Welcome to the build-a-girlband workshop! Create your very own Girl Band and other related artists at the Build-a-Girlband Workshop! You can choose and group your new Super Girl...
EE-Media has stated that through this year’s Super Girls, they were going to create a “female version of Top Combine.” And since only three of the people I mentioned last time were in the top 18 (further proving that eeMedia CEO Long Danni and I do not have the same taste in artists), and all of the top 18 are already signed with eeMedia, I decided to do another post. On the other hand, not being in the top 18 doesn’t mean not being in the girlband. Only 2 members of Top Combine were in the top anything, and Hunan TV/eeMedia has said that they will invite selected eliminated Super Girls to go on Yi Hu Bai Ying to select more girlband members.
To keep with the female Top Combine comparison, I’ve even organized them into groups for you.
Wang Zhixin’s self composition – one night
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvXMjjwiUKc]
Silent composer/ Ma Xueyang
Wang Zhixin (20)
Pro: talented composer, touching voice, and a sob story to go with it.
con: I think she’s too good to not go solo.
Li Xiaoyun (22)
pro: fluent in English (training to be a teacher in Australia), gorgeous voice and a Li Yuchun-like powerful personality.
con: her personality seems too strong for a girlband, and she can’t compose as well as Wang Zhixin
Hoping to follow suit of fellow Guangdong Liu-clan member Liu Zhoucheng, Liu Meihan and Liu Xijun are already girlband-bonding.
Cutie pies/ Jin Ensheng
Liu Xijun (21)
pro: enough voice + looks to go solo
con: she seems too popular and ambitious for a girlgroup
Liu Meihan (18)
pro: fluent in English, Japanese and German and was specially admitted to the Beijing Foreign Studies University this fall, which is China’s best school of the kind (He Jiong is currently a professor of Arabic there.) She’s young, cute, energetic, and she composes.
con: she doesn’t sing that well, but she’s perfect girlband material
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV0zHL-Cut0]
Sexy dancers/ Li Mao
Li yuanxi (19) and Jiang Yingrong (21) both manages to pull off singing “sexy songs” while maintaining fun, almost klutzy, personalities. With her looks, voice, dancing and personality, Li Yuanxi is the most well-rounded of the group. Jiang Yingrong is a more powerful singer, but I wish she would stop wearing sweat jackets in every performance.
Tan Lina (19)
pro: she’s a quarter Indian. Though she doesn’t know the language, she pulls off Indian dancing pretty well, and she looks gorgeous in photos
con: neither her voice nor her dancing is as spectacular.
Tao Le's artistic, but not so musical.
Pretty and talented?/ Liu Zhoucheng
Pan Chen(21)
Pro: sings well, cute
con: not spectacular in anything
Tao Le (25)
pro: model, designed the trophy for the 2008 Olympics Arts Fest and is currently a web designer at Sina.
con: weak voice, too old for a girlgroup. Maybe she can go into acting?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H4Q_KeQwSo]
One-of-a-kind/ Zhang Yuan
Huang Ying (20)
pro: unique, simple, adorable, and has a beautiful voice.
con: really, really needs a boost of confidence
Soloists all the way
Yu Kewei (23) and Pan Hongyue (19), both of whom I touched on last time.
Pan Hongyue is young, fun, pretty-ish, can dance, can sing and has a very strong personality. I think she has the most Super Star potential out of all of them. Yu Kewei’s personality is softer, and could fit into a group, but her voice is too pretty for that.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmCqF-qeOok]
Then there are Mo Chen (26+) and Yang Zi (25), who I don’t see going anywhere since neither are good enough to go solo, yet are both too old to be in a girlband. Da Chun Zi (26) may be a talented singer and Cheng Chen has a cute personality, but unless they can compose very well, they won’t be able to succeed commercially. Finally, there are two wtf artists that no one has any idea how they got in, since they have neither the voice, the personality nor the looks. If either Zeng Yike or Zhang Youfang manage to get into the top 10, to use a phrase from judge Bao Xiaobo, “If they stay, then I’m leaving.” Zeng Yike does compose, though, so she might be useful behind the scenes. But her voice is…worth Bao Xiaobo leaving.
