H.Born stand for Harmonic Boys of Rhythm Nation, and also bo'en, a combination of their names
What happens when the seemingly parallel lines of self-composition and boybands meet? H.Born is born. The new boyband duo composed and arranged every song on their EP. Their resume is no less impressive. Wang Nai’en was third in line to sing You and Me at the Beijing Olympics. He also in majored directing at the prestigious Central Drama Academy, which hopefully means he’ll direct their own MV, too. If that’s not enough, they have the best nicknames ever.
one of their old demos, composed and arranged by Lion King, lyrics by both:
Name: 王乃恩 (Wang Nai’en, Nai’en=transliterated Lion King, named by his father)
English name: Lion King (do you not love this English name?)
Birthday: March 26
Height/weight: 183cm/60kg
Birthplace: Shanghai
Interests: astronomy, music, archaelogy, Final Fantasy, strolling, etc.
Favorite movies: Amadeus, Forrest Gump, A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, anime
Favoirte music: classical, video game music, movie soundtracks,
Favorite places: Greece, Mercury
Favorite sentence: Remember who you are,and take your place in the circle of life…
Favorite artists: Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Yoshitaka Amano, Yoko Kanno, Nobuo Uematsu, Shiratori Emiko, Sheryl Nome，Ranka Lee，Michael Jackson，Barbra Streisand，Lara Fabian，Hyde，Malice Mizer, too many.
Favorite sports: tennis, computer games
talents: piano, track, tennis, dubbing anime, eating a whole cake, passing the restricted level of Final Fantasy
what you want to be in 10 years: to compose music for Final Fantasy
food you can cook: Sichuanese food
Want to give to girlfriend: heart, the rest of my life
Want to do with a girlfriend: grow old together, live out a forgotten fairytale
Name: 剑波 /Zhao Jianbo
nickname: 波波/bobo (his nickname is pretty awesome, too)
Birthday: December 17
Height/weight: 183cm/65kg
Bloodtype: O
Origin/birthplace: Zhejiang/Wenzhou
Interests: buying clothes, collecting things, telling jokes, watching movies
Favorite movie:Malèna
Favorite music: Rock, Hip-hop
Favorite artists: G-Dragon, Justin Timberlake, DBSK, SJ, Big Bang, etc.
Favorite sports: basketball, soccer, pool
Favorite girl type: understanding, thoughtful, kind
Least favorite girltype: not understanding, not thoughtful, not kind
talents: telling jokes, pretending to be crazy
what you’ll do when you’re alone: writing songs, going online, find friends
More pictures:
Tags: h.born
June 17, 2009 at 4:29 am
Wang Nai’en aka Lion King reminds me so much of Seto Koji in looks. Except without those lips.
But I applaud his musical taste. Most of it anyway.
The two guys seem so different though. I wonder how they got together.
June 17, 2009 at 4:45 am
Lion King reminds me of the 5th son in Maki’s new drama. imo, he’s also better looking than the other guy….the other guy better be really funny or an amazing dancer.
I wish there were more videos of them to judge off.
June 17, 2009 at 4:58 am
Rofl, the 5th son in maki’s drama is Seto Koji! Unless Maki has been in a drama other than Atashinchi no Danshi that I don’t know about, also with at least five sons.
Wait – did they release the EP yet or not? Was the Press conference like a preview?
June 17, 2009 at 5:07 am
aww, he was the cutest son, too.
woah, he was also the guy in Koizora? I fail at remembering names.
June 17, 2009 at 5:16 am
Yeah, Koizura the series. Not Miura Haruma, the guy in the movie.
I absorb names like crazy. Not in real life though. In real life I fail and alienate people.
Btw…why does the post link to Huang Yali’s MV?
June 17, 2009 at 5:57 am
And how can people say that China only cared about appearances at the Olympics when they picked Liu Huan over a guy who looked like Seto Koji? T_T
June 17, 2009 at 6:19 am
wow he does look like Seto Koji lol
male groups seem to be popping out so often these days! looking forward to their EP, the demo sounded pretty good.
June 17, 2009 at 9:44 am
damn… two very distinct personalities. even opinions on type of girls. @ cfensi, how do you feel about this duo. knowing that your fav duo is bobo. haha.
June 17, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Hm, interesting to note that their favourite musical artists are all foreign…
Nice to see Lara Fabian mentioned there, though. She’s an amazing singer, but she’s not even ‘that’ well-known outside of a few countries in Europe, so it’s good to see her listed. c( :
I can’t really tell who is who, though. Who is the one who looks like Jaejoong from DSK?
June 17, 2009 at 1:07 pm
OMG SO CUTE <3
"Want to give to girlfriend: heart, the rest of my life
Want to do with a girlfriend: grow old together, live out a forgotten fairytale"
&they sound like such regular kids <3
I think they might have a bigger fan base then top combined b/c they compose and have this idk more real then the guys from top combined
June 17, 2009 at 3:29 pm
love love love their nicknames!!!!!=)
that demo song sounded really sweet too!
