Sia - Soon We'll Be Found

Another song by this artist! I like her unconventional style, which is apparent in her music videos.  The MV for this song in particular is one of my favorites ever. I'm including both the MV and a live performance, because I think the live performance is actually BETTER than the recorded version! Go Sia!
Note: The first video is in HD.

Sia - Soon We'll Be Found:


And the fabulous MV:


And finally, a live performance:

MayDay - 為愛而生

This artist is a relatively famous rock band from Taiwan.  Not only is the lead singer better than a lot of singers for rock bands that I hear, but I really love the instrumental aspect of this song.  Especially those strings!  I heard that this song was written for the members of the band who recently had children, which imbues the title (and lyrics) with a nice meaning.  This one guy from Taiwan told me I was "so cool" because I knew who this band was, haha!
Note:  You can find an English translation of the lyrics here:  http://www.onedayinmay.net/BorntoLove/BorntoLove.html

MayDay A.K.A. 五月天 - 為愛而生 [Wei Ai Er Sheng - Born to Love]:

BoA feat. Daichi Miura - Possibility

Speaking of SF Pride, I saw this Korean pop star performing there live 2 years ago in her first American public performance.  Whooo!  She's extremely famous and has been dubbed the Britney Spears of Asia, which I guess is only supposed to be analogous in terms of fame and genre 'cause BoA is actually a pretty talented singer.  I really like this Japanese R&B singer's voice, too, but he doesn't seem very famous.  I knew about both these artists for quite a while, but didn't know they had a duet until my friend showed me the music video for this song a few years ago.  I'm using the MV itself because I'm quite fond of it; it's very aesthetically pleasing with its black & white contrasting imagery and clean look.

BoA feat. Daichi Miura A.K.A. 三浦大知 - Possibility:

Christian Chávez feat. Anahí - Libertad

I just got back from SF Pride festivities, so I felt it would be timely to post this song now. I came across this song by these two Mexican artists, who used to be in a pop music group together, on a website only a few days ago. It's essentially a queer rights anthem and exactly the kind of song you'd expect to hear blaring from one of the floats at Pride.
Note: The video has HD quality available!

Christian Chávez feat. Anahí - Libertad [Freedom]:

Métisse - Boom Boom Bâ

I think I heard this through a fanvideo or something... although I can't remember for what.  Maybe I got this from an mp3 rotation site, on second thought.  Anyway, it sounds good.  I have read that the non-English language in this song is Dioula, Agni, and Melinke, but the one I saw most frequently was Agni so I'm going with that.

Métisse - Boom Boom Bâ:

Chris Garneau - Baby's Romance

It's another song by this artist! This is one of the most disturbing yet beautiful songs I've ever heard. Incredibly sad story behind it, but beautiful nonetheless. The artist wrote this song when he was 16. I would normally shake my fist in jealousy at the artist's ability to create something so darkly beautiful at such a young age, but the circumstances that inspired its creation are nothing to be jealous of.
Note: Watch it in its full high definition glory!

Chris Garneau - Baby's Romance:

Hélène Ségara - Elle, Tu L'Aimes

Wow.  She sounds a lot like Celine Dion to me.  Great vibrato.  I found this song when rooting around on YouTube for French pop music a few months ago.  It has kind of an epic feel to it.  I don't know much about the artist, but from what I saw on Wikipedia it looks like her career has been going for quite a while.
Note:  The video is a little weird, but at least it has HD.

Hélène Ségara - Elle, Tu L'Aimes [You Love Her]:

Maximum the Hormone - Louisiana Bob

RUAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! This Japanese band es muy loca. Me gusta mucho. I honestly have no idea what this song is about, but it sounds AWESOME. I love their energy; I imagine it would be really fun to perform live with them. In high school my friend recommended them to me because she thought I would like their manic style. And was she ever right!

Maximum the Hormone A.K.A. マキシマムザホルモン - Louisiana Bob:

Haru - 타아 (他我)

I have not for the life of me been able to find any source of substantial information (at least in English) about this song or artist. Which is frustrating, because I found this song on an mp3 rotation site (I think) years ago and really like it. I can't even find a translation of the lyrics into English. So I've just been enjoying it for years without knowing much about it.

Haru A.K.A. 하루 - 타아 (他我) [Ta Ah (His Me)]:

Savage Garden - Gunning Down Romance

Dang, this artist's lame, disingenuous love songs were all that ever got played on the radio around here during the height of their popularity. If this had been on the radio instead I probably would have liked them back then. This is the second song by this Australian duo that I've posted.

