Lightyears

Was just browsing for live performance of Ken Hirai on youtube when I chanced upon his interview with CNN on a programme called “Talk Asia”, I think, which was recorded last year. There are 3 parts to the interview, where he talks about how he became a singer and what his musical influences are, and his appearance!! Hahaha!

Ok, back to studying…

I think Mariah Carey, or Mimi, really knows how to make music, and make it relevant in today’s world. E=MC², the latest work from Mimi, really sounds great. It still has a great music mix from great songs for clubbing to great ballads.

On first listen I was rather disappointed, given that the album was so hyped about, and also very much the most anticipated album of the year. It also didn’t help since a lot of people who previewed it gave it all thumbs up! After listening continuously for the past 24hrs, I think it is really a great album!

“Migrate” starts the tone for the whole album, very club-ish, and tunes that are rather sexy, urban, and the beats and all are just perfect! Will only touch on the other tracks that I really love on first listen, i.e “Touch My Body”, “I Stay in Love”, “I’m That Chick”, “Thanx 4 Nothin’ “, “O.O.C”, “I Wish You Well” and of course, “Bye Bye”.

“Touch My Body” needs no further introduction, I mean it created (pop) music history. “I Stay In Love” sounds great, and in my opinion, is the real “We Belong Together Part 2″, in terms of the whole feel. Not sure about lyrics-wise though…

“I’m That Chick” was mentioned here some posts ago, and as much as it sounds simple, it has a cheeky feel to it. A very enjoyable number.

“Thanx 4 Nothin” ” is a wonderful ballad, with a bit of sarcasm used I believe. I just love it when MC sings her lungs out!! Haha!

“O.O.C” is probably my favourite fast number in her entire album! Hope she releases this as a single because it would probably shoot up the charts! The beats, the tune, the arrangement are just in perfect harmony! You have to listen to this song!

“I Wish You Well” is the only song with very simple accompaniment, and it ends the whole album nicely. She shows her vocal prowess on this track (probably the only one where she does her whistle-register in the tune). Very nice song.

And lastly, “Bye Bye”, the 2nd single off E=MC² is unbelievably amazing! Probably a “One Sweet Day Part 2″! Hope it creates history again as the 19th number 1 single for Mariah! I teared like crazy just reading the lyrics. I think people can really relate to this song. The best track of the album!

I think she got the formula right (again) this time round! I think Mariah Carey has become synonymous with Good music and Good Urban/ R&B music. While she does some music that she likes, she still doesn’t forget her fans and what the people want to hear. A truly amazing album! Go get it!

(4 out of 5)

I think these videos have been around for some while. As a Singaporean, I think I should support local talent as well, therefore I think I should have music videos of locals who have done well abroad. In this post, I would be posting Sun Ho’s English Music Video, “China Wine” and “Kill Bill”. Here’e the video:

I would prefer ”China Wine” to “Kill Bill” since the latter sounds more cheena… But, I think she looks great in these videos. Anyway, hope her debut English album will be released soon, but obviously not when Madonna’s album (or any other heavyweight releases his/her album).

Oh yes, you probably saw her as an assasin in Wyclef Jean’s “Fast Car” MTV too:

Was just browing on youtube on the performances of A*mei, the Taiwanese diva, also known as Zhang Hui Mei. I am so totally impressed by her showmanship and musicianship and I think I have to post this up so that I can easily watch them next time I want to. Hope that she gets to sing the theme song for the Beijing Olympic Games 2008!

Performance of classic Chinese movie theme songs at the 2005 Golden Horse Awards:

Performance at the Asia Song Festival 2007 in South Korea:

Performance at the 2001 Taiwan Golden Melody Awards (where she won Best Female Vocalist):

Performance of “You Give Love A Bad Name” at some MTV event in Taiwan:

Performance at a tribute event to “Ma Ye”:

No idea what show it is:

For the MTV event, there was a posting for the video of her entire performance, but I cannot really find it now though.

She is really awesome!!! I mean which singer can be so versatile?! I want to fly to Japan to watch her sing in the Japanese Musical!!

I was just thinking about this in the midst of my exam preparation (mathematics starts tomorrow… omg). Is there such thing as healthy fastfood? Subway seems to have accomplished just that, or at least, made people believed that. However, are foods from Subway really as fresh and healthy as it is pictured?

With regards to fresh, I think most outlets serve fresh ingredients (or at least I hope so), though I have been to ones where the lettuce is sort of yellow and … you know what I mean. Then one day, I finally saw how the lettuce were packaged - in bags. So lettuce were not freshly chopped? Then thoughts suddenly filled my mind: Were they sent from a central kitchen or? How long have they been kept? Were they frozen before that? Are the other ingredients like that as well? Even tomatoes? etc.  So, is Subway still providing fresh food as the logo claims?

As for healthy food, it suddenly dawned upon me that microwaved food may not be very healthy, but I think they use ovens more. So is radiation from oven safe? I think it should be, considering that most foods are born in the oven too. But, is baking bread 2 times in the oven safe? Subway usually allows the option of having the bread toasted again, and I was just wondering… … I probably need to read up more about heat radiation to comment any further about this.

Anyway, I still like food from Subway nonetheless, especially Veggie Delite, since it is the cheapest amongst all other choices. And the white chip macadamia nut cookie! Haha. Hopefully it is as healthy and fresh as it claims.

I think Fergie is quite a good vocalist and I really love the song “Finally”, and this is actually one of the first few times I hear her sing this song (though after searching on youtube I realised she has performed this song quite a few times already). Anyway, here is her performance on “Idol Gives Back”, with the talented John Legend:

Speaking of John Legend, his “Live From Philadelphia” DVD and CDs should be out in stores (soon, I think, if it is not already out). One of my favourite male singers! Seldom listen to male singers, so I think he’s really great!

Mariah Carey just created history by surpassing Elvis Presley last week to become the recording artiste with the #2 most #1s in history! I think “Touch My Body” was rather lucky to become a number 1, as much as I like it, because I don’t really like the live performance & arrangement of this track. Nevertheless, it’s still number 1!

Anyway, her next single is supposedly “Bye Bye”. This song sounds like a number 1 hit to me, and hopefully it will be! Although I don’t think it was really a live performance, the recorded track itself sounds good enough.

Just realised that her album would be released on the day of my first examination, i.e. 15th April!

Anyway, amazon.com has short preview clips of each of her song in her new album. Not sure about the link though..