So my Chinese final was this afternoon at 1:00 (eek!). While I was dutifully studying my soul out at the library this morning, I decided to change up my usual study soundtrack and search out some excellent Chinese tunes. Listening to Chinese singers- and actually trying to understand them- really helps me get into a Chinese-speaking frame of mind, and it can be fun trying to piece together recognizable words.
Not every Chinese hit resonates well with the Western palate, and most Chinese singers don't have much name recognition outside of the Chinese-speaking world of mainland China, Taiwan, and Malaysia. Regardless, I'll share some of my findings:
1. S.H.E.
Super Star
This song, by a Taiwanese girl group reminiscent of Destiny's Child, is my guilty pleasure. I even have it as a ringtone on my phone- I'm just that cool :) A cute trend among the most popular Chinese songs is a tendency to insert "trendy" and "hip" English words into the chorus or background, and needless to say, my favorite part of this song is when the girls shout "you are my super star!" in during the chorus. It's so fun. Here's a video with (not quite perfect) English subtitles:
2. Jolin Tsai
Most Chinese female singers sing airy, slow-paced love songs with sappy, lovesick music videos. Jolin certainly sings plenty of those, but her more recent hits, at least the ones I came across, definitely show some serious Western influence. I think this girl is trying to be a Chinese Lady Gaga. How well does she pull it off?
Those songs were totally awesome and catchy- haha even though I had no idea what was going on! I hope your finals went really well! :)
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