C-Pop Update: Attack of the Jay Chou Songs
Also: Chengdu rapper Wang Yitai offers a peep into modern Chinese weddings via his extremely cute wedding video, and Wang Yibo learns from Xiao Zhan's AO3 mistakes.
🎵 MUSIC
The music charts are drowning in Jay Chou songs. As of the October chart refresh*, eight of his songs are in the top 30:
Sunny Day 晴天 (2003)
Floral Sea 花海 (2008)
Common Jasmin Orange 七里香 (2004)
All the Way North 一路向北 (2005)
Love Confession 告白氣球 (2016)
Rice Field 稻香 (2008)
Step Aside 擱淺 (2004)
With the exception of #20 Love Confession 告白氣球, all of these songs are 10+ years old. While there’s always a handful of Jay Chou songs on the charts at any given time, there’s usually not this many. The Voice of China (中国好声音 2020), currently in its 9th season, is a possible culprit - contestants frequently perform old Jay Chou songs because they can score easy points with audiences for the nostalgia factor.
Another surprise on the Chinese charts this month: Unbreakable Love 永不失聯的愛 has shot up the charts to #2. This song is also a bit old; it was released in 2017 by Taiwanese sadboy crooner Eric Chou 周興哲. Eric Chou’s songs are popular in Taiwan and across the Chinese diaspora - his most popular song on Spotify has 60+ million streams - but he is relatively unknown in mainland China.
So why would one of his old songs suddenly gain popularity? You guessed it: Someone covered it on The Voice of China. An 18-year-old college student from Zhejiang province named Dān Yīchún 单依纯 covered Unbreakable Love 永不失聯的愛 on the show in September:
Dan Yichun is looking like a favorite to win this season of Voice of China. Several of her performances on the show have gone viral, with 1M+ views each on YouTube. In addition, her girl next door image is exactly the kind of aesthetic that China loves in its female singers. We will watch her career with great interest.
*I track the QQ Music “Hot Songs List” (热歌巅峰榜) on a monthly basis via this Spotify playlist. QQ Music is a popular music streaming app in China; most sources report that it is one of the top 3 apps, in addition to Kugou Music and Kuwo Music. I refresh my playlist rankings on the first Thursday of each month.
🍉 CELEB NEWS
Wang Yitai breaks in to steal his bride away
Ever wonder what modern Chinese weddings look like? Rapper Wáng Yǐtài (王以太, also known by the moniker 3Ho) just got married and released an extremely cute wedding video.
In the video, Wang Yitai and his friends can be seen breaking in (闯门 chuǎng mén) to the bride’s hotel room. They are then subjected to a series of games and embarrassing challenges to prove the groom’s sincerity in marrying his bride. This set of wedding day customs, popular in some regions of China, is known as “fetching the bride (接新娘 jiē xīnniáng).”
Curious to know more about Wang Yitai after watching that adorable video? Here’s a couple of fun facts about the Chengdu-based rapper:
He is part of the CDC 成都集团 (Chéngdū jítuán) rap collective, which also includes other notable rappers such as Higher Brothers and Ty.
He gained wide mainstream recognition after appearing on Season 2 of Rap of China 中国新说唱 (zhōngguó xīn shuōchàng) in 2018.
His song Can’t Take My Eyes Off You 目不转睛 (mù bù zhuǎnjīng) went viral after he performed it on Rap of China. On YouTube alone, it holds 11M views.
He is outspoken about his Christian faith - fitting, since his hometown Chengdu is known for both its thriving underground rap scene and its Christian community. These influences can be seen in Wang Yitai’s music, which incorporates gospel sounds and sometimes even lyrics with Christian themes.
Wang Yibo learns from Xiao Zhan’s mistakes; tells flaming fans to calm down
On October 7, China’s recent favorite “little fresh meat” (小鲜肉 xiǎo xiān ròu) Wang Yibo participated in the Zhuhai International Circuit motorcycle race. During the last lap of the race, he got into a minor accident and one of the teams competing against him was seen cheering at the crash. Fans quickly jumped to the conclusion that the crash was intentionally engineered by Wang Yibo’s competitors and they began attacking the other team on Weibo.
A previous edition of this newsletter mentioned how Wang Yibo’s The Untamed 陈情令 (chén qíng lìng) costar Xiao Zhan saw his career go up into flames when some of his fans went a little too far in defending their idol. TL;DR: A group of Xiao Zhan fans organized a successful movement to get fan fiction site Archive Of Our Own (AO3) banned in China, because they felt offended by a story published on the website. Although Xiao Zhan neither participated in nor encouraged these actions, many felt that he was responsible and should have said something early on to rein his fans in.
Wang Yibo must have learned from Xiao Zhan’s experience, as he quickly issued a Weibo statement telling his fans to stay out of his personal conflicts. This effectively shut down what could have turned into a big internet trash fire, and Wang Yibo was praised across the c-entertainment world for doing a good job handling his fans.
👀 DISCOVER
NPR releases podcast about Xiao Zhan's AO3 scandal:
A couple of points not mentioned in the podcast which may be of interest:
The term “poison fan” is a pun. The Chinese word for “poison,” 毒 (dú), is a homonym of the Chinese word for “only/single,” 独 (dú). This is a reference to how “poison fans” support their idol only and refuse to “ship” them with anyone else.
This scandal happened just three weeks after Dr. Li Wenliang’s death, so censorship was a fresh topic on many Chinese people’s minds. That’s another reason why so many unrelated “passerby” netizens felt the need to pile on to this seemingly silly controversy.
Jay Chou reveals he was in Pirates of the Caribbean all along (IG video below):
Ever wonder what Pirates of the Caribbean would have been like if they cast Jay Chou instead of Johnny Depp? Well, now we know!
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