June 17, 2009 at 3:40 pm
Is the EP self-titled? when will it be released?
June 17, 2009 at 8:02 pm
@mrpeng
I’ll always support those making their own music versus those that don’t. And BOBO falls into the category of singers/idol groups where they rely on a company to manage most aspects of their music, which I dislike.
I like BOBO for their friendship, and don’t mind them as singers because they do have nice voices, harmonize well, and seem to do it do whatever it is they’re dong with focus/”ren zhen”. But if they quit music altogether, I don’t think I’d mind. Much.
These guys are far from being competition for BOBO though..
@Benji
I think the one you’re referring to is the one who is the Lara Fabian fan, and who seems to be the composer, the more talented one.
First picture:
Left: bobo
Right: Lion King
@julie
I think so…they had an EP release “press conference” on the 13th, but it wasn’t really clear if the EP’s been released or about the be released, at least not to me.
June 17, 2009 at 8:41 pm
How old are they? (Only the day and month is posted)
June 17, 2009 at 9:06 pm
@benji
Jaejoong guy is the composer, Lion King.
A lot of people do think he looks like Jaejoong, though…but when I saw him in mystartown, I was like, “woah, Seto Koji” (except it was “woah, fifth son in Maki drama)
I remember another Chinese singer reallly liking Lara Fabian…but I can’t remember who. Laure Shang?
@cfensi
I was thinking about that. XD but ZYM wanted a more famous face. Thank goodness they didn’t get the second choice guy. He has the most exaggerated and awkward expressions when singing ever.
@julie
not sure, but Lion graduated from college last year, so 23ish? .but a lot of the film schools admit younger students.
@chinkirox
TC has a much better platform, though. H.Born probably won’t go well unless one of their songs makes it really big, like Cotton Candy.
June 18, 2009 at 12:15 am
Which is the one that sounds a little like Qingfeng? Or is it only in that song that his voice sounds really high and like Qingfeng from sodagreen?
June 18, 2009 at 1:11 am
@hobielover
Lion King…he almost sung You and Me, so I would consider his voice pretty high.
June 18, 2009 at 8:57 am
Lion King sure likes Final Fantasy.
These guys are cute. Already a fan.
June 18, 2009 at 8:41 pm
“Interests: astronomy, music, archaelogy, Final Fantasy, strolling, etc.
Favorite movies: Amadeus, Forrest Gump, A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, anime”
“What you want to be in 10 years: to compose music for Final Fantasy”
Holy… just that makes me automatically like him. He likes VGM, Nobuo Uematsu, and AMANO, for cryin’ out loud (and apparently, not Nomura, which makes me very, very happy). He sounds like such a nerd – which I greatly approve of! (B-b-but… Wing Gundam? Why not something from a better Gundam series?) And the use of bells… OMG. Their harmonizing is wonderful, especially in that they’re NOT just singing in simple thirds, but in canon at parts – I like how their vocal tones are so different, too. However, the tones don’t always blend properly, and their voices aren’t as good as some of the other groups that have come out.
It’s kinda strange that the two got together. They don’t even seem to share common interests, other than singing and songwriting. Makes me wonder how long they’ll last as a duo, having to not only work, but be together so much. Plus, it could lead to a broken fanbase – I mean, Nai’en is just so much more interesting to me than Jianbo, whose description just sounds like a cookie-cutter idol. To be honest, if the lower voice is Nai’en’s, I almost would rather he go solo, because the higher voice isn’t as unique, nor good, IMO.
I wish they had debuted earlier. I think they’re disadvantaged in that so many Chinese fangirls have already chosen idol groups, many with strong marketing forces behind them, and it’s already hard to keep up with groups that have already been established. They also don’t sound catchy enough (even vocally) to rely on that, and their ballad-style is only going to put them in direct competition with BOBO, whose star power could keep them from gaining traction. Also on a personal level, if they’d debuted earlier, I almost certainly would have skipped over Top Combine for them, but I’m already too attached to TC to shift.
Quite a pity, since the two seem to have a lot of talent and what looks to be an interesting dynamic between them, in addition to what seems to be a more individualistic musical style than most of the genre. Not to mention the large bias I already have towards “Lion King” for pretty much all of his responses, from movies to gaming to a love of stargazing and strolling. I didn’t think there’d be a pop duo/boy band member who has that much in common with me, of all people. Definitely going to try to follow them.
June 18, 2009 at 9:48 pm
@idarklight: Really? I like Lion King even more for sounding a little like Qingfeng. Maybe he should have sung Sarah Brightman’s parts, LOL! He sounds so geeky and different from most “idols.”
June 19, 2009 at 3:59 am
-@ Nepheliad the high voice is Lion King/aka the really interesting one who looks like Seto Koji. I guess with your take that’s why they can’t go solo.
He should get with that one guy instead…the guy from the old Xin Wu Qi boyband, the one that looked like a replica of Oguri Shun.
Then they could have been known as the Japanese-actor lookalike duo.
