Amy’s 2017 Music Highlights

3. Ding Wei (丁薇) – Untied (松绑)

Honestly, one of my most anticipated albums, LOL And definitely the most difficult to get. I found out accidentally that it came out this year, months after the fact. I was almost offended. Zigeunerweisen (流浪者) [MV] was so close to becoming my favorite song in 2015, and I’m so glad Untied has so many other great songs.

You can download Untied on iTunes and KKBox, Xiami is the only place I know where you can stream it or download it. Or you can try here.

2 . Residente – Residente

Honestly, I constantly surprise myself. LOL

Though this isn’t the first time I rank a Calle 13/Residente album, I still find it amusing that I continue to find it odd. The people that know me probably find it as puzzling, but it is what it is. Residente has been releasing interesting music with a message, making albums that are more than what you see at face value. If Multiviral was musically adventurous, Residente’s solo debut continues to do so with lead singles Somos Anormales [MV], Desencuentro [MV], and Apocaliptico [1].

I do think he gets a little carried away with Una Leyenda China [1], which somewhat made me roll my eyes as Coldplay’s Princess of China [MV] did, but he does make up for it with Apocaliptico.

The album even comes with an accompanying documentary [iTunes] (also possibly available on Netflix).

You can get a physical copy of Residente on Amazon, or get the album through iTunes, or stream it through your service of choice~

1. Chen Wei Lun (陈伟伦) – Think Miss Sorrow (念思愁)

And here it is, MY favorite album of the year (so far). Another amazing Xiami random discovery.

I was battling this album with Residente’s to see which one would take #1, but in the end, Li Qingzhao (李清照) poetry won. The album has 8 songs each titled and subtitled with references to different poems by female poet Li Qingzhao, who is known as the greatest Chinese female poet of the Song Dynasty.

Lyrics-wise, there’s a lot of homework to go through. LOL So it’ll always be a work in progress and discovery with Think Miss Sorrow. A likely candidate for multiple listening in the many years to come as you delve into Sinology.

I’ll take that~

You can get Think Miss Sorrow on iTunes and KKBox, as well as stream/download through Xiami. I suppose you may also be able to find the album on your stream service of choice since the album is on iTunes xD

I actually took the time to translate all the song titles, in case anyone is interested in them~


I hope everyone enjoys this music list and, at least, finds something that they like.

Please, do share some of your favorite albums (or music discoveries) this year in the comments!

amy

YAM Magazine editor, photographer, blogger, translator and part-time web designer. Film junkie, music junkie… and lately series (a.k.a. TV) junkie.

8 Responses

  1. Jara says:

    Nice to read something from you again, Amy :)

  2. oh wow, Ding Wei sounds really interesting. need to check her music out…
    darn it I’ve been trying to write at least a review of The Villainess for here, but life/retail work has got in the way…

    will still get the music post in sometime after Christmas.

    my Puerto Rican relatives were all sharing the Latin Grammys performance of Residente’s “Hijos del Cañaveral ” he can be here and there on many issues but his heart is sincerely with Borinquen

    • amy says:

      Your music sharing is always welcome post-Xmas or NYE ^^

      Residente wears his boricua on his sleeve :P I really admire his whole ‘going global’ with the music he’s making, though. His last two albums have been musically all over the place, literally.

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    […] with my traditional End of the Year lists— following the recent publication of my Music Highlights; you’ll see -as it is already customary- a lot of crossover picks. After all, good albums […]

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    […] Weilun’s Think Miss Sorrow 念思愁 is (so far) my favorite album this year. Musically speaking it’s an alternative rock song with trip hop elements, using the poem Moon […]

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