YeinJee's Asian Journal

Besides “You and Me” the official theme song, there are a dozen of two other theme songs that are endorsed by the Beijing Games organiser. I have shared “Beijing Welcomes You” and “Olympics in Beijing” previously; here are a few more that’s worth mentioning…

Sun Nan & Zhang Hui Mei - Forever Friends

“Forever Friends” (永远的朋友), composed by Italian composer Giorgio Moroder and Chinese pianist Kong Xiangdong. The English lyrics are helped by Michael Kunze, while Chinese lyrics by Huang Xiaosheng.

This is my favourite candidate for the official theme song. Moroder, having wrote the popular “Hand in Hand” (theme song for Seoul Olympics 1988), certainly understand what makes a good theme song. It might not be the nicest song among all, but I think it’s the best that fits the occasion.

Sharing here is the Chinese version sang by Chinese singer Sun Nan and Taiwanese star Zhang Hui Mei; the English version is sang by Sun Nan and Hong Kong singer Coco Lee…

Read the rest of this post »

The third season of The Amazing Race Asia (TARA) is set to premier on September 11, 2008 on AXN Asia. The franchisee of the popular US reality show is gaining popularity among Asians since making their debut in late 2006 and is back for good.

Hardcore Amazing Race fans might not like TARA for the fact that they are overusing celebrity participants to boost the ratings, as some fans felt that reality shows are meant for ‘real’ people.

Regardless, the strategy seems to be working well for AXN. The likes of Thai actress Paula Taylor and Pinoy model Marc Nelson seemed to gain lots of interest for the race in season two… and it’s not surprising to see that TARA3 is loaded with celebs’ participants yet again.

Among the notable celebrities are Malaysian TV hostess Bernie Chan and actress-producer Ida Nerina, Australian-Filipino model Geoff Rodriguez and Russian-Canadian Miss Universe 2005 Natalie Glebova who run for the Thais (her husband is famous Thai tennis star Paradorn Srichaphan) etc.

The fun part for me about TARA is the variety of people from different nations. The ‘usual suspects’ are from Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

A Korean pair is joining the race for the first time in TARA history… gone were the Indonesian, Japanese and Australian team, which I hope they will be back again next season.

Allan Wu again the host. Hoping for a good race and entertaining show.

The 6th annual MTV Asia Awards was held last Saturday (Aug 2) at Arena of Stars in Genting, Malaysia. I watched the delayed telecast at home… a decent show.

Don’t bother too much about the results though; their awards have always been dubious and it seems like the ‘tradition’ will continue to be preserved…

Favourite Music Artist Awards from Asia

Favourite Artist of Mainland China - Li Yu Chun
Favourite Artist of Hong Kong - Leo Ku
Favourite Artist of Indonesia - Yovie & Nuno
Favourite Artist of Korea - Super Junior
Favourite Artist of Malaysia - Nicholas Teo
Favourite Artist of Philippines - Chicosci
Favourite Artist of Singapore - Stefanie Sun
Favourite Artist of Taiwan - Show Lo
Favourite Artist of Thailand - TOR+ Saksit

International Music Awards

Favourite International Artist of Asia - Linkin Park
Best Hook-up - Timbaland feat. OneRepublic - “Apologize”
The Innovation Award - Radiohead
Breakthrough Artist - Leona Lewis
Video Star - 30 Seconds to Mars - “A Beautiful Lie”
Bring Da House Down - Muse - Muse Asia Tour (Jan 2007)
edc Style Award - Panic at the Disco
Knockout Award - The Click Five
Inspiration Award - Karen Mok

Watch some of the live performances on Mtv Asia.

The 19th Golden Melody Awards, arguably the most prestigious recognition in Mandarin music industry, were presented in Taipei on July 5.

Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou was the biggest winner, bagging five awards, including song of the year and best composer awards.

Malaysian Gary Chau and Singaporean Tanya Chua claimed the best male/female Mandarin singers title respectively (pic); Tanya also bagged the best producer award.

Taiwanese band Sodagreen won the best group/band award; while Hong Kong star Karen Mok produced the biggest surprise of the night by winning album of the year award.

The awards presentation was shown live at my TV channel… but it was so so boring. The red carpet sucked, the hostesses sucked and the performers talked too much.

The funniest thing is seeing the celebrities pretending to be interested with what was happening on stage when most of them were probably bored to the max.

MTV Asia Awards (MAA) 2008 is coming to Malaysia.

MAA, one of the most popular pop events in Asia, is making its debut in Malaysia. The show will be held at the Arena of Stars in Genting City of Entertainment, Malaysia, on August 2, and will be hosted by Jared Leto of 30 Seconds to Mars.

There will be nine regional favourite artist awards and seven international awards to be presented. Among the nominees are Avril Lavigne & Justin Timberlake & Leona Lewis (International), Chris Li (China), Andy Lau & Eason Chan & Joey Yung (Hong Kong), Big Bang & Suju & Wondergirls (Korea), Nic Teo & Siti Nurhaliza (Malaysia), Stefanie Sun (Singapore), Jolin Tsai & S.H.E (Taiwan) etc.

As far as I know, none of the celebrities have confirmed their attendance yet, but judging from the past experiences, most of the winners were pretty supportive of the show… it’s one of the largest of its kind in Asia after all.

It’s not easy to get a ticket though; it’s something that money can’t buy. The fans have to get the tickets via contests by voting for their favourite artists [details]… the fans need some luck obviously.

Karen Mok is going to co-host the event with Jared Leto. Electrico, Jabbawockeez, Leona Lewis, Li Yuchun, OneRepublic, Panic at the Disco, Pussycat Dolls, Super Junior, Stefanie Sun, The Click Five and The Script have confirmed their appearances.

Update - the winners.

Malay version for one of the Beijing Olympic theme songs, sang by mostly Malaysian artists and a few from Indonesia and Singapore. [Hat tip to Quachee]

Among the singers are Michael Wong, Daniel Lee, David Arumugam, Ning Baizura, Gary Chaw, Dayang Nurfaizah, Maya Karin, Penny Tai, Faizal Tahir and Jaclyn Victor etc.

Read the rest of this post »

Official song for the 100-days countdown (April 30) to Beijing Olympic 2008, titled “Beijing Welcomes You” and sang by dozens of pop stars and celebrities.

The song is written by Xiao Ke and lyric by Lin Xi. Featured artist include Stefanie Sun, Wang Lee Hom, Wakin Chau, Gigi Leung, Jackie Chan, Richie Ren, Jolin Tsai, Huang Xiaoming, Han Geng, Karen Mok, Eason Chan, Jang Nara, JJ Lin, Joey Yung, Li Yuchun, Chen Kun, Nicholas Tse, Vivian Hsu, Lin Chi Ling, FIR and 5566 etc.