|
Media and Advertising
Super Voice Girl sings for sour yogurtPosted by Joel Martinsen on Monday, July 25, 2005 at 1:35 AM
 Sour and sweet Kristy Zhang. Mengniu, dairy to China's space program, is running a series of ads featuring runner-up Super Voice Girl Kristy Zhang (张含韵). In what may be a poke at the type of talent that often appears on the "Idol"-style show, Ms. Zhang starts out singing horribly off key. One sip of Mengniu Sour Yogurt, though, and she sounds precisely like the studio version of her song. The song she sings is the advertising jingle, "Sour and sweet is what I am," but it started out as "Pretty Young Thing," a tune sung by Lene Nystrom of the pop group Aqua. While Mengniu keeps the original music, it doesn't bother to translate "i wanna bruise your lips with a tender kiss / i wanna crush your heart / i wanna be your scar;" rather, Ms. Zhang's version is the innocent dream of a girl who just wants to grow up: With earphones in my ears I read comic books under the covers. I may still be in an ivory tower, but I really want to grow up. Mom and Dad, don't call me stupid. Although I listen to you, that doesn't mean I don't have any thoughts of my own.  Album cover featuring a frog with a band-aid over its navel. Kristy sings like a star in the commercial, but she hasn't even released an album yet. Her first record, I'm Really Zhang Hanyun, has had distribution difficulties, but it's finally supposed to come out today. Naturally there are already bootlegs; one count puts them at over 20 different CDs, VCDs, and DVDs. And from the album cover, it looks Ms. Zhang's image handlers are really pushing the "pretty young thing" angle; the English name of this 16-year-old is given as "Baby Zhang." Here's a transcript of the commercial linked below: Song chorus: (sung out of tune) The one that likes sour-sweet is the true me / Every day is new and fresh to me Links and Sources
|
Partner Links
Jobs in China
Recent Comments
Henry on
The Eurasian Face
Caroline W on
Big in China
Michael on
Julia Lovell on translating Lu Xun's complete fiction: "His is an angry, searing vision of China"
Brandon K. on
Clueless academic takes on popular fantasy novels
Media Partners
Visit these sites for the latest China news
China Media Timeline
Major media events over the last three decades
Danwei Model Workers
The latest recommended blogs and new media
 From 2008
Books on China
 The Eurasian Face : Blacksmith Books, a publishing house in Hong Kong, is behind The Eurasian Face, a collection of photographs by Kirsteen Zimmern. Below is an excerpt from the series:
Big in China: An adapted excerpt from Big In China: My Unlikely Adventures Raising A Family, Playing The Blues and Becoming A Star in China, just published this month. Author Alan Paul tells the story of arriving in Beijing as a trailing spouse, starting a blues band, raising kids and trying to make sense of China.
Pallavi Aiyar's Chinese Whiskers: Pallavi Aiyar's first novel, Chinese Whiskers, a modern fable set in contemporary Beijing, will be published in January 2011. Aiyar currently lives in Brussels where she writes about Europe for the Business Standard. Below she gives permissions for an excerpt.
Front Page of the Day
A different newspaper every weekday
From the Vault
Classic Danwei posts
+ Korean history doesn't fly on Chinese TV screens (2007.09): SARFT puts the kibbosh on Korean historical dramas. + Religion and government in an uneasy mix (2008.03): Phoenix Weekly (凤凰周刊) article from October, 2007, on government influence on religious practice in Tibet. + David Moser on Mao impersonators (2004.10): I first became aware of this phenomenon in 1992 when I turned on a Beijing TV variety show and was jolted by the sight of "Mao Zedong" and "Zhou Enlai" playing a game of ping pong. They both gave short, rousing speeches, and then were reverently interviewed by the emcee, who thanked them profusely for taking time off from their governmental duties to appear on the show.
Danwei Archives
Danwei Feeds
Via Feedsky
 (on the mainland)or Feedburner  (blocked in China) Main feed: Main posts (FB has top links) Top Links: Links from the top bar Danwei Jobs: Want ads Danwei Digest: Updated daily, 19:30 |
 |
Chinese media, advertising, and urban life. |
|
tweet
facebook
bookmark
HaoHao
digg