shenshen saturday #8! (huat ah)

[presumenothing]

So, to put the decision after the fact, I've decided that biweekly (that's once every two weeks, thanks for nothing, English) is a good frequency for these posts, with some leeway to do mini-posts on the off weeks if anything too-interesting crops up before then.

…which should also obviously be titled Satur-Sun-day instead, but hey, no one has ever accused me of having any good sense of time!

( Gifset on Tumblr )

new songs

We're up to lucky thirteen!

• 我的答案, 1 Mar: And what a song it is. Extremely loopable, despite the also extremely obvious nationalistic content (look, if you're gonna have patriotic songs anyway, they might as well be good ones). Definitely a mouthful of lyrics though, let's hope he never has to do this live XD
  Watch on YouTube
• 篇章, 7 Mar: Group theme song for 天赐的声音 S3! I'm admittedly unsure about that outfit… but definitely a much nicer listen than the average theme song, and he shines in his parts as always ♡
  Watch on YouTube

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gifs

• Posted above the cut: the annual what-even-is-drawing existential crisis, tiger year edition!
  
• That extremely hilarious Tsinghua photoshoot moment.
• From anambermusicbox: ALL OUR SHENSHEN FEELINGS, the amazing gifset (🥺)

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recs (note: some videos may contain flashing effects)

Fortunately, I have an easy place to start this week XD

• 克卜勒 aka Kepler with COM'Z from yesterday's 天赐的声音 episode! Which I already lost my marbles about a bit on this post… as if that's ever stopped me from adding more?? All the other mentors' (especially GAI's) reaction shots, I am living. It doesn't quite rank in my all-time favourite duets, because competition there is fierce, but to paraphrase a relevant comment – turns out my two favourite aspects (i.e. THAT HIGH NOTE and the inclusion of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star at the end) were in fact added by Zhou Shen, and why are we even surprised at this point.
  Watch on YouTube
• This absolutely beautiful rendition of 遇见 from last year's Bilibili summer graduation concert, because bless whoever decided to put him in that outfit and compound my nostalgia trip with an attack of adorable.
  Watch on YouTube
• And while not one of my actual faves per se, but (a) on the theme of Stefanie-Sun-song-recs, (b) don't we all need some fun in these times?, and (c) because his ability to give even the most absurd of songs musical merit continues to be unparalleled: here is local Zhou Shen having too much fun covering 咕叽咕叽 on last year's birthday livestream…
  Watch on YouTube

Honorable mention: this 眼泪成诗 duet!

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watchlist (note: some content may be unsubbed)

天赐-related is getting its own list for today, because you damn well bet I'm gonna make the most of him appearing on another music-focused show :D

• Main episode thoughts here! Including multiple accidental(?) detours into Shenshen-rambling and a timestamped list of memorable moments. Also, I now have like, two dozen screenshots of him being adorable and/or hilarious on my desktop. Send help.
• Studio vlog with SO MANY EXTRAS on his performance preparation, I am eyes-emoji-ing this so hard. It's physically impossible to pick a favourite moment so here's a list: (1) dropping an octave when asked while making the most suffering expression known to man, (2) throwing in THAT HIGH NOTE for lulz before breaking off to gremlin cackle and (2.5) shocked pikachu moment 1 second later when it gets taken for real, (3) omg the Twinkle Twinkle Little Star addition was his idea, (4) doing THAT HIGH NOTE again while just sitting down, getting up to question it you really only have yourself to blame here!!, then promptly picking the melody back up, nbd. Also all the onscreen captions, 笑死我了 thank you studio-sama.
• S3 trailer cut (Eng subbed version which I am having both extremes of emotions about, between the pink jacket and those tears (I am Not Prepared for whatever this is gonna be).
• Sudden Happy Feet moment hahahahahahahaha
• Weibo posts: director's account (就说可爱了嘛), plus thoughts on Kepler.

Other-things watchlist:

• February round-up! Busy busy bee.
• 光环之下 interview!! (With some Eng subs here.) Beautifully-shot, and that oversized grey jacket, aww. And possibly the first time I've seen him talk about the moments after he recovered from the loss of his voice? It's like leaving a cat in the room, except this cat also sings back at the toys and regularly attacks my feelings (see: the entire last three minutes). Also, extras!
• Reading an excerpt of 星鱼 (the book), aka I'd take an entire audiobook of this??
• Another one for the most-musical-Happy-Birthday-ever collection 🍰
• Weibo post: happy International Women's Day! Plus a throwback to last year's song present.
• That moment when you make up all top 3 songs for the week…

Upcoming:

• More episodes of 天赐 every Friday!!
• Also a return to 奔跑吧, on which he made a guest appearance last season.

ALSO: HAPPY 2-YEAR ANNIVERSARY TO THE ICONIC PERFORMANCE THAT IS Baby До свидания!! Opera, pop, Chinese, Russian… what can't he do.