Life Is Waiting

Nope, Singapore is waiting.. Or at least I'm waiting for Faber Drive!

After my post where I proclaimed my love for the Canadian pop rock band, they announced a couple of days ago that they were finally coming down to Singapore! I was having lessons at that time so imagine how hard I had to curb myself from jumping out of my seat in ecstasy.

I have been tweeting Music Matters and the members of Faber Drive (here) and I'd really like to think that I was a catalyst as to why they were invited to this music festival (hahaha I'm joking), but I don't really care since all that matters is that they are coming down. And it's a great feeling to see your country listed as one of the tour dates in an email sent to those subscribed to the mailing list.

And isn't Seamus just the sweetest drummer around? (I won't be a grammar Nazi today.)

I've seriously never been so excited that a band is coming down. Maybe because I have been listening to them since their first album (they just released their third). Maybe because they are not any under major labels and it's hard for independent bands to come here, not to mention we are on opposite ends of the world. Or maybe just because I love them so freaking much.

I'd really want to thank Music Matters and the Canadian Independent Music Association for bringing Faber Drive down. Hopefully I'll get to meet them and hang a little. And here's hoping that they will play 'When I'm With You' and 'By Your Side'!

Still pretty much on a high since the news, and it's not helping that the lead singer, Faber, is stalking my followers list and following them on Twitter. Like seriously. I don't even.

AND WHOEVER IS READING THIS I LOVE YOU, AND EVERYONE TOO!

Never Doubt

Never ever doubt my love for this band.

Sigh Faber Drive I love you. So stoked that they just signed a record deal with twelve Asian countries, including Singapore!! Freaking excited because it means I may finally get to see them here. Wow the feels. AND YES KRIKIT PLEASE SIGN THE CD FOR ME <3

Flowers Have Blossomed Again

So I got the limited edition of S.H.E's latest album and the contents are super pretty and they look perfect, the songs are perfect, asdfghjkl everything is perfect.

What a ride. 12 years; 13 albums. It is amazing how they have managed to stay together for so long despite all the things that happened. Every artiste/group has had their own problems and hurdles but honestly, you just can't compare them to those of S.H.E's - Ella's hip-shattering accident in 2003 and her getting depression, numerous reports on Hebe's sexuality, to most recently, Selina's accident which resulted in third-degree burns and the hiatus in their group activities, just to name a few... Just, wow. Of course, Selina's and Ella's weddings did make us feel really happy for them. How sweet was Lawyer 'Ah Tiong' when he took the initiative to make their relationship public at their concert in Taipei?

And this music video of Ella's solo song featuring none another than the leading lady and her husband themselves...

Everyone has to stop being so sweet, seriously.

While many critics have doubted their return after Selina's accident, die-hard fans (like me) have been awaiting it. My dad said they wouldn't, and I almost cried (for real I'm not kidding).

But they did, and it excited me so much when photos from their photoshoot in Milan were released.

After all these turbulence, I'm sure S.H.E has again rooted themselves as the top girl group in Asia. And they are totally deserving of that title - they can sing (all of them have solo EPs/albums), act (Ella's portfolio is growing day by day), host, and they are just the sweetest and most down-to-earth people ever.

I don't see myself ceasing to support them anytime soon, after all, they were my first ever idols... And one doesn't simply forget their 'firsts'. Lol. I'm hoping that they have promotional activities here because I'm really missing them a lot after seeing them for consecutive years at their autograph sessions.

我永远爱你们, 永不说再见.

On a final note, HIM, are you really expecting me to plant these sunflower seeds?

While I Was Gone

I know, I know. I've been away for a very very long as I've been busy with school and Dinoseoul (I'm writing there). So I'm gonna try updating on some significant events that I actually remember.

30th September: Keane Strangeland Concert
I've never been a super big fan of Keane or anything but I got free tickets so why not right? And am I glad that I went! The atmosphere wasn't quite like any other concert I have been to... it was pretty chill. I was especially awed by Tom Chaplin's amazing vocals - he sounds exactly the same as he does on the record! And I did take a slight liking to pianist Tim Rice-Oxley. Hehe.

11th October: Brian Joo Up-Close and Personal Concert
Again, I got free tickets for this - all thanks to Rachy! I think in K-pop now, solo artistes are often overshadowed by idol groups and Brian Joo is one of them. He is an awesome vocalist, he can dance, he speaks fluent and American-accented English (oh yes me gusta) and he is genuine. The concert literally brought fans 'closer' to Brian as the setting in Butter Factory was a really intimate one. Although I wasn't familiar with most of his songs, I still enjoyed it a lot - I really love 'Domino' and 'Let It Die'.

Oh and because of Rachy, again, I got to go up and snap a picture with the man himself! It was funny though, when I had to tell him that my name was Rachel so he'd write her name on the poster. Haha!