Savage Garden - Gunning Down Romance:

Naya Rivera - Back to Black

Naya's voice makes me meltttttttt. A couple weeks ago I had the chance to meet this talented singer/actress FOR FREE but I didn't go because I'M AN IDIOT. And now I want to punch myself in the face. ...Anyway, this is the Glee cover of Amy Winehouse's song.

Naya Rivera - Back to Black:


Here's the clip of the abridged version from the show, if you're curious:
http://www.yinyuetai.com/video/177349

Eminem - Biterphobia

Have you ever wondered what Eminem sounded like before he became the most famous rapper alive? Well, now you can hear for yourself! THIS caliber of lyricism is why he got discovered. If you were ever confused as to how someone who wrote such a stupid song as "Just Lose It" became so famous, now you know: it's because he used to be this. He made plenty of amazing songs after this era, but his style back then is almost unrecognizable when compared to his later music.

Eminem - Biterphobia:

12 Girls Band - Freedom

This artist is pretty awesome. They do some originals, but also lots of covers of songs from all over the place with traditional Chinese instruments. It always sounds so cool! I had trouble picking a song because they have so many good ones, but I eventually went with this one because it's an original instead of a cover.
Note:  The video is of a live performance, AND is in HD.

12 Girls Band A.K.A. 女子十二乐坊 - Freedom:

Pogo - Mary's Magic

This artist takes audio clips from movies and manipulates them into music.  This particular song is from the movie The Secret Garden, which I watched as a child but don't think I liked very much.  Something about bratty kids mixed with a stiff, melancholy British setting that was a turnoff for me.  I found this song through this fanvideo for a movie I cherished as a child, A Little Princess.  It fits very well, and it's interesting that the the books upon which both movies are based are by the same author.

Pogo - Mary's Magic:


Here's the original video:

Tanja Savić - Тако Млада

I found this Serbian singer on YouTube and thought she had a really good voice.  According to Wikipedia, she was a contestant on a Serbian singing competition TV show.  She didn't win, but she did pretty well, and she seems to have gotten a career out of it as well.  I'm not crazy about the song itself; I just really like her voice.
Note:  Just to let you know, I know NO Serbian.  As in 0%.  I don't even know how to say "hello."  I can read Cyrillic, so I can tell you how things are pronounced, but as for the meaning, I got nothing.  So if I got the translation of the title wrong, I'm sorry; please correct me.  I just plugged it into Google translator.  Also, HD!

Tanja Savić A.K.A. Тања Савић - Тако Млада [Tako Mlada - So Young]:

Demon Hunter - My Heartstrings Come Undone

I came across this song on the Resident Evil: Apocalypse soundtrack.  It's nice, no?  Vocal harmonization can do wonders.  This is as far as I know the only song by this band that I've heard and I know almost nothing about them, but according to Wikipedia, this artist is considered a heavy metal Christian band.
Note:  HD video!

Demon Hunter - My Heartstrings Come Undone:

Lee Ann Womack - I Hope You Dance

Country music doesn't get much love from me, but everyone else in my family listens to it and every once in a while I overhear a country song I like.  This is one of those songs.  It was always on the radio back in the day and I heard it (constantly) that way, but kinda forgot about it until someone sang it on last week's episode of The Voice.  In addition to the strings being pretty, I think the lyrics are really good.  My mother has repeatedly said that she wants to dedicate this song to me, and lately I have begun to take it to heart.

Lee Ann Womack - I Hope You Dance:

Kevin Kern - Pearls of Joy

I found this artist while browsing through a Chinese sheet music website. Interestingly, although he's American I've only ever heard him brought up by people from Asia, so I get the impression he's more famous there than here. This was one of his pieces I found the sheet music of on the website, and probably my favorite of them, so I play it on the piano fairly frequently.

Kevin Kern - Pearls of Joy:

Utada Hikaru - Prisoner of Love

If you listen to any Japanese pop at all, you probably have listened to this artist.  She's immensely famous and, fortunately, also very talented and prolific.  I like a lot of her songs, but this is one of my favorites; I even memorized the lyrics!  I love the strings in this song.  This was the theme song of the Japanese drama Last Friends.  The drama was quite good, and this song really set the mood.  Even though it has an audible beat, it has a sad tone to it that I feel conveys the overriding emotion of the series.
Note:  I'm including the opening credits of the drama for which the song was used, because I think it's gorgeous.

Utada Hikaru A.K.A. 宇多田 ヒカル - Prisoner of Love:


And here's the opening credit sequence for the drama:
http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/lMOxUj90c4M/

Cascadeur - Walker

I heard this song when I was going through a YouTube channel for French music last year.  It's fairly simple and mellow.  I really like the artist's voice; he sings in such a relaxed way but demonstrates vocal talent, especially on those high notes.  I've only listened to a few songs by this artist but this seems to be representative of his general style.
Note:  The video has HD quality, wooooooo!

