Li Xijun and Yu Haoming on the set of Yu Haoming's new MV filming...not sure why, but they're so cute together
The bad news is that Xue Zhiqian’s upcoming album is actually a compilation album. Which means Incomplete Song and My Athena are the only new tracks, whereas the 12 other tracks are old. But for him it’s probably better that he doesn’t put out all that effort into composing for an actual album.
Because there’s too many new releases and too much competition.
Kimi in the MV for Window of Dreams on his upcoming album
Releases from mainland female Chinese artists were spread out throughout this year, but a considerable portion of the male side seem to have waited until the last minute to release, causing an massive pileup of both albums from the soloists to the boybands, ranging from pop to grunge. Despite the spectrum in musical styles, this still can’t be good for the artists, nor the companies involved which I listed alongside the artists, and as you can see, there’s a lot.
Late November
Yu Haoming – eeMedia
December Releases:
Kimi Qiao Renliang – Chengtian (Orange Sky Entertainment)
Jacky Xue Zhiqian – Universal/SMG
Anson Hu Yanbin- Gold Typhoon *Newly announced!!!*
Peng Tan (four new songs/acoustic album)- ?
Xie Tian Xiao – Thirteen Month Records
Top Combine – eeMedia
BOBO – Hua Yi Brothers
HIT-5 (EP only) – Tian Hao Entertainment
Unconfirmed:
A-One – KS Entertainment
I had posted something about A-One a day or two ago, but it was more cathartic written than read, and so I took it down. But finally I can post something hopeful about their comeback. Their first single, Jie Jie had more than one million ringtone downloads. The veracity of this article is questionable, because no one even commented on the song at Sohu, but it’s still nice to hear. KS, for a smaller company, has done a great job with their songs, choreography, and pretty much everything except clothes, so it would be such a shame to see them not work out, especially when the guys have been working nonstop for the past year with very little gratification compared to other boybands.
I’m not sure why Yao Mingjun was chosen for a solo, since he’s not the lead singer, but he did write the lyrics, which you can read here. Fancams of them performing their second single below the cut.
How times change. A year ago I was bemoaning that China became deluged with boybands so suddenly. Now I wish they would hurry up and release stuff because there’s a market there for them that won’t die anytime soon, and the boybands aren’t an island. Their success affects jobs, companies and other artists in the industry, and can be tapped into to generate more capital for a budding entertainment industry.
HIT-5
First appearance after split with company
They split with their old company “Fresh Music” officially about a week ago after citing differences, and have made a smooth transition to a new company Tian Hao without much fuss. Tian Hao also manages Hou Xian, whom I adore, but doesn’t do many tv appearances for his albums, and frankly doesn’t need them to sell. HIT-5 is different, and it remains to be seen how their new company manages them. And how Hou Xian will be affected by them and vice versa.
Following the trend of tourism commercials with celebrities, boyband A-One has participated in an ad to promote tourism to Beijing, which will will be shown on CCTV, Phoenix, and Beijing TV.
As their MV, “You teared up my heart,” just came out, A-One, too gets teared up as two of its members, the “twin dragons” Ai Junlong and Li Tianlong left the group for unknown reasons. The two announced their departure through their respective blogs, but did not specify why. A-One’s debut album, however, is still on schedule.
You teared up my heart MV:
And finally, A-One on Happy Camp; the cowsuit Michael Jackson is classic:
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"Cicada" Kefeng demonstrating the "piggie" sleep in cow PJ's
The much anticipated episode of new boyband A-One on Happy Camp is finally out. Thanks to poster a-one for reminding me.
A-One managed to pull off the whole insect theme without making it seem strange at all. They’re so far the most goofy group of them all, but nevertheless talented, good-looking and good friends. The highlight was definitely Kefeng in his cow-pajamas dancing Michael Jackson.
I am really, really sorry I’ve been giving out so much wrong information lately. I swear it’s not my fault…Hunan keeps changing things. Since someone asked what happened to A-One’s debut, I decided to post this, in case anyone else was wondering . A-One is not “debuting” on Happy Camp on the 4th. Instead Hunan pushed the airing of their episode to “somewhere in February”.
However, they will be filming for two MVs, “Insect Whirlwind” and “You Shattered My Heart”, filming Jan 6-17th and 18th-25th respectively, and they will probably release their album “soon”. If I were saying this aloud I’d be using air quotes like crazy.
So…I think this video clinched my growing like for still undebuted boyband A-One. Not only is their dancing impressive, but so is their singing. It was impressive enough to take me out of my break from this site, which I was very adamant about this time…really. I’ve always liked this song, and they sing it very beautifully and I hope they can continue singing Chinese traditional songs from time to time. From what I’ve seen, I know at least five members can sing really well, which imo is worth more than any fancy choreography they have.
A-One on Chinese Program, 民歌中国 (Chinese Cultural Songs),
Singing 小河淌水 (Small River Drips Water)
The video just shows three of the members, the leader and two others. I guess this is one of those times where the “3+X” thing actually comes into play. I just wish they would debut already with (another) MV or something.
Boyband A-One and girlgroup Butterfly recently filmed Jilin TV’s variety show, Chao Ji Le Ba Dian (Happy Eight O’clock) together. With so many bands coming out, what makes them stand out? Both gave the same answer: “Our Chinese-style.” (more…)