27th October: Recording
The Poly bunch met up for audio and video recording of 'Starships'. The video recording was a failure though and we ended up, uhm, camwhoring. What's new? That said, I'm sure we will be more productive the next time we meet for filming.. I think.

Don't ask me what I was doing.

31st October: Halloween/Skyfall Preview
So Chapman students had the privilege of catching Skyfall more it premiered in Singapore! I'm not going to spoil it for anyone but it actually might be the best Bond movie to date! Love it when the antagonist is batshit crazy.
And because it was also Halloween, I dressed up as Bond!

No I'm not that light.

2nd November: 2NE1 Fan Gathering
So my favourite K-pop girl group had a guerrilla showcase in Singapore, which was a big big thing since things like that are rarely held in Singapore, what more a K-pop group? The squeezing from the audience was horrible and there was this inconsiderate girl in the second row standing on a freaking stool but other than that it was fun and amazing... partly because it was free. Haha! Nevertheless, I still managed to take awesome photos!

My personal favourite :)

Check out the rest of the photos here and Rachy's write-up here.

3rd November: Melodi's Birthday Celebration
And then our dear Mel turned 20! Her parents, the Poly bunch and Cally held a surprise for her and I didn't know if she cried because she was shocked by my face or if she was touched. But either way, I'm glad the surprise was a success! Thank you Mel's parents for having us (and to Mel's mum for cooking extra rice for me). I had a blast! Love you Mel!

No prizes if you guess where this is from.

Happy birthday girl! ^^

I'll try to re-visit this space as often as I can! I promise... I really do...

Happy Ending

Happened to chance upon this song after 7.9.4.2's Eungjoo tweeted about it (turns out he was featured in it too).

I loved it the moment I heard it and I have never even heard of Johnnyphlo before but I went to iTunes to purchase the single immediately... partly because I couldn't find any download links anywhere. LOL. But really do give it a listen. :)

Be back soon! x

Be Your Everything

BLG's newest single off their Crazy World EP was unveiled through one of the most awesome lyric videos I have ever seen! I am really in love with the song - not with the album art though - Paul looks like he just came out of rehab or something.

Anyway, it is literally gonna be a Boys Like Girls weekend because they are gonna be coming down very very soon! I really can't wait to hear them play live again on Sunday. I really miss them wayyy too much.

I'm going to be trying my luck at the airport on Friday so please pray for me. Hahaha.

Goodnight!

I'm Like a Kid in a Candy Store

Just stopping by for a bit to tell everyone that the teaser of Faber Drive's Candy Store lyric video is out! As I mentioned in my previous posts I'm in it - with a 0.00001 sec frame of screen time.

And I'm on the thumbnail. Hahaha it is a bit embarrassing to be honest. Just a little. And I can only imagine how much effort was put into the video - the editing of individual pics and piecing everything together to fit the song. I sure don't have that kind of patience.

Got to go to bed soon! Waking up tomorrow for Round 2 of war for Big Bang tickets. Night!

P.S. I totally changed my blog's layout and added some tags for those who might be interested in concerts/music events and stuff. Check 'em out on the sidebar under the header 'Featured Labels'. And what do you think of my favicon (the lil icon beside my blog's name on your browser's tab)? Hurhur.

Your Love is Such a Sugar Rush

Faber Drive recently released their newest single, Candy Store, featuring rapper Ish! When I saw the title of the single I felt a tad apprehensive because it reminded me of 50 Cent's Candy Shop. Thankfully, a couple of months ago they released the demo of the song and well, my worries were unfounded.

It's a really catchy and has a laid back tune - the kind of song where you'd like to listen to while walking down a path in the park filled with flowers. LOL.

A couple of blog posts ago I said I was gonna be in the lyrics of this song so here's the picture that I took:

The set of lyrics assigned to me, 'and I really want' appears two times in every chorus. Wonder where I'm gonna end up.. Stoked to see the final product as well!

Anyway, I updated one of my older blog posts which new pictures that Mel just sent me - pictures with Queen and the rest at Clarke Quay! Click.

Gonna be meeting Jonathan later and Keith tomorrow! Today's their first book out. Can't wait to see them.

Later!

Crazy World

It is still more than a month till I get to see Boys Like Girls perform in front of me again but my level of excitement is already hitting the roof - and with Paul editing all those video updates and uploading them... well let's just say that it's not helping much.

All those instrumentals used in the video... are they part of the new album? Because if they are, it just keeps getting better and better! And better! The new bassist, Morgan Dorr, is really growing on me. I don't feel so sad that Bryan's not in the band anymore. Sorry! :(

I am definitely going down to the airport to try to catch them when they come - even if it means that I have to be there in the wee hours in the morning. Seriously it is amazing that they have been on a hiatus but they still make me spazz harder than any other artistes can ever do, including my favourite K-Pop groups.

