Jason Chen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Megan Nicole
Hi there JUKEBOXERS!! It's Jewel with another cover to review. First of all, I am so sad that Christina Grimmie didn't win The Voice, but that's okay because Adam Levine wants to sign her to his label, so all is well with the world. This week I'm introducing Jason Chen!! And I know you guys remember Megan Nicole. If you look through their channels, you'll notice that they like to collab with each other a lot.
Since I've already introduced Megan, you can read that post here.
Music and Southern California are just a couple things the JUKEBOX girls have in common with Jason Chen. He speaks Taiwanese and actually has a Chinese mix tape. Musically, he started with the violin, teaching himself to play by ear. It was not until he was 17 years old that he started to sing - just to ask a girl to prom. After high school, he went to UCLA, where he studied Business and graduated in 2010 with a degree in Business Economics. It was in college where his dorm mates persuaded him to post covers on YouTube under the name "miniachilles". Now he has his own studio and merchandise for his brand "Music Never Sleeps". His most popular song, with over 11 million views, and possibly my favorite of his originals is "Best Friend". I'll put that down below.
This song. What can I say about this song?? Notice I said "song" not "cover". That's simply because I hadn't heard of this song until I saw their cover (yeah i know, I don't really keep up with this since I'm stuck in the jazz and swing era at the moment). Well, it's... interesting to say the least. I guess the lalala's kind of got to me. But I'm here to review the cover, not the song itself. While I'm completely indifferent to this song (I don't love it, but I really can't find reason to hate it), I honestly have a little something to say about these two artists. I admit they can sing, like hit the right notes and sometimes even sound amazing, but like so many comments on their covers, I can't help but sense a lot of auto-tune. I never noticed it before, but ever since we've started this blog, I've been messing around with garageband and I have since learned what auto-tune actually sounds like. And to be honest, I don't like the sound of auto-tune on my voice (or anyone else's for that matter), which is why I spend hours recording covers, like Lia and Kimberly. I'm sure Megan and Jason are worthy of the fame they've received, but I can't help but wonder what their voices would sound like if they just got a little more training. Just imagine how much stronger their voices would be and how much power and emotion they could convey (even though this particular song really doesn't need power or emotion). EVERYONE needs training, even those born with the talent simply for the reason that talent can be made into something more.
Before this post turns into a lecture about proper singing, I should share my thoughts about this cover. Megan's voice suits the "lalala" part. Since they've been doing covers together for quite some time now, they've gotten the hang of complimenting each others' voices. Like so many covers, this one is missing something that makes it sound like the original, but I guess it doesn't have to sound exactly like the original, so I'll just forget it. Because of the nature of this song, their voices are actually well-suited for it. Afterall, choosing a song to cover is just as important as being able to sing the song.
Anyway, here's their cover:
And here's Jason Chen's original song, "Best Friend":
Rating: 3 RECORDS
Information (Jason Chen): Jason Chen Website
Photo (Jason Chen): Jason Chen Facebook
Photo (Megan Nicole): Megan Nicole Facebook
No comments:
Post a Comment