Here are some upcoming releases for those who are interested in Mandarin music!

9/25 -蔡淳佳, 回到最初 (her brand new album in 2 years)

9/25- 張韶涵, 第5季 (her brand new album in 2 years)

9/25- 陳奕迅, 上五樓的快活

10/9 – ELVA蕭亞軒, 鑽石糖 (she’s apparently launching her world concert tour towards the end of the year!)

I think eVonne Hsu needs a career breakthrough at this point of time. She’s been mostly under the radar most of the time, and she doesn’t received as much attention as she should. I mean she can sing and dance as well as (if not better than) Jolin Tsai, the current reigning pop princess of the Chinese music.

Anyway, I’m glad she’s still in the industry and putting out records! Below is her new music video:

And you can pre-order her album here:http://www.yesasia.com/global/love-over-lover/1020250656-0-0-0-en/info.html 

And again, I think her management or record company should take more effort into designing her album shots and stuff. 

“Mariah Carey: The Billion Dollar Babe” lifts the lid on the crazy world of the biggest selling female pop star of all time. This 1.5-hour documentary features the contributions of an array of musical collaborators – including Jay Z and Walter Afanasieff – key record industry executives, Mariah’s mom Patricia Carey, friends and biographers, and music critics Paul Morley and Caroline Sullivan.

Alright I didn’t really watch enough concerts, or rather, pop concerts to have a list of top 10 favourites.

1) A*mei Zhang Hui Mei: Star Tour

An encore concert from the Taiwanese diva A*mei! The concert included songs that were previously not sung on her first leg of the tour, and also included a cover of Alicia Key’s “If I Ain’t Got You”, and her latest Japanese single! An amazing concert that got the crowd on their feet and singing along from beginning to the end!

2) Kylie Minouge: X2008

Touted as the tour of the year, the latest concert tour by Kylie does not disappoint a bit! Love the stage design and the incredible use of light and stage effects, not to mention the new arrangements of some songs, like Slow and I Believe in You!

3) Lee Hom: Music-Man Tour

Alright, the very talented Lee Hom definitely pulled off an amazing show in his alter-ego, Music Man.

It’s not very often that we have a big acts coming to our local shores, but 2008 was definitely the year! We had Rihanna, Kanye West, The Police, Pussycat Dolls just to name a few.

Alright I was hoping that Mariah woud be able to get nominated (and win) in the big awards this time round, but she isn’t nominated in any category, except if you count ”I Understand”, which is nominated with many other people in ”Best Gospel Performance”. ! I thought maybe Bye Bye would make it through, but I guess there were better works that were more impressive… And I am not sure whether the Grammy people are making a mockery of her by asking her to perform for the Grammy concert…

Anyway, as Billboard.com has mentioned, Lil Wayne and Coldplay lead the nominations with 8 nominations each. Alright I’m not really into rap and rock music, but I think Coldplay will probably win the most awards… Leona Lewis’s Bleeding Love is up for Record of the Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, and her album Spirit for Best Pop Vocal Album. Guess we’ll be able to hear her perform live next year! And Alicia Keys for Best Female R&B Performance? I don’t really think she’s a great singer, but if the Grammy people think so…

Oh yes! Jennifer Hudson is nominated in Best Female R&B Performance (“Spotlight”), Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals (with Fantasia for I’m His Only Woman), Best R&B Album, and Best R&B Song.

Kylie Minogue’s X is nominated by Best Electronic/ Dance Album, Josh Groban’s Noel is up for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album

What’s the difference between a classical vocalist and a pop vocalist?

The former sings songs of dead composers while the latter does songs of living composers!

The iPhone 3G is finally launched in Singapore after years of wait; just saw the commercial of TV. I personally am not a fan of the iPhone (though I like the Macbook), but it seems to be a big news all over the world. However, I must say that it looks quite good and according to people, really user-friendly. And I think the iPhone is sold exclusively by Singtel, so go get your iPhones now!

I was walking around in the Marina Square area and I was passing the Sony Ericsson shops. Then I saw posters about Elva Hsiao’s Music Showcase in Singapore at the Singapore Expo Max Pavilion on 20th September! This would be super exciting I guess, since she hasn’t been performing in Singapore for quite a while.

On reaching home, I went to search for an Singapore Elva Fanclub, which confirmed this information. In addition, there’s also an autograph session at Junction 8 on 21st September at 2.30pm! And all these are happening during the mid-term holidays!

On another note, her latest mtv ”Lei Si Ai Qing” aka Similar to Love is out!

And yes, the re-packaged ”3-faced Elva” album CD + DVD is available in stores now!

For more Elva, click the link below:

http://elvasingapore.blogspot.com/

The Singapore Sun Festival is back! Touted as Singapore’s Premier Music and Lifestyle Festival, it is bringing in over 250 international artists and celebrities in more than 90 events in 10 days to celebrate the art of living! Performing artistes include Kiri Te Kanawa, mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, and the world-renowned Vienna Boys Choir. And of course, there will be visual arts events, film screenings, literature workshops, Wine & Cuisine stuff, and of course, Wellness events, comprising of yoga workshops.

Since I missed the inaugural event last year, I will try not to miss it this year, especially when the ticketed events are reported to have reduced the ticket pricing (in order to encourage more people to watch and/or take part I read).

Visit www.singaporesunfestival.com for more details and get your events’ passes through sistic outlets or the sistic website: www.sistic.com.sg .

It’s the year of the Rat!

Wishing everyone a happy and prosperous new year!

 All the best in your endeavours!