alan’s next single “Gunjou no Tani” (Ultramarine Valley) will be released on February 2nd; this will be her last single preceeding her upcoming as yet untitled album. The song was originally written for the victims of the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake. And no, I did not get lazy with the images – this is the first alan single to not have two different covers for the limited and regular editions.

“Gunjou no Tani” is a  midtempo ballad with a powerful rock-based backings and alan’s trademark vocals. And… honestly, what else can I say. alan’s vocals are like, say, Yuna Ito’s or Celine Dion’s; no matter what the song is like, the vocals are always pretty good. The song has a great instrumental composition but the vocal melody is rather bland at parts. alan’s voice is good, but the best parts about the song are parts where she gets to vocalize during the chorus instead of following the flat tune at the other portions. Don’t get me wrong – this is a pretty good song, just not as epic as some of her other ballads.

The PV for this video was shot in Sichuan and features gorgeous shots. alan doesn’t do much besides walk around gorgeous backdrops and sing passionately while looking gorgeous herself, but visually there’s a great mix of colors and movement.

On a sidenote, I wonder how avex is planning to mold alan for Japan. alan can’t survive in J-pop singing ballads forever while acting as this classical, ephereal beauty, and although “RED CLIFF” and “Natsukashi Mirai: Longing Future” could probably count as minor hits, her sales are generally fairly lackluster. Avex is trying to mold her to be modern (note the stylish sweater in this PV, as opposed to only flowy dresses and kimonos and whatnot) but her voice always has a classical air. It’d be a complete waste of a talent to have alan sing poppy songs. Maybe there’s plans for a full-on Chinese career… but with alan’s Japanese skills pretty decent now, it’d be a waste not to keep doing J-pop too…

Well, whatever happens, as long as alan keeps releasing her songs, I’ll keep listening. Keep an eye out for her album – it’ll be coming in the beginning of March.

alan’s fourth single representing fire in her elements series, “Red Cliff ~Shin Sen~“, will be released October 15th. This Japanese version of the song was used in the Japanese release of the John Woo movie Red Cliff.

With the Red Cliff movie having one of the biggest box office openings in China and being heralded as gorgeous and epic, it’s pretty great that alan got to do the theme song. And the song certainly does both the movie and alan justice: it’s a powerful and chilling ballad with sweeping, classical instrumentals – everything is spot on perfect. I’d go as far as to say this is among the best three original songs she’s had since her debut.The music video is just as impressive, blending gorgeous and intense scenes of alan with small clips from the movie. Really – just listen to it. “Red Cliff ~Shin Sen~” is an amazing song.

She’s released this single in Chinese already a few months prior. it’s actually the version of the song I prefer, but both the Japanese and Chinese versions are excellent.

The B-side to the Japanese version of this single will have an orchestral version of her debut “Ashita e no Sanka” – another gorgeous song that an orchestral version can only benefit. This is definitely a single to be looking out for.

Well, talk about being really late about releases now that I’m mostly computer-less: alan releases her wind single “Kaze no Tegami” tomorrow, and I just heard it today.

One of the first things that struck me about this single was that the cover was gorgeous. No more of that one eye open, one eye close thing in the same pose – instead we get two gorgeous poses alan in a beautiful layered dress – it’s definitely an improvement.

The song itself is much different from what the covers promised though. It’s a edgier pop-rock song, and most of the PV has alan dressed like a rocker, shot in high contrast black-and-white singing in front of a band. The video has gorgeous scenes, alternating in the difference between alan looking tough and looking delicate – referring to the two sides of wind, perhaps?

The song, unfortunately, isn’t as gorgeous. It’s good to see alan straying apart from just ballads, but “Kaze no Tegami” just isn’t that good a song. The melody isn’t very catchy or vocally impressive. The song seems to not be able decide if it wants to be synth-pop or rock, and ends up switching between the two. And alan’s voice is still majestic and clear – it ends up clashing with the already feuding instrumental.

It’s not a bad song – it’s better, in fact, than a lot of the pop some minor avex artists get – but from the standards alan has set for herself with some pretty fabulous singles, this one just falls short for me. (Luckily, her next single is for fire, and is “RED CLIFF” – and that’s the one I’ve been waiting for all this time.)

alan’s single “Sora Uta” will be released August 13; it is the second in her series of five singles that focus on Chinese elements.

Before I say anything else – five Chinese elements, seriously? I totally didn’t get that just looking at the releases, and listening to/watching Natsukashi Mirai, I didn’t figure out. It’s actually a little cheesy. But thankfully, avex paired these releases with gorgeous photoshoots, videos, and songs (so far), and this gives alan more promotion, so why not.

