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Stefanie Sun (Sun Yan Zi, 孙燕姿) – Mulan’s Passion (Mulan Qing, 木兰情) English/Chinese/Pinyin Lyrics

19 Nov

Here are the lyrics to Stefanie Sun’s new song for Hua Mulan. I didn’t translate the lyrics myself, credit goes to here and the Chinese lyrics come from here. However, the pinyin translation I did myself, so you can sing along even if you don’t know Chinese! Please note, for the pinyin lyrics I added a repeat of the chorus which is how it is in the MV. Really loving this song!

Chinese:

我看的見雲在天上混亂的飛
我聽的見滾滾沙場埋一滴淚
這是誰的沙漠 我忘了我是誰
又是誰 讓這天灰

]醒在黑山睡在黃河風吹往北
昨日故鄉東市駿馬在等著誰
鐵衣下的你我 從患難到心碎
我問天 是白是黑

一顆心葬了幾滴淚
一生情背我往前飛
記住這天地中的美
滄海世界 一眼成灰

我想喝家裏的井水
卻吞下生死的滋味
就讓我敬往事一杯
對自己說 絕不後退

English:

I saw the clouds…wandering aimlessly in the sky
I heard a teardrop in the midst of the raging sand
Who does this desert belongs to?

I’ve forgotten who I am
And who…turns this sky grey?
I woke up on the black mountain,
Lying next to the Yellow river…

The winds are howling to the north
Where were the horses at the market in my homeland waiting for?

Under the leaded armor,
You and me…. through thick and thin,
Our hearts are shattering

I asked the heavens… what is black or white?
How many drops of tears can one heart bury?
How I’ve hung on because of my love?
I’ll remember the beauty in this land and sky

The world …turns to dust in an instant

I want to drink the water from the well in my home
But all I tasted was life and death
Let me toast to my fond memories
To say to myself…I won’t turn back

Pinyin:

wŏ kān de jiàn yún zài tiān shàng hùn luàn de fēi
wŏ tīng de jiàn gŭn gŭn shā chăng mái yī dī lèi
zhè shì shéi de shā mò wŏ wàng le wŏ shì shéi
yòu shì shéi ràng zhè tiān huī

xĭng zài hēi shān shuì zài huáng hé fēng chuī wàng bĕi
zuó rì gù xiāng dōng shì jùn mă zài dĕng zhù shéi
tiĕ yī xià de nĭ wŏ cōng huàn nàn dào xīn suì
wŏ wèn tiān shì bái shì hēi

yī kē xīn zàng le jī dī lèi
yī shēng qíng bēi wŏ wăng qián fēi
jì zhu zhè tiān de zhòng dì mĕi
cāng hăi shì jiè yī yăn chéng huī

wŏ xiăng hē jiā de jĭng shuĭ
què tūn xià shēng sĭ de zī wèi
jiù ràng wŏ wăng shì yī bēi
duì zì jĭ shuō jué bù hòu tuì

xĭng zài hēi shān shuì zài huáng hé fēng chuī wàng bĕi
zuó rì gù xiāng dōng shì jùn mă zài dĕng zhù shéi
tiĕ yī xià de nĭ wŏ cōng huàn nàn dào xīn suì
wŏ wèn tiān shì bái shì hēi

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Stefanie Sun (Sun Yan Zi, 孙燕姿) – Mulan’s Passion (Mulan Qing, 木兰情) @ Hua Mulan Live Premiere

18 Nov

Stefanie Sun recently had the great honour of closing the event for Hua Mulan’s World Premiere in Beijing. This film is going to be so huge! With the nation’s sweet heart, Zhao Wei starring as Mulan, how can it not be a success? I got goosebumps seeing Stefanie perform on this stage. She looks amazing, so beautiful and she sings so well. You can feel every single bit of emotion she feels when she sings. I’m so happy for her that although she was absent from the music scene for quite a long time, she’s been able to come back with such a huge single and honour. I may sound overly patriotic here, but oh well!

Please note, the audio quality is pretty dreadful, but watch it all the same!

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4minute – What A Girl Wants MV

18 Nov

4minute return after the success of Muzik with new song, What A Girl Wants. It’s kind of like a semi-mid-tempo electro ballad pop song. It’s a bit similar to 2NE1’s I don’t care (eh eh eh eh), but less ballady. So it’s pretty cool. I think it fits quite nicely on radio for this time of year. I always thought it was strange how certain music fits better for certain times of year. I mean, if you don’t have seasons, then that isn’t really going to affect you is it?

Check out the MV below, it totally screams Korean cinema at me for some reason. I can see elements of so many different Korean movies and dramas in it.

