YesAsia Order + Jay News
This hasn't shipped out yet, but I ordered the following on YesAsia (and I'm very anxious over getting it):
Cheer Chen hits compilation - I've listened to a bunch of Cheer Chen songs and really liked them, but I've mostly listened to songs from her most recent albums. This compilation has a lot of songs I haven't really listened to, so I really look forward to listening to them all.
Fei Yuqing compilation (2CD) - I've listened to some Fei Yuqing songs starting with "千里之外" ("Far Away"), of course. (There's the duet with Jay and there's also a solo version by Yuqing.) There's this one Chinese store I sometimes go to that always plays Teresa Teng and Fei Yuqing, but I've mostly heard Fei Yuqing's versions of songs Teresa Teng also sings, such as "小城故事" ("Little City Story").
Maoshan Lee compilation - My second time trying to buy something of his. The first time failed. This is a different album in Mandarin. The one I tried buying before was Hokkien. As with Fei Yuqing, these are oldies. Unfortunately, this CD is the one giving me trouble. All of the others are in stock and this one is delaying the order.
Jay Chou's "The Era" - This is the obvious one of the bunch. You may recall that for "Capricorn," I got the version with the Rubik's cube. This time, I went cheap because I didn't have a special offer like I did last time. (Yes, a certain Jay-related website managed to get discounts on the special editions of "Capricorn," so I wouldn't really have saved any money by getting the regular version.) This time around, I made sure to listen to the album before ordering. When I post the link, I'll write a mini-review, but for now I'll say that I like it better than the last two albums. I'm glad he didn't put out an album in a hurry last year and have poor vocals because of a cold or something, but he could have worked longer on the music given the extra time.
I know I'd be stating the obvious if I said that Jay is topping the G-Music Charts, but there I've said it anyways. Not only is he topping the charts, he is dominating them. Over one-fifth of overall Taiwanese album sales in the past week are attributed to him. On the Chinese-language chart, he has nearly one-third of the sales.*
Fast Company lists Jay as number 70 in it's list of the Most Creative People in Business 2010. #70 seems awful low on the list, but any list based on creativity that lists Lady Gaga as #1is someone dubious in my mind. A Taiwanese man in his 30s who likes to dress up as a cowboy is somewhat bizarre, but not nearly as bizarre as Lady Gaga, so based on that alone, perhaps this list is based on bizarreness instead of creativity. Of course, I'm not sure where everyone else fits on this scale, though the scale may have more to do with success. (Of course, Jay's success is more long-term than Lady Gaga's success so far and Ye Huimei hasn't let Jay spend all of his money on stuff the way Lady Gaga has spent on her wardrobe.)
* G-Music has several charts, including a joint chart, a Chinese chart, a Western chart (currently topped by Lady Gaga, ugh!), an Eastern chart, a jazz chart, a classical chart, an OST chart, an overall foreign chart (kind of a combination of the Western and Eastern charts), and a Mengniu chart. I'm unsure exactly how the Mengniu chart works, but it lists Mainland singles and Taiwan/HK singles separately and doesn't seem to have been updated in a very long time (e.g. LeeHom's "摇滚怎么了！！" is new because the last week listed is back in 2008).
Cheer Chen hits compilation - I've listened to a bunch of Cheer Chen songs and really liked them, but I've mostly listened to songs from her most recent albums. This compilation has a lot of songs I haven't really listened to, so I really look forward to listening to them all.
Fei Yuqing compilation (2CD) - I've listened to some Fei Yuqing songs starting with "千里之外" ("Far Away"), of course. (There's the duet with Jay and there's also a solo version by Yuqing.) There's this one Chinese store I sometimes go to that always plays Teresa Teng and Fei Yuqing, but I've mostly heard Fei Yuqing's versions of songs Teresa Teng also sings, such as "小城故事" ("Little City Story").
Maoshan Lee compilation - My second time trying to buy something of his. The first time failed. This is a different album in Mandarin. The one I tried buying before was Hokkien. As with Fei Yuqing, these are oldies. Unfortunately, this CD is the one giving me trouble. All of the others are in stock and this one is delaying the order.
Jay Chou's "The Era" - This is the obvious one of the bunch. You may recall that for "Capricorn," I got the version with the Rubik's cube. This time, I went cheap because I didn't have a special offer like I did last time. (Yes, a certain Jay-related website managed to get discounts on the special editions of "Capricorn," so I wouldn't really have saved any money by getting the regular version.) This time around, I made sure to listen to the album before ordering. When I post the link, I'll write a mini-review, but for now I'll say that I like it better than the last two albums. I'm glad he didn't put out an album in a hurry last year and have poor vocals because of a cold or something, but he could have worked longer on the music given the extra time.
I know I'd be stating the obvious if I said that Jay is topping the G-Music Charts, but there I've said it anyways. Not only is he topping the charts, he is dominating them. Over one-fifth of overall Taiwanese album sales in the past week are attributed to him. On the Chinese-language chart, he has nearly one-third of the sales.*
Fast Company lists Jay as number 70 in it's list of the Most Creative People in Business 2010. #70 seems awful low on the list, but any list based on creativity that lists Lady Gaga as #1is someone dubious in my mind. A Taiwanese man in his 30s who likes to dress up as a cowboy is somewhat bizarre, but not nearly as bizarre as Lady Gaga, so based on that alone, perhaps this list is based on bizarreness instead of creativity. Of course, I'm not sure where everyone else fits on this scale, though the scale may have more to do with success. (Of course, Jay's success is more long-term than Lady Gaga's success so far and Ye Huimei hasn't let Jay spend all of his money on stuff the way Lady Gaga has spent on her wardrobe.)
* G-Music has several charts, including a joint chart, a Chinese chart, a Western chart (currently topped by Lady Gaga, ugh!), an Eastern chart, a jazz chart, a classical chart, an OST chart, an overall foreign chart (kind of a combination of the Western and Eastern charts), and a Mengniu chart. I'm unsure exactly how the Mengniu chart works, but it lists Mainland singles and Taiwan/HK singles separately and doesn't seem to have been updated in a very long time (e.g. LeeHom's "摇滚怎么了！！" is new because the last week listed is back in 2008).