Words of Wisdom from flip-flopper Gao Xiaosong
Last heard suggesting that the coastline vs. land mass ratio was an indicator of pureness of the thought, future Super Girl judge Gao Xiaosong switched his opinions by saying that mainland musicians make music as if it were art, and TW-HK musicians make music as if it were a commercial product. On the other hand, from his home in LA, he writes a loving note to Zeng Yike, among a rather amusing and insightful extended metaphor of Zeng Yike’s musical talents.
The last words are for Zeng Yike: When I was little, I had a dream, and that’s to view the world through my eyes, to use my pen to write down my feelings, and then find the right voice to sing those feelings to more people. When I see everyone from Sa Dingding to Li Yuchun singing my song to warm the hearts of many, my dream was fulfilled. I never wanted to run around singing, even if I’ll earn a lot of money that way, but those opportunities belong to people that Heaven gave good voices and looks to. Heaven gave us good eyes and good writing, and we should be satisfied.
From the competition today, we can see that for a long time, we will lack neither good voices nor good performers, what we lack is quiet and talented writers like you to write a new generation’s loves and worries.
Future competitions
Since SARFT is anti-voting, Super Girls this year will have a combination of three voting panels. The first round is judged by three judges, as usual. The second round is judged by a panel of regional head manager/president/editor-in-chief of Sony (regional , Go Go Rock (Mayday, Beyond), Warner, EEG, HIM(SHE, Jade Liu), Ocean Disk (JJ Lin, Hu Ling), Avex (Shin, An Youqi), Taihe Rye (Zhang Yadong, Li Yuchun), Modern Sky (represented by the judge who loved Zeng Yike), Poly Agency,and Elle magazine. The final PK is decided by a group of audiences, like this.
Side note: I’m so disappointed in Chinese companies for not staking out in the Sichuan Conservatory of Music looking for newbies. Or at least watching TV. Wouldn’t this have made a nice girlband? Effortlessly discovered and sings wonderful. I really want Zeng Sixuan to be in the girlband. She’s so refreshingly cute.
RIP Michael Jackson
I’m crying right now
Thanks for this…really good info.
I hope the group debuts before the wonder girls debut in china
Great info and list!!
I think Mainland needs a good girl band group!!
Man, I’ve been so sidetracked with nerdier interests that I haven’t managed to keep up with Super Girl as much as I intended… Thanks for the summary.
This group can’t possibly debut before Sisters unless they REALLY rush it, which would just result in a sloppy debut that helps them none. I still don’t really think they really have to worry about Sisters, because I doubt the latter will be able to pull anywhere near the fanbase that SJM did.
Wang Zhixin would be wasting her talents somewhat in a group, but arguably, so is Ma Xueyang. With talents like theirs, it depends on their personal charisma and will to be a solo performer. I’d rather see Li Xiaoyun in the group, even though her personality is more charismatic, because frankly… If she debuts solo, she’s going to face inevitable comparisons to Li Yuchun, and that could make breaking in very hard for her.
Liu Meihan… she seems kinda made for girl group entry (and I’d almost rather her be the composer – it doesn’t take much to compose a pop song, and the better composers wouldn’t be wasting their talents). However, I think the ambitious ones who aren’t spectacularly talented (which I don’t think Liu Xijun is) might better fulfill their ambitions in a group, seeing as how inundated (especially with Super Girls) the solo market is already. After all, that’s almost certainly at least part of why JES joined TC.
If Huang Ying doesn’t have a personality shift, being put into a group might be the best thing for her. And I dunno, I kinda expect Pan Chen to drop off the radar. It’s mean, but cute/pretty girls are far more common in the industry than genuinely pretty boys. Her voice doesn’t stand out to me much, so she’s just eye candy with a good voice. I don’t think that’s going to cut it in the industry right now.
And god, yes. Put Zeng Yike behind the scenes, not behind the microphone. Not a good singer at all, but she might help publicize the oft ignored field of songwriting some, which would be nice.
