The Me and Music Tag

Thanks Minty for the tag. ❤ There are so many prompts, hahaha. 95% of the music I listen to are from Asian dramas, anime, other shows, and games. That’s why most of the songs I listen to are in Chinese, Japanese, Thai, or Korean.

Rules

  1. Link back to the original (Sophie @ Me and Ink) so she can see your answers and listen to the tunes.
  2. For every prompt you choose, name 1-5 songs (you can use Sophie’s grapics)
  3. Have fun and play your music LOUD!

1) Home Town Glory

  • Songs that remind you of home

The gist of it is: Suddenly, it seems that time has passed by so quickly and you’re left feeling confused where exactly that time went. It’s a very sad song.

2) It’s a Love Story

  • Your favourite songs about love

This is from The Phantom of the Opera musical. Raoul is played by Kwang-ho Hong. I actually don’t like Raoul and prefer Erik, but I like Kwang-ho Hong too much. I like this specific performance.

Another favourite is Time of Flight 時間飛行 by Bai Yu 白宇 and Zhu Yilong 朱一龍. It’s from the Chinese BL drama, Guardian. I talk about this song more in #11.

3) Shut Up and Dance

  • Songs you have to dance to

I’m a boring person and never dance to music.

4) If This Was a Movie

  • Songs from movies/TV/Broadway

I love the songs from the musicals, Jekyll and Hyde, The Phantom of the Opera, and Death Note. My favourite musical singers are Kwang-ho Hong and Zheng Yunlong.

I like anything Kwang-ho Hong sings. Here, he sings This is the Moment from Jekyll and Hyde.

5) Comfort Crowd

  • Songs that make you feel calm

Kago no Naka ni Tori 籠の中に鳥 by yourness makes me feel calm. It’s from the anime, Sing “Yesterday” For You.

A chill instrumental song is Revelation, also known as Oracle. It’s from the Catherine OST. Catherine is one of my favourite video games.

Another calm song is Artic Whispers by Bai Yu. It helps me fall asleep.

I love Bai Yu. I recommend his dramas, Light on Series: The Long Night, Fairyland Lovers, and Guardian.

6) Always Remember Us This Way

  • Songs that remind you of your childhood

When I was in a child, I listened to S.H.E, Fahrenheit, and JJ Lin every day after school.

I believe this song is from 2006 because it has clips from the Taiwanese drama, Hana Kimi. Two of the Fahrenheit members starred in it.

7) Let’s Get Down to Business

  • Songs that motivate you

I was feeling down one day and then Man With a Mission’s Fly Again played on my phone (it was on shuffle). At the time, the lyrics and the overall feeling of the song lifted my mood. I still feel lucky about getting a pick at their concert.

8) Old Town Road

  • Songs from the past (like really old ones) that you love

I feel like this and #6 are the same for me.

9) Cry With You

  • Songs that make you cry and cry

Where Has Time Gone? (See #1) makes me cry.

10) I Think I’m in Love

  • Your latest music obsessions

This one is easy to answer. The songs that I listen to repeat are from the shows I’m currently watching.

The first one is The Love Letter 唯一寫過的情書 by Alex Chou 周予天. It’s from the Taiwanese BL drama, We Best Love: Fighting Mr. 2nd. I loved the first season, but this season feels so… raw. I’m enjoying it a lot more. I don’t know why I love dramas that are painful to watch.

The next song is Ask Heaven by Liu Yuning. It is the opening song for Word of Honor, a Chinese historical BL series. I’ve been listening to the entire album non-stop these days.

This series was recommend to me by a Twitter stranger, and I’m thankful for them because I’m enjoying it a lot. If you like The Untamed, I definitely recommend Word of Honor.

11) Writer in the Dark

  • Favourite lyrics from songs

The English translation for Time of Flight by Bai Yu and Zhu Yilong (#2) probably won’t make a lot of sense.

In Guardian, Bai Yu plays Zhao Yunlan and Zhu Yilong plays Shen Wei. Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei are soulmates, and this has been proven time and time again. No matter how many years pass (and I’m talking about thousands of years), the feelings are never lost. They will find always each other again.

Zhu Yilong: How much more serious and how firm it is to make a difference

How many exercises will you become like this?

Bai Yu: I am always waiting for a message here, you have not given up.

Chorus: Flying together across time”

I also like the lyrics from Joker Xue’s Animal World. I’ve interpreted the lyrics in this post.

別再進化 別讓動物世界太假”

12) Sign of the Times

  • Songs in the charts that you love

I have no idea. I just listen to what I like.

