Cantopop Puns

anyone have music recommendations for bands/groups similar to mirror and error? looking for a more modern kpop-ish vibe, as i already listen to a lot of older cantopop

I love the music and films from HKs 黃金時代, I love listening to artists like Leslie, Anita and Jacky but I’m really struggling to look past the political stances of certain artists. For example I love Alan Tams music, but I’m having a hard time to look past what he has said in the past. Obviously there are artists like Leslie or Anita that I don’t have this issue with, but that isn’t the majority. How do you guys deal with this? Do you completely not listen to their music, or do you just look past it and accept it for what it is? Everytime I listen to their music I genuinely enjoy it, but then the political part ruins is because I am reminded of their stance..

Edit: if anyone has a list of artists that have at least remained neutral for the most part that would be great! Finding the artists that have a very outspoken stance is quite easy, for example Andy Lau or Alan Tam, but finding more neutral artists is pretty hard I’ve found.

加油 ❤️

edit: thanks for all your answers!

I'm a sociologist who lives in Canada and keeps an eye on what happens culturally in Hong Kong.

Every culture wave has its leaders.

Recently, Mirror has taken Hong Kong pop culture by storm, in a way not seen since the Four Heavenly Kings (四大天王) era.

In this video, I explain the sociological and cultural reasons why Mirror is such a hit, and will likely continue for years to come as they break out of Hong Kong and take the international stage.

You can watch the video here: https://youtu.be/xZdLIIl5A_4

Hi UNC! Been listening to the old Cantopop and Mandopop from the 70s-90s since 2018, and I love them! I have this mega Spotify playlist of like 1.6K songs of these oldies from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the Mainland. Great study music haha. I was wondering if there are any fans, listeners, and enthusiasts of those music here and would love to bond over them! Feel free to DM me and I can add you to my GroupMe or something.

Singers like Anita Mui, Leslie Cheung, Alan Tam, Samuel Tai, Priscilla Chan, Roman Tam, Sam Hui, Sarah Chen, The 4 Heavenly Kings, Danny Chan, Wakin Chau, Richie Jen, Paula Tsui, Dave Wong, and many more legends! Sorry for this stream of singers LOL, but I love the variety of music!

This is a random question but trying to find enthusiasts and listeners, some "nostalgia" of say, a 80s Hong Kong or Taiwan. I feel the melodies are so beautiful and the lyrics are so meaningful and well written, especially ones written by Jonathan Lee and Lo Ta Yu!

I got some old 80s-90s HK cassettes and my parent's Sony Walkman, and I do want to listen to those classic songs! ;)

I haven't followed Cantopop for quite a few years (following mostly rap and indie stuff) and I'd like to get back into it, but I get tired of listening to slow pop ballads that all sound the same to me after a while. So if there are Cantopop playlists out there that cater to only faster/upbeat tunes (mid-tempo is ok too) that would be just what I'm looking for. Doesn't just have to be the newest stuff either. Thanks!

https://t.me/cantopop7 Anyone who is enthusiastic about cantopop may join us. And for the language learners, i can guarantee u learning with songs is very effective.

I've created a group in telegram for people who are interested in music especially cantopop to join.

I really hope that we can have a platform to discuss about music like friends in that group chat.

https://t.me/cantopop7

I like songs composed by Chan Fai Young，Ronald Ng Lok Shing, Vicky Fung, Khalil Fong and Mark Lui.

Hi fellow City Pop fans

I'm looking for Japanese songs which were covered during the 80s and 90s by Cantonese artists. A couple months ago I co-wrote an article in German on the Japanese genre. I would love to follow up with another piece on Cantopop and connect the two by addressing the many cover songs of Japanese City Pop hits produced in Hong Kong. If you have any songs (ideally together with their counterpart) please drop them in the comments!

Thanks so much and greetings from Zurich, Switzerland

Dario

C-Pop is what it says on the tin. It's pop music from Chinese speaking countries. This includes China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and anywhere else where Mandarin is spoken. It's one of the largest music scenes in the world but its music isn't that well known worldwide compared to say Latin Music, K-Pop or even J-Pop. It is however massive in East Asia with listeners everywhere from Vietnam to Japan.

