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.” Butterfly came out with their first CD, Hu Die Yin (Butterfly Ode), in July, but did not become popular instantly (*Cfensi: that’s apparent). How do they plan to turn into glamorous butterflies? They confidently replied, “We’re going the Chinese-styled road. Our music style is and classical; our image is refreshing and new. We’re the first group of this kind.” 
And what about A-One? The members say,”We’re different from the other boybands. We’re very ‘Chinese-styled’, and that’s something that other groups can’t copy. No matter whether it’s the clothes or the song titles, like Niu Lang Zhi Nv or Jeet Kune Do, we express a ‘Chinese style’. We want people to know that Chinese idol groups are just as good as any other idol groups”. Butterflies was formed by Yin Wenqi, composer of Jacky Cheung’s famous “Kiss Goodbye (English version= MLTR’s Take Me to Your heart). The girls were chosen through a long auditioning process. Its hope is to turn the girls from caterpillars to beautiful butterflies, creating a “Butterfly Effect” throughout the world. Last month, the group came back (ableit one member short) with a cover of “Kiss Goodbye” as a thank you to Yin Wenqi and have begun promotional activities. Butterflies’ cover of Kiss Goodbye (Now both they and A-One have a song with this title, along with an insect association). Source *Cfensi’s note – Whenever I see these new boybands…what makes me feel that they will be successful is the group Butterflies. With so little attention received from their first album, and yet still forging ahead, I don’t see how the other boybands won’t do the same even if they bomb (I don’t know if this applies Seventeen who seems to be stuck with a bad company). As for A-One… I am completely in love with their choreography (and all of their songs too which do seem Chinese-styled). I’ve never seen how well multiple-members of a group can be utilized until their choreography for their song 截拳道. This is an old video, before they had filmed Happy Camp, so hopefully their flips etc, will be even tighter and smoother when they finally “debut”. A-One performing Jeet Kune Do ( 截拳道) . Jeet Kune Do is a a martial arts system and philosophy developed by Bruce Lee. The fans are really loud in this particular performance compared to the other fancams I saw, but I thought the fancam captured the moves the best.
A-One singing a very old Chinese traditonal song, Small River Drips Water for a Chinese cultural program. It’s only three members, but not just these members …the others can sing too.
I think A-one is quite interesting, I hope they stick with a simple decor of chinese style..not like the gaudi & cheesy style of the taiwanese singers. btw, Cui Jian and other chinese rock bands mixed chinese instruments with the western ones earlier than Jay Chou. cfensi, please write more about chinese mainland artists and not taiwan or HK especially the indie bands (rock scenes). thanks
just because kpop artists get trained, doesn’t mean i’m talking about kpop artists.
You need to have a balance of trained and untrained ones.
ya i agree butterfly needs for beats/pop
as for aone their dancing is something else
Well, they did say they were going with a classical approach.
I meant Butterfly
I hope they become as popular as SHE, but not with these music. They need more beat…
I, for one, love the cover by Butterfly
Yeah, I admit, I do wish Wang Yuexin gets some sort of guidance in music other than his being a Vitas fanboy, because sometimes his voices sounds heavenly, and it could sound like that all the time, but not always. He doesn’t need three years though.
I do wish they would train some of the artists more, though, but not in the Korean way. Huayi does a pretty good job of polishing their artists. For example, with Jane’s American teacher. I wish ee would do the same. Wang Yuexin has a great voice, but he needs to learn to control it. Maybe they can bring in a Russian teacher?
When did it become necessary for people to get “trained”? Since Kpop? Getting trained in everything for three + years is nice, but Taiwan’s music industry has never been about training people…it’s about unpackaged raw talent which I appreciate. I hope China as it grows can do a good job with training, but I like seeing raw talent come out more.
Yeah, I like Top Combine more, but I still don’t really like boybands in general. I just think it’s the only way to get people to pay attention to cpop more.
i’m not saying I don’t like the fact that they are picking people from these competitions. I’m not sure if these Super Girls etc shows are still going on, but it’s nice to know that there are actually talented people in China.
But I’m just worry that with a whole bunch of talented people, it’s really hard to train them. They sent out everyone at the same time.