Dailymotion Link

A first for alan, “Sora Uta” is actually an upbeat song. I was surprised; it started off ballady, but then the beats kicked in. It has Tibetan inspired vocals and beats that mix with some rather heavy pop beats and synth. It even has some vocal alteration in a part, along with some chanting. The tune itself is catchy but pretty standard, nohing special, but the song really shines from all the different influences – a pop tune sung with ballady vocals at part, backed with a techno beat with Tibetan instrumental and vocal influences, with some vocal alteration at parts and even some ethereal chanting? It’s so weird – and so unique, and I absolutely love it.

The PV is really impressive this time. Not that avex hasn’t been doing justice to alan in terms of budget (all her styling, photoshoots, and PVs have been great) but I’m really impressed this time. Yes, it’s really CG-ed, and the parts where alan is walking through the sky are cheesy – but the scene where alan and two backup dancers are dancing in front of a sky screen in front of a dark cityscape?

Wow. Wow. Wow. Also, I like the Tibetan dancing to a heavy dance beat – very interesting to watch.

The B-side on this single is called “My Stage”; no preview is available yet, but does it matter with such a strong A-side? After three ballad singles with ballad B-sides, I’m glad avex is finally seeing if alan can do well with other genres. Not only was it a good upbeat song, it was a song that was actually kind of exciting to listen to – I’m very impressed by this single.

alan’s third single, “Natsukashi Mirai ~longing future~” will be released July 2nd. It was used as the theme to NHK’s Save the Future theme song.

The song is, yes, another beautiful power ballad from alan, but it’s a bit more upbeat than her previous singles. Like her debut, the song uses her unique Tibetan vocals at parts, and, yes, features the erhu! The song was produced by famed produce Sakamoto Ryuichi (the guy who did “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence”, you know?).

The PV is gorgeous this time and looks like it has a higher budget than her first two PVs – not that those weren’t pretty decent for an avex artist already! I also really like the covers this time. Hopefully, the quality treatment of this single along with the tie-in with NHK will make this single more successful.

The single features two b-sides. One is a new original song called “Seed of Green,” a ballad that is keeping up with the save the environment theme of this single. The other is a choir version of “Natsukashi Mirai ~longing future~.” The choir version doesn’t seem to feature alan’s vocals, but it’s a nice twist on the song.

NHK is launching its Save the Future campaign to raise awareness for global warming. For three days, June 6 to 8, there will be different types of programming on the channel all relating to the issue.

The site has the complete lineup – there’s thirteen different shows ranging from news to documentaries to mini-dramas to music shows. alan’s next single, “Natsukashi Mirai ~longing future~” is the theme song to the campaign.

As for celebrities, the music-related show scheduled for the 8th is scheduled to have Otsuka Ai, ayaka, alan, Angela Aki, the Gospellers, Hitoto Yo, Sakamoto Ryuichi, Yanawaraba, amongst others. Perfume and Yama Arashi are participating in a Shibuya live broadcast earlier the same day. Other names familiar to English fans are also participating in various shows in the campaign, like Becky, AKB48, Minami, and Harisen.

NHK has set up a youtube channel with videos of participating celebrities giving short messages. Props to Japan for making such a conscious effort to get the public concerned about environmental issues.

Following the devastating earthquake in Sichuan, China, alan is releasing an impromptu single “Shiawase no Kane ” with a Chinese version, “Ai Jiu Shi Shou” (Love are Hands). It is only available online at internet music retailers; proceeds for the song will be donated to the Chinese Red Cross for the disaster relief.

alan has a beautiful voice and a beautiful heart to match.

For the past few days, China has shown nationwide unity in showing support for the victims like holding moments of silence, showing all Chinese websites in black and white, and donating generously for the disaster relief. Meanwhile, discussion and criticisms about why the disaster happened and how to prevent it have come up; but let us remember that, first and foremost, priority is to help the victims.

alan’s site, with song purchase links (for Japanese only)
Chinese Red Cross
American Red Cross

JunJun and LinLin are the resident pandas of Momusu (at least I know that much about H!P ) but they’re not the only Chinese girls making a splash in the jpop scene.

Just in the past year, there’s several notable Chinese girls who made their debut in Japanese music:

alan has been gaining buzz amongst English jpop fans; she’s the Chinese girl of Tibetan heritage who was brought to Japan by avex. Her voice is strong, and she sings mostly majestic ballads. She actually had a small music career in China, and continues to make appearances occasionally in Chinese music shows.

Tiana Xiao was born in China but spent most of her life in the United States. She’s somewhat a prodigy, completing high school at 14 and enrolled at Cornell; she put her education on hold to pursue music, and was discovered and brought to Japan. Her sings R&B, and has led to comparisons with early Utada Hikaru. She seems to have decent mastery of Japanese, English, and Chinese – her blog is written in all three languages.

