Ever  wished cpop would control every move of their artists from age 10 to 30 to make their artists all equally polished? I have. Yet then I see an artist flourish with individuality under a  loving but free company, and that wish goes out the window.

The latest example? Laure Shang Wenjie, once packaged “properly” as the sophisicated, Fudan-educated French interpreter and now crazy but awesome chick with catchy songs. The only thing that her old and new songs have in common are the phrases of French that she adores.

Listen to Laure’s new song S.O.S., the second song composed by herself:

This type of flourishing has been in cpop as long as there was pop in Greater China. The classic example is  homeboy Wang Leehom, who started as an idol singer but later took over his entire career by self-composing, writing and producing his songs.

One of mainland’s biggest entertainment companies, eeMedia, which receives a degree of complaints for lack of polish, is perhaps the company that best nourishes self-expressed talent. The Super Boys in 2007 bloomed like no other, with almost all of them composing their own hit songs in less than three years.

Even the more controlled band Top Combine is given plenty of say in their own works, and each member is free to pursue their own interests as long as they don’t interfere with the group. Ma Xueyang and Zhang Yuan were hence able to follow their music love, enabling their first album to be almost all composed by Top Combine members themselves. Li Mao is also beginning his dream career as an actor by taking over Deng Chao’s role in play “cui hua.”

The key in continued strength to an industry is by allowing room for growth for their artists, and many Chinese companies show that also in the way artists develop their own workshops and sub-companies. Actors like Eva Huang and Huang Xiaoming go on to produce their own movies and TV shows, and singers like Yu.Quan and Jane Zhang begin their own music companies, bringing their knowledge and expertise to a new generation of artists.

Ms. Lane Crawford (composer:  Laure Shang, Zhang Yadong) MV: