Xue Zhiqian did a great job trying to get votes for his company juniors, Cotton Candy and looked hot while doing it.
Xue Zhiqian opened up the show with a performance of Let Go, one of only two tracks from his latest album that he didn’t write. He also later on did a great rendition of a song he did write, his first hit, Ren Zhen De Xue. But the show was not about Xue Zhiqian, but two other artists. As suspected, Cotton Candy was great, but surprisingly, HIT-5 wasn’t bad either. A lot better than I thought their performance would be.
Singaporean singer Yong Bang was the older musician supporting HIT-5. and Gao Xiaosong was the CMO judge. His credits include producing and sometimes writing for the likes of legends like Liu Huan, Lao Lang, and Na Ying.
Visit Official HIT-5 for the rest. Thank you for putting up perhaps the first full episode from this show. I really like how it gives new artists a platform for exposure and I hope Hunan keeps improving on it.
Tags: Cotton Candy, Hit-5, Jacky Xue Zhiqian, jie jie gao sheng, mix-box, Su Xing, Yong Bang
May 31, 2009 at 12:54 pm
YESSSSSSSS!! cotton candy seemed so sincere and pure it’s hard to not like them. their album is cute and at the same time, contains depth.
May 31, 2009 at 3:31 pm
Yes, the purity was what swayed the CMO right? Xiao Qiu was very cute, and then when she closed her eyes and sang…that was beautiful. She put a lot of emotion into her song. I guess it helps when you write your own lyrics.
I feel bad for HIT-5 though. They don’t deserve to be compared to Butterfly group because some of them can sing. Guo Ziyu was also pretty eloquent after the CMO went on his generalization spree of mainland/TW/HK music. I mean wtf was that? Did anyone ask him for his opinion on HK music?
May 31, 2009 at 4:59 pm
I thought Yong Bang did a better job than Xue Zhiqian in terms of speech. He sounded a lot more sincere, thought a bit pleaing.
That was such a strange generalization. HK’s surrounded by water, too. I really liked Guo Ziyu’s refutation, though. It was well said.
May 31, 2009 at 5:15 pm
I agree with the CMO comment. No one asked but he used HK music as an example. I felt sorry for HIT5 cos they got criticized pretty bad, but they have to accept the facts…the criticisms can only make them stronger.
i loved the performance when cotton candy sang 认真的雪 with that guy? btw who is that guy what is his name? love that song!
May 31, 2009 at 5:29 pm
@shoups
You agreed with his comments that HK music stinks of money, and that Taiwanese music is better because it’s surrounded by water, thus making the people more pure?
That’s not an example, that’s a grossly over-generalized opinion.
Constructive criticism can make them stronger. But right now, I feel like HIT-5 needs encouragement more than criticism. THere is a limit to how much criticism you can take before you give up. Plus, I don’t feel like the CMO gave any suggestions to be better. Instead, he basically said that you’re from mainland, you’re not surrounded by water, and thus too bad, you’ll never sing with the pureness that they do. Go move to a deserted island and come back in ten years.
Jacky Xue Zhiqian. He composes really nice ballads. If you liked 认真的雪, try these songs by him:
Legends/Myth:
Deeply loved you:
May 31, 2009 at 5:54 pm
@shoups
I said his name three times in this post! I even said he sung Ren Zhen De Xue, one of his own compositions, which was his first hit.
You’ve never heard of Xue Zhiqian, or Xu Wei, but since you’ve heard of Top Combine who is less known than either of them in China, you will generalize that China “doesn’t like rock or indie” but is accepting of idols?
Please read the posts and stop generalizing!
May 31, 2009 at 5:58 pm
The CMO was giving his opinion on the composition of the songs and styles rather than the boys themselves. and generalisation or not, it is indeed a statement of opinion held by many people and many examples support it.
regarding the criticisms, everyone gets them and need them to be able to develop. idol groups cannot be wrapped in cotton wool. HIT-5 has more than enough encouragement from their fans who undoubtedly like them for a variety of superficial reasons (evident good looks and some dance talent etc.) but they’re not professional models or dancers – they are a group of dancing ‘singers’. to fulfill that, experience, practise and the occational criticism is essential.