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Rainbow – Gossip Girl MV

18 Nov

The world has gone girl crazy. Seems like only a couple of years ago when the world couldn’t get enough of indie rock bands, but now it’s all changed. Solo female artists set the charts on fire and in Korea it’s the second coming of girl groups. 2009 has seen so many new girl bands debut that it’s hard to keep up; there’s only a couple of months left of 2009 and there are bands still coming out to debut! Madness!

Rainbow are a pretty cool girl band with a pretty catchy beat. 7 members is not quite SNSD stage presence but they do bring something to the K-pop field. Kind of… sexy in a cute way yet they probably smoke and drink. Something like that haha.

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f(x) – CHU~<3 @ Inkigayo

18 Nov

f(x) continue their progression from rookie groupie with the mostest and continually deliver polished performance after polished performance. The level they debuted at is pretty amazing considering some other group’s skill levels when they first debuted. However, what I will say is that their sound is a little ‘young’. If that makes sense? You know? Like, their songs sound less mature than other groups. Less sophisticated. I’m not sure if this is because they are rookies or because SM Entertainment are targeting a specific demographic. Either way, I do think they are pretty cool. Kudos for Amber for perhaps being the coolest member of a girlband ever!

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Nakashima Mika – Nagareboshi Review

17 Nov

Today, I’m starting something new on this blog by actively reviewing songs, albums, singles and releases. Hopefully I’ll also have time to review other things, such as movies, television shows, books and videogames. I hope to strike a nice little balance between news, personal musings and reviews. Wish me luck! Please also feel free to leave me feedback about my reviews; it’d be greatly appreciated.

For the first review, I’m going to review Nakashima Mika’s Nagareboshi (translated as Shooting Star).

中島美嘉 – 流れ星
2009.11.04

1. 流れ星
2. Memory feat. DAISHI DANCE
3. 流れ星 (Instrumental)
4. Memory feat. DAISHI DANCE (Instrumental)

Mika’s new song continues to to show her love of soul music. The song has a great soulful vibe, helped by her mellow vocals. Mika seems most comfortable singing songs with an r and b or jazz touch to them. When I first became interested in Mika’s music, I loved her distinctive soulful voice combined with pop melodies. But nowadays as her music as progressed and I’ve come to appreciate so much in the music I hear, it is her more jazz orientated releases that I find coming back to time and time again. The best quality about Mika’s work is that her voice soothes you like the sweet smell of spiced apples in Winter time. This song is no exception. In fact, the production values, complete with bells and shimmering noises make this a great Winter song. Listen to it as you walk down the dark street and you’ll definitely feel warmer.

The b-side is another DAISHI DANCE production, Memory, following on from 2008’s SAKURA ~Hanasugami~. Memory is actually taken from DAISHI DANCE’s latest album, Spectacle. It’s quite a nice little electro-pop song, although it’s not electro-pop like Lady Gaga or Black Eyed Peas. It’s more kind of… late 90s Ibiza trance music. Lots of piano. I actually quite like it though, the melody is very simple yet really endearing. Something about the simplicity I guess. Mika sings in English for the entirety of the song which is a pleasant surprise. She’s by no means perfect at it, but kudos for trying. The song reminds me a little of Lumines era Nobuchika Eri.

The PV for Nagareboshi is very emotive. Scenes of Mika are cut with scenes of a woman travelling on a train. Mika looks beautiful in a gorgeous dress whilst she swings at night-time. I’m not sure why, but she looks pretty all the same. The actress on the train is very good and you really get quite emotional as you watch her. It’s all rather voyeuristic, but interesting nonetheless. The single sleeve is also pretty; I think Mika looks amazing in her dress. I don’t know who the designer is, but it’s very cool.

Overall, this is a pretty nice little release, it’s not going to set the charts on fire (it hasn’t, it debuted on the weekly Oricon charts at number 10; which is still a pretty good success). I think Mika might have lost something along the way… I’m not sure what, I can’t explain it. Actually, perhaps it’s the fact that she’s making music that she wants to in the way that she wants to, but this just might not be commercial enough.

Rating – 6/10 peaches.

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Stefanie Sun (Sun Yan Zi, 孙燕姿) – Mulan’s Passion (Mulan Qing, 木兰情)

16 Nov

Stefanie Sun, one of my favourite C-pop artists is finally back after a long hiatus with a new song. None other than one of the theme songs for the new epic movie, Hua Mulan starring Zhao Wei. This is a huge achievement for Stefanie as no doubt this film is going to be a box office smash! There have been period epics the last few years in Chinese cinema, thanks to directors like Ang Lee and Zhang Yimou. The song is beautiful and Stefanie’s vocals are so emotional. Mulan’s story is one that greatly inspires Chinese people generation after generation and I’m very proud of Stefanie.

