[pimp post] Amy's Guide to the Super Boys (in other words, my favorites)

[taipei]

Basically, Super Boy is a national singing competition in mainland China which started in 2007 as a spinoff of the already institued Super Girl competition (their post shall come later). The aim of the show is to uncover new talent among potential male stars. The show is strongly linked to the company EEMedia, and many if not most of the finalists end up signing a contract with them at the end of the competition. So far, there have been two seasons of Super Boy, one in 2007 and one in 2010. In this post I will cover the contestants who are both the most famous and my personal favorites.

Something I think is great and important to notice is that there is a nice variety among the Super Boys. Quite a few of them go the pop route, but there are R&B singers (Allen Su), indie singers (Liu Xin) and even some rockers (Wang Ye) in the crowd. Then there's Chen Chu Sheng who is difficult to categorize but undeniably genius.

Downloads for Wei Chen and Yu Hao Ming can already be found at my livejournal here. I already plan to upload Chu Sheng along with a few other male artists, so let me know if you want anything else (I have downloaded almost all of the music listed here, save for Allen Su and Zhang Jie).



Chen Chu Sheng (陈楚生) ♬


Season: 2007
Rank: Champion (#1)
Labels: EEMedia, 2007 - 2009
Huayi Brothers Music 2009 - present
Birthday: July 25, 1981
Discography: I've Never Been Alone (first EP, 2007)
From Winter to Spring (first studio album, 2009)
Green Surging (second EP, 2010)
Legend of Shadow (second studio album, 2010)
Addiction (third studio album, 2011)

Recommended Song/MV:

Allen Su Xing (苏醒)


Season: 2007
Rank: 1st Runner Up (#2)
Labels: EEMedia, 2007 - 2009
Sony Music , 2009 – present *NOTE: EEMedia is still listed as his management company, Sony is his record company
Birthday: March 5, 1984
Discography: Autumn (first EP, 2007)
LONG.ING (first studio album, 2010)
Present Tense (second studio album, 2011)

Recommended Song/MV:

Vision Wei Chen (魏晨) ♬


Season: 2007
Rank: 2nd Runner Up (#3)
Labels: EEMedia, 2007 - present
Birthday: February 22, 1986
Discography: Optimist (first EP, 2008)
Disparate (first studio album, 2010)
Daybreak (second studio album, 2011)

Recommended Song/MV:

Jason Zhang Jie (张杰)


Season: 2007
Rank: #4
Labels: Universal Music, 2004 - 2007
EEMedia, 2007 - present
Birthday: December 20, 1982
Discography: The First Album (first studio album, 2005)
Love Me Again (second studio album, 2006)
The Most Beautiful Sun (first EP, 2007)
The Day After Tomorrow (third studio album, 2008)
Through Trilogy (fourth studio album, 2009)
It's Love (fifth studio album, 2010)
Stand Up (sixth studio album, 2011)

Recommened Song/MV:

Ham Yu Hao Ming (俞灏明) ♬


Season: 2007
Rank: #6
Labels: EEMedia, 2007 - present (management)
DoReMii Media, 2007 - present (record label)
Birthday: November 14, 1987
Discography: Hug (first EP, 2009)
Hug (first studio album, 2009)
Note: In late 2010, Yu Hao Ming was in a terrible accident while filming a drama and suffered third degree burns over 39% of his body. He's been struggling to recover ever since.

Recommended Song/MV:

Well Li Wei (李炜)


Season: 2010
Rank: Champion (#1)
Labels: EEMedia, 2010 - present
Birthday: December 6, 1988
Discography: None yet

Recommended Song/MV:

Liu Xin (刘心) ♬


Season: 2010
Rank: 1st Runner Up (#2)
Labels: EEMedia, 2010 - present
Birthday: August 26, 1978
Discography: The Boy Next Door (EP, 2011)

Recommended Song/MV:

Wu Yi (武艺) ♬


Season: 2010
Rank: 2nd Runner Up (#3)
Labels: EEMedia, 2010 - present
Birthday: November 3, 1990
Discography: None yet, upcoming EP

Recommended Song/MV:

Sean Chen Xiang (陈翔) ♬


Season: 2010
Rank: 5
Labels: EEMedia, 2010 - present
Birthday: December 13, 1989
Discography: Confession (first EP, 2011)

Recommended Song/MV:

King Wang Ye (王野) ♬


Season: 2010
Rank: #7
Labels: EEMedia, 2010 - present
Birthday: June 16, 1987
Discography: (first EP, 2011)

Recommended Song/MV:

Others: All four Chinese members of Top Combine were all involved in the 2007 Super Boys competition, but only Zhang Yuan made it into the top ranking at #9. If I remember correctly all of the members of 8090 were also in the 2010 season, but none of them made rank.

♬ indicates a personal favorite.

And because it's cute, here's a song featuring Li Wei, Liu Xin and Wu Yi:

A post on my favorite Super Girls is yet to come!