some of his fans have commented on how his latest album is very un-Nicholas; he normally sings “karaoke-ish” ballads, but in this song, he tried rap for the first time! Personally, I really like this song, and I’m glad he decided to try something new :DD
spazzes: Awesome song *____*. I haven’t heard enough from this artist to really know what his musical style is, but I do like this song a lot and I hope he continues in this direction. I love that ballad posted above, but … it’s always awesome when artists try something new. And there’s something very appealing about his voice in this song ♥.

4. ANSON HU
♥ Waiting For You [preview] [download]
pinkandsparkly: I had no idea who he was until Nanshi introduced me to his music. If you’ve watched the episode of “Happy Dictionary” with Hangeng, you might be able to recall that there was another guy on the show, someone with an INCREDIBLE voice. Anson writes all his own material, and has a GREAT voice. His songs have the “traditional Chinese” feel that’s similar to some of Jay Chou and Leehom’s stuff. His voice is very manly, and not nasally at all :DDD There’s some Engrish in this song though, see if you can spot it :P (if you can hear “Cinderella“, then I’ll give you a medal)
spazzes: I also had no idea who this guy was until pinkandsparkly brought him up, lol. I’m such a Chinese music noob, I admit XDD. But anyway, this is a very pretty ballad and he’s got a wonderfully deep and emotive voice. I also just watched the music video and even though Anson is not it, it’s really sad and worth a watch. And hello, you can’t go wrong with Mike He 8D.

5. KHALIL FONG;
♥ Goodbye Melody Rose [download]
spazzes: Khalil Fong! He’s a R&B/soul singer and songwriter from Hong Kong who debuted in 2005. I’ll be honest and say that the current HK music industry is sketchy (too many artists with pretty faces and not-so-pretty voices), but this guy is really good. He sings in Mandarin mostly. He’s got an amazing and soulful voice; his music, admittedly, is not for everyone, but those who love soul will really love this guy. He’s very talented. Try him out! Goodbye Melody Rose is one of my favorite songs from him.
pinkandsparkly: I had no idea who he was until Spazzes sent me some of his songs, lol XD I expected his voice to be really smooth (and maybe a little nasally) when Spazzes told me that he sings R&B (I’m not sure why I thought that, lol), but it’s NOT, yes, it’s smooth, and nice *—*, but it’s not the over-bearing smooth that you find with some other R&B artists. This song has a nice laid-back feel, you’d really like it if you’re into R&B. I’m glad Spazzes introduced me to him :DDDD

♥ Southern Sound [preview] [download]
spazzes: Gorgeous song, with beautiful uses of piano and traditional instruments in the background. The use of traditional instruments in his music in general is one thing I really like about this guy. THAT AND HE WRITES ALL HIS OWN MUSIC AND ALL HIS OWN LYRICS. That really is for the win.
pinkandsparkly: BEAUTIFUL piano music in the background, I really want to hunt down the score XDD I absolutely adore people who compose their own songs, it really is FTW. It’s quite common with western bands, but not-so-common with asian artists :(, so when you find someone who writes their own music, and has a nice voice, it really give you a great reason to SPAZZ about said artist XDDD

6. MAYDAY
♥ Perfume [preview] [download]
spazzes: Mayday is one of the biggest rock bands in Taiwan and one of my favorite groups of all time. I LOVE THEM SJKFLJDKLFS. Don’t expect any guitar smashing or any of that from them, though; they project a very squeaky clean image and their songs are about stuff like innocence, loneliness, determination. The band writes all their music themselves. And the lead singer, Ashin, writes almost all of the lyrics; I’ve read translations of their lyrics and their songs are always so poetic ^___^. Perfume was my favorite song off their 6th studio album; freaking fantastic song.
pinkandsparkly: If you’re into Chinese music, then you MUST have heard of Mayday, they’re way too popular for you to not have heard of them :P Something that many people don’t know about me, is that I really like rock music (I die for boys who play their own instruments *———*) And the good thing about Mayday’s songs, is that, while they’re a rock band, their lyrics are actually quite…intelligent, unlike many other rock bands, who just sing about “getting smashed” =.=;;;. Ashin is a great writer, he’s written lyrics for Leehom, and @#$%#$^! they’re fantastic *———-*

♥ Peter and Mary [preview] [download]
spazzes: This was the song that made them famous. It’s sung in Hokkien and it’s such a gorgeous song, my gosh. From their debut album, which has to be one of the best debut albums ever, in any language. Also! Mayday is one of those groups that are really, really good in live performances. I’ve listened to their live CDs and I actually prefer some of their live songs to the studio-recorded ones and that’s rare for me. Try them out!
pinkandsparkly: Lol, I remember when this song was played on every single TW variety show XD I think I’ve heard this played on tv. at least 23 times. I had never owned the mp3 until Spazzes sent it to me, though. Idk, I used to be reluctant to listen to their stuff, cos they sing lots of their songs in Hokkien, which I can’t understand (this was before my Korean boyband obsession ok XD) But I’m so glad I have the mp3 of this now, like Spazzes said, it’s a very beautiful song, and I really really really like the guitar solo in it *————-*

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If you read through all of that, you’re amazing :). Hope you find something you like!  I look forward to reading some feedback~!