Brief Explanation

In this spot, we see a young girl who returns to her grandmother’s home for a family reunion during the CNY holiday. Here, she discovers an old, grainy demo recording of her grandmother singing, a lost memory of life long ago. She uses her Mac to re-record this vintage record, and creates a digital duet which becomes a heartfelt holiday gift, bringing a bittersweet smile like the song title for her grandmother. The song is "Forever Smile," sung by the 1940s acclaimed singer Zhou Xuan, who earned the nickname “Golden Voice.”

Creative Execution

Our theme song “Forever Smile” was sung by the singer Zhou Xuan, who earned her nickname “Golden Voice” and was the most famous and remarkable singer in the 1930s in China. The song “Forever Smile” had a huge influence at that time and it still resonates with audience nowadays across several generations. Our story called for 2 cover versions of the song. We created one version which our grandmother sang for her demo recording in 1947; and the second was a new version that our granddaughter created in Garageband for her grandmother. In order to maintain its authenticity, we recorded the grandma’s version of the song as she would have during the 1940’s, with iconic buzz, grainy sound effects. We then recorded the granddaughter’s version using Apple technology native to her character, like Garageband and ordinary microphones. To ensure authenticity for both eras, we brought on our composer Punk Chan who worked in Garageband to produce and mix the tracks, combining both recordings into a beautiful and authentic duet. It seamlessly connects and strengthens the bonding between the two generations, which is the core value of Chinese New Year.