Mandopop: Top 20 of the first half of 2015

Let's see which twenty videos from the Mandarin speaking cultural sphere I have liked the most so far this year;

20. Jolin Tsai ft Namie Amuro - I'm Not Yours. Two super-stars from two countries may not mean sure success, as it may as well spell heavy and uninspired productions. This was not it, "I'm Not Yours" works quite well and the video is of course eye-candy.

19. Xu Ziwai - Big Times. KTV pop - happy, easy to dig and that's enough.

18. Miss Ko - Ready, Set, Drunk. Probably due to growing up in New York, Miss Ko got that extra swag which, combined with her mandarin rap, makes her songs really makes me want to dance.

17. Han Lei & Da Bing - Scratch Scratch. One of the tries at creating a viral hit like Little Apple, this is quite OK.

16. Jam Hsiao - Zombie All-Stars. A song that gets its theme from Plants vs Zombies? Yes, indeed, but it is actually much better than one would believe, sounding more like a theme love song for a tv-series.

15. Mao Ze Shao - Do it, lady. This one song is the only one I know of from her, but oh so nice it is. Lovely composition for a song that makes me want to swing.

14. Sophia Wang - No 1. I feel maybe I should think the soundscape is somehow...cheesy...but I like it.

13. Genie Chou - Be Yourself. This focused video has a sobriety and -presence- that I would say is most unusual in eastern asian music videos.

12. Tong Yu - Lolita. A light melody combined with a fun video makes this a given on my list.

11. Zheng Bing Bing - Don't Be Afraid. This young and charming tween seems to have some serious production muscles supporting her as her videos so far has been spot on for a girl star. Don't Be Afraid is a super fun video which winks to movies like Kill Bill without ever being non-child friendly, an achievement in itself.

10. Yang Fan - Grandma Yang. This return song from TV host Yang Fan is quite cool with a refrain that explodes with superb craziness.

9. Da Mouth - What the.... Of the three "great" songs from their 2015 album, this was the one which I think of as "the bitpop one", an uppity song that is not as an instant and easy hit to get into as the other two (se later in this list), but it is still great.

8. Zhang Wenqi - Three bowls of pig feet. There is a very attractive sound to the song, sung in the southern chinese dialect hokkien by miss Zhang.

7. AM444 - Dark Show. Talentful musicians going their own way with slightly odd music is almost always worth more than ten "safe" hits. French-Chinese AM444 proved this last year and Dark Show reminds me of this.

6. Jolin Tsai - I Love, I Embrace. A beautiful song and video with a beautiful Jolin being the centerpiece.

5. Xiao Quan - Social Shake. A catchy song in the true mandopop form for the KTV crowd. ;-)

4. Ren Lijia - Xiao Fang, Oh, Xiao Fang. Charming and easy to "get", this was an instant hit for me.

3. Xiao Zhiming & Chen Wei - Most Beautiful. This song just makes me so darn happy! Happy, happy, happy!

2. Da Mouth - Loser. After their first single "Funky Girl", I thought that was probably it, and then they releases "What the..." and this, "Loser", and I'm in heaven.

1. Da Mouth - Funky Girl. This is the first song from their superb album "Back To The Future", and the one that really got me hooked on them. After this follow a number of great songs, as seen above in the list, but this is still the number one.