June 19, 2009 at 3:10 pm
^ haha lol but i bet that dude is like 30+ now
August 11, 2009 at 6:10 pm
Did anyone listen to H.born’s new song? Baby Wo Ai Ni
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTA0MzE5MTI0.html
October 20, 2009 at 2:49 am
Ok umm is this group still active?
October 20, 2009 at 4:58 pm
I haven’t seen any news pop up, but honestly I haven’t been looking.
Right now I’m sort of sick of the idols, even the talented ones, because mostly in the Asian pop culture community people just use looks first as a deciding factor if they’ll give them a chance, and then judge on talent. Like they won’t give anyone who looks remotely non-attractive even a chance even if they have lots of talent and self-direction. Or they have to be in a group (what’s with that obsession?).
I agree that looks attract attention, but honestly, I’m sort of feeling like the Asian online community is just getting dumber and dumber because when you surround yourself with superficiality, superficiality is what you’ll become. And more importantly, I feel like I’m getting dumber. Just by trying to keep up with Asian entertainment news. The news is so inane. And it’s something I’d like to get away from. A little superficiality is nice and necessary at time…but honestly it’s too much.
And man, has asian culture gotten superficial these days. At least when Jpop dominated the boyband niche, most of the members were kinda unattractive. Rather instead, they had the it-factor.
Now it’s just all looks, throw in some mediocre talent, some slight quirkiness, and that’s it. I don’t even know…that’s all just so…average.
Sorry, a couple years ago it wasn’t all about that. Or maybe it was and I just got older. Either way…it’s just too much. Where are the Faye Wongs? Where’s the creativity? Where are the driving forces that turn the art world on its head? I find myself fangirling businessmen, companies a lot, because the artists are just too puppety, and there’s something wrong I think when that happens. When in art, I don’t fangirl artists anymore, but the businessmen behind the artists since they are essentially dictating how the art should go.
Sorry…doing a lot of ranting these days, because I see a lot of people wanting a very flawed, broken model, rather than a healthy one, because the broken one is pretty and enticing, like unhealthy food, and it’s like well….if that’s what people want, I’m not dragging myself into that just because it’ll get me more visitors to this site, or because I get a bigger soapbox to stand on. Because like I said…feeling myself getting dumber. A little superficiality and glitz in film and movies is fine…it’s hard to turn such a costly thing into drivel, and people will call you out on it, but with music, I guess it’s easier.
October 20, 2009 at 7:22 pm
Haha, cfensi, you are like so into it.
I just want China’s Cpop industry to come out with something eye-catching and good so the stereotype “cpop is boring/bad/outdated” will go away. Right now, not many people know much about mainland china’s entertainment industry. I want companies to produce flashy groups that can grab people’s attention, and once people get into it, they can start digging deeper and find some pretty good (less superficial) artists.
October 20, 2009 at 10:21 pm
Oh, the lack of popularity (specifically for mainland) is something different altogether. There’s so many reasons for that, besides the fact that China doesn’t really actively promote their stars to a greater foreign audience, and isn’t so well-established or big as Japan yet, where that isn’t necessary.
If you want to look at in on a country to country basis:
- Japan doesn’t really take notice until you sing in Japanese. Which most Chinese people don’t bother with, and which I hope no one really tries in Cpop, because then it’d be Jpop.
- Korea – restrictions on foreign promotions
- Taiwan – Very, very strict promotions against mainlanders until recently. Should a mainland celeb step into Taiwan, they couldn’t even talk to media. It’s still not completely lifted. These actually didn’t just pertain to mainland celebs, there were lots of mind-boggling restrictions on mainland people living there. It’s really crazy how one sided the western media is – they never tell you about those laws, and I’m trying not to let it get to me how unfair it all was.
- Outside China – Young Chinese mainlanders absolutely suck at promoting their own culture. Again, you’re living in a biased environment that predisposes you to think your own country is some sort of horrifying creepy place where there couldn’t possibly be any good entertainment. And the amount of mainlanders that do know just isn’t enough right now to make a real impact. It’s growing, but most are still in the dark. There’s nothing sustained. I could put up a MV like last year at AF, and some people would just forget. Some people actually think Top Combine disbanded because no one was translating/spreading their activities or making it more noticeable.
So basically China’s market is a free-for-all, whereas it’s facing restrictions if it goes elsewhere, and Chinese Americans just are easily manipulated by the news around them. And until more Chinese can spread the culture, you can come out with gold stuff, and people will just forget. Oh well, I don’t care much as long as it’s Cpop and I get my Faye Wongs.
Overall…spreading the culture isn’t so important except money-wise. I remember someone on my LJ-f-list went on a Korea tour and then made her go to some park where there were statues of the Winter Sonata people, which she did not watch and was like WTF?? She still took pictures though and I was laughing so hard that the statues were considered a tourist destination because they weren’t that great just in comparison to statues. But hey…if the pop culture gets people to fork out money to travel, that’s good. But even then, I’d say you’re better off in a Thailand scenario – they will always have their beaches and pristine water, but pop culture changes…you can’t get too dependent on that for tourists.