In other related Pop Punk band news, I get to be in Faber Drive's new lyric video for their upcoming single, Candy Store! It is really cool how they make the effort to reach out to fans from all over the world and I'm really excited to see the final product even though I will probably only have like 0.02 seconds of screen time. LOL.

xx

Long Live The Reckless and The Brave

So last week was a great music week... at least for me!

All Time Low released their newest single which is off their upcoming record, and the best thing? It was up for free download from their official website! Still is, I reckon.

Absolutely loving the song! Definitely different from the songs in their Dirty Work album - one can't help but wonder if it is because they are not under a major label anymore (they recently left Interscope Records which is part of Universal Music and Dirty Work was the only album they released within their two years under the label). Somehow I tend to appreciate songs produced by them when they are under a small or independent label. It feels as if it is music that they REALLY want to make, and that they are not writing songs just so it fits into the 'mainstream' category. The Reckless and The Brave is one such example, where the lyrics are much more mature compared to lines like "Everybody gettin' kinda crunk, I think some dude just grabbed my junk..." Yeah. I can't deny that I love the music video for that song though. Hahaha.

The next awesome song release has gotta be Big Bang's Monster!

Ignore the uber weird concept of their costumes - okay actually just GD and Taeyang's hair (someone just bring back the mohawk, please) - this is a great song and I could remember the hook in the chorus after just one listen! Really loving the piano introduction and riffs as well. I would go on but you know what? I'll just leave you with a review done by eatyourkimchi aka Simon and Martina! If you haven't heard of them, do definitely check them out because their reviews are always so entertaining and, and... argh just watch.

I had a pleasant surprise when I saw new GIFs of the B1A4 boys seemingly from a new music video. So I went to check it out and it turned out to be the music video of the Japanese version of Beautiful Target!

I'm liking the music video more than the Korean version because this one has more of a story line. No fireman Baro, newscaster Gongchan, pilot CNU, judge Sandeul, prisoner Jinyoung or sprout dances in here - just them being adorable and Jinyoung trying all sorts of perfume potions on them in his bid to find the perfect love potion for the girl he has a crush on. Oh, did you see that Chanro (yes that is my pairing name for Baro and Gongchan) interaction at the end of the video?! My passion for them has reignited once again. And I honestly started smiling to myself when I saw Baro wearing the same cap that I bought from Seoul!

Hehehe.

Anyway, the Euro fever is back! Yes I'm talking about football here! As expected, I'm rooting for Spain all the way!

David Villa is not gonna be playing due to an injury unfortunately, but this Euro 2012 team is still a stellar one and I am very happy that Torres scored against South Korea. We need El Niño! And El Niño is back, and he is staying! P.S. Pique needs a shave, badly.

I'm also very happy because I get to see more Sernando (that's Sergio Ramos and Fernando Torres for those of you who don't know - yes there are pairings in football too...)

Sigh. :)

Also, in related news, Ramos recently cut his hair, and he looks amazing! I was surprised though because he said that his hair was his lucky charm so I'm wondering why he cut it right before something as big as the Euros. No matter though, just make sure all of you haters don't blame any Spain match loss on him! /touchwood/

Thank you for cutting off your locks.

Alright enough fangirling. I'm just gonna do some shameless promotion. Below is my cover of Teen Top's newest single, To You! Hope you dig it!

Goodnight! x

More Than This

On the 5th of May, I attended the first ever YouTube Stars concert in the world - The YouTube Stars Festival at the Coliseum thanks to Jonathan!

We reached at around 2pm (which is really late in my books) for the 7pm concert and we managed to beat the crowd to be one of the first few groups in the queue. Yay!

Lihua, Yizhun and Aaron joined us later then Jonathan and I went to walk around to listen to the soundcheck and we unintentionally came across the area where the artistes would walk past after their soundcheck so we waited there and we managed to get pictures with Joseph Vincent and David Choi!

Awkward picture is awkward lol.

So when we got into the venue we managed to be in the second row which was great!

While waiting for the concert to start!

I'm not gonna do a concert review because I'm kinda lazy so I'm just gonna post some pictures that I took during the concert.

The opening act: Tzire and SammyDee

Clarence Liew aka CLO! His voice is amazing!

Tiffany Alvord! She is as sweet as she looks really. :)

Joseph Vincent! He is a very good entertainer!

Jason Chen. He was kind of shy hahaha

Joint stage :)

Ana Free. She is one hot woman.

David Choi. A pity I didn't enjoy his set that much as he sang originals and I don't know his originals. 

Encore! 

It was a great concert - and we were assured that this would not be the last. I am really excited to see which artistes will come down next year!

In other news, Boys Like Girls performed a acoustic rendition of their upcoming single recently.

This brought me close to tears I'm not even kidding. Can they please come back now?

My flight to Korea is in about 4 hours. It is really exciting to be honest! And so before I leave Blogger for a good 8 days, I leave you with a cover I just did - U-Kiss' DoraDora.

Take care, everyone! :)