Ken Lee (song)

Ken Lee (song)

Ken Lee ("Can't live") is a garbled interpretation of the song "Without You", performed by Valentina Hasan (Bulgarian: Валентина Хасан), a contestant auditioning for the Bulgarian show "Music Idol" in February 2008.

Just prior to her audition for Music Idol (the Bulgarian version of the Idol Series) Hasan informed the judges she intended to perform "the Mariah Carey song 'Ken Lee,'". When she was corrected that the song was called "Without You," Hasan said 'No. It could be, I am not sure'. In the fan montages circulating in the internet, her performance was intercut with footage of an actual performance by Mariah Carey for ironic comparison. When she was asked what language was the song, she replied firmly that it was 'English' which she doesn't speak well.

Although she did not continue to the next round of the competition, a video of her performance was soon posted on the web where it became popular in Bulgaria and abroad. Hasan's extremely broken English, coupled with her yet undeveloped singing abilities, combined to great comic effect, and garnered the video over four million viewings in its first month on the video sharing website YouTube.

The popularity of the video encouraged "Music Idol" producers to invite Hasan back to sing the song live a few weeks later. By this time, Hasan had had more training with the English lyrics, made fewer errors, and poked fun at her own interpretation by singing the final verse in her original style. This video was also posted to YouTube and received over 13 million views ( all clips totally ) by the first half of May 2008.

Hasan's interpretation inspired many people to create their own parodies and remixes of "Ken Lee," including house, disco, and karaoke-style performances.

In an interview, Hasan explained to the Bulgarian media that she had no knowledge of English. She had just learned the song by heart and by ear, by listening to it repeatedly on a cassette recorder, and "sang it the way she felt it." [http://www.big.bg/modules/news02/article.php?storyid=25388 in Bulgarian]

There is also another garbled song in Idol series audition, "Enum", a garbled interpretation of Linkin Park's song "Numb" by Dayadiarmon Soponyono. This performance was on Indonesian version of the series, Indonesian Idol. [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5NuBHz2dWs YouTube - Dayadiarmon Soponyono - Jogja Audition ] ]

Lyrics

References

External links

* [http://www.vbox7.com/play:a1b50d9a Vbox7] — Video showing Mariah Carey watching Ken Lee song in Music Idol.
* [http://youtube.com/watch?v=FQt-h753jHI Ken Lee] — Video showing Valentina Hasan performing Ken Lee in Music Idol.
* [http://youtube.com/watch?v=cT18LZItBLA Ken Lee (improved)] Video showing Valentina Hasan performing Ken Lee with an improvement in Music Idol.
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkrC9P1IvIE Ken Lee (full audition)] Video showing Valentina Hasan's full audition.
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNMtCOHvCHo Ken Lee (3D Comedy Animation)] — 3D animation of Ken Lee sung by character Leo DaPinci.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Ken Lee — may refer to:* Ken Lee (song), the Bulgarian Music Idol song * Ken Lee (businessman), co founder of Bing Lee stores in Australia …   Wikipedia

  • Ken Boothe — Nombre real Kenneth George Boothe Origen Kingston, Jamaica Género(s) Ska Rocksteady Reggae Lovers rock …   Wikipedia Español

  • Ken Lim — (born,1964) is a respected album producer, composer, publisher, artist manager and concert promoter from Singapore. Most recently, he came under the spotlight in 2004 as a chief judge in Singapore Idol [… …   Wikipedia

  • Ken Bloom — is a New York based theatre historian, writer, director, and record producer.He began his theatre career in the mid 70s at the New Playwrights Theatre of Washington. With some friends, Bloom co founded the ASTA theatre. That company became the… …   Wikipedia

  • Ken Boothe — (* 22. März 1948[1] in Kingston, Jamaika) ist ein jamaikanischer Ska und Reggae Sänger und Songwriter. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Biografie 2 Diskographie …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Ken Curtis — est un acteur et producteur américain né le 2 juillet 1916 à Lamar, Colorado (États Unis), décédé le 29 avril 1991 à Fresno (Californie). Sommaire 1 Biographie 2 Filmographie 2.1 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Ken Johnson (wrestling) — Ken Johnson Ring name(s) Slick[1] Reverend Slick[1] Silky Slim Billed height 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)[ …   Wikipedia

  • Lee Montague — (* 16. Oktober 1927 in London) ist ein britischer Schauspieler. Leben Montague gab 1950 sein Debüt als Theaterschauspieler am Old Vic Theatre in London in William Shakespeares später Komödie Was ihr wollt. In der Spielzeit 1951/1952 trat er dort… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Ken Boothe — Infobox musical artist | | Name = Ken Boothe | Img capt = Img size = Landscape = Background = solo singer Birth name = Ken Boothe Alias = Born = birth date and age|1948|03|22 Origin = Kingston, Jamaica Instrument = Genre = Rocksteady Reggae… …   Wikipedia

  • Ken Livingstone — at t …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”