This is the 1998 Mandopop hit 「月亮惹的禍」(“The Disaster Brought By The Moon”) by Taiwanese vocalist, actor, and TV personality 張宇 (Phil Chang). A textbook Aerosmith-style power ballad, with soaring vocals and wailing electric guitars, this karaoke staple is very, very 1998. The lyrics were written by Chang’s wife, the renowned songwriter Shiyi Lang (十一郎), which is pretty funny if you consider that much of the song is just the phrase “This is all your fault!” over and over. (It is a phrase my mother used to yell at my father often.) The song has a chorus that is as bizarre as it is evocative:
But I admit, the moon is at fault for this disaster
The color of the night was too beautiful, and you were too gentle
In that brief moment all I wanted was to be with you 'til our hair turned white.
“The Disaster Brought By The Moon” came out shortly after I first arrived in Taiwan, and being a sullen, homesick American teenager who barely knew much Chinese, I didn’t think much of it then. But just like with Aerosmith, it has grown on me since: over the top, hilariously sentimental, and earnest to the point of baiting parody. I’ve been very entertained by comments to videos set to this music, which translate to, “Phil, my man, you have got to stop blaming the moon for your girl problems.”
In 2019, an amateur vocalist in China covering “The Disaster Brought By The Moon” went viral on Douyin (TikTok). There was an explosion of new interest in the song, largely from a generation of young Chinese who had never heard it before. Dozens of remixes and covers appeared across the Sinosphere almost overnight, adapting the song to every conceivable musical genre. A few of them are brilliant. Most of them are silly.
Here’s some of my favorites.
Cascada style.
2010s acid jazz.
American country pop, in the style of Josh Ritter.
Vietnamese alarmclockcore. (I have no idea why there is a girl with too much makeup in a Japanese school gym uniform next to a glitter-farting Hello Kitty and an angel with a Kalashnikov. Vietnamese club culture is weird.)
Sino-disco.
Techno, as a duet in Cantonese and Mandarin, with the horniest delivery possible.
Cambodian bounce.
I…have no fucking idea. This is very communist.
And finally, my favorite so far: City pop, from a girl named Bling.
(edit) Replaced with another video of this cover that has English subtitles! What a rare treat.