IMO, a possible reason they don’t just stake out the Sichuan Conservatory of Music for a girl group? Regional pride. Knowing a singer from the group is from your region, be it province or culturally grouped area (a la north/south, east/west, etc) makes them a bit more interesting.
Is it just me or is the writing really small?
PS. I added the judging information
@julie
If they’re like Top Combine, it’ll probably take at least a year for them to debut, which seems like forever…
@Nepheliad
I don’t think Ma Xueyang’s voice is that great, though. I think in terms of entertaining values, this year’s Super Girls have been the best ones. The last ones had too many strong but silent personalities…Li Yuchun, Zhou Bichang, Ji Minjia, Laure Shang, Li Na, Xu Fei…in this group, I only see Li Xiaoyun, Liu Xijun, Zeng Yike and Yang Zi like tht, and I doubt the latter two will get far.
my current girlband lineup (the girlband’s rumored to have seven members):
Liu Meihan
Liu Xijun
Li Xiaoyun
Li Yuanxi
Huang Ying
Zeng Sixuan
and then some one tall and pretty…or crazy and fun.
I liked the girl from My Show, LI Fangding . Or maybe Liu Xin? She’s so pretty.
what’s with the Liu/Li overload?
My Super Girls List. But again, Long Danni and I do not share taste in artists. (sidenote, anyone think that Zhang Youfang looks like Long Danni?)
Definitely top 10:
Wang Zhixin (I see her in top 3, but not first)
Pan Hongyue (I feel like she’s missing something. If she finds it, she could be great.)
Yu Kewei (song choice is very important for her…see Super Girls 2006 for example)
Jiang Yingrong (she needs a better stylist…but in an interview, 5 of 6 Super Girls asked stated her as the champion of the year)
Li Yuanxi (I really like her personality, and she’s very all-around. Her Sichuan pride doesn’t bother me, but it might bother others)
Liu Xijun (she bothers me with her almost arrogance, but everyone else thinks she’ll do great)
Da Chun Zi (if only she were younger and prettier…)
upper maybe:
Li Xiaoyun
Huang Ying (am I the only one who thinks she’s pretty? so many people complain that she looks too “country”)
Pan Chen (she’s so average in everything…everything she can do, Li Yuanxi can do better)
lower maybe:
Cheng Chen
Tan Lina
Liu Meihan
Yang Zi
Definitely out:
Zhang Youfang
Zeng Yike
Tao Le
Mo Chen
thanks for this post darklight. very informative. since my chinese is limited, links, opinions, pics really helped me grab a hold of what’s actaully going on in supervirls competition. and yes, those girls from Sichuan music school should become a group. Really good looking too. speaking of girl bands, remember “dream girls” the group that consist of members from Beijing? how are they doing on the Internet supergirls competition. btw, it’s not you. the words on this site is tiny. hard for me to read on iPod touch. lol
hey, you didnt mention the thrid judging panel…
by the way, Huang Ying is pretty good, i like her. Do you think maybe one day she’ll make it to the CCTV Spring Festival Gala singing folk songs??…just a thought
@mrpeng
Yang Zi and Da Chun Zi are the only ones left from the internet regions… the internet regions are like any other region and compete together in the top 300. Dream Girls got kicked out a long time ago….they should’ve competed alone because they weren’t that good together. I’ve haven’t even seen that many, but of the ones I’ve seen in the US, so many of them are better than Dream Girls. Jiang Yingrong goes to their school, though.
@Nana
oops. thanks for reminding me.
Before, I would’ve said no way since CCTV doesn’t like Super Girls. But now I’m not so sure. Cfensi and I will touch on this when more news comes out about CCTV’s changes. This performance by Huang Ying is even better:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1GyHNAJyhs]
I’m impressed. Sichuan University of Technology and Electric Science beat Sichuan Conservatory of Music in the number of candidates in the top 20…. The former has two (Li Yuanxi and Yu Kewei), the later only one (Pan Hongyue). Nerd power!
