We all know that in the Hong Kong and Taiwan music scene in the 1980s and 1990s, covers of foreign songs were very common, especially covers of Japanese songs. Through these covers, many kings and queens have been created. That's why there is a saying that " Miyuki Nakajima feeds most of the Chinese music scene ".
Since the late 1990s, especially since entering the 21st century, we have clearly felt that this phenomenon of covering Japanese songs has become less common. But this does not mean that no one will cover foreign songs anymore. With the rapid development of Korean culture, the phenomenon of Chinese singers covering Korean songs is increasing day by day.
Today we will take stock of the ten "Korean translation" songs that once took the Chinese music scene by storm.
K-pop singer Boa
1, Jacky Cheung " My Hair is Messy "
Jacky Cheung's cover of "My Hair is Messy" was in 1998 and was included in his album "Free Yourself" released that year. This song was very popular at the time and subverted Jacky Cheung's singing style, especially the use of falsetto which was amazing.
The original song of this song is "Honey" composed and sung by Korean singer Park Jinyoung , from his album "Ten Years Later" released that year. You can search for the live version of Park Jinyoung's "Honey", which has a bit of Jackson's stage style.
It is worth mentioning that Park Jinyoung (J.Y.Park) has a long history. He is not only a famous singer and music producer in South Korea, but also the boss of the famous Korean entertainment agency JYP Entertainment.
2, Huang Pinyuan & Karen Mok " Why do I love you so much "
In December 1999, the song "Why do I love you so much" suddenly became popular. It was sung by Huang Pinyuan and Karen Mok and was included in Huang Pinyuan's new album "I Can't Be Cruel" released by Rolling Stone. This song brought Huang Pinyuan, who had disappeared for many years, to regain attention and won the Silver Award for Outstanding Mandarin Song in the "Top Ten Chinese Golden Songs in Hong Kong".
The original song is "Always" from the Korean group TURBO, composed by Ahn Jeung Hun, and the Chinese version was written by Li Zongsheng himself.
A company like Rolling Stone, which is known for its humanities, has always had a lot of cover songs. For example, Huajian Zhou, , and Rene Liu became popular by covering Japanese songs; similarly, they are also pioneers in covering Korean songs.
The first Korean cover should be Su Huilun 's famous song "Duck" in 1996, which was a cover of the best-selling single by the Korean band JuJuClub. Since then, K-pop songs have quietly begun to appear on the stage, and more and more.
3, Sammi Cheng " Blissful Dance "
"Blissful Dance" is one of the most important masterpieces of Hong Kong diva singer Sammi Cheng, and it is also a familiar and dynamic dance music work. But you know, this is also a cover song of K-pop.
The original song is "Change" from Korean singer Lee Jung Hyun . It was written and composed by Choi Junrong and was released at the end of 1999. Sammi Cheng covered this song in her new album released in 2000. The song became very popular as soon as it was released, giving Sammi Cheng another title of "Dance Queen".
4, Fan Yichen "I Believe"
In 2001, the Korean movie "My Sassy Girl" was released and became popular in Asia, and its theme song "I Believe" also became popular.
The original song "I Believe" was composed and written by Kim Hyung-hee, and sung by Korean singer Shin Seung-hun; when "My Sassy Girl" was released in China, the theme songs of its Taiwan version, mainland version and Hong Kong version were sung by Fan Yichen, Sun Nan and Ye Wenhui respectively. In 2002, "I Believe" was the most requested song in China. In terms of song popularity, Fan Yichen's version is the most popular, followed by Sun Nan's version.
"I Believe" was Fan Yichen's first song after his debut. This song allowed everyone to hear his soulful and moving voice, but it seemed to be the last song because no other songs of his were heard later.
In addition, in addition to "I Believe", Sun Nan also sang another Korean song that year, which was "The Sky of Fate ".This is also a cover of Shin Seung-hoon's song "Loving You", which is included in the album "The Sky of Fate" together with "I Believe".
5, Chang Xinzhe " From the beginning to now "
" Love Song Prince " Chang Xinzhe's classic masterpiece "From the beginning to now" is actually a Korean cover song. The original song is the theme song of the Korean drama " Winter Sonata ". The play, starring Korean star Bae Yongjun, first aired in 2002 and became popular throughout Asia.
It is said that Liu Tianjian, who was the director of Sony Music at that time, accidentally went to South Korea on a business trip. He heard the theme song of "Winter Sonata" on TV and was deeply attracted. He immediately approached a Korean company to negotiate the copyright and secured the opportunity for Chris Chang to sing in the Chinese version. In order to sing this song well, Jeff Chang not only watched the TV series many times, but also went to South Korea to visit the director, actors and music creation team. Later, "From the Beginning to Now" he sang became the theme song of the Chinese version of "Winter Sonata".
"From the Beginning to Now" has Chinese lyrics written by Li Zhuoxiong. Zhang Xinzhe uses a delicate and gentle voice to interpret the emotions in the song to the letter, which is very contagious. The song is included in Zhang Xinzhe's 2002 collection of the same name "From the Beginning to Now".
6, Xin Band " I will love you even if you die "
In 2002, Xin Band came out, and their song "I will love you even if you die" made everyone remember them. However, this famous song is a cover of "Millennium Love" by Korean singer Park Wankyu , written by Korean music producer Liu Haejun.
