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The third ranking of the women's group talent show "Youth with You 2" was announced, and the top 20 entered the final, competing for 9 final group seats, and other girls will not have the opportunity to debut this time. In the studio, the host has left, and most of the contestants sit in tears, or hug their companions and say words of encouragement and blessing. The camera cut to Zhang Chuhan, who stopped at the 27th place, she just silently squatted on her knees, reaching out her fingers to touch the ground in the corner where no one noticed, more and more forcefully, pressing deeper and deeper. This scene made many "iron-hearted" show fans (referring to fans who specifically followed the talent show) moved: "Oh my God, she is saying goodbye to the stage..."
"Youth with You 2" No. 20 (Part 2), Zhang Chuhan said goodbye to the stage. (Video screenshot)
In late June, after the dust settled, Choi Pengke, a dance teacher who has instructed countless active and reserve idols, was interviewed by Reporters from Nandu. Talking about zhang Chuhan, one of the students, his appreciation and regret were overflowing at the same time: "To be honest, I didn't expect her to be able to enter more than 20, it is not easy." Personal trainee, what else do you want? ”
There is no polishing and blessing of the original company, nor does it have its own aura like the cross-border players, not the second generation of stars or the second generation of the rich, in this large-scale program dominated by the broadcast platform, Zhang Chuhan is particularly alone. Two years ago, she participated in the same competition "Creation 101", walked through about 2/3 of the schedule, but did not circle many loyal fans, but left a "failure back to the pot" label. Some people also know her through the 2018 webcast documentary "Girl Group", in that narrative framework, she is a daughter with mediocre qualifications but insists on chasing dreams, and her father's fierce opposition makes some netizens feel unbearable, while others try their best to support her in the bullet screen, advising the little girl to "not be too obsessed".
Two years later, the 24-year-old used her performance in "Youth With You 2" to turn these controversies into overwhelming recognition. On the first stage, she let her opponents exclaim "great progress" and "like a changed person", and then the theme song was unanimously rated as A grade by the singing, dancing and RAP mentors in the final examination, which meant that she already had the debut strength recognized by the industry. Some viewers found that Zhang Chuhan was the only contestant in the same model of talent show so far who traversed all levels from F (Fail) to D, C, B, and A. Even if she still failed to debut this time, her rise seems to reflect the possibility of "ordinary people becoming stars" in Li Yuchun's era, and also tells those young people who have left their hometowns and borne the weight of their dreams alone that "efforts can be seen."
Unexpectedly, in the nandu reporter's verification, Zhang Chuhan resolutely returned this "counterattack script" that could arouse empathy. She clarified that the outside world interpreted her as a "lying down and tasting courage" type of character, and defined her father as a villain on the road to chasing dreams, which is not in line with the real situation; she does not think that in the past two years, there has been a "huge leap" in her strength, and the difference in perception is only because of the collapse of the mentality in that year, and it has not been shown well in the show. This statement was confirmed by Cui Pengke and music producer Li Maoyang. They separately told the Nandu reporter that Zhang Chuhan belonged to the talent type in singing and dancing.
Zhang Chuhan's story is the story of a girl with strong initiative in this era stumbling and chasing her dreams: how can she make others believe in her extraordinary birth?
stage
In the summer of 2009, a Korean pop dance song "Nobody" swept the world, causing countless flips. In Yichang, Hubei Province, Zhang Chuhan also saved the show with her junior high school classmates, which should be earlier, almost the end of 2008, when she was 12 years old.
The popular dance song "Nobody" by South Korean second-generation girl group Wonder Girls was once all the rage.
Inadvertently, she clicked on the original stage of Wonder Girls on her desktop computer at home and fell in love with K-pop (K-pop music) at first sight. "I remember very clearly that it was 5 girls who were about the same height, wearing a retro dress with white hair on their shoulders, doing particularly good-looking movements, and having a particularly good-looking expression..." Zhang Chuhan has been learning folk dance in the Children's Palace since he was 5 years old, and he is no stranger to the stage, and he has also won the gold medal of the National Children's Dance Competition, but the performance form in front of her has aroused her desire to explore, "How do they look so different?" It seems that it is not just singing and dancing, but so relaxed, so enjoyable, there is a special light in the eyes... What is that? She quickly became a fan of Wonder Girls.
In his childhood, Zhang Chuhan was more exposed to folk music and folk dance.
At the time when the school held an art festival, she proposed that several girls in the class who like to sing and dance decided to form a group to imitate this track, and the work of learning movements and queuing shapes was completed by Zhang Chuhan secretly brushing various versions of the video. During the lunch break, they sneaked out of the classroom, either in the corridor or around the open space behind the teaching building to practice, only to be caught by the teacher on the spot, but instead obtained the right to use the corner of the music classroom. Ms. Zhang, who jumped to the spot of her favorite member at the time, Sun Mi, called herself "a bit of obsessive-compulsive disorder" and pulled the progress bar of the video site over and over again until she felt that everything matched the original version.
Their shows are hugely popular. In particular, Zhang Chuhan, just walked off the stage, was surrounded by a group of excited classmates: "We didn't know before, it turns out that you still have such a side!" "Students in other grades also inquired about her in various ways and wanted to make friends with her...