How the crap are all these great singers coming from chengdu, sichuan. im impressed. but im not impressed by shanghai, Jiangsu province, my hometown, lol. i think practically all the provinces are being trampled by Sichuan. they are good and have great contestants.
Yu Kewei’s not from Sichuan…I forgot where she’s from. Sichaun seems to be better at high notes, though. Guangdong region seems to have most of the cute guys and girls. At least Jiangsu’s better than Shandong. The Jinan region always have the most unconventional and unpopular singers….this year’s Jinan top 10 was such a joke.
Shanghai has two of my favorite pop composers – Anson Hu and Xue Zhiqian.
As I’m watching the press conference, I’m futher impressed by Li Yuanxi and Pan Hongyue. They’re the only one that I deemed “good” who has been original in each of their performances(Jiang Yingrong has sung “Fire” for at least 5 times, Huang Ying “Ying Shanhong” three times, Yu Kewei “Let’s start from here” three times)
@ Nepheliad
I don’t mean the “sisters” debut. I actually meant the real wonder girls. They’re gonna debut in china right after usa
this has nothing to do with this post, but im making a video of china’s singers, bands, music industry etc. can you tell me who this group is? they seem to have been in china for a while, since there are videos posted of them in sichuan on tudou.
vid of their dance/song
http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/y2kaPAAwLEw/
vid of message to sichuan
http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/JRy_I7-HAIY/
vid of MV
http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/bbbjIZ9fxyM/
they actually seem quite popular on baidu.
@mrpeng
Cai Yue Dui/ Colorful Moon Group
On the other hand, I really advise against taking up video space for groups you don’t find awe-inspiring and probably won’t have any future marketing potential.
I really don’t like how they changed the competition, it was so much better before. The original plan gave the competition a balance of powers, so that the winner and losers are agreed upon by all three groups since they go through all three panels. Currently, though, the three judges have way too much power by being to eliminate or let win any contestant they want, whereas the other two groups (including the 11-paneled big names) can only choose from a limited number of people. That’s completely unfair. I really hope they change it back. At least that way, Zeng Yike will lose.
I will email wordpress to see what’s up with the formatting. Also, RIP Michael Jackson. You inspired my favorite dancer, Robert Hoffman, and other favorites of mine.
Anyway, I will be really, really surprised if Liu Meihan doesn’t get into the girlband. She’s adorable, young, and can speak Japanese, which would be useful if they really do plan on sending the girls over to Japan. Li Yuanxi too. I can’t imagine her not being part of the girlband.
I think all the top 20 are really pretty, especially since they haven’t even gone through the corporate glamification process yet. The one that I think caught my eye was Jiang Yingrong. She has really, really gorgeous eyes. I hate her fashion-style though. Really, what is with those jackets?
Tan Lina is really gorgeous too but she’s really not that great in anything, and stands out mostly because she’s darker. Which makes me wonder if eeMedia is biased towards more ethnic looking people. I mean, why did they get Xu Dongmei to be in Le Huo Nan Hai? I thought it was because she might have better dancing skills due to martial arts training, but I don’t think that’s the case after seeing the trailer. She’s also not famous at all, so she’s no help in that area. But she did stand out to me because of her looks, and I still like her and am rooting for her, for no real reason at all, so maybe there’s some logic behind that.
*Sigh* I would have said girlbands were completely unnecessary in China before. Boybands too. But now I’m just like, hurry up eeMedia! Because globalization changes everything.
because Xu Dongmei has braids….
I am such a sucker for the braids…
That should be the concept for the girlband…braids + carribean reggae style. Come on China! Embrace the reggae.
am I the only one who’s seeing bootleg Jolin in the girl who sung LOVE?
@mrpeng
Yu Kewei’s from Jiangsu
@Marie
you’re not alone. Bao Xiaobo called her ice cream/”bing qilin.” “bing” for ayumi hamasaki, and “lin” for Jolin. I think she’s more entertaining, though. (who else would wear an almost hillbilly-like outfit and sing “Change Me” in a Sichuanese accent?)
