It's sad, really...to think how high I get off of discovering new, talented potentials, but the truth is... I love it and am addicted to it - that kind of excitement, thrill, delirium that comes with finding the sparkle in new artists. Of course, this also results in my overwhelming desire to share my discoveries. So, here's my first "Potential Alert" for 2010.
JiaHui Wu - I Crazy You Released: 12.25.2009
1. 虽然我愿意 (Even Though I'm Willing) 2. 无家可归 (No Home to Return) 3. 听听 (Listen) 4. 我疯你 (I Crazy You) 5. 一个人白头 (One Person Till Old) 6. 肚子饿了(Hungry) 7. 空缺 (Vancancy) 8. 要你说爱我 (Want You to Say Love Me) 9. 童话傻瓜 (Fairy Tale Fool) 10. 远距离 (Distance) 11. 一人一半 (A Half Per Person)
Jia Hui Wu is not new to the music industry. In fact he's one of the most acclaimed song and lyric writers of his generation. From Malaysia and at the age of 28 (he barely looks like he's 20), Jia Hui Wu has released 150+ songs, obtained plethora of songwriter/music awards, and has written songs for Stephanie Sun, Jacky Cheung, Karen Mok, Leon Lai, Tanya Cai, Joey Yung, Tao Jin Ying (MC Hostess of Million Dollar Star), Vic Zhou, Jerry Yan, among others. Though more people recognize his songs than his face, he's highly sought-after and respected within the industry, and I think finally releasing his own album in Taiwan will inspire more great works from Jia Hui Wu.
Jerry Yan - One Meter (一公尺) Song: Wu Jia Hui
Credit: crystaljerry
What I like about Jia Hui is his modesty yet inspiring individuality. His shy demeanor and slight appearance may strike you as a common bystander, but when he sings, plays his guitar, you're instantly grabbed by his soul-soothing, clairvoyant voice and musical talent. It's as if his musical creations balance and contrast his singing so there is a lot of defining unity to his compositions. Perhaps that's why I lean toward singing artists who write and sing their own songs - it has this unique wholesomeness to it. I absolutely adore this album, particularly its Theme singles - I Crazy You, Even Though I'm Willing, A Half Per Person, Listen, Want You to Say Love Me, Fairy Tale Fool...Ok, you get the point. Jia Hui Wu - I Crazy You (Live) Song/Lyrics: Jia Hui Wu
Credit: orangeshadow0514 *Note the screeching reaction of the female sub-host after his performance - that was mine as well - minus the high lilting voice.*
Jia Hui Wu - I Crazy You Song/Lyrics: Jia Hui Wu
Credit: blump3music
Jia Hui Wu - Even Though I'm Willing Song/Lyrics: Jia Hui Wu
Found out about this girl on allkpop and I fell in love with her voice and the song.
I vaguely remember her as som2, but hearing she was going to be "the second BoA" kinda turned me off of listening to her. I wish I hadn't because her voice is amazing (without autotune!) and all four songs on her album are good.
No, this is not a perverse ad or a silly joke, but rather the literal translation of China's newest romantic comedy family drama, 租个女友回家过年. And it is so freakin cute!
Credit: MyChineseDrama
Don’t be fooled by the corny title and think this is another fluffy, inconsequential, “idol” drama. No, it is completely different from what you or I would expect. As if to lure viewers deeper into misjudging it, the drama starts off on an “idol-cliched” note with the male lead conducting an arranged date and purposely ruining it (Samsoon anyone?); meanwhile the female lead is hard at work practicing Tae Kwon Do, suddenly running off when she receives a call, and storming into the same restaurant to kick the main lead, David’s ass. But of course, she bullied the wrong guy – the real target should have been David’s best friend, who had used David’s name to cozy up to chicks, one of which happened to be Xiao Xiao’s (literally translated – Smile's) best friend...
Rent A Girlfriend Home For New Years - Smile & David Credit: ent.sina.cn
By the time I finished watching this part, I liked the catchy theme song, was mildly intrigued by the leads’ storyline, found the dialogue contemporary and refreshing, liked the personality traits of the lead characters, and liked the acting chemistry. That’s enough for me to continue watching, despite my misgivings at the time of this being a clichéd “idol” drama. Unlike my austere requirements for Korean, Japanese, or Taiwan dramas on acting, chemistry, and character development, my judging criteria for Chinese dramas are completely…shallow.
