JJ Lin’s accompaniment, Andy Lau’s dance teacher, Madonna’s designer, and…Chris Lee?
Why not? On March 21, 2009, Chris Lee dance battled with JJ Lin, wore costumes by Tuleh’s Bryan Bradley and smiled at the sea of yellow.
How does she and her team do it? This started out as a companion piece to EE Media’s weaknesses (the He Jie article), but it’s also a celebration of Li Yuchun’s own strengths, which in fact, are EE Media’s own forte.
Let’s dance
EE Media’s two biggest advantages are its artists and Hunan TV. Hunan TV is just plain amazing. It’s the most innovative TV station in China, hands down, which you can see from their creativity in finding a way to get around SARFT. EE Media, being a seed company of Hunan TV, then obviously gets the exposure that other new artists would die for. Hunan TV is full of innovation and boldness, something I feel like Long Danni, the new EE Media CEO, has brought with her. For example, signing Guo Jingming or turning EE Media into an idol company. EE Media artists, having come mostly from Super Girls and Boys, both have talent and fame, two things indispensable for success (on second thought, talent may be substituted by packaging in some cases). For example, did you know that Li Yuchun personally directed this and all of her Why Me performances as well as most of her MV’s? And though she has the weakest voice of the top five, she sings on-key and live, two things unfortunately many singers don’t do anymore.
singing her classic “My heart only has you and not him”
Dance battle with JJ Lin
But more importantly, Li Yuchun helped herself. Li Yuchun may not be the best singer, but she’s the perfect idol. She’s confident, caring, dedicated and never with a complaint nor a frown. She won’t do something that she dislikes, and doesn’t care about what others say. Her fanclub is the same. You’ll almost never hear a Yumi disparage other artists, nor do they care about people criticizing Li Yuchun. They are so dedicated to her and to presenting her well that it’s quite phenomenal. Perhaps the maturity is due to the fact that her fanclub is one of the most diverse in age. Instead of a crowd of frivolous teenage girls fangirling her, her fans would include the 30-year-old couple with a 3-year-old daughter, the 20-something lawyer who gave up her work to teach in Xinjiang, and the 60-year-old grandmother who heads up one of the three Yumi Health Stations.
For a class of kids in Xinjiang, the first Chinese song they learned is the theme song of the Yumi Love Foundation -“Same as you”
Li Yuchun is hard to define, as is EE Media. Ultimately, it’s both the artists themselves and the employees that decide the fate of both. Until then, enjoy the smurfs, a la Li Yuchun:
Dear Chris Lee,
Thanks for your song…hope i can get your new album.. waiting for it,,try ur best to make more new and fantastic song for all of us..
Take care Lee,..always remember there all lots people who support you until the end of the world..im one of them..
God bless you everyday..
Jen Jen
I love this girl very much..a successful idol..i will always support you Yu Chun..im from Malaysia…looking forward to you…wish to meet u one day..will pray for ur life..just be urself and be happy..
Jen Jen 7
To be honest, I really didn’t understand why the general public picked her, and outstandingly so. Rather than say I was upset, I think I was more confused. I definitely do not think she was the best singer, the most charismatic, the kindest/most warm-hearted (as if we can judge who’s more kind during a competition), nor the most “idol” of all the Supergirl contestants – and therein lies my confusion. Perhaps I don’t know her well enough to appreciate her – but does it matter? She obviously has many devoted fans…who seem to admire her for all the adversities she went through, though I don’t know enough to say much on the matter. All I know is that there has rarely been an artist/celebrity that has not faced “many” adversities, some of which fans/outsiders may never see/know. It’s all in the eye of the beholder I guess.
I haven’t found her to be inspiring, but she seems to have inspired others, so all the best to her and her fans.
I’m not a Li Yuchun fan, and I’m still miffed she won SuperGirl. HOWEVER, I will give her props for being herself all these years, although I’m sure it’s not without the support of her management given that it’s her number 1 selling point.
I really wish Li Yuchun didn’t win because she sort of messed up the Super Girls image for a lot of people. Jane winning would’ve been beautiful. On the other hand, I have to give credit to Li Yuchun’s ability to influence her fans, something that Jane hasn’t been able to do. Li Yuchun is the perfect idol, Jane is the perfect singer. So I guess the question is, is Super Girls “Chinese Idol?” Or is it “Super Female Voice?”
Eh, I don’t think everyone thinks like that – plenty of people at least think they would be more than happy to gain success regardless of what image they have to don to do so (which, IMO, ties in a bit with that article about He Jie, but I digress), and there are definitely artists who are happy being something other than themselves so long as they have fame, and are famous – I seriously think that’s the case with a sizable number of pop artists, especially some of the manufactured-seeming Korean ones.
