AlwaySane Is In Da House

Sane Listens (Or rather writes, a lot)

WARNING: LONG POST

I don't usually listen to Chinese songs.

I have never listened to 933 for more than 15 minutes in a row.

My intake of Chinese songs was when I was a waitress at a 民歌餐厅 (a cafe where performers entertain through song requests) or when I sing or listen to my friends sing KTV.

I own two Chinese CDs: Shino Best Hits and Faith Yang's first album.

Chinese songs on radio just do not give me the "rush" to make me want to listen more. Unlike the English stations. Must be the R&B and Rap music. These make me "groove" and want to continue listening.

Anyway, the situation has changed slightly, all thanks to a certain TV programme where a group of people compete to win the much-coveted Superstar award. Now, for a change, I'm attempting to listen to more Chinese songs.

Not from 933 but from my "own collection" which includes:

1. 爱情不能做比较 (Love cannot be compared)
A song by 品冠 (Pin Guan), about how one should not compare a person's love to another's. Heard it when singing ktv with a friend. Also, this song made me realize how good-looking Pin Guan is. You know, he has this look that makes him "cute", boyish and pretty at the same time. I think androgynous is the word. And he exudes a certain maturity through his voice and mannerism that makes me swoon. Strangely, he didn't look as good when he was part of 无印良品 (No Stamps). Must be the green spectacles.

So cute!!! I really like his spectacles siah...

2. 爱情转弯的地方 (Where love turns)
By Pin Guan and 黄嘉千 (Huang Jia Qian), about how they are at the turning points of each other's lives. Sing about ocean, sea etc. Oh, the first line is when I look back at my life and write them into an essay, I found out that the last lines are all about you. So touching hor??

3. 爱我别走 (Love Me, Don't Go)
I like this song. The singer is very very cool and he's one of those rare gems that still sing with low, deep and macho voices. He is 张震岳 (Zhang Zhen Yue). He does not look like those cutesy type but he's got CHARACTER. I've begun to sing this faithfully at every karaoke outing. The chorus line: Love me, don't go. If you say you don't love me, please do not let me hear it. Let me have a little warmth. Can cry... Anyway, I love this song.

4. 爱一个人 (To love somebody)
A cantopop! For those who read how I sing cantopop will know that I'm hopeless with lyrics but then, this song is the ultimate. 李克勤 (Hacken Lee) and 陈慧琳 (Kelly Chan) sing this duet that's fast and LOTS of half counts, which makes reading it very very difficult. I have to read the second line when singing the first... Memorising the lyrics doesn't work, and I have to "Jay Chou" through a few words 'cos I really cannot articulate them. And worse still, it's a duet which means I have to sing the man's and lady's lines, which makes it a real breath marathon.

5. 奔 (Charge!)
This is a fast song by local skinny songstress 孙燕姿 (Sun Yanzi). Quite refreshing as it is fast, but then really, cannot catch those words. I've still yet to memorize them. But it's a nice piece to listen to. My mom can never stand to listen to her sing. She has one of those "ya-ya" nasal voices which appeal to only certain individuals. Well, I like this song although not particularly her style of singing.

6. 不懂 (Don't Know)
This song has a sad music, and is sung by none other than 林俊杰 (Lin Jun Jie). "The rain has stopped, the sky is clear, but we still do not know." Gist is, I think, many things have happened but we are not sure about us. Sad....I'm glad his new album has more upbeat songs.

7. 翅膀 (Wings)
Hagen and Wei Choong sang this song for their first duet on Project Superstar. Really, when I heard them sing on TV, they made me hate that song so much. Correction. Hagen made me hate that song so much. His very lethargic voice, trying to sound Caucasian, diligently mispronouncing every word really buthered the song into 18 pieces. It was cruel, torturous, grossly mismanaged. But, when I heard my friend K this song, it sounded so DIFFERENT! I love it! It's one of those Lin Jun Jie's classic. Very TV Donation kind of music but nice. But, I may get tired of it soon.

8. 痴心绝对
This song, I'm only in love with the music. I haven't got to the point of reading the lyrics yet. I've sung along during K but here's another secret. I can totally sing the whole song while reading the words, and have absolutely no clue what the song is about. Yes, that's me and this song. Love the tune, clueless about everything else. Only thing is the singer 李圣杰 (Li Sheng Jie). His face does not match his name. Name is so cutesy girlish, but face is so manly...

9. 冻结 (Freeze)
Wah....This song made me dream of sugar and spice and everything nice. Of course, it was because of Hong Jun Yang!!! He's going to be very rich! This is also THE song that made me listen to Lin Jun Jie's songs. Before he sang on Project Superstar, I didn't even know what songs Lin Jun Jie sings but one song sung by Hong Jun Yang (!!!!!) changed everything! I like 冻结!!!

10. 欢乐今宵 (Let's be happy tonight)
Song by 古巨基 （Leo Ku）. I think Leo is extremely good looking. So boyish, he looks like some Japanese cartoon protagonist. Naive, simple, innocent, pure and cute. And he can sing! I liked him ever since he sang the duet 许愿 (Make a wish) with 梁咏琪 (Gigi Leung). This is a cantopop, which I will learn and memorize and sing at the next K.

11. 简简单单 (Simple)
Just started listening to this song by Lin Jun Jie. It's from his new album (in which a tear rolled down from his face. Did I tell you I really hate this picture? He really looks like a girl which is bad enough since he SOUNDS like one. Man...) So, this song has a good tune and will definitely sing it soon. Mission will be accomplished!

What's with the tear?