May 31, 2009 at 7:02 pm
I agree with eleveneleven’s first paragraph. I didn’t feel like the CMO gave HIT-5 any personal attacks that they couldn’t take.
But I also didn’t feel like his criticisms really helped the boys any.
I have never heard such a generalisation before, and it is a terrible one to make, especially since it is an attack on the culture and people, not just the music. Just because many people hold it does not mean it’s true. Many people also think all Chinese people are ugly and kpop copycats. There are certainly examples to support that, but there are thousands more to refute it. I do not agree with it, especially considering the amount of diversity that musicians everywhere has. I don’t believe that you’re more likely to have a pure heart because you’re surrounded the ocean, and I definitely don’t believe that everyone from Hong Kong or mainland has a complicated, unpure soul.
May 31, 2009 at 7:07 pm
I really like Cotton Candy. they’re musical style is very refreshing and fresh imo.
June 1, 2009 at 12:15 am
Despite my being rather tired of hearing about fluffy candystuffs, Cotton Candy really does seem very genuine and pure – the name suits them, and I like them.
I don’t even like HIT-5, and I still think the boys could use more positive words. Being one of their few major appearances to promote their EP, they deserved a bit of slack – maybe not a win, but at least not that random rant. Even if it wasn’t aimed directly at them, the inference is an awful one to make. If their performance was genuinely awful, then being honest would be more understandable; this, however, was uncalled for.
Not to mention that’s absolute bunk. It smacks of negative regionalism – on a variety show, the host randomly goes into a rant about one area being more “pure” than another? That kind of remark would get the guy flamed across the Internet in the United States… There’s an arena for that sort of thing – it’s called “social commentary”, and there are shows dedicated to it. It doesn’t belong on this kind of programming, and I feel sorry for HIT-5 for having the misfortune of facing it.
Not like it even makes sense. I’ve never heard that before, either, and it’s ridiculous – I guess the purest people in the United States must all live in Hawaii or Long Island or something, and that island nations are inherently “purer” than continental ones? Should we measure purity by length of coastlines relative to land area? Even metaphorically, it’s not as if Taiwan is any more globally isolated than China… It’s not like Taiwan hasn’t been exposed to the same kind of vices China has.
I mean, I feel that Cotton Candy is more “pure” than HIT-5, too, but it’s ridiculous to reason that it’s because they’re Taiwanese. Perhaps they did have a good environment, but that’s more of a local thing, and doesn’t warrant generalizing that all of China is impure, so mainland music is too. Again, not a line I’ve ever heard, unless referring to Communist propagandist music from the bygone days – and HIT-5 is hardly that.
HIT-5′s management could stand to make better decisions about how they promote. =\
June 1, 2009 at 12:28 am
im depressed rite now…=(
*………………………………………………………………*
i really want to hate cotton candy but I can’t
BTW i haven’t even watched the show yet, planning to do so tomorrow
June 1, 2009 at 12:38 am
I hated the CMO’s generalizations. I have no idea what he’s been listening to but I certainly would never associate Taiwanese entertainment with purity. He’s basing his critique on personal preferences and should certainly in the future be more objective. Also, the critique he gave to Hit-5 about their songs sounding “old” is completely irrelevant to their performance. That’s an issue with the composition. Why didn’t he give recommendations for vocal improvement instead?
June 1, 2009 at 1:45 am
Cotton Candy imo has better songs, that do sound more “pure”, natural. But even Xiao Qiu looked like she was thinking “what is he going on about” when the CMO stretched these adjectives to categorize an entire area.
What I really disliked was that the CMO categorizes areas into only doing a certain type of music in his mind, which stamps out diversity and growth of music.
@Marie – I was really mad when he called the song old. The people that composed the song are new to the business in China, and I am afraid that was really damaging to their career.
@Nepheliad – An publicity is good publicity. And I think I gained more respect for Guo Ziyu after how he answered the CMO so, overall, my opinion of HIT-5 only got better. And HIT-5 has jumped from page 2 of the baidu rankings to page 1.
Still, that jump may not be able to guarantee that they will sell enough to be stay afloat. Unlike Cotton Candy, they need a lot more monetary support since they have other staff like a stylist, choreographer, and composer that depends on them.
June 1, 2009 at 2:03 am
Can you link the baidu rankings? Interested in seeing the other artists on it.
June 1, 2009 at 2:24 am
http://tieba.baidu.com/f?ct=536870912&sn=%C3%F7%D0%C7%C8%CB%CE%EF&bs=%C4%DA%B5%D8%C3%F7%D0%C7&rn=200&pn=0&cm=1101&tn=simpleCategory
I wouldn’t base my judgement of popularity on it, though. Baidu ranking can be easily manipulated. For example, every post that is made anonymously subtracts 10 times the amount given for every post made with names. And there are a few crazy fans that uses machines to artificially add points…ie. I have not idea how Kiki Hu Ling’s fanclub is still up there, considering that Top Combine’s tieba is at least 10x more active.
June 1, 2009 at 2:28 am
It’s not really indicative of who is the most well known, but I think it’s an ok guage of how many fervent fans a celeb has…it’s easy to see the anomalies like Hu Ling.
It’s separated by the usual categories: mainland, HK/TW, Kr, Jp, and western entertainment, so it may not be easy to gauge the popularity of a celeb from one category in comparison to another.
But Han Geng is in both mainland and Kr categories however, so it makes it a bit easier to compare mainland and Kr celebs. He’s the the eigth most popular on mainland rankings, and second only to TVXQ on Kr rankings. That may just be because TVXQ had two/three years head start on him though.
June 1, 2009 at 2:42 am
XueZhiqian and Cotton Candy r not under the same company.
Xue belongs to ShangTeng上腾 and Cotton Candy is under a tw company called 亚神 music.
June 1, 2009 at 3:44 am
@ Cfensi – I’d usually agree about most publicity being good publicity, and have in the past, but this is one kind of publicity I’m less certain about. Sure, Guo Ziyu made a good rebuttal, but it’s not going to erase negative commentary, even if it’s not directed at them. A bit of controversy never hurt record sales… but a negative review of the music in one of their major televised events? If they were already very well established with no doubts as to the very points the CMO brought up – “purity” – it would just be something brushed off, or even trigger a sizable positive fan reaction, but for an up-and-coming band, I wonder if it’s isn’t at best a break-even deal. It’ll get them press in the short term, so I guess it was worth it?
With regards to the Baidu Tieba, is it a little safer to compare the number of fans instead of the activity of the boards? For instance, Hu Ling’s board may be way up there, but he’s only got 27,979 fans. Comparatively, Jing Boran has 69,781, Han Geng has 82,517, and Li Yuchun has 53,293. Factor in a few things like the fervency of fangirls, and it looks to me like a slightly better indicator of popularity… It is pretty wonky, though.
June 1, 2009 at 4:08 am
I feel like bad publicity is good when it’s refutable. For example, it’s okay (publicity wise, not morally) to say someone looks like they had plastic surgery if they really didn’t. The bad publicity draws the audience to the person’s hopefully good looks, but at that moment, the bad publicity need to be replaced by another feeling to make the person likable. For example, either their gorgeousness outweights the surgery, or proof that he/she really didn’t have plastic surgery.
Attention getting is important, but that person also has to do something substantial later to keep the attention.
@Nepheliad
That’s also hard to measure, though. For example, to be a member of Han Geng’s fanclub, all you have to do is click “be a fan.” To be a member of Li Yuchun’s fanclub, you have to make 50 posts and have an account that’s over a month old. Baidu is just hard to manipulate…
oh, and Hu Ling is a girl. She’s under JJ Lin’s company, OceanButterfly, which really can’t market mainland artists. I don’t particular like her voice, but a lot of people says it’s really good.
