青花瓷
Blue and White Porcelain
I've been trying my hardest to regularly upload youtube videos, because right now, it's the only platform I have to do promotion or grow a fan-base internationally, except in China (a general rule, one has no access to FB and youtube there). But that is what my Tudou and Weibo accounts are for. Trying to figure my way around the China websites has been hair-raisingly frustrating. They are usually poorly designed, making it confusing to navigate around them. But with my sister's help, we got some videos up there and there and getting some views.
It's been difficult to produce a new video once in 3-4 weeks like I initially planned to do it. The time between videos more like 6-8 weeks. I honestly wished someone introduced me to youtube video making about 6 years ago. I think I could have made a living of it by now. Hah. Then, youtube was really about home videos and community. Nowadays, it's more corporate and more competitive, making it harder and harder for a lone voice to be heard.
However, I am pretty proud of the progress I've made with the videos along these 2 years. I've put some effort into getting better quality visual and audio out, hoping that it's something someone wants to put on repeat, instead of give a quick view and disappear.
This video was particularly fun to do. 青花瓷 is a Jay Chou hit song which I've always liked but never quite understood because of the classical Chinese used for the lyrics. It's the equivalent to singing a pop song with Shakespearean lyrics perhaps? But it resonated with me, just like 紅豆(my last Chinese cover) did. There is a sweet, delicate yet pungent flavour about well-written Mandarin songs that you never quite forget and you want to keep revisiting them.
I'm always looking around to work with more people. I'm all about working with different people to bring different elements to my art and music. There are some people you'd prefer to work with more, of course, but it never hurts to explore and include the creativity of new people. This time, I worked with people from my church worship team, the Joshua band. I got to know them mainly through GOOD TV events and projects [which is slightly ironic]. Peter was the guitarist and Jesse was the videographer. Jesse, in particular, was a joy to work with. He's a creative geek who's in his own world most of the time. He's an American who is temporarily based here, and is returning to the States soon. More's the pity. I might ask him to help me shoot one more before he leaves. Jesse did a wonderful job with the 2 hours we had, and he picked the perfect antique coffee shop for the video as well.
Well, if you haven't watched it, enjoy the video and the song.
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