12. 江南 (South of the River or River South)
Another Hong Jun Yang song!!!! Wahh!!!! Sorry....not Hong Jun Yang. It's actually Lin Jun Jie. It's a very cool song, especially for the middle part where the writer inserted a 绕口令 （tongue twister）. Haha....it sounds really funny. Like "圈圈圆圆圈圈 天天年年天天". Never failed to make me laugh everytime I hear that. But what comes later redeems itself. It's beautiful. It has one of those ancient Southern China tune.

13. 借口 (Excuse)
My goodness! I must say that Hong Jun Yang made this song sound better than the original singer. At least, now I can hear every word. I love this song to the point where it brings a tear to my eyes everytime. It just sounds so good! Great song, and made greater by Hong Jun Yang!!!

***My comment for song #13 met with rather strong reactions from Jay Chou's self-proclaimed numero uno Fan KitoYan. I am sorry. I hereby retract my statement. Hong Jun Yang does not sing this song better than JayC, he just made this very beautiful song CLEARER and UNDERSTANDABLE. Effectively a new lease of life for the emotional piece. My apologies.

14. 柃蒙草的味道 (The taste of lemongrass)
Well, this is one song by 蔡依林（Jolin Tsai） that I really like. And even the MTV, even though there's nothing much about it, made her look different. She actually looks classy. There's this part at the bridge, she actually looks so different I thought it was another person. She looks like, looks like... 萧亚轩 （Elva Hsiao）! Wahahaha! I'm not sure, but is this MTV about her being a bride?

15. 流星，森林，雨 (Meteor shower, forest, rain)
It's a song by 陈晓东 （Chen Xiao Dong）, which Xie Wei Choong sang during the Project Superstar show. It's a very touching song. Did I say Xie Wei Choong looks good? Yes! He and his hair and his height makes him really attractive. Do you know that Xie Wei Choong is the only male contestant whose height is 1.8m? He is the tallest. The others are all 1.7m-ish and the shortest is 1.65m.

16. 生还者 (Survivor)
By 余文乐 （Shawn Yue）, my favourite guy at the moment! He's so cute! You saw him in Initial D! Phwah!!! So cute! Even though he only appears for a little while, because the stupid director made him lose the first race with Jay, his appearance is so cool!!! He made the show so much more exciting because he is so very cool! And he's so handsome! I love Shawn Yue! Oh and this song is very nicely sung by him because my dear Shawn has a very manly, deep voice which at least makes him stand apart from the other "prepubescent" voices... I love Shawn Yue!

17. 手放开 (Letting go)
Song is by Li Sheng Jie, who sang Chi Xin Jue Dui, and this song is so great it actually made me hit the pillow with the headphones. He sang me to sleep. Lullaby... Yoohoo!!! My favourite line in that song is "My last love for you is to let go. I don't want the sea to be in the center of a double bed". So nice! But that part is very difficult to sing...

18. 听不懂 没关系 (Don't understand? No problem!)
This is so very funny! It's so cute! I think they got an Indian man to say "Cheese Prata?" and this extremely hilarious lady to say "Buay Hiao Kin Lah!" (Nevermind lah!) Actually I just started listening to this song today. I didn't like it at first but after listening to the lyrics, it's actually quite funny... Haha.....Cute lah. And parts of it sound like what Matchbox 20 would sing. Lin Jun Jie, bring it on! This song is rojak! There's ballad, there's rap, there's R&B, there's Hokkien, there's Egyptian..haha

19. 童话 (Fairytale)
Aiyaya! This song made me cry! I heard it when my friend K and I just sat there and listened... and cried... It is so touching! At first I wondered why he put the phone on the piano, then I realized it's so that the girl in the hospital can hear him play. That was so poignant! Do you know that a colleague of mine and I will sing this song everytime we see each other? And we think if Chen Wei Lian sings this for Project Superstar, he'll damn melt every living being out there. For sure. This song is so nice! It's by 光良 (Guang Liang). I'm going to K it soon! There's also a flash version online. Damn cool man!

20. 我的骄傲 (My pride)
I like the Cantopop version by 容祖儿 （Rong Zu Er）. I heard Chen Jiaxin sang the Chinese version on Project Superstar and I thought she sang pretty well. But pity she's out. The skinny girl's out! OK, so this song has been playing on my computer for so often and everytime I play it, my boss coincidentally is around. So today she asked: "Hey, I don't know why I kept on hearing that song!" Oops...

21. 想见你 (Want to see you)
Who sang this? Oh, No Stamps. OK, the reason I like this song is because...Chen Guoqiang sang it with Hong Jun Yang! Two cuties singing one great song! I like!!! I really think they should form a boyband, with Chen Wei Lian and Xie Wei Choong. Think I'll worship the ground they walk on...

22. 一路向北 (All the way north)
Sigh...ok, this song really matters to me a lot. Not only because it's a song on INITIAL D by Jay Chou but look at the title. All the way north... I'm going north next month. Everytime I hear this song I can imagine myself on the plane, leaving home and flying north. Man, I'm going to cry.

23. 一千年以后 (A thousand years later)
Also by Lin Jun Jie, A thousand years later only attracted my attention because it's the theme song of the Yin Cha Yang Cuo show. Well, come to think of it, and listening to it for a while, it actually sounds not bad!

24. 原点 (The beginning)
Hey Hey! A song by 蔡健雅 （Tanya Chua） and Skinny Sun! The first time I heard this song was on... Project Superstar and sung by Chanel and Lijun (I think). OK lah, I quite like it and think the lyrics are really good. Most importantly, I didn't know two of them can sing a song together. They're worlds apart!

But hey, if Phyliss or Fann can cut an album, nothing is impossible.

OK, and do you know that in Malaysia, one can sing KTV for 6 hours and pay only 25 ringgit++? And it includes 2 drinks and buffet dinner (which also includes lobster, oysters, sushi etc.)? WAH!!!

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Sane has finally finished writing

Sane reflects @ this location permanently