Most of the time when I watch Chinese dramas, acting and character development are not a concern at all – it’s the industry norm to have their drama leads be either experienced and/or academically trained actors, and Chinese productions are meticulous with emotional development of their characters AKA logical and smooth transitions. So, I look for likeability of the actors, the storyline, and the characters itself. Superficial, I know, but with 500+ dramas produced in China in any given year, I can afford to.
Theme Song - Give Me Your Love Singers: Leng Zhong Yi & Yuan Zi Fei Lyrics: Leng Zhong Yi
Credit: cherry33www
Sub Theme Song - Love Gradually Leaves Singers: Yuan Zi Fei
Credit: fountainpark723 So what makes Rent A Girlfriend Home For New Years so cute, endearing (can you believe I cried for this drama? Me? A small swimming pool to boot?), and greatly entertaining? The characters and dialogue. The writer has a good balance between modern superficiality and traditional philosophies, drama and realism, to make the character interactions completely hilarious, charming, yet realistically relatable - particularly David's traditional family, comprised of 3 naggy older sisters, stern father, soft-spoken mother, and child-like, but has full-authority, grandmother.
Smile, is an independent, tomboyish, wealthy, single-parent raised, liberal thinking, college student. David is a serious, stubborn Director in a prominent IT firm, having gone abroad and earning his MIT Masters degree before returning to China to fulfill his filial duty as the only son to a prestigious ancestral family. And it is exactly this family that drives rational David to ultimately seek a “Girlfriend-For-Rent” (part of a growing new trend of services online in Asia including "Personal Assistants") – and who do you think suggested this inane idea? Yup, the unscrupulous best friend that got David's ass kicked in the first scene of this drama.
By no means am I going to spoil this drama for the rest of you. But I will give you all a taste of the ingenious scripting for this show.
Smile: Hey...You...I'm officially saying this, when we get to your oldest sister's house, I stubbornly refuse to eat that whatever "candy egg" - if I eat any more of that, I won't even want to eat chicken for the rest of my life. David: Fine. When we get to my oldest sister's house, I promise I won't let you eat the "candy egg"...I'll let my sister reward you a little, and fry you an egg.
David: The town of Long Men has a population of 7,000 - all descendants of Lord Sun Qun. Smile: No wonder you're brain dead, you're the result of generations of incestuous breeding.
Isn't their relationship just adorable? Seriously, I was either laughing non-stop, infinitely touched, or crying like a baby with the dialogue in this series. However, do not assume this drama does not have flaws - it certainly does, especially in the form of how the production team tried to begin and end the drama in rather nonsensical, fluffy tones. As if it needs to justify itself of it's "idol drama" characterization. And don't get me started with the extraneous amount of musical insertions. There is also the rather stoic, or at least in comparison to the usual Chinese standards, inept acting portrayals of the second lead actors. But considering that they are singers-turned-actors, and I've seen worse in dramas of other regions and accepted it (i.e. Devil Beside You, Mike He), I'm willing to concede. I also think marathoning this drama in 2 sleepless days also affected my likeability for it, even if it's just a tad. The romantic development of the leads are too cute and irresistible to regard these disappointments. ^^ Go watch it.
Facts About Jung Chul -Didn’t debut as a solo artist, but in a short-lived group called “Q.Q.Q” -His solo artist debut came at the age of 19 with the album “Now and Forever” -Most people will know him for singing the song “My Love”, which was the ending theme song for the drama “Sang-Doo, Let’s Go To School” starring singer Rain and actress Gong Hyo Jin. -He is the son of Nami, one of the top female singers in the late 80’s and 90’s. -For his third album “Identity” he started using his full name Choi Jung Chul for many reasons (which are explained in his songs) such as breaking away from the shadow of his famous mother and making a name for himself in the Korean music scene.