13) More Than a Memory

  • Songs you have specific memories attached to. Tell us the memory.

When COVID was a new thing, I got into Thai dramas for the first time. Listening to the songs from the dramas reminds me of that period because I had so much energy at the time. No one wants a pandemic, but I made the most of my time and tried a lot of new things.

This song is sung by Bright Vachirawit, who played Sarawat in 2gether: The Series. I’m currently watching Lovely Writer: The Series. Thai dramas make me so happy and I love the music.

Another song is Wu Ji 无羁 by Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo. The reason is because I watched The Untamed with my friends and did a blogger collab on it. Instead of watching alone like I normally do with shows, I had people to watch and talk with. I talk about it more in #17.

14) Sing to Me Instead

  • Those songs you have to sing to

15) I Wasn’t Expecting That

  • Songs that you didn’t expect to love, but you do

In 2018, I knew that the opening song for the anime, Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii, was popular. When I listened to it the first time, I thought it was overhyped. I didn’t include in My Top 5 Spring 2018 Anime Opening Songs post. After I published that post, I couldn’t stop listening to it. LOL

The song is called Fiction by Sumika.

16) Favourite Record

  • Albums you can’t live without

My favourite album is The Untamed OST by various artists. The Untamed is my favourite Asian drama, so I hold the music dear to my heart.

My other favourite albums are the Guardian OST (#2 and #11) and the Word of Honor OST (#10).

17) Video Games

  • Name your favourite music videos

I’m a little confused why this is titled “Video Games’ when it’s asking about music videos. Anyway, my favourite music video is Wu Ji 无羁 by Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo. It’s the opening song for The Untamed. It’s my favourite music video because my feelings for this drama resurface every time I watch it. It’s one of my favourite songs.


Tagging:

Thanks for reading~

My Favourite Opening and Ending Songs of 2020

Obviously, I haven’t listened to every OP and ED of 2020. If you have any recommendations, let me know!

My Favourite Openings

忘言歌 Song of Words Unsaid by 赵磊 Zhao Lei (Chuan Shu Zijiu Zhinan / The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System)

This is a Chinese song. I’m a huge fan of the series (novel and donghua). I also really like the singer.

No Separation by Jeff Chang (Heaven Official’s Blessing)

This is the series I am currently obsessed with! It’s a Chinese series by the same creator of Scumbag System (above) and Mo Dao Zu Shi. I think this opening has the best art.

Chiisana Hibi by flumpool (Kakushigoto)

I am a huge fan of flumpool.

Great Pretender OP by Yutaka Yamada (Great Pretender)

I’ve blogged about one of my favourite composers, Yutaka Yamada. He also composed the music for Tokyo Ghoul, which speaks to how versatile his music is. Great Pretender is amazing anime.

Dying Wish by 畠中 祐 (Moriarty the Patriot)

This song grew on me. I didn’t have a strong opinion of it at first but now I love it. Moriarty the Patriot was an amazing anime.

My Favourite Endings

籠の中に鳥 Kago no Naka ni Tori by ユアネス yourness (Sing “Yesterday” for Me)

In a recent post, I shared that this is one of my favourite songs.

SLUMP by Stray Kids (Tower of God)

I prefer the Korean version, maybe because they are a Korean group. I think it’s great that the show used songs from a Kpop group. After all, it is an adaptation of a Korean webtoon.

Lost in Paradise feat. AKLO by ALI (Jujutsu Kaisen)

This song is amazing. It is catchy and chill. I really like the animation here too. I’m really enjoying Jujutsu Kaisen right now. It’s kind of like a mix of Demon Slayer and Parasyte.

Other Side by MIYAVI (ID:Invaded)

ID:Invaded was a good anime. The concept is similar to the game, AI: The Somnium Files.


Do you like any of these songs? What are your favourite openings and endings of 2020?

My Favourite flumpool Songs

flumpool is a Japanese band. I’ve liked them since 2009! They did the theme songs for the 2008 Jdrama, Bloody Monday. In 2010, they did the theme song for Bloody Monday Season 2. flumpool’s new songs are still amazing. I love them soo much! I especially love Ryuta Yamamura. He’s the vocalist.

Another thing I like about flumpool is that they have songs in Chinese. I don’t know any other Japanese band or singer that have songs in Chinese. Ryuta recently posted a lot of videos of him speaking in Chinese and practising Chinese. He even asked fans to help him learn. T_T

Over the rain (2008)

This is the theme song for Bloody Monday.

残像 / Zanzou (2010)

This is the theme song for Bloody Monday Season 2.

