My favorite singers

Since I did a shallow post about my favorite K-hunks so why not a post about my favorite singers as well…I listened to mostly American pop during my teenage years (I’m not ashamed to admit that I was an obsessed fan of Backstreet Boys!) but since 2000, I shifted back to Canto pop and Mandarin pop and the following artists are really the ones that I will buy original copies of their albums. Mostly male singers, haha…I guess because opposite attracts. Being a singer-composer also scores extra points too…

Jay Chou 周杰倫

First song I heard => 可爱女人
First saw him in => I think it was on JSG when he played two keyboards at the same time!
3 Favorite Songs => 可爱女人, 暗號 and 四面楚歌
Comments => I became a fan since his second album so it’s been 6 years already! Time flies! I still remember how shy and wordless when he debuted and now he’s the multi-tasked Director Chou. People can be really harsh when they criticize his music. Honestly, give the poor guy a break! When he doesn’t change his style, he gets bashed for being boring and repetitive and when he changes, people will go ‘WTF!” and bash. Perhaps, people are expecting too much from him…

Khalil Fong 方大同

First song I heard => 我們能不能
First saw him in => CR 903 Awards 2005 when he got silver for newcomer awards
3 Favorite Songs => 每天每天, 蘇麗珍 and 詩人的情人
Comments => A very low profile artist, who you rarely see on news reports. It’s a shame that he’s so underrated! I became an absolute fan when I heard his second album This Love as it’s one of the best things I’ve heard in recent years. His songs have a very comfortable, laidback and elegant feel and his live performance is amazing! I have a feeling that he will dethrone Jay as my absolute fav one day…By the way, I can’t wait for his 3rd album hopefully coming out soon!

Gary Chaw 曹格

First song I heard => 少年
First saw him in => 少年 MV
3 Favorite Songs => Superwoman, 沉默玩具 and 3-7-20-1
Comments => When I first heard Superwoman, I was really blown away! When he debuted and went to those Taiwanese variety shows, he was clueless and quiet most of the time but once he opens his mouth to sing, we see a different Gary who is so energetic, confident and powerful. He can sing well in Mandarin and Cantonese and I think that’s his biggest advantage. Sometimes, I hope that his songs can have better lyrics because I found some of them overly mushy/sweet.

Justin Lo 側田

First song I heard => 好人
First saw him in => Err…was it in a random episode of Scoop or JSG?
3 Favorite Songs => 命硬, 我有今日 and Erica
Comments => The king of newcomer in back 2005 but also a controversial singer who says wrong things occasionally (or maybe the media twisted his words) and is accused of plagiarism. I, at some point lost faith in him but his ballads always managed to touch me. He’s really good at singing songs about the pain of being dumped or that he’s not good enough for the girl he likes. Hope that he will continue to write good songs...


Notable Live Performances:

Jay’s live performance in 2002


Justin and Khalil acoustic performance on JSG


Gary singing My Way in duet mode by himself