As you'll know if you follow this blog, I'm a J-pop and K-pop fan. I haven't heard as many C-pop (Chinese pop) songs though, so I thought I'd check some out. :) I like CoCo Lee and it was actually an iTunes recomendation of Chinese singers who are similar to her that gave me the idea to do a C-pop post!
I was originally going to do a post about several artists but it was turning into a long post and I don't have time to do it this weekend, so I decided to do a Girls vs Boys one instead. I'll write about more C-pop stars in the future. :)
Today's post is about Taiwanese singers Jolin Tsai and Jay Chou who were romantically linked at one time, although it was never confirmed.
Jolin Tsai (birth name Tsai l-ling) is very popular in Chinese speaking countries and other places too. Known as the "Queen of C-pop" she has had a 17 year singing career so far and is also a dancer, actress and entrepreneur. She sings in the Chinese language Mandarin and is one of the best selling artists in Taiwan.*
Jolin's career started when she won an MTV singing competition aged 18. (She didn't even enter with the intention of winning!) She then signed to the record label Universal Music and released her debut single Living With The World in March 1999. Her debut album 1099 came out in September that year. The album did very well. Its first single was I Know You're Feeling Blue. Jolin's second album Don't Stop (released in April 2000) was a best seller and is her most successful album in Taiwan to date.
In early 2002 she changed record label, signing with Sony Music. Her first album with Sony was Magic (her 5th album altogether) and it was also very successful. So far she has released 13th studio albums, including 1099, Don't Stop, Magic, J-Game (2005), Dancing Diva (2006), Butterfly (2009), Muse (2012) and her latest Play, which came out in 2014. She also has a cover album called Love Exercise (2005) and several remix, live and video albums,
In addition to singing Jolin has starred in films and TV shows, most recently voicing a rabbit in the Taiwanese version of Disney film Zootopia/Zootroplis. She also had her own fashion brand Seventy Two Changes.
Jolin seems kind of "edgy" and reminds me of Japanese singer Ayumi Hamasaki. She has collaborated with one of my favourite Japanese singers Namie Amuro on the song I'm Not Yours. I posted about it last year: http://starsparklex.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/new-koda-kumi-and-namie-amuro-songs.html
This is The Great Artist which is from Jolin's 12th album Muse. I'm not sure if the C-pop artists release singles as much as Western artists but they do have videos for quite a few songs. This one was uploaded to YouTube in August 2012.
Also the song PLAY is quite unique and interesting (and the video too). Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c86t8hoVw8E
For more on Jolin visit these links:
Singaporean Fan Club (English): http://fanclub.ijolin.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/jolintsaiVEVO
Most of her links have shut down or are inactive but you can still read more about her and watch her videos. :)
*Like Japanese and Korean names, the surname is written first in China.
Jay Chou is also Taiwanese. He started out in the music business after he entered a TV talent show with his friend in 1998. He played the piano while his friend sang. Jay went to work for the show's presenter Jacky Wu as a musician and released his debut album Jay two years later. His second album Fantasy really launched his career and he is famous not only in Taiwan but in other Chinese speaking countries as well. He sings in Mandarin.
To date Jay has released 14 albums, including his first two, The Eight Dimensions (2002), Still Fantasy (2006), The Era (2010) Aiyo, Not Bad (2014) and his latest Jay Chou Bedtime Stories which came out in June. He also has 4 EPs, Fantasy Plus (2001), Hidden Track (2002), Fearless (2006) and Curse of The Golden Flower (2006).
Jay is a popular songwriter and has written songs for Jolin Tsai (see above), CoCo Lee and many others. He also acts. He debuted in the Hong Kong film Intial D- Drift Racer in in 2005. Since then he has starred in several other films including Curse of the Golden Flower (which he also did the music for), Hollywood movie The Green Hornet (2011), 2013 musical The Rooftop which he also directed and this year's Now You See Me 2.
He also has his own record and management company JVR Music and has written a book called Grandeur de D Major.
This is Bedtime Stories from the album of the same name. The video was uploaded in June.
