#lady bees

[wekimeki]

Sooyeon performing Kara’s Mamma Mia in Lady Bees

[cpopwonderland]

蜜蜂少女隊 Lady Bees - 密封令 GPS

[shadowetienne]

Etienne’s Top Fives of 2017 - Mandopop Edition

So this year, my Mandopop top fives feels a little thin.  I had been following releases through several well curated blogs and channels between Tumblr and Youtube, and that kind of dried up this past year, during a time frame that I wasn’t really up to finding replacements.  Pair that with a year of a lot of my favorites really not doing much, and well, I’m only doing one list for some specific things that I loved.

This is also a request:  if you also love Mandopop, and you know blogs or channels or anything like that that post MVs/music in a way that will allow me to sort through them as they come out with useful tags/descriptions (things like genre/style playlists, or just notes about what they liked about it), I would really really love to have that information!  Specifically for people who are updating things regularly.  I miss knowing what is going on and getting into awesome new groups, but I also really don’t do well with having more than a specific small amount of social media presence.  (Basically, if your suggestion includes getting an account for a social media platform that I’m not already on, it’s not super helpful here because I have the approximate correct number of platforms right now.)

To find out Etienne’s Top Five Mandopop Releases of 2017, look under the cut!

5. Qiu Feng Ze and Weijin

Qiu Feng Ze, who is a soloist I really like, and Weijin, my favorite member of SpeXial, which is one of my current favorite extant Mandopop groups, released this amazing duet, “Signal.”  Their voices work together impressively well, and I really liked the smooth mellow sort of rock tinged vibe that the song has.  I would love to see more collaborative work from the two of them.

Qiu Feng Ze also had another MV release this year I really liked:  “Known Existence.”  I really enjoy his voice, and this mellow style he’s been going for recently.  While “Signal” is definitely my favorite thing from him this year, this was great too, and I look forward to more from him!

This was a pretty quiet year for SpeXial and Weijin on the releases side (though there was more member stuff going on, and honestly I’m a little lost on that front at this point).  They did release an MV through a show they did (I’m not super clear on the details though) called “Really Really,” and it’s pretty cute.  I hope that 2018 is a smoother year in terms of regular releases and member stuff for them!  I really love Weijin and Mingjie’s voices especially and want to hear more of them (I like all of the members to varying degrees, but they’re my favorites).

4. Teresa Tseng featuring Liu Yuxin and Zhang Youran (both of Lady Bees)

Teresa Tseng’s song “穷得只剩音乐” (So Poor I Only Have Music) featuring Liu Yuxin and Zhang Youran who were both on the elimination show (and they are both in the final group) Lady Bees with her was one of those songs that really caught me.  I’ve listened to it so many times since it came out.  Teresa and Yuxin were probably my two favorites on the show, so having them both here was awesome.

I am definitely looking out for more from Teresa in the future, and I’m really glad that I got the chance to find out about her!

3. TFBoys

TFBoys released “我們的時光” (Our Times) right at the end of the year, and it’s an awesome catchy little song.  I started following them when they were definitely still kids, and it’s cool seeing them growing up (they’re 17-18 and I’m not used to this idea yet).  They’ve definitely kept a refreshingly cute image and style, and I like it a lot.  The song is catchy and easy to listen to, and it makes me smile.

In other TFBoys things this year that I’ve enjoyed:  Yi Yang Quan Xi (Jackson Yi) who is my favorite member released a solo song that I really liked “离骚” (The Lament).  He’s maturing into his singing really well!

2. Lady Bees (蜜蜂少女隊)

Ladie Bees released a few things this year, but “Where to Find You” (above) was definitely my favorite.  I enjoy the style and the way it showcases all of their voices while building something that works really well together.  I also just find the concept of the song and MV really charming.

They also released “GPS” which I didn’t like quite as much musically, but was definitely still fun and catch and has an excellent aesthetic.

1.  Wang Leehom

Leehom was literally the musician who got me into pop music, so unless he somehow becomes far less himself, pretty much any year he releases things he’s going to be sitting at the top of this list (though Jolin maybe has a chance of stealing his place sometimes, since she’s the only other artist I’ve been into for consistently as long).  I really liked most of his releases for this year, and I appreciated that a lot of them started around a concept from an excellent multi-lingual pun.

Probably my favorite song from him this year was “親愛的” (Dearest) above.  It’s just such excellent heartfelt Leehom voice being beautiful.  I like his more upbeat and electronic sound songs a lot, but there is a very special place in my heart for this sort of thing from him.

The MVs and songs for “A.I. 愛” (A.I. Love (where love is pronounced “Ai”)) and “奇遇的起點” (Singularity) both follow a similar concept based on a pun about A.I.s and the word love in Mandarin Chinese.  I love the pun, and the songs are catchy and interesting.  (”Singularity” is definitely the more serious of the two songs.)

His other MV release this year, “無聲感情” (Silent Dancer) is a gorgeous and touching song with an excellent message.  I enjoyed it a lot for that, though it wasn’t my absolute favorite from a music and production standpoint.

[spenceraverywrites]

WIP Tag

I was tagged by the wonderful @miricastor and since I’m letting my momentum carry me through to 7 a.m. JST, but here’s a bit of fun and a sample of some of my newest writing.

This comes from that’s got the temp file title Lady Bees. It’s a short story about a quartet of girls who promise to deliver anything within three days, no matter the size or content. It’s a bit of a solarpunk dystopia: there’s a faction of society that isn’t too keen on peace and wants their delivery, an indigenous fae monarch who’s being sought for their magic as an experiment.

Rules: Post the last sentence you wrote (fanfic/original/anything!) and tag as many people as there are words in the sentence :)

Aureolin Var Solion, 298th Sovereign of the Dawn Fae, was beautiful, body glowing with a soft pulsing light that made Jonquil’s cheeks flush dark red that her nanos quickly tried to fix.

Tagging: I’m always so bad at this, so if you’re a writer of any caliber and follow this blog, tag me and share our work. 

[cpopwonderland]

群蜂劲舞 Part 1 HD - Lady Bees ( all of the Lady Bees 蜜蜂少女队)

[linggluu]

He went to see his girls ;;

[hallyukgirls]

อดีตเด็กฝึกหัด JYP ได้เดบิวท์ร่วมกับผู้ชนะในรายการ Produce 101 เวอร์ชันจีน

อดีตเด็กฝึกหัด JYP ได้เดบิวท์ร่วมกับผู้ชนะในรายการ Produce 101 เวอร์ชันจีน

‘Lady Bees’ รายการเซอร์ไววัลเกิร์ลกรุ๊ป จากสมาชิกรายการ 100 คน ที่ Zhejiang Television จับมือกับ CJ E&M นำคอนเซปของรายการ Produce 101 มาผลิตเพื่อออกอากาศในจีน  (more…)

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[cpopwonderland]

蜜蜂少女 Lady Bees new song release “鼓励鼓励 / encourage”