CAPITOL MUSIC

PENNY TAI: JIE JIAO DE ZHU FU

 戴佩妮:街角的祝福

One of the Penny's classics. Humming to the tunes of her songs is definitely not be a problem for frequent listeners because her songs are radio friendly accompanied with a impressionable melody. However when it comes to singing her songs, I believe for most amateurs including myself will tend to stay away from it because most of her songs are vocal performances in a rather free-style manner. The correct attitude and emotions to be instilled in the songs should be the main obstacle to singing her songs. For this song, the chorus part should be the hardest to grasp when you have to extend your notes beautifully especially at the ending verses.   

Difficulty: 4/5

PENNY TAI: SHUI ZHONG YANG

戴佩妮:水中央

Sometimes singing should be enjoyable rather than torturous (either to your throat or your audiences). This song, which was recorded in Penny's 4th album [No Penn No Gain], was well-liked by many due to its catchy indie arrangement which was a new attempt by Penny at that point of time when the song was publicised. Overall, this song shouldn't be a problem for many and should be enjoyable and pleasant to sing during karaoke sessions.  

Difficulty: 3.3/5

The coverage was rather extensive with songs recorded in her first and second album, Over the Rainbow and Aurora, respectively. The only disappointment was that one of my personal favourites (and I believe a favourite for many others as well), Shou Xin De Tai Yang 手心的太阳, was not included in this karaoke vcd surprisingly. Otherwise, this album will definitely be perfect. I have, as well, included the karaoke version of the 'lost' song from this album to compensate for the disappointment. 

ANGELA CHEUNG: SHOU XIN DE TAI YANG 

张韶涵: 手心的太阳

MY OPINION: I believe that this is one of her hardest songs to perform to date. This song is full of high notes especially at the chorus and the climax. I remember hearing one of my friends commented that in order to reach the high notes, you should try to 'slide' your way up to the high notes and not by brute force which may end up hurting your throat. A challenging song, and if you can make it through (provided sounding musically correct), you definitely deserve an applause from your audiences! 

Difficulty: 4.5/5

FUN WITH KARAOKE

LINFAIR RECORDS 

DUETS

JAY CHOU & LARA: SHAN HU HAI

周杰伦/LARA: 珊瑚海

To date, the duet which most of us is familiar with will definitely be WU DING which was initially sung by Landy Wen and Jacky Wu, and Jay Chou came in the picture later by replacing Jacky Wu, and brought this song to greater fame successfully. In his last album, November's Chopin, Lara from Nan Quan Ma Ma, a group which was formed by Jay Chou himself, make an appearance in this song which became yet another karaoke hit song last year when released. 

MY OPINION: This song is definitely not an easy song to perform, as one may tend to go out of tune unknowingly especially at the chorus part. Beware of the high notes for the male vocalist as well. 

Difficulty: 4/5

ALAN LUO & XIAO S: LIAN AI DA REN

罗志祥/徐熙娣:  恋爱达人

Another chart topping song. Even though we are used to seeing them teasing each other in 100% Entertainment which they host together, hearing them sing together was definitely something refreshing and unique. 

MY OPINION: I believe the most difficult part of the entire song for the male vocalist should be the rap part. On the other hand, some high notes for the female vocalist to reach as well in certain areas. 

Difficulty: 3/5

TANK & SELINA: DU CHANG QIN GE

TANK/SELINA: 独唱情歌

TANK, another promising newcomer who have emerged this year with his debut album, Fighting!. We have seen artists in the same record company making guests appearance in MTVs of the newbies, to help raise the popularity of the newcomers. S.H.E. is one of them. Hebe played a role in  Z Chen's MTV, Cap Girl, whereas Ella performed in Kaira Gong's MTV, Zai Yi Ci Yong You. Selina manages a role in A Sang's MTV previously, Ye Zi, and make her vocal performance in this duet with TANK as well. 

MY OPINION: TANK has quite a powerful vocal, and he tends make good use of it in his songs. This song will be considered hard if you want to mimic the techniques he has used to perform the song.

Difficulty: 3/5

Look out for the record company's label and you have to make sure that it coincides with the music company that the artist is in. For China's parallel goods, there are usually more than 1 company's labels. The record company that the artist is based with should be appear as one the labels featured in the cover of the album. If you are unsure of which record company the artist is in, it's better for you to seek assistance from the counter or you may post your queries to me as well. 

For example, if you found a Karaoke VCD featuring Jolin Tsui, you should be looking for labels of either Universal Music or SonyBMG because she was previously attached to these 2 record companies. 

[2] COMPILATION

Yes, it is definitely tempting for most of us to buy compilation albums due to the greater selections of songs and especially when it featured many artists. Do check that the artists featured should be in the same record company before paying the album at the counter. Personally, I bought one of such compilation album before which featured about 17 songs from Valen Hsu, Gigi Leung and Grace Zhou. However, I was disappointed because it featured only scenes recorded from a local TV show which the 3 artists have attended and performed previously. All the 3 artists mentioned were from different record companies: Valen Hsu was from EMI, Gigi Leung from Forward Music and Grace Zhou from Linfair Records. If the compilation album is a collaboration of several record companies, in most cases, the labels of all the record companies should be present as well. 

[3] PRICES

The prices range quite differently from store to store. China-imported albums are usually fixed at prices between $9.90 to $12.90. However if you are searching for cheaper CDs, VCDs and DVDs, I will definitely suggest you making a trip down to Chinatown. Most of the music stores in Chinatown priced their products between S$4 to S$7 for CDs and VCDs and between S$8 to S$10 for DVDs. The price range mentioned above only applies to China parallel goods.

For Taiwan and local editions of music albums, the price in Chinatown will dip by a few dollars as compared to prices in CD-Rama and Sembawang Music. Recently, I've also discovered that Music Junction priced some of their products a few dollars cheaper than those you find in CD-Rama and Sembawang Music as well. I do agree that accessibility does come into affecting some of the choices we made as well. Personally I will rather visit a music outlet that is nearer to my house to save up on the transport costs. However, if I'm buying several albums at one time, I will make a trip down to Chinatown to obtain better deals.

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