Cascadeur - Walker:

Paloma Faith - Play On

I heard this British artist's music on a German soap opera and thought she had an interesting sound, so I looked up more of her music and found this.  I like the combination of instruments in this song (if you listen closely, you can hear there are a LOT of different ones!).  Which is, of course, fitting, given the song's dominant metaphor.

Paloma Faith - Play On:

Shinhwa - Shooting Star

This song is fairly catchy, but the real reason I had to post this was because of Eric's hilarious rap. I'm accustomed to hearing the Korean boy band rapper's cheesy English lyrics, but it really caught my attention when he suddenly starts swearing in Spanish. When I was listening to this song and noticed that the first time, I was like, "Did he just say what I think he said?!" and went back to replay it a bunch of times. Indeed, Eric raps a few lines in broken Spanish, including a part that basically means, "F*** your mother." Maybe he thought no one would notice? From a quick Googling of the lyrics, I found that most transcriptions skip over the Spanish lyrics for this song entirely, and on the one site I found that transcribed them at all, they were incorrect. So I guess no one DID notice. XD

Shinhwa A.K.A. 신화 - Shooting Star:

Agnes Obel - Philharmonics

ALL RIGHT, DENMARK, it's your turn!  I found this artist when I was purposely searching for Danish artists to post a few months ago.  Piano makes everything better.  Her music has a nice eeriness to it that I really like, not unlike the Edward Scissorhands soundtrack of which I spoke a few posts ago.

Agnes Obel - Philharmonics:

30 Seconds to Mars - The Fantasy

It is lame but true: this is yet another song I heard first through an AMV.  (This one, to be precise.  It's for a crapload of different anime and gets major points for diversity.)  I know, I'm really nerdy...  This song's intensity was irresistible, and when I looked up the band's other music I found out that I was already familiar with the lead singer through some of his roles as an actor.  I'm kind of in awe of his in-key screaming skills.

30 Seconds to Mars - The Fantasy:

Tiye Phoenix - Killin' Everybody

OK, first of all, I freakin' love this instrumental!  Second of all, I was so impressed by this artist's lyricism, since I'd never heard of her before this song!  Yet another tragedy of female invisibility in hip hop.  I came across this artist through the mixtape The Illest Female Rappers Volume 1.  If you don't listen to hip hop this probably won't appeal to you, but I want to do my part to spread the word of her talent to those who can appreciate it.
Note:  It's uploaded in HD!

Tiye Phoenix - Killin' Everybody:

Danny Elfman - The Grand Finale

Although this piece is from the awesome Tim Burton film Edward Scissorhands, it caught my attention because of this lovely AMV for the short anime film Comedy. I occasionally try to play this on the piano but I'm definitely not good enough to capture its beauty. Sometimes it makes me feel like my heart physically hurts. I LOVE IT.
Note:  Vid is available in HiDef!

Danny Elfman - The Grand Finale:

Cassandra Steen - Darum Leben Wir

I came across this artist when I was looking for German singers through Wikipedia and then searching for their music on YouTube a few months ago. This was one of the first songs by this artist I came across. I really like it; it's purdiful.

Cassandra Steen - Darum Leben Wir [That's Why We Live]:

SID - 紫陽花

Whyyyyy have I not already posted music by this awesome Japanese band?!  The voice of the lead singer, Mao, is so interesting to me, and I love their jazzy rock style.  I probably found out about this band through a message board or mp3 rotation site not long after their first release.  This is one of the first songs I heard by them and I still really like it.
Note:  The video has Spanish translations of the lyrics, so if you read Spanish you're in luck!

SID A.K.A. シド - 紫陽花 [Ajisai - Hydrangea]:

Aaliyah - I Care 4 U

This artist's voice was never my favorite--I always found it lacking in energy and she tended to sing songs that didn't exactly showcase technique.  This song, however, demonstrates that she can indeed sing.  When somebody got me a compilation album of her hits many-a-year ago, I found myself especially getting hooked on this song.  Slow songs provide more of an opportunity to demonstrate the singer's abilities, I think.  R.I.P. Aaliyah.
Note:  The video's in HD, foo!

Aaliyah - I Care 4 U:

Damien Rice feat. Lisa Hannigan - The Blower's Daughter

This is a very quiet but pretty song by these Irish artists.  It's minimalistic and acoustic, which sometimes works for me and sometimes doesn't.  Fortunately, this is one the times it does.  Fun fact:  I saw the female vocalist in this song perform live with Jason Mraz at Jason Mraz's concert a few years ago.
Note:  HD!

Damien Rice feat. Lisa Hannigan - The Blower's Daughter: