On April 12th, Alan’s new single River of Eternity placed first on the Oricon’s Singles Chart, successfully beating Faye Wong’s record as the most highly ranked Chinese artist on the Oricon Charts. River of Eternity is the Japanese theme song to Red Cliff, and the single includes both the Chinese and Japanese versions of the previous songs.
Alan was so happy that she shed tears of joy. At the same time, she was very humble, crediting her success to that of Red Cliff.
River of Eternity, Japanese version:
River of Eternity, Chinese version:
Her voice is quite powerful when she gets going on the high notes… unfortunately my ipod earphones makes it slightly screechy…
First on Oricon charts? First? OMG!! Are you kidding? sorry, I really like her so reality hasn’t hit yet. I was already really happy a few days ago when I read on her blog that she made it to the top ten. Congradulations to her.
thanks, Julie. I changed it. This is why I shouldn’t write things when I’m half-awake…
The Japanese version is more smooth and rich. It’s a bit more pop. The Chinese one’s sung with a higher pitch and is sweeter. I personally perfer the Japanese one.
you have a typo:
“crediting her success to that or Red Cliff.” it should be of not or
@valmorbia
Until recently, there were a lot of restrictions on Chinese performers in Taiwan (and there are still some), so to make it in Taiwan, she’d probably need to work her butt off like Anson, without even a sure guarantee that’d she be able to promote over there. And most people can sell probably around at least 4x as much in album sales in the mainland, so there’s not a huge monetary incentive from Taiwan just the promotional incentive, which may or may not happen because of the restrictions.
It’s actually much easier for people trying to enter Japan. Japan has like no restrictions whatsoever on foreign artists because their market is still the biggest in Asia, and they don’t protect domestic products zealously, much like America has no restrictions on foreign entertainment (the ones people actually care about …like British bands).
I know what you mean about being afraid of Chinese music going too commercial, but I don’t think that will happen because China will not be shaped by outside influences that much in the long run, it will be shaped by its market. Some countries have a deluge of commercial stuff in their industry because their market is too small and only the commercial pop can survive. If you look at China, lots of musical artists have been going strong despite not being commercial because of performance fees, and the strong internet word of mouth. China can sustain them. I think Cao Fang being able to release her EP on her own independent label is quite a good indication of that. China may be diversifying, but I don’t think it’s going to one extreme from another.
After hearing the Japanese versions of the songs (and the rock version of the Japanese version of “Xin Zhan” that came with some versions of “Voice of Earth,” for which my order sadly got canceled), I think I like the Japanese versions better than the Chinese versions even though I understand much more Mandarin than Japanese. The singing style is different, which makes it more interesting. It’s boring to have the same song with only one arrangement/singing style on the same CD, and I think this single avoids this problem.
idarklight: Hmm…maybe. I’m a foreigner and I like the more traditional styles, but perhaps the older Chinese like the traditional styles more but wouldn’t be as interested in pop music, so Alan would be lost on them.
yay congrates to alan!!!!!!!
This single has both versions.
Well, Avex signed her, and Avex is Japanese. And to tell the truth, non-Chinese audiences often seems more welcoming to traditional Chinese-styled, non-pop music than Chinese people. Fore example, the Twelve Girls Band didn’t really take root anywhere in Greater China, but succeeded in Japan.
I’m still debating about my feelings toward this. I’m proud of her and Red Cliff, but I find it sad that so many artists with amazing voices can’t reach nearly the same level of success in China. I wish the Chinese music industry would find a way to commercialize itself without losing its music.
That’s great., It sounds even better than the Chinese version, her voice is lower and more mellow here. I’m wondering if I can find a CD with the Chinese and Japanese renditions of the songs for both Red Cliff I and II in the same disk. Is that possible? Will they be releasing one?
She sounds like a nice person and is very talented. Hope she succeeds. By the way, do you know why an artiste of Chinese origin would go to Japan instead of Taiwan to start her career?
Most people who don’t know Japanese or Mandarin seem to like the Mandarin version better, but since I know Mandarin, for me it’s hard to say.
As a huge Faye Wong fan, I’m a little mad at alan but not really. I’m so happy she’s made it this far! And it’s nice that the single had both the Chinese and Japanese language versions of the song. Maybe one day someone can top the Oricon with simply their own language…has it been done in English? Probably.
The Japanese version sounds great! Or is it only because I don’t understand what Alan’s saying?