Honey PV

Maki Chang (まきちゃんぐ, makichangu) is fluent in Japanese; from her website I can’t tell where she was born, but she was schooled in Japan but is definitely of Chinese heritage. She has a powerful voice, and sings piano ballads. It’s difficult to find anything on her in English (enlighten me if you can!) but from what I’ve heard on her myspace and website, I absolutely love.

To be fair, alan is the only truly Chinese girl; Tiana is more American, while Maki is Japanese. None of these girls really market their heritage or upbringing past the initial novelty, which implies that their labels are not trying to profit off of their being Chinese but just their being musicians as a whole. It’s interesting to see these artists make their debuts not in China but in Japan instead, where most of them have no connection to Japan whatsoever. These are all talented ladies, and I look forward to seeing their impact on the Japanese music industry.

Possibly one of the greatest things I’ve stumbled on in awhile – alan’s Chinese sinaweb blog!

Wait, wait, don’t roll your eyes and press “back” on the browser yet!

Yes, pretty much every Japanese artist has a blog. alan does too, on ameblo. But those blogs are “official” for a reason – it has exactly the kind of things artists should display. Female artists usually have the same schtick: talk about their day, take a cell-phone picture or two of themselves or their clothes or their nails, promote their singles.

I love the photos and to hear about their days, but it’s all kind of impersonal.

On alan’s Chinese blog though, she lets loose – I’m not sure if avex is secretly running it too, but the whole blog seems so personal. The layout isn’t perfect and photoshopped – it’s often changed and looks like various site defaults. The layout has a smattering of applications and pictures that look like the blog of any other girl on the internet. She does her self-promotion, of course, by embedding her music video, but she also has a music player that, right upon loading, plays “Apologize” by One Republic.

Yes, alan listens to One Republic.

And on her blog, she talks about more than just “worked today, Japan is beautiful! have a picture of me” like on her Japanese blog – she actually talks, about her life, about her opinions, and towards her readers. She includes pictures of her that are huge, and often inserts fanworks like fanart and fan-made promotions. If I didn’t know she was a singer signed with avex, it would’ve seemed like she was any other pretty girl writing a blog.

Who knows, maybe avex holds some control over what she says – either way, the way she actually talks to her fans just seems so friendly and genuine – for example, on her latest entry, she ends with

“Thank you to all my fans… you always show me support and care. And also the presents… right now I have a whole cupboard-full, you all don’t have to buy anymore. Especially foods… and always, if it isn’t chocolate, it’s other sweets. Do you guys want to see me become a fatty…“

The girl has a sense of humor too.  I like it. (:

alan is the ethnically Tibetan singer from the Sichuan area of China. She released one Chinese cover album, but was discovered through Avex Beijing and brought to Japan; she debuted in 2007 with “Ashita e no Sanke” in Japan. “Hitotsu” (one) is her second single, and will be released on March 5th.

I love alan a lot; her voice is amazing, she’s beautiful, and – well, she reps China. Her Chinese cover album was well done, and I adored her first single. It’s interesting to see how avex plans to market her out – will they wait for her to master Japanese and make her a fully Japanese artist? Will they have her release material in Chinese too? Will they do both?

Her debut song emphasized her Tibetan roots by being heavily ethnically flavored, mostly through her distinct vocals; “Hitotsu” has some very subtle Tibetan instrumental touches, but is musically a normal pop ballad. Her Japanese is still limited and sounds somewhat clunky, but her brilliant voice makes up for it. (Also, really, I’m not in a position to judge anyone on their Japanese.)  Her strong point remains her drawing out her high tones without struggling around the lyrics, and this song makes full use of that.

The video is pretty, although confusing. The set is a wintery forest, and alan looks like a… snow princess? That’s what it feels like. The whole visual sense is delicate and calm. I don’t know what the storyline is trying to convey though; I thought they were going for a snow white theme with the snow, waking up, and apples – but there’s that ice pond, the bubbles, the random furniture next to the pond, the swirling globe, and how putting her red necklace on a statue led to sakura petals flying down everywhere. It’s all very pretty, but confusing.

Samples of b-sides are available on her official site. It’s definitely more fleshed out than her debut, which just had two songs, albeit both were high-quality. Kimi omofu Sora is a cheerful, midtempo song. Tokyo Mimei is another slow ballad. Sign might or might not be an instrumental track; from the preview, at least, there are no distinct vocals, and sounds like a trance flavored instrumental. The former two sound very nice, and could pass for a-sides. No karaoke instrumentals are included at all for this single.

All the songs on the single sound great; the composition is not stellar in any of them but are above average, and when you have someone with a great voice, any ballad they sing will more likely than not sound amazing. My concern is if she’ll ever sing something besides ballads; although “Kimi omofu Sora” is midtempo, it and every other song she’s released is still a ballad. And while her ballads are terrific, it’d be nice to see if she can attempt other genres as well and not be typecast as “that girl who just sings great slow songs.”