M.I.C. Boyband vs M.I.C. Girlband, who’s prettier?
M.I.C. boyband is so amazing that they’re the best in every competition they enter, be it music or dance or even Peking opera. For pop-Chinese Opera crossover show Guo Se Tian Xiang, they trained under Hu Wen’ge, a third-generation disciple of the master singer Mei Lanfang. As usual, they had the best programs on the show. Full mp3 versions for download here.
Their arrangements really made the show for me. M.I.C. became heavily involved in designing their own programs, and had learned so quickly that by episode 6, they were able to design the entire performance, including the opera parts, by themselves. This is exemplified in their cover of Wang Leehom‘s Mistake in the Flower Fields 花田错, where even Yaoyao’s rap blends flawlessly into opera. Compare it with Zhang Yuan’s version last season and see how much more coherent this version sounds. Xiaoxin’s last line sounds like it could’ve came from Hu Wen’ge himself:
Next is their most artistically Peking Opera performance, featuring the opening scene comes straight from the actual Opera itself. It was praised for being one of the most professional acts on the show.
Next up is Fragrances from the Night 夜来香, with Jianci being stunning in a cheongsam. Xiaoxin is probably the only person in the world who can emit that amount of male pheromones in such a feminine voice.
M.I.C. girlband covers Jane Zhang‘s Blank Epitaph . They each play a different age of the Empress Wu Zetian. Yuehan looks surprisingly the prettiest, although Wang Hao’s lines are my favorites.
Back to one of their earliest performances – Jay Chou‘s Fearless. The editing near the end is perfect, as are they. If you watch them carefully, you can tell they meticulously design every step of their performance, but unfortunately the camerawork and editing doesn’t show it.
Finally, their last performance with their teacher Hu Wen’ge. The two dancers in the front gets my nomination for the most annoying backup dancers of the year.
Hu Wen’ge actually went on a legit tirade in the final saying anyone who’s seen M.I.C. throughout the season would know that M.I.C. has the best programs. Unfortunately, as usual, M.I.C. did not win even though they’re the clear best. But, it was a fun show, and I hope M.I.C. takes some inspirations from it. If not, at least Yaoyao can now sing a killer opera line in future performances of Hangover.
Thanks so much for posting! These performances are amazing – I can’t stop watching the White Snake one, and I’m glad everybody got to shine. I’m not surprised that Xiaoxin’s so good at this, since those high notes of his are wow, but CJ and Jianci really surprised me, especially since Jianci’s roles are often in the bass line in their songs. He’s really unrecognizable here!
Since you mentioned Jianci’s voice … here’s a video of him singing in Tiny Times. His voice is different yet so pretty here <3
http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/EzyArueFUF0/
To be honest, I never really listened to any M.I.C. because I could never get over their Chinglish. This post has earned them a new fan, though, because, wow, their performances are amazing! Still can’t get over Xiaoxin’s voice
Haha, I think it’s only Aero who writes the bad Chinglish lyrics. Some of my favorite slow songs by them don’t even have English ( Wang Hao’s 春心荡漾 +窒息，CJ’s 海，Xiaoxin’s 谁孤单）, and I think Xiaoxin does a really clever job of using Chinglish to his advantage (ex. 望那Sea = Wanna See, FLY 爱 爱 爱 爱 AWAY).
The only ones I ever see are fast songs, I think. Like ‘Get it Hot’, ‘Single Ladies’, and ‘Super Daddy.’ (Sexual objectification also tends to make me automatically pass.) I’ll check out the songs you suggested. Thanks! :)
Yeah, that was definitely a turn-off for me as well, which is why I thought I would cringe when Super Daddy came out given how daddy has been used in their previous lyrics. Luckily, it turns out the sexual objectification is also mostly Aero and one of their lyricists, Yang Fan. Based on their lyric styles, I feel like Wang Hao is a gentleman, Jianci is a baby, Xiaoxin gets dumped a lot, and Aero has a lot of drunk sex .