C-Pop has three branches: Mandopop (Mandarin Pop), Hokkien Pop (Taiwanese Pop) and Cantopop (Cantonese Pop). The popularity of each depends on the language spoken in said countries. Hokkien is more popular in Taiwan while Cantopop is more popular in Hong Kong. Mandopop is generally popular everywhere due to Mandarin being taught and spoken everywhere.

The most common type of music that's been the base of C-Pop since the start is ballads. Unlike other music scenes like Latin Music where the popular sound has varied from Bossa Nova to Salsa to Ballads to Tejano to Urbano, C-Pop has generally been static for a long, long time. It's only within the past 20 or so years that Dance Pop, RnB, Hip Hop and Rock is having an influence on Mandopop.

##Origins of C-Pop

C-Pop's origins, like with most Pop music comes from Jazz. Jazz was brought over to Shanghai in the 1920s and became the main form of music in nightclubs. Singers started performing folk songs in conjunction to the music to create the prototype of C-Pop called (時代曲) Shidaiqu. These songs slowly became popular through Chinese cinema throughout the 30s until it peaked in the 1940s. As movies became more popular there were 7 singers that rose to the top who were known as 七大歌星 (7 Great Singing Stars). Their songs were seen as an escape from the Japanese Invasion and the Chinese Civil War making them extremely popular. I've linked to a famous song from each of them:

白光 (Bai Guang) - 如果沒有你/Without You

白虹 (Bai Hong) - 醉人的口红/Intoxicating Lipstick

龔秋霞 (Gong Qiuxia)- 祝福/Best Wishes

山口 淑子 (Yamaguchi Yoshiko) - 夜来香/Fragrance of the Night

吳鶯音 (Wu Yingyin) - 明月千里寄相思/The Moon Sends My Love From Afar

姚莉 (Yao Lee) - 恭喜恭喜/Congratulations (Chinese New Year classic)

[周璇 (Zhou Xuan) - 何日君再來/When Will You Return?](https://www.youtube.com/wat

Being born in a Cantonese family, I remembered listening repeatedly to cantopop songs in my father's car. Over the years, I started to fall in love with the occasionally catchy and slow sounding music. It also paved the way for me to learn more about the language. As a result, I soon became fluent with Cantonese. Therefore, I decided to start this series on Cantopop music to help Cantonese learners enjoy and learn more about Cantonese.

Link to the music video on YouTube https://youtu.be/4EPHUvk4xC8

Hi guys! I grew up listening to a lot of HK artists like 許冠傑, 林子祥, 盧冠廷, etc... and I've always liked to sing along. I can sing along relatively fine (my opinion :D) if I have the lyrics in front of me, but take that away and I struggle quite a bit. I think it has to do with my lack of an understanding of the words themselves. I know for the most part what each individual word means however I don't understand the picture they paint when put together. Can anyone shed some light on the deeper meaning behind the words?

Example: 天才白痴往日情 by 許冠傑
There's a part in it that goes " 鳥倦還, 影孤單", individually I think it means "bird tired still, shadow lonely", but what does it mean in the context of the song? And what does the entire song really mean?

It is quite a long song and there are many more like it that I would like to translate. Please let me know in the comments or DM me what you guys think the best way to go about it is!

Thanks!

Moving on to Millennium Cantopop, we have Twins: 你不是好情人。

Around the 2000s, pop groups such as Twins, Boyz became popular among the young crowd due to them resonating with their sentiments. Of course, other singers, such as Joey Yung and Miriam Yeung also dominated the period.

The main reason why this song was chosen was because of it having a emotional tune yet not too moody or sad. Admittedly enough, this song was how I got addicted to cantopop and made me start my journey of learning Cantonese.

Music Video: https://youtu.be/KXA5Zg3qBnU

Next Post would be a cantopop song from the 80s and 90s, the Golden Age of Cantopop. (Classic Cantopop)

There's really not much else to say. Just link your all-time favorite cantopop tracks. 3 per person max. to make it more challenging.

Looking forward to your recommendations!