花になれ / Hana ni Nare (2008)

I love the violin in the beginning! I can’t believe this song is from 2008.

証明 / Akashi (2011)

Ashin from the Taiwanese band, Mayday, wrote this song. This is one of flumpool’s Chinese songs. There is also a Japanese version. It’s so beautiful. T_T

HELP (Chinese ver.) (2020)

This came out just a few weeks ago! The Japanese version was released in 2019. I love it.

君に届け / Kimi ni Todoke (2010)

This was the theme song for the Japanese film, Kimi ni Todoke. It’s based on a shojo manga. I think this is one of their more popular songs.

素晴らしき嘘 / Subarashiki Uso (2020)

This is a new song from 2020. I love it.

明日への賛歌 / asu heno sanka

I think this is from 2014. I love the music video so much.

OAOA (2013)

flumpool sang a Japanese cover of Mayday’s 2011 song, OAOA.


These are my favourite flumpool songs. Please give them a listen, their songs are so good.

Unwrapping: Your Name (album)

Your Name. | 君の名は。| Kimi no Na wa. by Radwimps (2016)

soundtrack for Your Name

Anyone else still listen to CDs? This just arrived in the mail.

One of my favourite things about CDs is the cover art booklet. The cover art booklet for this one is gorgeous.

My Spotify Wrapped 2019

Spotify keeps record of the songs and artists you’ve listened to the most each year. Here is my Spotify Wrapped for 2019.

In September of this year, I went to a Man With A Mission concert. I listened to their music A LOT for over a week afterwards.

My #1 artist on Spotify was Joker Xue. I interpreted the song meaning of 動物世界 ‘Animal World’ in a blog post.

Al from Slice of Alfredo! runs a podcast and it’s on Spotify. You should check it out. 🙂 He listened to a song by BiSH in one of them (I requested the artist!).

I got into BiSH thanks to my good friend, Tim, from Thoughts That Move.

Mm, I would say that Spotify only has about 60% of the songs I like. It also doesn’t have many songs by my favourite singers, Hua Chenyu and Kwang-ho Hong (they aren’t available in my region, at least).

My Top Anime Openings [Updated]

I wrote a post called, My Top 10 Anime Openings back in August 2017. My music tastes have changed! I’ve also watched more anime since then. These aren’t in any particular order, except for Unravel at the top of the list.

1. TK from Ling Tosite Sigure – Unravel (Tokyo Ghoul) 

This is not only my favourite anime opening, but it’s also my favourite song of all time. I love everything about Unravel. I love the lyrics, TK’s unique voice, and the instrumental music. I also love the visuals of the Tokyo Ghoul opening.

Who is that inside of me?

Here in this broken-down, broken-down world, 

you laugh, without seeing a thing

I’m just so damaged, I hold my breath and freeze 

… 

In this twisted world, I’m gradually growing transparent and vanishing 

2. Ling Tosite Sigure – Abnormalize (Psychopass) 

I really love TK’s voice.

3. TK from Ling Tosite Sigure – katharsis (Tokyo Ghoul:re Season 2) 

4. MAN WITH A MISSION – My Hero (Inuyashiki)

Inuyashiki is one of my favourite anime.

5. Fear, and Loathing in Las Vegas – Let Me Hear (Parasyte) 

Anime openings are shortened versions of songs but the best part of Let Me Hear (1:45) is cut in the anime opening. =_= Here’s the music video.

6. Fear, and Loathing in Las Vegas – Chase the Light! (Kaiji Season 2)

If you like this song, you should listen to the full version.

7. BiSH – PAiNT it BLACK (Black Clover Opening 2) 

I didn’t discover the idol group through anime openings. I think they’re really cool. I recommend their song, GiANT KiLLERS.


Other anime openings:

  • Vickeblanka – Black Rover (Black Clover Opening 3)
  • Sumika – Fiction (Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii)
  • Kana-Boom – Silhouette (Naruto Shippuden Opening 16)
  • amazarashi – Sora ni Utaeba (My Hero Academia Season 2 Opening 2)
  • Kenshi Yonezu – Peace Sign (My Hero Academia Opening 2)
  • Dean Fujioka – History Maker (Yuri!!! on Ice)
  • Nightmare – The World (Death Note)
  • The Oral Cigarettes – Kyouran Hey Kids! (Noragami Aragato)
  • Ritsuko Okazaki – For Fruits Basket (Fruits Basket)

I’ll also be posting My Top Anime Ending Songs list! A lot of people ask me about the music I listen to. I would say that I like songs if the singer has a really nice voice, if there are drums, or if it has a unique sound.