Have you listened to Serrini? Now you have! ...Omar Kan

TL;DR

Go buy their CD/Songs/Tickets

Listen to indie music

Create your own work

(They === She)

First, I beg for answers from you: How could Hongkongers cherish those fantastic local artists?

There are not few good musicians/artists in Hong Kong. I am luckily to pick Serrini to love these time. (I know there are like and dislikes around the world.)

Serrini is an independent singer/songwriter in category of Cantopop/HK-Pop, according to Apple iTunes [1]. In October 2017, they released their 4th album, “Don’t Text Him”. There are 17 songs in 5 chapters.

Serrini 4th Album, Don't Text Him “Don’t Text Him” (Serrini Facebook Page, 2017)

Their vocals

You would probably love them because of their voice, as Vincci Cheuk mentioned earlier [2]. Their voices are versatile. Most of the time, they are tender, soft, emotional; sometimes kind of tough, dominating, impulsive; or just like a teenage girl.

They are used to apply a turn, a twist between the music notes. Sometimes,they project their voices from throat, desiring you to listen to the story. And then they would sometimes suppress their voice a bit and swallow half of the last word.

In their earlier recordings, the production were rather plain and raw. Main components of the songs were vocal and guitar. Only part of them had some more sound effects mixed. They had kept, or not removed, the background noises and breath sounds of vocal part as if it was intended to. Plus, you could even find slightly sobbing in some of the recordings. Retaining this plainness is to share, to record their true feelings, which could touch one’s heart deeply.

But in their 4th album, some changes had been made. They worked with multiple fantastic producers and musicians. They recorded songs in studios. It came out a more sophisticated, delicate-fabrics grade CD.

Their “public image”

The only way to know a public figure is to listen to what they have said and see what they have done.

Serrini performed in K11 Serrini’s Performance in K11 (oktak, 2017-11-25)

At first glance, Serrini are usually wearing in make-up, wearing high heel, dressing in dresses. When you listen to their live performances, interviews, facebook live videos, you can feel that they are some sort of freedom advocates. They think without limits, They love to exchange ideas. The take care of those broken hearts .They are always encouraging. They are open-minded. They respect to everyone and are proud of themselves too [3]. All you can find the nice only if one is not a bad-ass.

Their minds could be stronger than we could imagine, meanwhile sometimes are softer than water. They constantly claim they are not good enough, because they think they are still long to be good enough. They say they will continue to make progress and evolve with time. Be perfect, be themselves. They want to please no one, but to please everyone. Confused? We may need to explore their works further.

Hence, they have come up with different personas to make some rooms to fit different themselves. Singer/songwriter Serrini, fabulous fairy Godmama, virtuous kindergarten Missy, emotional exhibitionist, “bridgy” Kongirl Serena, strong and independent Serruria, Literatura Ruria, baby Treerini, perhaps wonder women Serrurururururururia etc… As a result, one can be able to select one or all to love. Aren’t they considerate?

Their CD releases / works / live shows

Go Google it la, please.

They are excellent in multiple languages. But they like to have the songs written in Cantonese. Speaking in Cantonese is popular in the city they belong to, at the present time.

If one is curious about why they started to compose songs. Here is one of the answers: Years ago, they listened to Crowd Lu’s live performance. They found that such a piece of story could be written in songs and could be shared with people. They thought they could follow the suit to produce their own creations.

People usually describe their songs’ styles are influenced by My Little Airport or The Pancakes, two of the local independent musicians. To respond to these opinions, they had a post, and also restated their believes [4].

They have said they love to write structured texts. If you read the lyrics carefully, you will find that the lyrics are exquisitely composed. Like poetries, they are arranged in patterns, having rhythms.

The content of their lyrics are funny, unexpected, mysterious, and heart-touching. Each phrase is carefully selected. The mix and match beyond some of our imagination. They put old-school, old-fashion words and trendy slangs together. Those combinations are surprisingly fit.

With these features, they wrote about stories from themselves, “their friend”, and their friends, also the issues happened in the society.

Besides those topics related to love issues between boys, girls, there is a series of songs about how to deal with bad-ass. It is ranging from direct rejection to learning how to work with it, or keeping out of it. They let the audiences grow with them. Another common topic is discussing one’s inner heart. People usually feel uncertainty, ambivalent, or anxious. Their songs could encouragingly say “it’s ok. Never mind. Be fabulous. Do what you want.” Some of the texts would go even further, they point out that one should not be easily compromised. The message becomes “You is fabulous. You is da boss. Change the world.” One may not believe it at first, but when you listen to the songs for ten times, 100 times, one will know it. Though the world seems to be doom, you still could find hope, a slit of the light there.

