Sunday Serenade is one of our Periodicals, which we decided to start up because of our love for Asian music.
What we do for Sunday Serenade is simple: we recommend music videos for you to watch (three at a time). Our main goal is to develop everyone’s vocabulary in Asian music, showcasing videos from all over (including Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, etc). We will show videos both new and old. Basically, we want to make an Asian music fan out of you.
That being said, let’s get jamming!
This week’s Sunday Serenade: Covers, Volume 2
We did a showcase of some awesome covers before, and now we’re back with some more! These are covers of Japanese songs done in Korean, Korean songs done in English, English songs done in Japanese, and so on.
This time, we have three covers performed by three beautiful female voices. The originals were quite popular during their respective releases, but as you can tell by these covers, they continue to live on.
Without further adieu, let’s get to it!
“Papillon”
Artist: Shimatani Hitomi
Genre:Pop
Country:Japan
Year:2001
Starting out as an enka singer, Shimatani Hitomi broke out into the public spotlight with this cover of Janet Jackson’s 2000 single “Doesn’t Really Matter”. “Papillon” propelled Shimatani into stardom and has since contributed music for various anime, video games, and television shows. Do you think her version lives up to Janet’s classic hit?
“Eoulmana Joheulkka”
Artist: Lee Soo-young
Genre:Pop Ballad
Country:Korea
Year:2002
Lee Soo-young is a household name when it comes to delivering powerful ballads. She has contributed music for a number of television drama soundtracks, and is known to rarely appear in her music videos. She’s just too damn cool that her music can do the talking for her. “Eoulmana Joheulkka” is a cover of RIKKI’s popular ballad “Suteki Da Ne”, which you may have heard if you’re a fan of Final Fantasy X, as it was the make out song between Tidus and Yuna.
“I AM THE BEST”
Artist: Nylon Pink
Genre:Rock
Country:USA
Year:2012
Nylon Pink holds their claim to fame as the only female Asian-American rock band in the US of A. Described as “Hello Kitty on Acid”, their look is a blend of Harajuku Girls and Katy Perry with a rock twist. While they look sexy, their music is edgy. The artist of whose song they cover needs no introduction – here they are with a rock version of 2NE1′s smash hit “I Am The Best”. And yes, it’s sung in English.
Stay tuned next week for more exciting tunes!