Discography Group debut album (Q.Q.Q.): This Is Q.O.Q. First Album-Release Date: March 27, 2002 Group solo album: Now And Forever-Release Date: August 14, 2003 First mini album: It Rains-Release Date: March 15, 2004 Second album: Hear-Release Date: March 5, 2005 First single album: If I Could Singles-Release Date: January 4, 2007 First collaboration: Jung Chul & Jo PD-The Return Of The Prodigal Son - 돌아온 탕아-Release Date: September 21, 2007 Third album: Identity-Release Date: October 14, 2007 Second mini album: Marriage-Release Date: June 24, 2008
Videos Jung Chul ft. Ga-In of Brown Eyed Girls-Marriage (The song also has the girl who played Ginger in the highly successful Korean adaptation of "Hana Yori Dango" (Boys Over Flowers)
Video Credit: SMarie7
Live performance of Marriage ft. Solbi
Video Credit: berlala112
Jung Chul-My Love (ending theme song to “Sang-Doo, Let’s Go To School”)
Video Credit: VietJaY
Jung Chul-One (not the full song)
Video Credit: mishiono
ROL Recommends: Jung Chul-Las Vegas: The song is very soothing and his voice is AMAZING!!
When you have an album where half the songs are remixes and/or instrumentals, you better make sure the other songs are AMAZING.
Pretty simple Right?
Unfortunately for U-Kiss, they didn’t take that information to heart and what you get is their first album “U-Kiss Only One Album”. A combination one decent song, a couple of lackluster dance tracks and one too many remixes. Actually more like five, but whose counting.
“Bingeul Bingeul” is an average dance song and it’s great for people who just want the mindless dance song for workouts or parties, but it’s just that…mindless. That’s fine for me though because I do love my mindless dance songs when I workout (I LOVE working out to “Man Man Ha Ni” because the beat is great if you’re walking on a treadmill).
The only real pro of this album is the song “Without You”. The beautiful piano mixed with the dance beat and their voices makes for a beautiful and fun love song which is perfect since Valentine’s day is just around the corner. I really wished they kept this one as the title track because it’s somewhat of a difference from “Man Man Ha Ni” which I did like, but there should be a little bit of variety in every new song you release.
Then the album just goes downhill from there. The over done autotune, the even more over done “brave new sound”, and the half-assed remixes makes me feel like this album was just thrown together to get it out before the slew of comebacks happen (SNSD, Hyori, SJ, etc.).
I really hope for U-Kiss’ sake their next album is better or we could be kissing them goodbye.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 Best Track: “Without You” Worst Track: “Mworago”-Sounds too much like “heartbreaker” (that does NOT mean I think they plagiarized) and the “brave new sound” at the end annoys me.
This is The God Motha and The ROL, AKA J-D Squared!
As you can see by the title of this post, it is the first of many J-Casts. To put it simply, a J-Cast is any post in which we inform you of happenings and updates on the blog (I.E. Maintenance and add-ons).
We are writing this J-Cast to inform you that all previous posts before this one, were older posts transferred from our own individual blogs. It was only recently that we had an epiphany to combine our eclectic views to form J-D Squared.
After this post, you will see more up-to-date news and reviews from both of us, as well as more media downloads in our J-Box. We hope you enjoy your time and should you have questions, comments, or suggestions, feel free to contact us. Contact information is on the left hand side under J-Orbit. (Get it? The universe, or orbit, that revolves around us? Kekekeke...We're two major dorks, so expect corny as the norm. ^_^)
If you don’t know who Anson Hu is – get to know him. Not known for looks (who cares?) nor smooth-talking charm (can turn me off if not done “right”), Anson is recognized for his diverse musical talents and amazing voice. To provide some reasoning as to why I’m unusually passionate about this guy, I’ve posted the following clips – view in order posted for best comprehension. Also suggest loading videos first before watching.
Show Luo – One Man Show
Credit: roland149
Anson Hu – One Man Show Rendition
Credit: faloveshow2
Yes, it was a spontaneous, on-the-spot rendition. No, Anson is not extremely familiar with the song. Yes, Show Luo, the original singer and host of 100% Entertainment was so impressed he was stuttering and speechless, as was his co-host Alien Huang (minus the stuttering), another singer-actor.
