There has always been something surreal about Wham!’s 1985 trip to China. George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley looked like alien visitors on the streets of Beijing, their bouffant hair and flamboyant outfits setting them apart from the Mao jackets and drab uniforms of the Chinese people they encountered. Andrew Ridgeley attends the screening of Wham! 10 Days in China in London. Photograph: Ian West/PA Now the full strangeness of the duo’s brief trip, which made them the first western pop act to play in the country, is explored in a…
Tag: Pop and rock
Jessie J’s triumphant return puts lucrative Chinese market in spotlight
One week after announcing she was “cancer free”, the British pop star Jessie J did what any recovering patient would do and travelled thousands of miles around the world to perform for an audience of more than a billion people. On 29 May, the singer-songwriter, whose real name is Jessica Cornish, belted out a stage-rattling rendition of Frank Sinatra’s My Way on the stage of Singer, a hugely popular Chinese singing competition similar to The Voice. She also performed her new song, California, briefly adapting the lyrics to change California…
‘The story of Hong Kong is the sound of it’: the cross-cultural joy of the city’s Cantopop music
Emma-Lee Moss, a singer-songwriter who released four albums as Emmy the Great, was born in Hong Kong to an English father and Hongkonger mother. She lived there until she was 11, when her family moved to England, one of many who left Hong Kong before its transfer of sovereignty from the UK to China in 1997. Emma-Lee Moss. Photograph: Alex Lake Even as a child, Moss understood the significance of the handover, which returned Hong Kong to Chinese control after 156 years as a British colony. “Thanks to our British…
‘People are exhausted by Blackpink and BTS’: the DIY Chinese bands redefining corporate ‘idol’ pop
Since the regime quashed China’s version of the K-pop industry in 2021, an underground ‘alt-idol’ culture has emerged, championing freedom and experimentation Over the past decade, “idol” culture has turned east Asia into a pop music powerhouse as global audiences have flocked to Japanese and especially South Korean groups. Formed and exactingly trained by big entertainment conglomerates, bands such as BTS and EXO have blown up internationally thanks to bombastic songs, sensational dance routines and marketing campaigns designed to build a parasocial relationship between performers – idols – and their…
‘It’s a nice surprise to be treated like kings!’ Why are mid-level British indie bands massive in China?
When I joined the band Swim Deep 13 years ago, my dreams were much like those of any young musician: to play Glastonbury, to tour America and to hear our music on the radio – all of which we’ve managed to achieve. But what I hadn’t counted on was finding a fanbase in China. Despite us never having knowingly released our music there, Swim Deep recently returned triumphant from our fourth run of shows on Chinese soil in barely 10 years, and we’re not the only British indie band benefiting…
China riveted by public row between pop star and former wife
The highly successful Mandarin-speaking singer-songwriter Wang Leehom has issued a public apology to his ex-wife after a high-profile family row that has gripped the Chinese-speaking world. In a lengthy social media post on Friday, Lee Jinglei accused Wang of emotional abuse, lack of care for his family, infidelity and solicitation of sex workers. The accusation drew particular attention in part because of Wang’s reputation as a “high-quality idol” – a phrase applied to celebrities whose private conduct is deemed praiseworthy. Lee further accused Wang of transferring assets under his name,…