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Utada – In The Flesh Tour

16 Nov

By now, if you’re a fan of Utada Hikaru then you’ve definitely heard about her upcoming US & UK promo tour. I have no idea why she’s doing it, probably trying to raise publicity of her second album, This Is The One and rumoured second single, Dirty Desire. I am beyond amazed because she’s going to be perform one date in the UK and I’ve got tickets! I’m soooooooooooo happy I could cry. My wonderful boyfriend managed to get us tickets because sadly I was out of the country. All the tickets sold out in a few hours – I think people all over Europe are going (which I think is slightly unfair, but nevermind). I’m so amazed that she’s coming here! This has been one of my life’s dreams for so so long. I’ve been a fan of Utada for almost 10 years now – that’s half my life. I love her so so so much. She’s my favourite artist of all time, she sings my favourite song of all time and just argh! I just can’t quite believe it. Boyfriend laughed when he said I might cry when I see her, but I don’t care!

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Leona Lewis – My Hands (Final Fantasy XIII Official Theme Song) / Final Fantasy XIII US & UK Release Date – March 9th 2010

16 Nov

Chances are, if you’ve come to lookat this post then you’ve no doubt already heard the news about Leona Lewis being the officially selected singer for the up coming Final Fantasy XIII theme song. Before I mention the song, the singer, the company and all that stuff. What? What?! Whaaa? I’m so… confused. Why? Why Squenix? Why would you do this? I know you are trying to appeal to the Western audience like Fergie tries to sing and look vaguely human, but what? Really? Leona Lewis? Right…

Leona Lewis is, bless her, a great singer. She can sing songs that are out of the range of most other pop singers at the moment and she might have one of the greatest songs of her generation, but what? Why? I just don’t understand it. Why pick someone who has probably never heard of Final Fantasy or even played a videogame? Could be totally wrong and she might love Aeris and co more than me, but I highly doubt this. Likewise, her performances are just weird… She sings amazing, but it never looks like she really connects to the song.

Now, for the song. The song is actually a bit of a grower, which is a plus. But the lyrics are just a bit weird… I mean… they just don’t seem to fit the lofty, convoluted narratives of Final Fantasy songs. We need more tragic, forelorn lyrics. Granted, the lyrics actually do get a bit grandiose during the chorus, but the beginning is very… ‘real’ and not very ‘fantasy’; if that makes sense?

Anyways, I think Squenix are making some very strange choices trying to appeal to the Western market. They’ve openly said they have every intention of expanding business in the US and Pal terrortories, I just don’t think they’re going about it the best way. Everything is very… electro-pop, pseudo do androis dream of electric sheep? The summons look like Transformers. The English voice acting is horrific. And when they have promo videos like this little gem, then you just scratch your head and think what?

Here’s a video of Leona’s My Hands. It’s not as bad as I first reacted to, but it is still very wtf.

Here’s the lyrics too, it’s just such an odd choice…

I wake in the morning
Tired of sleeping
Get in the shower
And my make my bed alone
I put on my make up
Talk into the mirror
Ready for a new day without you
And I walk steady on my feet
I talk my voice obeys me

I go out at night
Sleep without the lights
And I do all of the things I have to
Keeping you on my mind
But when I think I’ll be alright
I am always wrong cause

My hands, don’t wanna start again
My hands, no they don’t wanna understand
My hands, they just shake it try to break whatever piece I may find
My hands, they only agree to hold
Your hands, and they don’t wanna be without
Your hands, and they will not let me go
No they will not let me go

I talk about you now
And I do without crying
I go out with my friends now
I stay home all alone
And I don’t see you everywhere
And I can say your name easily
I laugh bit louder without you

And I see diferent shades now
And I, I’m almost never afraid now
But when I think I’ll be ok
I am always wrong cause

My hands, don’t wanna start again
My hands, no they don’t wanna understand
My hands, they just shake it try to break whatever piece I may find
My hands, they only agree to hold
Your hands, no they don’t wanna be without
Your hands, and they will not let me go
No they will not let me go

Sometimes I wait
I see them reaching out for you
Quietly break
whatever shields I spent so long building up
I cannot fake
Cause when they cry I’m almost broken
They miss holding my baby

My hands, My hands
No they don’t wanna understand
They just shake it try to break whatever piece I may find

My hands, the only agree to hold
Your hands, and they don’t wanna be without
Your hands
And they will not let me go
No they will not let me go
No they will not let me go

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Park Bom – You & I @ Inkigayo

16 Nov

Park Bom continues her promotion of her solo debut single, You & I, with a lovely performance on Inkigayo. She seems to have relaxed a lot more now and looks less terrified. Poor Park Bunny, am proud of her though ^_^

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