vivace SPARK ★

Posted on Thursday, 23rd July 2009 by Miri

In the late 70′s and early 80′s, when the era of classical Japanese pop was at its peak (with big-shot names like Pink Lady climbing to stardom), the budding industry of Cantopop (Cantonese pop) was blossoming in Hong Kong and other areas of Southern China. A common trend for Cantopop artists was to begin their [...]

Tags: cantopop, covers, faye wong, j-pop, nakajima miyuki, old-school, remixes
Posted in Cantonese music industry, Japanese music industry, Multilingual versions | Comments (0)

Posted on Sunday, 12th July 2009 by Miri

First things first – IT’S OUT!! The long-awaited album featuring all of current Hello! Project, many of them shuffled into blasphemous “revival” groups like Tanpopo#… In fact, how do you even read that? Tanpopo-pound? Tanpopo-hash? Tanpopo-sharp? The last option seems pretty feasible, since all the younger girls have such screechingly sharp voices. Good choice, Tsunku. [...]

Tags: berryz koubou, c-ute, Hello! Project, high-king, idol, japanese, manoeri, morning musume, pucchimoni v, shin minimoni, tanpopo#, zoku v-u-den, zyx-alpha
Posted in Hello! Project, Japanese music industry, Review | Comments (4)

Posted on Saturday, 11th July 2009 by Miri

Ever since I heard Korean dance-pop singer Sori’s mini-album Lips sometime this spring, I knew I would be forever hooked on her infectious tune. The title track, “Real Lips” (below) has this really retro but extremely danceeble beat. It’s not a rock-out-like-there’s-no-manana dance track, but kind of coy and cute. I was surprised when I [...]

Tags: digital single, k-pop, korea, Review, sori
Posted in Korean music industry, Review | Comments (2)

Posted on Saturday, 11th July 2009 by Miri

When we speak of “East Asian” entertainment, most people’s minds automatically shift towards peppy J-pop girl groups (like Morning Musume), hot-and-spicy K-pop dance acts (like Wonder Girls), soulful Taiwanese solo artists (like Wang Leehom), or metrosexual-looking boybands (like Johnny’s Entertainment groups). Very rarely does one encounter a member of the East Asian music fan community [...]

Tags: four golden princess, m-girls, malaysia
Posted in Malaysian music industry | Comments (4)

Posted on Saturday, 11th July 2009 by Miri

I was blog browsing earlier today (after I finished my multivariable calculus studying, of course..) and stumbled upon this entry from Merry Go Round whose thesis is clearly stated in one bold sentence: “Idols are too generic.” I agree with the fact that idols groups are becoming very similar in their operations (“graduations” and “subgroups”, [...]

Tags: idols, j-pop
Posted in Japanese music industry | Comments (3)