"Millennium Love" had been released for several years at that time, but because the high notes were too challenging, no Chinese singers had ever tried to cover it. But Su Jianxin sang it many times in bars before his debut and found this song very enjoyable to sing. Therefore, when the Xin Band's first album was produced in 2002, they immediately asked Yao Ruolong to rewrite the lyrics, adapted and recorded the song "I Will Love Even If I Die".
As soon as this song came out, the band Xin became famous. Since then, the song has become a label for Su Jianxin and a high-pitched model of Chinese pop songs.
7, Xin Band's " Li Ge "
After becoming popular with "I Will Love Even If You Die", Xin Band released their second album "Heaven and Earth" in 2003. One of the most popular songs was "Li Ge". Coincidentally, this song "Li Ge" is another cover song from South Korea.
The original song is "Love Song" composed and sung by Korean singer Kim Model. After it was covered by Xin Band, it immediately became popular in the Chinese music scene.
8, Xin Band " The Sea and the Sky "
Since "Love Even If You Die" and "Li Ge", Xin Band seems to have mastered the code of wealth, which is to cover Korean songs and become popular again and again. So, in their third album in 2004, they continued to do this and sang a cover of "Broad Sea and Sky". Sure enough, it once again became popular in the Chinese music scene.
The original song of "Broad Sea and Sky" comes from "Reason for Leaving Me" by Korean diva WAX. After Yao Ruolong re-wrote the lyrics into "Broad Sea and Sky", the intention seems to be higher, realizing the sublimation from a bitter love song to an inspirational song.
's three Korean songs pushed Shin Band to the peak of rock 's career. Not only that, in their 2004 collection "Challenge", they sang another cover of "If", which once again became a popular classic. The original song of "If" is "God's Jealousy" by Korean singer Lee Seung-cheol .
These four Korean songs are probably what most people have the impression of Shin Band. What can I say? It can be said that without Korean Wave, there would be no Shin Band at that time. No wonder Su Jianxin said on a variety show this year that they became famous through covers, but he often felt that he "couldn't hold his head high."
9, Wilber Pan " Happy Worship " "Have to Love"
In 2004, hip-hop little king Wilber Pan released his third album "Wu Ha". One of the most popular songs was "Happy Worship" which he sang with Angela Chang .But this song is a cover of the work "Come On" by the Korean group Turtles.
Prior to this, Wilber Pan released his first and second solo albums, and those representative works that were slightly out of the circle were almost all covers of Korean songs, such as: " Gecko Walks " was a cover of "Mom" by the Korean rap group 1TYM; "tell me" covers "말해줘" by the Korean Jinusean group and Uhm Jung Hwa; " My Microphone " covers "Double" by Korean singer Lee Jae Jin J》...
In 2005, Wilber Pan released his fourth album "Master". One of the most popular songs was "Have to Love", which he sang with Xianzi, but it was still a Chinese copy of a Korean song. The original song comes from the song "Y (Please Tell Me Why)" by the Korean group Free Style...
It can be said that without the Korean Wave, there would be no Pan Shuai .
I once heard a saying on the Internet that the "Four Little Kings of Taiwan" should be Jay Chou , Wang Leehom , JJ Lin and Wilber Pan, because Tao Zhe is a bit older. But after you learn about the relationship between Wilber Pan and Hallyu, what do you think makes him equal to the previous ones? Is it just based on your ability to Chineseize rap words?
10, Cyndi Wang "Love You"
This year, Cyndi Wang went from being a washed-up singer back to the top instantly with the song "Love You" from 18 years ago on Sister Lang's stage. It's really magical!
Yes, 18 years ago in 2004, Cyndi Wang became famous in the music scene overnight with the song "Love You". Her brisk and sweet style quickly captured a large number of fans and earned her the title of "Sweetness Leader". And this "Love You" is adapted from the song "Listen To My Word" by the Korean girl group Papaya.
Another singer who became famous by singing K-pop covers!
In addition, another representative song in this album, " The First Lover " , is also a cover song. The original song is "The day you went away" by the Norwegian group M2M.
In 2005, Cyndi Wang released the companion piece "Honey" to "Love You", which included many cover songs. The title song of the same name "Honey" was a cover of South Korea's Lee Jung-hyun's "Summer" dance"...
The above are just some of the "Korean version" Chinese hits. There are also some that are not so popular, so I won't list them one by one, such as "Brave" by Zhang Huimei, "A Little Hurt" by Asang , etc. If you take a careful inventory, you should be able to count hundreds of songs.
I don’t know, but I was shocked when I learned about it. It turns out that after entering the 21st century, while the Chinese music scene focuses on original works, the cover phenomenon is still widespread, and many singers still become popular through this way. The slight difference is that the "hardest-hit area" of covers has shifted from the Hong Kong music scene to the Taiwanese music scene, and the source of covers has shifted from Japan to the world, and Korean Wave has become one of the main export destinations.
Of course, we can understand the cover singing in this era as the promotion of mutual exchanges of popular music, because while we are covering Japanese and Korean songs, there are actually some excellent Chinese original music that have been covered and spread by them.
