Music Monday: 2018 drama theme song edition

Instead of clogging up my end of year review (coming soon!), I’ve decided to create a separate post for my favourite OSTs of the year.

When done well, theme songs and instrumental music are able to draw me into the events happening onscreen, even if the acting is bland and/or the story is sub par (sometimes I find that the worse a drama is, the better its OST). I may not have watched some of the dramas on this list, but that didn’t stop me from putting their songs on replay.

I’m a fan of ancient dramas, hence my playlist is usually dominated by melancholy ballads. Which drama soundtracks made an impression on you this year?

Phoenix Street 朱雀街 by Song Bingyang (Moonshine and Valentine)

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Promo Round-up: The Destiny of White Snake

This is such a pretty and unique poster color scheme!

Fantasy romance series The Destiny of White Snake comes out today. Yang Zi  play a cute white snake spirit practicing to reach enlightenment, but falls in love with deity Ren Jialun before she could.

The series airs two episodes a day on Mondays to Thursdays on iQiyi here and on Youtube here.

Videos:  Long trailer ;  Stills;  Opening theme by Richie Jen ; Ending theme by He Jie ; Insert song by Jin Zhiwen and Jikejunyi below.

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Liu Yifei, Nicolas Cage star in The Outcast

(Possibly NSFW) …omg… after seeing this… I can’t…

Joining in the recent trend of Hollywood trying to cater to the Chinese masses for profit comes Outcast, starring Nicolas Cage, Liu Yifei, Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen), Summer Jikejunyi (of The Voice of China fame), and Andy On.  The story seems pretty blandly cliche, centering on a fight for imperial succession between two brothers and a couple of Crusaders who happen to make it into China to help save the day and restore order to what seems like a conveniently vanilla Chinese dynasty.  Since this is a Chinese-French-Canadian co-production, I guess at least the release date of this production will be more stable.  In the meantime, it would seem that there are already plans for a sequel.  

More stills below the cut.

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Music Monday: December 23, 2013

Here to make Monday a little easier =)

Here to make Monday a little easier =)

This Music Monday include: Newage pianist Vanros Kloud (V.K克), actor-turn-sing-turn-MC Ray Zhang Rui, the beautiful Jikejuanyi (吉克隽逸), cute little Zhou Ziyan, the powerful vocal of Huang Qishan, comedian acapella party group Panda Bros, glam rock band Lilith, zhong guo feng girl group Seven Sense trying something new, underage boys and girls from TF Family and Blog Girls.

Jin Zhiwen (金志文) and Guan Zhe (关喆) – Old Friends Diary.
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Jikejunyi longs for home in new song for the Moon Festival

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Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, everyone!

Sung in time for the Mid-Autumn Moon festival, so a tearjerker in itself for those of us away from our families,  Jikejunyi ‘s new song,  “When the moon reaches the heart of the sky 月到天心处,” also touches the heart in its references to the tales told in Bodyguards and Assassins, for whose drama version starring Wallace Chung the song is the theme for.  The title is reference to a Song-sydnasty poem by Shao Yong and refers to the most serene and thoughtful moment of the  night.

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Jikejunyi sings “Song of the heart”

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Is the use of her Yi-background a sign of increasing acceptance or exotification?

The Voice of China’s Jikejunyi released another pretty MV,  A (new) song of the heart,  although there’s still no news of an album.   Apparently she signed under Tian Hao Entertainment (HIT-5, S.P.Y., Kym Jin Sha, Hou Xian), which means we should expect a duet when the album does come out.

Watch the MV below from fountainpark723@YouTube

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