@cfensi
Pan Hongyue had braids in one of her performances. Da Chun Zi had braids today.
even though Tan Lina doesn’t sing as well as some of the other singers (ie Pan Chen), I would rather her be signed than Pan Chen…because Pan Chen’s voice isn’t enough for anyone to like her. And at least Tan Lina’s entertaining.
wow..been a while, so this year Super Girls finally look like girls. What a relief…btw….off topics, as Cfensi & Julie mentioned, I still couldn’t believe that Michael J passed away, so sad RIP (people were mean to him for the past decade). Completely lost on the Super Girl this year…so when is the top 20 gonna b aired? And these girls on the top are the ones I should be watching for the voice and look? thanks.
btw..I just browsed the comments quickly cause the fonts are so small, this new format is weird.
woah…Sony, HIM, OceanDisk and Elle all chose Zeng Yike…surprising. Can you imagine Zeng Yike under HIM???
I liked the “wtf” look that the EEG guy gave after hearing that so many people chose Zeng Yike.
In top 10: Yu Kewei, Li Xiaoyun, Liu Xijun
Out: Tao Le, Zhang Youfang, Mo Chen.
From this, I think Zeng Yike will stay around for a while…
@cfensi, darklight
actually to be honest. zeng yike doesnt look as ugly as you guys claim her to be. her face is maybe a tad below normal looking, but its fine. she seems nice, good lyrics… but voice? im not good at all in telling apart a good singer verses a poor singer, but from the vids, i dont think she has such a good voice. i was watching american idol rewind 2 days ago and my sister had to tell me who would be bust and who wouldnt. so @ darklight, when ever i ask you about singers, groups that i have never heard cfensi or you mention before on this post, its because i dont know if they are good at singing or not, and thus i dont know if they are worth finding out about or not. if they have many photos on baidu, or vids on youku,tudou, i assume they are good. lol.
@anonymous
im also happy that supergirls actually look like girls this time around. that tomboy look annoys the crap out of me. this years supergirls are not only talented, look like girls, but also hot. hope they comeout with girl group as good looking as hit-5 and as talented as top combine.
I havent been paying attention to Super Girls like I said I was going to.
About the whole Wonder Girls debuting China.. I honestly don’t think Wonder Girls can debut in US. The recent teaser of Nobody’s english version said WG dominated China, Japan, Korea.. etc. Sometimes JYP likes to exaggerate things. I’ve been hearing rumors stating that the “Chinese WG” is suppose to debut some time this summer. I think it’s time that China comes out with their own girl group. So far many girl groups have debuted, but didn’t do so well and of course since most fans are girls and boybands are more likely to succeed.
Liu Xijun – i imagine her going solo.
Sometimes I wonder why Tao Le is still in the competition.. I think her singing is kind of average, but you do have to admit that she’s really beautiful (+cute).
@yelei
Tao Le’s already out.
@mrpeng
I don’t think she’s ugly, she’s actually a very cute and innocent looking girl. Has no one yet noticed the strong resemblance between her and Hu Ge after surgery? but I feel like there are definitely better voices than her that deserved the spot. Plus, her being there is making everyone being disappointed in Super Girls in general, which is bad for everyone.
@anon
These are the top 18 contestants. There’s some great ones here, and some ones that aren’t as good as those eliminated already, for some reason. Top 10 will be decided soon.
@mr peng
In reference to your earlier remark about Sichuan, I really think Sichuan has the good singers because of the altitude, and thus changes to lung capacity. I think actually all the provinces in Western China, like Yunnan (Zhaxi Dunzhu) and Tibet (Han Hong) must be filled with fantastic singers as well, but thanks to the DuJiangyan irrigation system (one of the UNESCO World Heritage sites btw) Sichuan is the most developed province, and thus, it’s easier for her singers to get famous.
This is not to say that there are singers with great ranges in places w/o high altitude, but that the ratio of good to bad singers in western China is probably bigger.