Anson Hu – Waiting For You Song: Anson Hu MV Appearances: Ariel Lin & Mike He
Credit: Juliakgrl
Anson Hu is a rarity in Chinese mando-pop industry. Back before all the singing competitions brought many young idols to fame, China’s music industry was heavily doused with older, schooled, and critically acclaimed singers – “pop-y” songs and ‘idol” artists mostly imported from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, or Malay/Singapore. In fact, the trend of “imported idols” is still strong in China’s music sphere today (though China is successfully breeding its own generation of pop idols). To release a self-written c-pop album at the tender age of 18 back in 2002 was consider unusual, daring, and against mainland China’s industry norm – after all, Anson would have been competing with the likes of Leehom Wang, F4, the then red-hot newbie Jay Chow, etc. and the stigma of China’s traditionalism in music. To many, he is considered one of the pioneers in the current wave of young, popular, Chinese idol singers who can compete with popular non-mainland Chinese artists.
*Anson Hu – Emperor* Song/Lyrics: Anson Hu
Credit: Tamahoma
Touting over a billion people, China is a "super" market for many countries, music or otherwise. So, it’s not unusual to see Chinese fans learning about and eventually going crazy over a Kpop, TWpop, HKpop, Jpop singer or group – but how often do you see other regions going wild over a young C-pop idol? Most likely never. After winning multiple awards and producing hit song after hit song, other mandarin-speaking regions finally started to recognize his name and face. In 2007, Anson Hu hit the first great height of his career, releasing Men’s Songs and nabbing almost all major music awards in China with his hit single, A Man’s KTV, a song incorporating 4 lines from classic KTV songs sang by lengendary Jacky Cheung and “King of Songs” Eason Chan. His huge popularity in the mainland finally triggered Anson’s expansion to regions such as Taiwan, often considered as the most innovative and refreshing cultivator of mando-pop music. His talent, as shown in the clips above, voice, hit songs, and somewhat 4-D personality attracted many non-mainland China fans. It was the first time I felt a Chinese C-pop singing artist so favored by another region’s fans.
Anson Hu - A Man’s KTV Song: Anson Hu
Credit: binkyo
Of the many things I love about Anson, his musical talent, voice, singing range, 4-D personality, stunted speech (sometimes he’s rather inept in vocalizing his thoughts), I admire the dedication and pride he has in his music the most. Anson Hu’s music has many cultural and “oldies” influences (before “retro” became the new “in” for mainland artists), but he’s able to integrate modern styles, such as R&B, rap, funk, rock, etc. into his compositions. A great example combining traditional and modern music is the following song.
Anson Hu – Departing Poem Song: Anson Hu
Credit: usao10
Track List: 01. 你买单还我买单 (You Take the Tab or do I) 02. 失业情歌 (Laid-Off Love Song) 03. 笔墨登场 (Entrance of Calligraphy) 04. 不曾后悔 (Never Regretted) 05. 罗马假日 (Roman Holiday) 06. 空位 (Empty Space) 07. 林妹妹 (Sister Lin) 08. FUNRUN 09. 勇敢去爱吧 (Love Like No Other) 10. 父亲 (Father) 11. 闪亮的日子(Glorious Days)
After his hit and award-winning album 2 years ago, Anson releases Music Life on 12.08.09. The album includes songs that have been released in commercials, singles, and ceremonies in the last 2 years, but also new never-before-released compositions like Laid Off Love Song aka the more ambiguous title Music Life. I have yet to be disappointed with Anson’s albums, as he’s constantly incorporating current themes to retain my attention. In his last mini-album, he renditioned old 1930s-1950s songs to celebrate China’s 60th anniversary. This time, Anson’s newest album touches on the global recession and economic impact on people’s lives. Looks like I’m going to be rolling into my 8th year as a fan. ^_^
Anson Hu – Laid Off Love Song aka Music Life Song: Anson Hu
Credit: Fountainpark723
So have I converted you yet? If not, go to my Youtube page for more Anson Hu songs and live performances – that should do the trick.
Quirky, open-minded yet stubborn in our convicted thoughts. The J-Prints of two randomly combustile individuals dedicated to the holiness that is Asian Entertainment.
Age: Need to know basis Sex: Tomboy Location: Debatable Personality: Practical, Critical, Frank, Realistic, Fickle, Compassionate, Resolute, "Sweet"
Jessica, The Ray of Light (ROL)
Age: 27 going on 16 Sex: Princess Location: In The Clouds... Personality: A Mass of Contradictions, Optimistic Realist, Drama Queen, Capricious, Loyal, Empathetic, Oblivious, Excitable, "Pink"