“Kowloon Blondie Ling” 《油尖旺金毛玲》

To get started, this song is a good choice. It could be their first published song with curated arrangement and recorded in studio.

However, instead of the official MV, which is elegantly filmed combining professionally mixed soundtrack, I would recommend the following live version. There is one more paragraph longer than the CD version.

(Btw, it was known that Serrini rarely not wearing in dress in public occasion. It’s limited edition!) ‪#‎youjianwangjinmaoling‬

Their interesting songs

Go Youtube yourself la, please. They are funny and sad. Enjoy.

“Ditched a Mou-lei” 《你條茂利放飛機》

The vocal part was heavily post-processed so that you may focus on the text. I love one line that, the character called Mou-lei, tried to explain why he/she did not show up, lying that the neighbor dog’s gold-pasted teeth decayed to rust. It’s very interesting. One who has brief chemistry knowledge would know that gold is rather stable, not easily reacts with other elements, hence not easily corrodes.

《賓郎情歌》、《放棄治療》、《不知道甚麼時候》are also “pop” and good.

Their live performances

I enjoy their live performances (video clips) slightly more than their CD recordings. Most of the time, live shows are usually performed in acoustics version. Music parts are mainly guitar, cajón, and shaker. Every time is different. The pace could be adjusted to their mood and also to fit the requirements from the organizers. And the highlight is their interactions with the audiences, which are beautiful and usually amazing. Generally, one could listen to them many times.

Their platforms

They are active in numerous social media platforms: Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, Telegram, Weibo, Wechat group, online music streaming platforms, website… (Please be kind to make pull requests if you could find some more :) Beside they are one of the column authors in “Ming Pao Weekly”.

I bet they have employed a team of experts to handle content management. They have made sure that there are difference contents on those platforms. If one tries to have a more complete picture on their recent activities, one should spend half day per day. And you ought to do it every day.

Their interviews

Since they released “Don’t Text Him” few months ago, they were invited to be on air in different radio programmes for interviews, promoting the CD. As of the time being, they have been RTHK Radio 2, Commercial Radio and Metro Radio, appeared in at least 5 programmes.

They shared the ideas, meanings and some background of each song in the CD. DJs play the CD, and chatting with them, asking questions, letting the public have more impression towards both the CD and the singer. Serrini are willing to share their thought and views, including what they are going to do, their goals, funny stories about them and from their friends. A piece of article commentary pointed out that Serrini are now “brave” and prepared to push themselves the general public. It is to be believed this is the key step towards the destination: To create certain kind of “social disruption” in particular domain.

Their To-dos

Becoming a famous pop star may not be their first priority for the time being. Instead, they hope more people to feel the beauty of their works and more people start to create their own. And their target audiences include, but are not limited to the group of people who know Chinese characters.

To achieve that, they are going to build a firm base by means of creating some discourses, or writing their own theories.

Besides, like other independent musicians, they are always looking for more affordable live houses, performing venues. So that the city could contain more types of arts and music. Do you have any recommendations? (Please kindly PM to those musicians if you could provide some venue details.)

How to be a fan of Serrini?

It is a complicated process. If you have the intention to be a fan, you need to request an application form. Return the filled form attached with your recent portrait photo taken within three months and send to their facebook page, stating which category of membership you would like to apply for: Gold, Platinum, Niobium or Diamond. And then wait. For those lucky ones, they will get reply within 2 - 3 weeks. There are rumours that showing the receipt of buying >10 CDs, or bank transfer to 290-419936-882 (Hang Seng Bank) receipt would boost the application process.

If you do not get any reply, it is considered the application is not successful. You may need to write a 3000 words essay on self-reflection. “Am I honest enough to be a good mankind?”, “How much I know about Serrini?” could be the topics to write on.

Since Serrini love to have conversations with kind people, especially small cute children, early application is highly recommended.

Mainland Fans

If you are from the mainland China, and you are sure that you is enthusiastic, energetic and emotional, there would be a quick portal for the coming few months. Please visit this link and follow the instructions.

Answer to the question:

How could Hongkongers cherish those fantastic local artists?

Their answer: now go to buy their songs/CD or transfer money to their bank accounts.

…And yours?

(ttbert1, 2017)

((Sorry for my broken English, lacking of vocabulary in memory. All the information is based on the facts as of the time of being written. The things that we see are subject to change.))

P.S.

Any boys would like to cover their “CULTSAIDJAI” in school singing contests? Serrini said they could provide MMO (Music Minus One) if you promise to send them back the performance video clips.