This Monday marked Lunar New Year, a traditional holiday observed by multiple Asian countries that celebrates the start of a year on the lunar calendar. From upbeat festive tunes to calming indie tracks, students shared their favorite Chinese songs in celebration of the new year for this week’s edition of The Phillipian Playlist.
Arielsie Li ’24: 好运来 (Good Luck) by 祖海 (Zu Hai)
I would like to share 好运来. It’s very Chinese, it’s a really old song that’s been here for a long time, and sometimes on Chinese New Year, you just want to reconnect with tradition. Also the song is obviously very festive. It has a very upbeat music, and in Chinese culture we believe a lot about good luck… so I think playing these kinds of festive songs, it leads to good luck throughout the entire year.
Pauline Huang ’23: 月球风格爱情 (Moon Style Love) by Leo1Bee
Original:
月球风格爱情-Leo1Bee 推荐一下这首歌吧，帮忙推广一下中文indie。喜欢这首歌主要是因为它很轻松欢快的氛围，歌手的声音也很慵懒。很适合在一个有月亮的夜晚独自欣赏哦。祝大家新年快乐！
English translation:
I picked [月球风格爱情] with hopes of promoting Chinese indie music. It has a light atmosphere with soft, slow vocals that make it the perfect song to listen to while sitting alone under the moon. Happy Lunar New Year everyone!
Jenny Jin ’24: 阴天快乐 (Cloudy Day) by 陈奕迅 (Eason Chan)
Both my parents and I like Eason Chen’s music, and although this is not my favorite Chinese song, it’s a well known one. [In] recent years, the popular songs in China are all sung by young singers that my parent’s generation doesn’t know, so this is a great song that the entire family can listen to together, and Lunar New Year is all about family.
Helios Hong ’25: 孤勇者 (Warrior of the Darkness) by 陈奕迅 (Eason Chan)
I have been listening to 孤勇者 by Eason Chan a lot. My dad first introduced me to this song last summer, and this song talks about the difficulties of being a loner and how we should respect those who work hard on their own without others knowing. Especially now in the Lunar New Year season, this song reminds me of how in times of struggle and when we feel alone, we must persevere and fight through it. Being an international student from China, these moments arise frequently, and it’s how we react to those moments that make us special.
Gloria Chen ’24: 可能否 by 木小雅 (Olivia Mu)
It’s a very melodic, calming, relaxing, and beautiful song with a great tone, great lyrics, and beautiful harmonies. And I love the singer, which is I think a big part of why I love the song, so I love all her songs, but this song in particular, I found it in 2019, it’s been my favorite song ever since. It’s just that song you can listen to anywhere, you know; when you’re sad, when you’re happy, when you’re doing your homework. It’s just very relaxing, it’s very beautiful… it’s very soft, I love her voice, so that makes it a very harmonious song to listen to. I love it.
Amber Chou ’24: 明天会更好 (A Better Tomorrow) by 罗大佑 (Luo Da You)
As the title suggests, [明天会更好] is a song about longing for the future and putting the sorrows of the past behind, I think that just suits really well for Chinese New Year, since it’s the start of a new year, kind of starting anew. I especially like this song because it includes all of the biggest Taiwanese pop stars of the 80s, and so it really brings together everyone, and it is kind of fun to listen to everyone sing together, and it’s quite a long song as well, so it just seems like a very nice way to celebrate the new year.
