Meteor Shower's Zhang Han and Zheng Shuang travel to the Tang for a brother-sister relationship in their first ancient drama together.
One of the best things about a music company producing dramas is their wonderful OST’s, and this year’s major production Phoenix Totem 凰图腾 for eeMedia is no different. Produced by Yan Yidan (Meteor Shower, Bu Bu Jing Xin, etc.), the three theme songs for Phoenix Totem are sung by Li Wei, Yang Yang, Wu Yi and Huang Ying.
Starring Meteor Shower leads Zhang Han and Zheng Shuang, The Myth’s Bai Bing, and Zhang Mo, and directed by the director of the 1983 Legend of Condor Heroes, the series tells of
Although Huang YIng is my favorite singer of the four, I must admit the other two songs are much better. What do you think?
The end of the earth occurred too often,
and forever came too soon
Slice a beam of light, through the makeup of the sky,
and it can’t shine through the facade of lies,
are you like me, once promised, unable to forget?
After it’s unfateful ending with its previous musical drama (starring Yu Haoming and Selina), eeMedia is not daunted. Trying again to use its forte of music, the media company has recently been approved for a new series called The Battle Hymn 唱战记. No news from eeMedia has been released about the series, but based on the plot approved by SARFT, it certainly sounds like the Chinese version of Glee to me. The series features an average teacher with musical dreams and assigned a show(?) choir to work with. Unfortunately, he got the worst choir of the competitive musical academy. With his group of his eclectic students, the choir eventually succeeds and they become better as both musicians and people.
The series is set to begin filming in early 2012, and air in summer 2012. I was too excited when I found out that I made this post pretty much based solely on the SARFT listings. I’m excited to see eeMedia’s wonderful musical talents in this. Who would you like to be in the cast?
Look at how thin Wei Chen is for this first MV for his second album. Did you know he had to go to the hospital in the middle of filming for this MV because of overworking?
EeMedia choosing Korea’s CJ E&M over DoReMi (another Korean record label) was a great move. Although this MV was a tad flashy, it was much better than Top Combine’s two LED MVs (which if you didn’t guess, were produced by DoReMi). The music, dance and overall quality were great, and Wei Chen looked very shuai. Be sure to look for Wei Chen’s second single, which will come out soon!
Wei Chen brings together disparate forces for his upcoming album.
Can we first get a round of applause for not working with DoReMi (Top Combine/iMe’s Korean company that has nothing to offer…)?
Although eeMedia has previously worked with Korean labels, there’s hopes that they may venture into collaborations with other companies as singer Wei Chen becomes the first to work with Korean company CJ E&M, which owns both television channel MNET and search engine Daum. The singer, whose first album last year composed of songs by him and his friends, proved his ability and popularity last year when both the album and its songs became hits, with his self-composed insert song for Meteor Shower being one of the top 10 searched for songs of the year on Baidu.
Zhang Han and Zheng Shuang at the press conference of "War of Desire/Phoenix Totem"
In eeMedia’s latest coproduction War of Desire (凰图腾), Meteor Shower couple Zhang Han and Zheng Shuang finally breaks up as Zhang Han will be paired with The Myth’s Bai Bing. Zheng Shuang plays the sweet younger sister role of both who is secretly in love with the secret heir to the throne played by Zhang Han. Although Zheng Shuang’s characterhas no intention of breaking the lovebirds up, Bai Bing’s role sacrifices herself for the three by marrying the incompetent Tang dynasty Emperor played by Zhang Mo. Will the palace change her? Will Zhang Han gain the throne? Who will Zhang Han end up with?
Following Happy Beginning 快乐出发 last year, Top Combine’sMa Xueyang again composed a cheerful New Year’s song for the eeMedia family. Gelivable Youth uses various internet slangs, such as gelivable, to capture eeMedia’s youthful energy. The MV is especially thoughtful in including the injured Yu Haoming at the end, using a cartoon figure to indicate that he is not forgotten.
Actors for Dan (Chen Xiang) and Nate (Jiang Chao) check for gossip online during training.
Looking for new gossip? Try moving beyond the Upper East Side to a certain school on the other side of the world. Dan Humphrey’s alter ego, Dan(or Shan?) Hanfei, just got a new roommate, Shulei/Serena, and he (or should we say, she) is stirring up drama in the all boys’ college of Hua Gang. Swimmer Chuck is seriously questioning his sexual orientation, and even hottie Track Captain Nate is interested in this newcomer.
From the director of Hana Kimi, and following the style of Gossip Girl, Shineshow/eeMedia/Sohu’s “Runaway Sweetheart” is another take on the timeless plotline of girl-as-boy. The cast includes mostly first-time actors, including Chen Xiang, an unconfirmed female lead, newbie Chen Xiaoke 陈晓柯, and members of new boyband 8090. The drama will be mainland’s first weekly TV series, and will air next summer.
Chen Xiang plays the moody lead, a runner with a soft heart for his new roommate. (more…)
The young actor and singor Yu Haoming turned 23 on Sunday the 14th. eeMedia stars, many of them his closest friends, wished him a Happy Birthday and a successful recovery with cards. Yu Haoming and Selina are currently hospitalized after an explosion accident on the set of “I Have a Date of Spring.” At the time, he courageously tried to save Selina, but both were seriously burnt, and both are still undergoing recovery.
The song is composed by fellow Guangzhou artist, Liu Meihan of iMe, arranged by friend Lu Hu and sung by Wei Chen, Zhang Han, Zheng Shuang, Zhu Zixiao, Lu Hu, Su Xing, Top Combine, Zhang Jie, Tan Weiwei, Ai Mengmeng, Xu Fei, Li Na. You can also see the cards various artists gave him here.
Listen to the song:
If you have a few minutes, you can also send a postcard to him at the following address(no letters or gifts, please):
上海市华山路699号63室 俞灏明 收
Zipcode：200040
Shanghai, People’s Republic of China
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:
Although eeMedia boyband 8090 has yet to debut, its members are already delving into other areas. The group’s most popular member, Jiang Chao, has revealed on his blog that he will be auditioning for Hunan TV and eeMedia’s new remake of “You’re Beautiful,” a Korean drama about a girl who accidentally became member of a popular boyband. Given their history, Hunan TV will probably only take from the general idea and change the plot significantly (generally for the better).
It is uncertain other member of 8090 will try out with him on the 12th, but this would be an interesting way for them to debut on the silver screen again. Listen to them cover Meteor Rain here.
