I love it. It’s bold and somewhat risky, but they all look so good. Youth With You 2’s debut group THE9‘s first EP, titled SphinX, will reportedly have a mythology X outer space theme (hence Xu Jiaqi’s alien ears). chose a decidedly girlcrush route for a group of women with equally bold personalities.
Continue readingA round-up of my top ten stages for Youth With You 2. The show had it’s ups and downs and really dropped the ball on the collaboration stage, but it still has some of my favorite Chinese boy/girl group stages in years. It pains me to know that there isn’t yet a sufficient system for performers in China for so many talents in front and behind the camera to create stages this beautiful more often.
10. Mama Group A is the most well-rounded group of the whole competition that might be better than whatever team that debuts. It has the best vocalist of the show (Xu Xinwen), the most performative rapper of the show (Xie Keying), a great dancer (Lu Keran), a slightly weaker all-arounder in Jin Zihan, and an all-ace all-arounder in Wei Chen. All five members are versatile. They all have unique looks and personalities that nevertheless are harmonized together. My only complaint is their hair and make-up makes it hard for them to give good face.
Posters, photoshoots and stills that caught our eyes this week. What caught yours?
I have a lot of biases in Youth With You 2, but Babymonster An Qi is the one I need to become a star the most. Every moment she’s on the stage is her screaming to the world they’re missing out by not looking at her.
A five-step-guide to falling in love with An Qi, although I think I did it in at most two. First, just watch how smooth both her movements and expressions are while dancing:
Remember the attractive pink-haired leader from the androgynous group Acrush three years ago? She got even more attractive. This is an appreciation for Lu Keran, leader and lead dancer of Fanxy Red (the revamped version of Acrush) and the embodiment of the undefined and unlimited X factor of girl group survival show Youth With You 2.
Lu Keran exudes a sensuality that can be defined as neither masculine nor feminine, but uniquely hers. She is confident but sensitive, childish but mature beyond her age, traditional but a rule-breaker, sweet but aloft. In every performance she’s in, she is able to mend her style to fit the song without ever losing her uniqueness. The only thing that defines her is perhaps her intro to the song No Company, “if you try to define me, you’ll find no company.”
I know iQiyi videos doesn’t let you watch it embedded but this is really my favorite performance of hers yet and probably my favorite performance of the season so far:
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Posters, stills, and photoshoots that caught out eyes this week. What caught yours?
Everyone looks amazing in this “new rules” photoshoot for the current top nine of girl group competition Youth With You 2. I’m guessing the inspiration is rule-breaking high school mangas like Crows Zero to go with this season’s theme of not defining girl groups.
Although they aren’t currently my ideal nine, this group of nine will still be my favorite lineup for a competition idol group by far and I love them all so much.