(Cover of her 4th cd, Serving You)
Janice (Vidal) is a comparitive newcomer to the HK music scene (debuting in 2005) and is by far my favorite singer of this current generation. Janice is a great singer, and reminds me of the older idols I liked stylewise as she has not moved to an R&B influenced style, rather it sounds like the C-Pop I loved so much when I first discovered it. Her introduction was almost tailor made for me (thanks Janice for introducing me to Janice! LOL (see links)). She debuted as a mysterious voice singing one of Leon Lai's classic songs (another favorite of mine) and then another, until she was revealed as the singer. Her first cd contains a bunch of Leon Lai covers, and I really like it. (It also had a lot of production from Justin Lo, another singer I like a lot. Seriously, in terms of something I would be interested in all the stars aligned for me with Janice.)
And most importantly she can SING! She really sings well. There are a few artists I just like listening to them sing and would never tire of them being in the background (like Vivian Chow, who I must do a post about soon..) and Janice is one of those.
Janice - "Long Distance"
Janice is of mixed origin and speaks English well. She was discovered by Mark Lui when she was recording backup vocals for one of Leon's songs. I have heard she will have an english cd next which should be great. I am really looking forward to it. I wonder if there will be any thought of releasing it in the US. With ITunes, that really doesn't require much thought, and a song can hit instantly as it can be purchased as soon as it enters your mind to do so. (BTW, Janice's sister Jill also records, and although I like Jill's voice, stylewise the music is not interesting to me at all.)
Janice records almost like an american artist in that there is a cd every 1 or 2 years. They aren't rapid fire, they aren't EP's, they are not singles +3 collections (I hate those to death), etc. They are new cd's of material. And so far, all 4 albums have been really good. A new Janice cd to me is an event, and honestly, I can download anything but I make sure to be at the store as I want the physical copy in my hand as I listen.
Janice - "Big Brother"
Because I am not Asian and living in the US, I see when the fans like me really gravitate toward an artist from overseas. (It was more pronounced when I was younger and there was less people able to have access to the music, now you can download chinese pop on ITunes. But I digress.) Janice is one of those artists. Clearly the fact she can sing in, speak english helps, but I also think the way she was introduced and the interest built around her also helped. (For example, Namie Amuro (way back when), Utada (when she debuted), Coco (up until her ill fated english debut) and A-Mei had that kind of impact. The Wonder Girls are a really recent example but it's almost different now, they are actually here in NY all the time.) These artists spike the interest by people; Janice fans become Justin Lo fans become Kary Ng fans, etc. They are good for the genre. I think Janice has been good for the genre. (Note: You want to see impact? Search for Janice songs on youtube. Everyone and their mom tries to sing her songs and uploads it. That's a strong tribute from fans if they do that.)
One More Janice Video
So yes, I love Janice and you should check her out. Check out her videos mixed in with this post and you'll see what I mean.
Links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janice_Vidal - Wikpedia Page
http://www.amusic.hk/index.php?i=artist&id=2 - Janice at Amusic
http://www.janicevidal.net/index.php - Janice English Forum
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