Cloud USA

~ Cloud cover by: Terri Robinson :-}, Managing Editor

For those of you who don’t already know, cover contests have now become a regular part of the music industry.  Almost every musical entertainer out there has used a cover contest of some sort to promote their business, even here in the U.S.

For die-hard fans, these contests are a lot of fun, and serve as a chance to get their face in front of their favorite idols and maybe win some nifty prizes.  But others?  Well, they’re a bit different.  Some people who regularly participate in cover contests do it hoping that somehow, somewhere, someone in the industry will take note of their talents and abilities and give ’em a call.

Take Jeff Darcy, a.k.a JD Relic, for example.  JD recently entered into BigBang’s Blue and Bad Boy Cover Contest with an English version that he wrote of their song Blue.

JD’s English cover was so good that he made it to the finals.  Right now he’s listed at #5.  The winners will be announced on April 17, just so you’ll know.

For those of you who don’t know JD Relic, we introduced him to you way back in June 2010, when he wrote a superb English version of Rain’s Hip Song.

At the time, I had been enjoying JD’s English K-Pop covers for awhile, but JD’s ability to translate Hip Song into English without losing any of the impact or intent of the song, was exceptional.  Stephe and I both thought at the time that this guy was going to go far.

Well, you can imagine my delight when I discovered today that JD’s talent for translating Korean lyrics into coherent English and his musical talents have not gone unnoticed.  He is now signed with Marcan Entertainment, where he works with Ryan Jhun, the producer of U-Kiss’s 2nd studio album.  JD was credited for contributing to U-Kiss’s song Neverland (arranger and chorus), a song designed to highlight U-Kiss members’ stellar vocals without autotuning.  He is credited for his work on Baby Don’t Cry and  Top That on that album as well.

Isn’t that just freaking AWESOME?  :-}

All I can say is this.  For those of you out there whose families might think making covers is a ridiculous waste of time, maybe they’d better think again.  YouTube is one of the most powerful promotional tools in the world, and a lot of people are using it to achieve great successes.

You don’t think so?  Just ask Justin Bieber—or his mom.  :-}

Written by Terri@ cloudusa.org

~ by Cloud USA on April 11, 2012.

Posted in American pop, Asian pop, Cloud USA, Korean pop
Tags: American pop, Awesome K-Pop Moment, Cover contests, JD Relic, K-Pop, Korean pop, U-Kiss