so todays post is about duets, two of them in fact.
伊藤由奈 &セリーヌ・ディオン * あなたがいる限り
Yuna Ito & Celine Dion
A World to Believe In
Japanese and English
2008
imeem
mv yunas hair looks crazy good in this
live for those who are interested
this track was originally off of celine's nov 07 album Taking Chances, and adapted in early 08 to be a duet. i feel that that the two languages sound good together, but that could be because japanese lyrics often have english, or that i like the power of these two singers.
celine and yuna are an interesting pair. first off, yunas english is flawless, probably better than her japanese, (she was born in la before moving to hawaii) and sounds very good when sung. it must have been fun for celine to be asked to sing sections in japanese seeing as she has virtually no background in the language. a world to believe in also doenst have the same pitfall many pop duets share, when one of the singers is just toooooo much better than their partner. that being said, i feel that both of them were pretty much amazing in this one.
as for the arrangement, i enjoy how both of them sing almost equal portions throughout the song, in both languages to boot. yuna takes a more contralto-ish(lower) part while celine seems to stick to her mezzo-soprano(mid ranged) style. you can definitely hear verses that they each sing independently, but what i find particularly interesting is when the pair sing in unison while trading off who takes the lead voice of a verse. yuna obviously doenst have trouble keeping up in english, and while celine cant exactly reciprocate, she still lays down the vocal harmony to preserve the balance. id like to believe that shes singing in japanese as well, but i dont want to make that assumption since i cant hear everything enunciated.
im definitely biased in celines favor because of a certain french song, but i really like this song for the amount of body in both of their voices. while i liked yunas parts a lot more, this was probably intentional. the song was adapted into japanese surprisingly well and they both did a fantastic job. its also nice to hear a dual female voiced duet, being a bit more refreshing than the norm - especially when involving two different, yet similar, extremely talented ladies.
the second song is technically not even released yet, only the mv has been, but you know how it is.
김동완 ft. 윤하 * 약속
Me ft. Younha
Promise
Korean
9 Nov 2008
youtube
slower, and a little bit more serious sounding than the first, promise brings variety. i think koreans really like this style of song, with the use of guitar, a few classical instruments and a moderate progressive bass. it would be no surprise if i heard this in some drama, or fan made video drama haha. as always, my girl younha holds it down for the fans. she is just one of those artists whos consistently fun for me to listen to.