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C-pop Saturday

It's been a while since I did a C-pop Saturday post (my last one was in the summer), so today I'm sharing another selection of Chinese music! :)

 

38- Flower by A-Lin

First up is 38-Flower by Taiwanese singer A-Lin. Her real name is Lisang Pacidal Kouyan and she is an aboriginal singer of Amis descent. She started out in the music business in 2006, with her debut album Lovelorn, Not Guilty (English translation), released under Avex Taiwan.

To date A-Lin has released 9 more albums, including Diva (2008), Happiness, And Then (2012), Guilt (2014), A-Lin (2017) and her latest LINK. She left Avex after several albums and signed to Sony Music in 2014. Her singles include Anti-Perfect, Passenger, I'm Not Sorry, Best Friend and 38-Flower. 

Her music is a mixture of Mandopop (Mandarin language) and other genres such as rock and R'n'B. She has been compared to fellow Taiwanese aboriginal singer A-Mei.

38- Flower is from A-Lin's latest album LINK, which was released in April. It's about A-Lin looking back on her life as she turns 38, being in "full bloom". ( I can relate because I am also 38!) I think the full title might be "38- A Flower" including the Chinese word in the middle (I used Google Translate!). 

The video was uploaded on 25th July.  English subtitles are available (click "Subtitles/closed captions").



For more on A-Lin visit these links:

Official FB page: https://www.facebook.com/920ALin/

Official Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lulin168/

YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCURRzgKx4DkVozbOjFflMpg  



Julia Wu- if only you

Here is the latest single from Australian born Chinese singer Julia Wu. It's called if only you (written in lower case) and is an English language song with a dreamy, relaxed vibe. 

The video (which features the song lyrics) was shot by Julia's sister Grace on the beach behind Julia's house. It was uploaded on 21st September.



For more music by Julia, visit my last C-pop Saturday post which features her previous single Existence (bottom of the post):https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2022/08/c-pop-saturday.html

And see below for her recent collaboration with other artists for an Asian hip hop series.

 

HIT-BOY, NICKTHEREAL, KARENCICI, JULIA WU, KUMACHAN-THE REGIONALS: TAIPEI

Now for some hip hop! In September online magazine HipHopDX launched The Regionals, a pan-Asia rap cypher series featuring rappers from the Philippines, Taipei (the capital of Taiwan) and Vietnam. A "cypher" in this sense is a gathering of rappers, beatboxers etc. I had heard the word in a rap song before (in BTS' Cyper Killer actually!) but I didn't know what it meant. You can read more about rap cyphers here: https://www.criticalimprov.com/index.php/csieci/article/view/3518/3588

The Taipei instalment which took place on 23rd September, featured Taiwanese singer/rapper NICKTHEREAL aka Nick Chou,  Chinese American singer Karencici (real name Lin Kai Lun; a member of PANTHEPACK, the hip hop group founded by Jackson Wang), Taiwanese rapper Kumachan (Hsiung Hsin-kuan) and Chinese Australian singer Julia Wu.* The cypher song was produced by American record producer, rapper and singer Hit-Boy (Chauncey Alexander Hollis Jr).

This is the official music video for the Taipei Regionals, which premiered on 23rd September.

 


Read more about The Regionals here: https://hiphopdx.com/en_asia/news/id.72793/title.hiphopdx-asia-launches-the-regionals-the-first-pan-asia-cypher-series-featuring-the-biggest-hip-hop-artists-from-the-philippines-taipei-and-vietnam

 

And for more on the artists visit these links:

My C-pop Saturday post from April which features Nick's music video for GOOD LIFE (scroll down): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2022/04/c-pop-saturday.html

Karencici's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheKarenCici 

Kumachan's YT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSAZdUcsKr4AC5c65iA4RlA

Hit-Boy's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hitboy/ 

See above for more Julia Wu! :)  

 

Hope you enjoyed the post! This will probably be my last C-pop Saturday post of the year. It feels strange that it's already November! What are your current favourite C-pop (or C-R'n'B, hip hop etc.) songs?

 

Check out the previous C-pop Saturday posts from 2022 at the links below:

https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2022/01/c-pop-saturday.html

https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2022/04/c-pop-saturday.html

https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2022/08/c-pop-saturday.html 


 

 




*Two of these are Chinese names with the surname/family name written first.

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