Playback: Jolin Tsai - Dancing diva

I got introduced to Mando-pop star Jolin Tsi at Uni by a friend of mine who was and still remains obsessed with her. By this point I was knee deep in my love for J-Pop and in my mind Hikaru Utada was saving herself for me until I graduated, so I had no room for another chick in the East Asian music market to occupy any room in my heart. But then "Dancing diva" came along and Jolin had a place in it for a minute. Well...3 minutes and 43 seconds to be exact.

The beat on "Dancing diva" sounded a bit dated, but it an intentional way. Nobody was trying to make a club banger or even a radio hit with this song. More than anything it seemed to be a vehicle for presenting a step change in Jolin's sound and image. The focus of the music video is the dance routine which was one of Jolin's most intensive up until this point - something which would be a focal point of every live performance she would do of this song. This girl was taking balls and ribbons on stage with her to make a point of this routine. The routine didn't do much for me until Jolin opened her legs on the floor and showed me how real the struggle is for her to work the floor and keep the ball from rolling off out of the shot, then I thought it was the best thing ever.


"Dancing diva" is one of my favourite tracks from Jolin. It sounds like a stage theme from Soul Calibur 1, which I think is why I like it. Anything which gives me Soul Calibur 1 feels gets an instant pass from me. But what struck me about this song in comparison to Jolin's songs which came prior was that it didn't feel like it was trying to be anything. This could have been 'that' type of song where the Arabian and Middle eastern influences got completely urbanized, which was 'the in thing' and the sound of the moment around the time this released. But it turned out not to be and was all the better for it.

Also, Jolin looks smokin' with her dark hair down. God Gawd.

Comments

  1. The biggest mess was that 5 second Robin Williams material. LITERALLY. 5 seconds.

    Not saying it should have been longer. Saying it shouldn't have been there at all.

    Who is the VMAs? Who goes there for That?

    Hot mess.

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  2. This is giving me Imagine it were us realness. I'm trying not to have high expectations for this album, but I'm loving everything she's released up until this point.I have my fingers crossed that this album will be everything.

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  3. Jolin is fucking amazing. Her music videos for the Muse era like The Great Artist, Dr. Jolin and Beast put any other chick out there to shame. Too bad her latest releases like Shake Your Body and Now Is The Time have been shit. =/

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  4. Who the hell is Taylor Swift suckin off? Past 4/5 vmas, the camera stay on this basic bitch with her awkward as hell dance moves. Put the damn camera on someone who actually has talent. And when lorde tried to dance? I almost died!


    Katy Perry is a damn leech, bitch tries too damn hard.


    Rita Ora swear she the next rihanna. Damn slow down. We don't know u. They tryna push her into everything except what she supposed to be known for, her music.


    Lol @ Miley's fake ass staged tears. Katy & riff raff lookin at her like "dafuq wrong wit her?!". Tryna do a Marlon Brando, but failed.


    I just felt sad after watching this years vma, at least last year was entertaining.

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  5. Of course she saves the best material for exclusive release… Why pander to the big audience? Let's just pander to pachinko players… *grump*

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  6. This Betch Is Who?

    Shade aside, cause them pits were shady, I liked it.

    The ball segment was embarrassing and basic $h!#, I've done more with balls using NO HANDS, but the song grew on me and the rest of the routine was adequate.

    Betch brought out the ribbons and scared me but she saved herself with them special effects. K?

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  7. Isn't the whole pachinko business in Japan owned by the Yakuza?

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  8. Okay that guitar riff is ridiculously infectious. It hasn't left my head since I hit play.

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  9. I have to admit that this track is taking me to the dark and sultry side of the disco, and I can't see myself wanting to leave. I bought her previous album after seeing Random J sing her praises and I wasn't disappointed with what I heard there, so this only solidifies her place as one of my permanent staple artist that will never fall out of rotation. I look forward to this album dropping so I can dance to this track in my room alone at 3 in the morning like the cool goth kids do.

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  10. Yes, I was waiting for J to discover Jolin Tsai. I love the 'MUSE' era to death. 'The Great Artist', 'Dr. Jolin', 'Fantasy', 'Friday The 13th', 'Beast' and 'Someone' are all amazing tracks. I also like her previous work 'Black Haired Beautiful Girl', 'Honey Trap' and 'Butterflies In My Stomach'. Her new album is coming this October and she recently released 'Now Is The Time' for a Pepsi commercial.

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  11. The dark disco realness on this song is very real.

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  12. I love how it doesn't quite sit right with the rest of the music, which makes it stand out even more.

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  13. I am not here for this Pepsi China mess. Not for a second.

    Here's another Jolin Tsai song I liked back when. If only Kumi Koda had gotten this. Back then she was running rampant with the skank game, so she would have set this off so right » http://youtu.be/dXnQdoclTT8

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  14. This reminded me of Sowelu (water splash scenes) , Shakira (hip shaking and wardrobe), Bollywood (style of music), and Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (ribbon dance routine complete with bad graphics). I find it interesting that the main star of the video had the most skin coverage while the backup dancers bared their full midriff. Usually, that is the opposite case as I expected her to be like Hoda... I mean Koda Kumi and basically have us do a Magic School Bus tour of her nether regions. If she sanded the sides of her nails, I would say that she was giving me Koda Kumi talon claw realness. The song was catchy enough to keep me entertained, but the highlight of the video was that ribbon dance, as I kept having flashes of the transformation sequence from PGSM. She was serving Sailor Venus and Moon realness with those moves and poses. I will have to look further into Jolin only for all the references that she brings up in my head as I watch her.

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  15. I think the Pepsi song sounds okay though.
    Yes, this sounds really good and I can definitely see Kuu doing this.

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  16. She completely got me with 'SO FEVER' and 'Kimi Omoi' and yes she made me forget about 'Bon Voyage' with these videos. Not a fan of 'NEVER GIVE IT UP' it reminds me of 'LALALALALA' which I didn't like either. I'm not here for the happy rock-ish Kuu. Anyway I just don't understand how she released this so called mini album on the 20th of August (according to generasia/wiki) and I haven't seen any promo or whatever on no website or anything. But she better throw these songs on her next album.

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  17. Agreed, I love it though. It's the catchiest part of the song.

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  18. Pure Comedy. The struggle was real for Jolin with this choreo. That ball was not staying in the shot for shit, not even the editing could hide it.

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  19. This was absolutely one of the worst VMAs in history. I can't with all the boring-ass performances that were on all night, and what's worse, MTV trying to get me to like Rita Ora. I will never like Rita Ora. I am almost 99% sure of that. But trying to force her and Iggy Azalea on me at once is like trying to get me to give up soda and chocolate at the same time. I won't do it and I'll probably slap you if you non-jokingly suggest it.

    All of the pop stars involved here (and I use this term lightly) are hot messes. I won't even bother with Katy Perry because her white-bread self isn't worth my time, but Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift are both so damn messy in two completely opposite and horrible ways I can't wait for this "era" to be over. Beyonce probably laughed herself all the way to the goddamn limo. If Nicki twerking it to "Anaconda" is the most interesting thing that happened all night, no wonder she brought the absolute LEAST to the show. She didn't even have to try if all we got is the left side of Arianna Grande's face and all these non-factors...

    And can someone tell me who the hell Riff Raff even is?! Why does he have Cheeto hair?!

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  20. Meh. These sound like your run of the mill Kuu songs. Nothing memorable. I need Kuu to step it up music production wise for her 15th anniversary.

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  21. Khyarypamyupamyusucks5 July 2015 at 17:44

    Kumi Koda is old news, how old is now? Grandma!

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