@yelei
*sigh* While I don’t think any country NEEDS a girl group, I think that if other countries are going to shove their girl groups down Chinese fangirls/boys throats, then China should have first dibs.
It’s not like Universal/Sony BGM in Taiwan. Those mega-companies have subdivisions in Taiwan, that are headed presumably by all Taiwanese/other Chinese speaking people. The staff is Chinese, the creative team is Chinese. It’s not bad for the industry.
With these small companies like SM/JYP, there’s no Chinese behind the scenes besides the idol boys/girls doing all the grunt idol work. It really has zero positive influence on the growth of Chinese music, and simply diverts the dollars that could help it develop, into the hands of a foreign creative team. I really dislike JYP too. He’s neglected some really, really good singers in his company for the ones that don’t sing as well.
Darn Korean companies and their avarice! I wish China could just develop normally in music like other countries were given the chance to… I don’t remember Japan trying so freaking hard to break into Korea’s market with a token Korean. *Sigh* The downsides of having such a huge potential market.
Ok, I’m sounding way too bitter like Wang Yuexin. -_- It just pisses me off so much that I am actually anxious for this girlgroup to debut, when the idea irks me in general. All because of the greed of some men.
Well, remember, Korea had a ban on a lot of Japanese cultural things up until only a decade ago. So Japanese companies didn’t really have the possibility of breaking in the Korean market. And even then, the Korean music industry is incredibly small. Taiwan, with a population a third the size of South Korea, still sells much more CDs and pulls in more revenue. So, really, being ‘big’ in Korea is still not that big a deal for a Japanese artist who could sell a lot more just in Japan alone.
Though, cfensi, I get the impression that JYP is still better than SM. JYP looks like he actually cares about his artists, despite their talent or lack of. With SM, it’s as if all their artists are just products, there to make them money. When SM conducts activities in China, it’s obvious that they’re just trying to exploit the Chinese market. There’s that arrogant air of “We’re Korean. You’re Chinese. We’re better than you, so anything we sell to you…you’ll lap up.” I don’t get the same feeling from JYP. Thankfully.
I have noticed Sichuan having a lot of good singers, though…I’m not sure why that is. I’d say, just roughly and from my own personal opinion, singing is about 50% physiological, 25% practice and 25% cultural. Practice, because even if you have the talent but never train at it, you’ll never be the best. Cultural, because that’s how you’re influenced to sing. Traditionally, Chinese singing has been soft and gentle. Then Mariah Carey comes along, and look at how Jane Zhang or Coco Lee sing now. Or with Teresa Teng. All her Chinese songs were soft, but listen to her sing “My Way” in English and you’ll be surprised at how powerful her voice actually was.
But I’ve gone off-track again. = _ =
I’ll probably comment more after watching all the videos.
Lousy, slow Internet…*grumble grumble grumble*…
I think Sichuan obviously has the altitude advantage, which makes it easier for them to sing. On the other hand, in terms of musical emotions, I think it’s pretty much the same everywhere. At the above average level, there may be more Sichuanese musicians. But I think when you go to the “omg, you’re the best thing since sliced bread” level, it’s pretty even between everywhere.
JYP doesn’t market as well in China, though. SM has gained far greater success (at least a third of it thanks to Hankyung)
@Benji
Oh I dislike SM too. For Sm I look at the singers he had before, to what he has now, and it’s so disappointing. For JYP I look at the singers he promotes vs the way more talented singers he doesn’t promote and find it disappointing. But I don’t really know how JYP would operate in China, because he hasn’t really done anything in China.
@idarklight
I’m not so sure he won’t market well anymore. He seems to have a better grasp on connections in various countries, more than I gave him credit for.
I think the Hunan stylist this year is really into braids…Jiang Yingrong also had braids, even though it didn’t look that great on her…what is wrong with her stylist, really?
I really did like it on Pan Hongyue, though, but she only had braids on half of her hair.
@idarklight
That’s because I’m actually, secretly the stylist for the Supergirls this year. And pssh…Jiang Yingrong looked awesome with the braids.
has the actual competition begun yet?