Rebecca Black - Friday (Chinese version)

[aristotle1990]

Just saw this on YouTube:

Parody of this video, in case you've been living in China too long and haven't seen it yet...

[來撒母耳]

I must be the first to say that he sings much much better than Rebecca Black! The song is still kind of stupid, but I think I could even learn a few words from this since his pronunciation is very clear, even it the fast parts!

[Gleaves]

I had heard of this Friday song and that it was awful, even heard somemone playing it at work today, but never watched the original video until just now. Wow.

I kinda like the Chinese cover. Although he doesn't sound like a native speaker to me.

[Glenn]

Hahahahaha, that's hilarious!!! He's definitely a better singer than she is. He didn't even need Auto-Tune!

[aristotle1990]

Although he doesn't sound like a native speaker to me.

I'm guessing he's a Chinese American.

[Glenn]

He seems pretty American in the outtakes, that's for sure. Plus he commented on how hard getting the pronunciation down was. But I wonder where his Mandarin roots would be. The south?

[aristotle1990]

Yes, and quite possibly Taiwan, given the traditional characters. The majority of Mandarin-speaking Chinese Americans speak like he does -- that accent (e.g., no retroflex in 出去 and 这个 and no w in 星期五) is very distinctive.

[Brian US]

I want to see a cover of "Whip My Hair" to the hair sprayed Chinese guys with bee's nest hair cuts that work in every salon.

[creamyhorror]

Traditional characters and Taiwanese-style singing diction...Taiwanese-influenced, at the least. His pronunciation isn't terrible despite what he says; he's probably a heritage speaker.

[Glenn]

I wondered if he might be a heritage speaker as well. I'm a bit curious as to why the 錯字 were left in the subtitles, though. I guess he just didn't catch them until after he added them, when he was about to upload it to YouTube and added the bubbles later?

[aristotle1990]

Okay, TASA is the Taiwanese American Students' Association.

[crazy-meiguoren]

So he says his pronunciation's not great? I understood some of what he said, despite my lack of aural skills...

The kid in the original video, however, is something else. Her voice sounds too much like Fran Drescher's to be singing. Besides, she's only 13. If I got into a friend's car when I was 13 and partied like that, my dad would have turned me into dead meat.

[gato]

Here is an interview with Dawen, the singer.

http://jizo-entertainment.com/interviews/DAWEN_Interview.htm

Dawen: My parents are from China and Taiwan.

I grew up in Boston, moved to Hong Kong when I was fourteen, returned to the US for college in Chicago, and now live in Los Angeles. When I lived abroad my schoolmates referred to me as “The American.” When I moved back to the States however, I was treated as “the foreigner”. I constantly got the all too-common question: “Where are you really from?” Ironically, I was regarded more as an American when I lived outside the US than I have ever been regarded living in it. I identify equally as Asian and American. For me, there is no hyphen. I continuously celebrate this fact.

His website:

http://www.dawen.us/press/

[Hugh]

THIS IS BRILLIANT

[Mike N]

太给力了啦！

Very funny. First time I was able to actually stomach the whole song. I probably enjoyed seeing how he translated the lyrics more than the actual cover itself. Thanks for sharing!