I only really start to listen to their slow songs seriously until last week after seeing Jianci on Tiny Times and them singing opera on this song. Their non-fast songs actually have a really wide range of styles, from Bossa Nova to gospel, and are extremely well-produced compared to the rest of the industry.
Which ones are CJ, Aero, and AJ? I am doing a very poor job of keeping track of names.
I thought Super Daddy was an unfortunate name but a funny song. I love your descriptions of lyrics/personalities. The songs you recommended are all really good!
CJ is the one who looks most European. Aero’s the tallest, darkest, and imo the most handsome one. He’s usually the one doing the rap. AJ is Aero+CJ because they write a lot of songs together.
Thanks for the clarification!
Glad you liked them. XD Other than their own songs, I also recommend 这次真的是你不对, 买单, and 要命的煩惱, which are all composed and produced by terrylee for them. terrylee also did a number of songs on the Tiny Times OST.
I also love the opening choreography for 买单 with the piano part:
The opening choreography is so pretty! I really like 这次真的是你不对.
Started listening to Xiaoxin’s getting dumped a lot songs, and they are so beautiful. Sad, but sound so good. T_T (So far listening to “Fly Away” and “不想见你.”)
Fly Away is sooo good. It’s probably my favorite song of the new album. I love everything about it. The arrangement is fantastic and I love how the opening draws you in. The lyrics fits the song perfectly (and is completely coherent). Jianci’s deep voice is to die for. It’s been so long since I’ve even heard (not to mention liked) a cpop song using such a deep voice.
Heads up: Wonderful Life is coming out with a new MV, and 那个他 (yep, another Xiaxoin breakup song) might be coming out with one, too.
I can’t get over the song/MV for Fly Away. I’m actually coming from the opposite direction, where I listened to the opera performances before pretty much anything else by them, so I was surprised that Jianci had such a deep voice. I love contrast of the slightly offbeat parts, and the chorus, and the way he sings, which is melancholy and also kind of wispy. And the MV is so good! I really like the part with the bird shadow puppets and the (interpretive? contemporary?) dance.
Basically I probably need to stop watching the video at this point, but I can’t.
Will be waiting on more MVs~
You mean you don’t like booty like fat cheese?
I love this comment.
MP3 versions, with the other people’s voices muted out. Hua Tian Cuo <3
http://pan.baidu.com/s/1o6oQYxk
Oh, no! I only get an empty folder. Can anyone help me get the mp3 versions, please? Thanks, either way!
I never knew of MIC男团, but I’ll check them out since they’re this awesome.
Did you click the download button? The thing with baidupan is that sometimes they’ll terminate the download before it finishes so you might have to try several times. Let me know if you still can’t get it and I can upload it for you elsewhere.
Thanks for letting me know about the baidupan quirk; I finally got it. Thanks so much!
” Xiaoxin is probably the only person in the world who can emit that amount of male pheromones in such a feminine voice.” I loled at it hahaha they are just the best!
Their performances are sooo artistic! This one is my favorite so far https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXWQqJvhYx8 <3 <3 <3
Mic is seriously the best group ever! and most talented too!
I don’t understand why they aren’t that popular…
I wish they go on shows on Hunan tv and other popular shows too
The good thing about them not being popular is that otherwise, I feel like every song by CJ will be banned. XD I’m still perplexed how they managed to sing My Place and Hangover on CCTV.
Back in the days, Happy Camp would invite all sorts of young and fun but not popular artists like M.I.C., mini Jiang Jinfu, etc. But now they almost exclusive do big names, and so they don’t promote newbies anymore. :(
I kind of want M.I.C. to go on Sing my song. AJ, Xin-duo, and Wang Hao can beat most of the “pop” writers on that show by themselves, and together their songs will be more polished than probably any other contestant’s. They’ll probably never win because they’re not indie enough, but they might make it to finals if the judges aren’t too prejudiced.
I agree! i was surprised when they sang on CCTV!
ah…. that’s sad! I don’t get why the judges never choose them even though they are in the finals and they do well…
This is seriously so good.
Fantastic!