The ones that aren’t – like Yuchun, Jane, and many others – pull fans from a diverse age group, as the write-up mentions. That they are who they are probably contributes to their success across the board – because at least as I’ve gotten older, I’ve really grown to notice when the artists sing (and write/compose, depending) from their hearts. To be honest, though, I don’t quite feel as much of that from Yuchun – I don’t necessarily always feel like I hear “her” in her songs. Rather, it’s her presence, IMO, that really dominates; she really seems to belong behind the microphone, which is why I like her lives and her performances. Her songs, not as much (though I still like them, mind).
…And that blurb wasn’t all that cohesive, sorry.
I think the boys-going feminine thing is really more prominent in Japan, Korea and even Taiwan, but mainland definitely has more boyish female stars than the other areas because of Li Yuchun.
The thing with the other artists is that they can copy how Li Yuchun dresses, but they can’t copy how she acts. Her popularity isn’t just because she looks boyish, but why she looks boyish. She looks boyish because she is boyish, and she has enough confidence in herself to show her true self to the public. There are obviously other really boyish girls (Ella,Huang Yali), but some other ones dress that way because it’s popular, and that’s not the way to gain success. Even if you do gain success that way, the person who gains success isn’t really you, so there’s nothing to celebrate.
I like her androgonous look, makes her look funky. But I have listened to her songs, and I suppose they’re not my style. I voice is okay, but perhaps that’s a little bias on my side because the first performance I watched of her was a little off key/pitch. (I’m picky with that stuff) I like her uniqueness, but I wish other artists wouldn’t follow her league and copy her style (won’t mention names) I read a few chinese netizens complain that male stars in China are all about looking like girls and female stars are all about looking like boys- and why can’t they just more natural. Although I don’t think it’s necessarily true, I can see where they’re coming from.
For me, what I like about her is that she went against all odds (unconventional androgynous look, lack of standout vocal ability, and disapproving family) to apply and get accepted into the Sichuan Music Conservatory. This was before Supergirls, before there was an outlet for this kind of idol thing in China. She’s a pretty clear-cut example of doing what she needed to do, and thus being ready for opportunity when it came. Of course, you could say this about Jane too (and you should because she’s very successful for this reason as well), but for me Li Yuchun had more going against her before the competition. There might be many that can sing better than Li Yuchun, who love singing in karaoke bars, have the same love for singing, but they took the safe route, found a safer job but she took a risk for what she loved.
There’s a sense of clarity around her that unfortunately He Jie, with her cute looks and cute attractive personality doesn’t have. She’s definitely someone that’s more easily looked up to than He Jie even though I loved He Jie for those reasons I just described, and for her natural singing ability. It’s a question of what God gave you and what you give yourself I suppose.
Oh, and I love her songs too. People who don’t listen to Li Yuchun based on appearance or vocal ability are missing out on great songs. Not a great reason to like an artist, but since most people like sub-par singers with great songs, when they don’t compose those songs, I suppose it works as a reason enough to give her benefit of the doubt.
see it now~ thanks, like the pic of her in the green.
Try this?
http://tieba.baidu.com/f?z=390234674&ct=335544320&lm=0&sc=0&rn=30&tn=baiduPostBrowser&word=%C0%EE%D3%EE%B4%BA&pn=0&rs1=2
can’t see the photo, links broken…
Li Yuchun has no packaging, though. She really is just being herself. But I do feel like a few artists later became more androgonous because of Li Yuchun, though. For example, Jade Liu. Her pictures before Super Girls were obviously more feminine than after.
Have you seen Li Yuchun in her Qipao/Cheongsam-styled outfits? They were quite feminine.
http://2.ourmonk.com/read.?tiphpd=249673
I don’t quite know what to say when it comes to her, sometimes she seems cool, sometimes her androgonous looks have me feeling a bit confused. Her fans seem like sweet people. EEmedia’s biggest thing right now is prob her. Sometimes I wonder what she’d look like with slightly heavier makeup, longer hair and a skirt. And you know what? I think she’d be beautiful- she has such long legs I bet she’d look lovely. (sorry that was random)
I guess the androgonous look is in at the moment, I’ve seen it on a few other female artists too. Though to me, the most important thing is singing ability, but i guess packaging is so important too.
BTW, I like that first picture of her, it’s more of a playful tomboy vibe rather than a masculine vibe I sometimes get from her…