For more on Jay check out these links:
JVR site (Chinese language): http://www.jvrmusic.com/artist/artist-index.asp?id=jay
Official FB (Chinese with English translation available): https://www.facebook.com/jay
JVR Music's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/JVRmuzic
Do you prefer Jolin or Jay or do you like them both? :)
I was originally going to do a post about several artists but it was turning into a long post and I don't have time to do it this weekend, so I decided to do a Girls vs Boys one instead. I'll write about more C-pop stars in the future. :)
Today's post is about Taiwanese singers Jolin Tsai and Jay Chou who were romantically linked at one time, although it was never confirmed.
Jolin Tsai (birth name Tsai l-ling) is very popular in Chinese speaking countries and other places too. Known as the "Queen of C-pop" she has had a 17 year singing career so far and is also a dancer, actress and entrepreneur. She sings in the Chinese language Mandarin and is one of the best selling artists in Taiwan.*
Jolin's career started when she won an MTV singing competition aged 18. (She didn't even enter with the intention of winning!) She then signed to the record label Universal Music and released her debut single Living With The World in March 1999. Her debut album 1099 came out in September that year. The album did very well. Its first single was I Know You're Feeling Blue. Jolin's second album Don't Stop (released in April 2000) was a best seller and is her most successful album in Taiwan to date.
In early 2002 she changed record label, signing with Sony Music. Her first album with Sony was Magic (her 5th album altogether) and it was also very successful. So far she has released 13th studio albums, including 1099, Don't Stop, Magic, J-Game (2005), Dancing Diva (2006), Butterfly (2009), Muse (2012) and her latest Play, which came out in 2014. She also has a cover album called Love Exercise (2005) and several remix, live and video albums,
In addition to singing Jolin has starred in films and TV shows, most recently voicing a rabbit in the Taiwanese version of Disney film Zootopia/Zootroplis. She also had her own fashion brand Seventy Two Changes.
Jolin seems kind of "edgy" and reminds me of Japanese singer Ayumi Hamasaki. She has collaborated with one of my favourite Japanese singers Namie Amuro on the song I'm Not Yours. I posted about it last year: http://starsparklex.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/new-koda-kumi-and-namie-amuro-songs.html
This is The Great Artist which is from Jolin's 12th album Muse. I'm not sure if the C-pop artists release singles as much as Western artists but they do have videos for quite a few songs. This one was uploaded to YouTube in August 2012.
Also the song PLAY is quite unique and interesting (and the video too). Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c86t8hoVw8E
For more on Jolin visit these links:
Singaporean Fan Club (English): http://fanclub.ijolin.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/jolintsaiVEVO
Most of her links have shut down or are inactive but you can still read more about her and watch her videos. :)
*Like Japanese and Korean names, the surname is written first in China.
Jay Chou is also Taiwanese. He started out in the music business after he entered a TV talent show with his friend in 1998. He played the piano while his friend sang. Jay went to work for the show's presenter Jacky Wu as a musician and released his debut album Jay two years later. His second album Fantasy really launched his career and he is famous not only in Taiwan but in other Chinese speaking countries as well. He sings in Mandarin.
To date Jay has released 14 albums, including his first two, The Eight Dimensions (2002), Still Fantasy (2006), The Era (2010) Aiyo, Not Bad (2014) and his latest Jay Chou Bedtime Stories which came out in June. He also has 4 EPs, Fantasy Plus (2001), Hidden Track (2002), Fearless (2006) and Curse of The Golden Flower (2006).
Jay is a popular songwriter and has written songs for Jolin Tsai (see above), CoCo Lee and many others. He also acts. He debuted in the Hong Kong film Intial D- Drift Racer in in 2005. Since then he has starred in several other films including Curse of the Golden Flower (which he also did the music for), Hollywood movie The Green Hornet (2011), 2013 musical The Rooftop which he also directed and this year's Now You See Me 2.
He also has his own record and management company JVR Music and has written a book called Grandeur de D Major.
This is Bedtime Stories from the album of the same name. The video was uploaded in June.
For more on Jay check out these links:
JVR site (Chinese language): http://www.jvrmusic.com/artist/artist-index.asp?id=jay
Official FB (Chinese with English translation available): https://www.facebook.com/jay
JVR Music's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/JVRmuzic
Do you prefer Jolin or Jay or do you like them both? :)
Comments
Post a Comment