YAM Loves: BiBi Zhou

She continued this exploration of sound in her double-album released on December 2007, NOW/WOW, while the first strongly focused on slower songs raging from R&B, pop and pop rock ballads or staple zhongguo feng R&B Liuyang River 2008 (浏阳河2008).

The latter was just a crazy sounding mix of rock&roll, blues, R&B and dance pop without sounding like any of those genres. Except for character-repeating ballad Repeat (反复) [Xiami], The Desert Can Also Find Paris (沙漠也找到巴黎) [Xiami], and the popular acoustic pop ballad Just to Meet You (为了认识你), with a music video showing Bibi turning on her charm to get a guy’s attention.

Tracks like Oh Yes!! [Xiami], Silly Genius (傻瓜的天才) [Xiami], WOW [MV], Sweat (汗) [Xiami], and No Rest for the Whole Year (全年无休) are — after all these years  — still hard to describe and impossible to classify in just one genre.

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. ghost says:

    This is a good starting point for anything Bibi, and guarantees no trolls in the comments saying negative things like wondering why she placed *cough* above a certain 3rd place.

    Sorry, couldn’t help it.

    • amy says:

      @ghost, just shhh and check out the music.

    • Mandy Jean says:

      @ghost, Not to knock your opinion, but I think she should have won overall. Chris Lee and Jane Zhang are great singers, no doubt, but Bibi’s voice just KILLS me. Every time.

      • amy says:

        @Mandy Jean, Bibi should have won… but I do understand the appeal of Chris Lee… as well as Jane Zhang’s voice. While I think Chris lacks the singing chops and Zhang lacks the personality spark, I think Bibi has a great balance of both.

        Too bad Oprah didn’t pick her, huh?

  2. Mandy Jean says:

    After redirecting me from LiveJournal’s ~chinesesongs community to your article, it seems as if LiveJournal or perhaps the moderators of the community have flagged your comment as spam.

    This is possibly the best written article I’ve ever read on Bibi Zhou. It not only tells the full story, it tells the truth and paves the way for other people to become fans as well. And to me, it looks like we’ve both been deeply touched by her artistry. I only wish it had happened sooner.

    The truth about Bibi is that her music, once again, made me take an overall active interest in Chinese music and pop-culture in general. I’m just now figuring out the best places on the Web to find news on Chinese artists and so forth, so I’m still very much of a newbie. However, I also have to credit her with helping me to make a solid decision on the language I would like to learn sometime in the near future.

    I always thought I would choose to learn Japanese in college, but as my interests have changed throughout the years – as well as my personal situation – I have come to the conclusion that it’s not only a smart idea to learn Mandarin (since so many people speak it) but it’s also the right decision for me. I may not be able to learn it through college since Full Sail University doesn’t offer any classes in it and I’m locked into their Creative Writing for Entertainment program for a while, but I’m looking into Rosetta Stone and other effective language-learning tools.

    Thank you for writing this article! I must share it with all of my friends who have a penchant for foreign music, especially that of Asian origin.

    • amy says:

      @Mandy Jean, yeah. I noticed that on LJ – the pop-up said the comment was being held for moderation or screening or something.

      Me too! Me too! I started out my Chinese interest after being reluctant for so many years where I told myself I wanted to learn Japanese (first), LOL! Then, after 2008 and the crazy summer Olympics (with the sports and media), I felt compelled to look into Chinese music more. Bibi’s been the final push to start Chinese classes haha.

      You should read the post written by Reuben, who actually knows Bibi ;D

  3. Stephen says:

    I’m a middle aged English guy. I was lucky a few years ago to have a Chinese friend introduce me to the bibi story via YouTube.

    And now I feel I must be the only white male in England who is currently listening to a purloined version of UNLOCK. I’ll buy it when yesasia makes it available, but she’s the only artist I’d go to such lengths for

    Little girl, big voice

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