I’m pretty glad that Chinese music industry is just starting. I seriously have nothing against that, but as a Chinese, I really wish that singers/artists get more notice. I think it’s just harder for the Chinese industry since China is such a big country.
and no I’m not bashing on the Top Combine and Butterfly. I actually like Top Combine better than H.I.T-5. I think Top Combine has much more potential.
yelei:
But the guys from the singing competitions are talented and popular… Most of them are a lot more than talented than any Fahrenheit or Lollipop member. Many of them writes their own songs (Xue Zhiqian, Chen Chusheng, Su Xing, Amu, Lu Hu, Ma Xueyang, etc.). Others have began writing their own lyrics. And more importantly, they all have voices that Wu Zun can’t come close to in a billion years.
If you’re talking about Top Combine. I think it has something to do with looking for variety. And honestly, picking people already with huge fanclubs is not a good idea for forming groups…because they’ll get into some nasty fights. Look at BOBO, and that’s with the two members already being best friends…can you imagine what would’ve happened if they didn’t know each other before becoming a group? Disaster.
Honestly everytime I see a mainland Chinese group I don’t get a Chinese vibe at all, I get a kpop vibe. Their musical styles are so derivative and their physical appearance SCREAMS kpop/jpop.
I’m sometimes pissed too Yelei…at Chinese people who only look at what’s in front of them, and just complain, but don’t bother to look deeper at Chinese music as a whole.
Three years ago there were no idols…just people who sang patriotic songs. Now there are the beginnings of these types of singers. I imagine in three years time the landscape of mainland Chinese entertainment is going to be even more drastically different.
So quit trying to think that Chinese music is going to magically pop out with something you like in a matter of seconds, when these bands and idol groups were not even there months ago. I don’t think Butterfly group is the best thing since sliced bread, but I look at them as a beginning which is probably what you should try instead of nitpicking at everyone. Otherwise…you should probably wait ten years to come back to this site, until the Chinese music industry has matured enough to your liking. The Japanese music industry has had about fifty years to mature, and has stopped evolving, why don’t you try them?
Besides, most of the people from competitions are extremely talented…probably a hell of a lot more talented than ones that certain companies have picked for simply their personalities. Many people have already written or composed their own songs, The others are just amazing singers, even if they weren’t the most popular.
sometimes im pretty pissed off at the Chinese industry. They like picked boys from singing/dancing shows.. even if they arent the most popular.
When I heard Butterfly’s songs, I didn’t like them. Personally, I like the fact that people actually wants to be different from the mainstream groups, but still their songs still doesn’t seem to “wow” me. Maybe it’s just me.
Um…Billly… they said in comparison to other bands?
If you put it that way, well Jay Chou isn’t original since Chinese people have been doing Chinese music for thousands of years.
The problem is the other more noticeable mainland boybands (HIT-5 and Top Combine) are consistently being compared to Korean. So I think this is going to make them stand out…I just hope they continue in this path and it’s not just talk.
Besides…when they say Chinese style, I don’t think they mean “Zhong Guo Feng” which is what Jay does quite a bit, Hou Xian does with all his music, and Leehom said was “Chinked-out”. I think just their manner of doing everything is more distinctly Chinese.
I guess Lollipop and Fahrenheit are not really like Kpop or Jpop, and they are cute, but honestly, they can’t sing and completely ruined the name of Chinese music amongst those people who are more interested in boybands than artists like Jay (and that’s quite a bit) and for some reason only use boybands as their gateway into a particular genre of music, so here’s hoping any one of these boybands can turn that around, and then lead more people to discover all the wonderful musicians in Chinese music.
I think I like A-One, because I feel they actually took time to find members for this group…and trained them in China, unlike Top Combine (they just got some Superboys together) and HIT-5. They’re a sign of the potential China has if only Chinese companies actively looked for quality singers rather than just signing up whomever. China’s not quite there yet, but once the companies do start having auditions etc, it’ll be quite amazing.
I dont get how their Chinese-style makes them stand out. Jay Chou has been doing Chinese style for god knows how long. Pretty generic if you ask me. Not bad, just not original
Yeah, unfortunately their best singer, JJ, who balanced out the others, is no longer in the group, and nobody knows why. I think she was the most musically talented. She also played the violin. I think they’re looking for a replacement for her though…but maybe not.
i like the concept of the Butterfly group, but the vocals were so-so…decent cover of the song though.
a-one’s dance choreography is beast
can someone give me the song for the 2nd video? im making this really long youtube video.