June 1, 2009 at 6:41 am
@idarklight – Ahaha, this time, it was a genuine typo – I know who Hu Ling is, though barely; I only know her because I’m a JJ Lin fan and saw a video linked to her on YouTube. I don’t like her voice much (her rasp caught between being a good raspy voice and a clear voice…) – don’t hear what others hear in it, I guess.
Ah, I didn’t know that about Baidu… that’s odd. You’d think such a massive (and massively popular) site would standardize.
Regarding HIT-5′s publicity, I’m not sure what they can do to offset this stigma (not just limited to the CMO criticism), though, because it’s true – their music isn’t “pure” in the sense that they are a very commercial group. I guess they offset it with their style and looks? They also still don’t seem to have much planned for the next few months (and didn’t last month, did they?), despite their new EP… I wonder what they’re doing in the days between their scheduled events.
June 1, 2009 at 2:00 pm
@cfensi
I don’t make generalizations I just observe them
June 1, 2009 at 5:52 pm
@Nepheliad
Baidu gives pretty much freedom to the bar owners. And it semi-makes sense. Han Geng’s pretty friendly, and not much bad goes in his bar, so few will enter with alternate motives. Li Yuchun’s tieba has occasional shut-downs when only fans can post (this is also a power given to the owners) due to anti’s spamming the tieba, so they wouldn’t want people who don’t really like her to join the club.
June 1, 2009 at 9:01 pm
does anyone know what company hit-5 is under?
June 2, 2009 at 12:34 pm
^ I think in the show it said they were under ‘Fresh Music’. Don’t know anything about it though.
That CMO was pretty harsh :S And his generalisations were so unnecessary and baised. Cotton Candy’s music is really pure and I really like them but there are way more artists from TW who arent. I don’t really like how the show seems pretty focused on the competition between the two groups. I’d like it better if it was more focused on showcasing talent and less on the points that they score.
I think as a boy band, they are sufficient enough in the looks, dancing and singing side of things. But they havent had enough exposure so i dont really see their personalities coming through, which I think is very integral to a boy band. During the entire show I think only the leader spoke, and he even sounded quite underconfident during the ‘la piao’ times which I think would lessen their appeal. So hopefully they get more opportunities to go on shows where they can be themselves, show their cute/funny/dorky traits or even get to act in dramas. Yang Fan totally needs to talk more!! If he was more talkative and in the leader’s position it would help alot imo.
June 2, 2009 at 7:54 pm
I agree with most comments about CMO’s generalization.
I think boyband should be competing with other boybands, try Hit-5 vocals vs Feilunhai or BBtang vocals for example, than you would see who sound PURER. There are way too many “singers” who can’t sing in that “pure” island.
For a poster above who said that Hit-5 is commercial and superficial, well…dude, they are boyband! Of course it’s about commercial music. The superficial part of dancing and having good looks are some of the requirements for a successful boyband, otherwise they would have been called The Full Monty.
Btw, where does CMO currently reside?
June 2, 2009 at 8:14 pm
@kale
America the beautiful. Definitely the best place to judge Chinese music.
June 3, 2009 at 9:25 pm
Thanks idarklight,
Haha..I got that impression in the beginning cause I heard he didn’t live in China, I don’t want to generalize but his bias is very cliché from where he lives.
Another thing, Hunan needs some styling help..OMG..what are Su Xing and the other 2 pretty MC wearing? It’s just so shiny and extremely colorful and the dresses ….sigh.
June 3, 2009 at 9:31 pm
The other MC’s usually have really pretty dresses…but I really don’t like Su Xing’s new haircut (he wanted to go bald originally), or outfit.
http://tieba.baidu.com/%CB%EF%E6%E7%E6%E7/tupian/list/%E9%AA%81%E9%AA%81%E7%9A%84%E8%8A%82%E8%8A%82%E9%AB%98%E5%A3%B0
June 26, 2009 at 1:24 am
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