For Zhang Chuhan, the stage of "Nobody" is destined to be unforgettable, not because of the love of vanity. One afternoon after the "Youth with You 2" match, Zhang Chuhan sat in a café in Beijing and described to the Nandu reporter on the other end of the phone that it was "the moment when dreams were lit up."
A short sentence is the result of her thinking for many years: "Because I am more honest and cowardly, when I was young, my tutoring was more strict, generally what my parents said, I had to listen to what I said." This kind of education makes me feel suffocated, and even feel 'landless', and I am always thinking about the meaning of my existence. But it was from the art festival, the first time I appeared on stage as a girl group, that I felt that I had found the meaning of existence. On the stage, I can not be 'bad Zhang Chuhan', I can use my singing and limbs to vent myself, as if that free look is the original me. Even in the eyes of others, she had strengths in other areas, but that was the first time she was convinced that the self she longed for most was "like this."
Since then, being a girl group has become her unbreakable spiritual pillar and a goal that does not need to be deliberately insisted upon, and the stage is home and harbor. "One of the amazing things is that every time I feel like I'm going to hit an 'insurmountable hurdle,' as long as I think I can get on stage, I can sing and dance, those bad emotions will completely disappear." Zhang Chuhan told the Nandu reporter, "Just like in "Transformers", the source of energy for the Autobots is tinder, and the moment my feet touch the stage, I will also have a feeling of being planted with a fire in my heart, that is, I have energy and soul at once. ”
gain and loss
The school is getting busier and busier, the folk dance class is still continuing, and all the practices related to the girl group are carried out in secret. Classmates gave an MP4 as a birthday gift, Zhang Chuhan quickly filled it with various MVs and women's group performance videos, put on headphones, hid in the bed at night to watch, and walked on the road during the day to watch.
"Although on the surface I didn't move, in fact, my physical consciousness was following the music, and I had a picture of me on the stage in my mind." She recalled to the Nandu reporter, "I would listen over and over again, look for rhythm points, find rhythms and the best time card points, because these are the things I value very much." Sometimes, her expression was too intoxicated, causing passers-by to turn back frequently.
Subconsciously, she doesn't seem to associate the goal of joining the singing and dancing girl group with "becoming a star", so she doesn't feel that it is far away: "Does dream mean that there must be no way to achieve it?" Not. Unless you're just dreaming and just thinking. During the summer vacation of high school, she learned that Wonder Girls' production company, JYP, recruited overseas trainees and provided free professional training for the signatories, so she sent an email to sign up. JYP Entertainment replied to the letter inviting her to Shanghai for an on-site interview, but this incident made her "for the first time in her life" make a rebellious act.
Zhang Chuhan's father likes music, and her mother has always expected her to dance, but in their cognition, her daughter should go to professional colleges and dance theater troupes in the future, rather than some overseas "girl group". Not to mention that she is still in high school, she has not been far away before, and her attitude as a parent is very clear: she does not want to let her go. But this time, Zhang Chuhan, who has always been well-behaved and obedient, showed exceptionally firmness. She climbed up to the highest point of the living room couch, shouted with the greatest momentum: "I'm just going to the interview!" Definitely going! Seeing the stalemate, or her dance teacher at the time came forward to lobby the parents: "Chu Han is a very special child, why do you have to let her become the way you want?" "The end result is that the parents have changed their minds. I don't know if I was touched by this sentence or what Zhang Chuhan understood- "It may not be possible anyway, let her touch the wall herself." ”
Zhang Chuhan's mother accompanied her to Shanghai, stepped into the interview site of JYP, and the very large hall was full of people. The mother looked east and west in surprise, and Zhang Chuhan's eyes were firmly attracted by a screen that was scrolling and playing the performance scenes of JYP's artists: Wonder girls, 2PM, 2AM... There is also Miss A, who has just debuted and has two Chinese members, Jia and Fei. As she waited for the call, she was extremely excited and excited, and her heart screamed, "I must become like them!" ”
Among the Miss A groups that debuted in South Korea are two Chinese members, Meng Jia (first from left) and Wang Feifei (second from left).
She walked into the interview room alone in her mother's sight, and was then left on the spot for the final examination. In the envy of the audience, a JYP clerk came over and asked her for her contact information, at which point her mother pulled her along: "Let's go back and discuss with your father first." Zhang Chuhan suddenly felt that the "bad premonition" before coming was about to be fulfilled.
Back in Yichang, what awaited her was indeed her mother's tears and her father's rebuke: "If you go to training, what will you do with your studies?" You have to wait until you finish college before you can go. Zhang Chuhan somehow explained to them the Korean star-making conventions. Her favorite Xuanmei participated in the draft at the age of 13, debuted from JYP at the age of 15, and has been popular all over the world with "Nobody" at the age of 16. But she knew very well that in this family, she had no power to argue against this.
In the 2013 college entrance examination, she was admitted to the dance major of Wuhan University of Physical Education and continued to dance ethnic dance and Chinese dance.
Many years later, when I mentioned this matter again, Zhang Chuhan said: "At that time, being selected as a trainee was a relatively rare opportunity, and it was also the only way for me to be a trainee that I recognized. Although I may not be so lucky to debut, I feel very happy to be able to train and experience. This may be a regret in my heart forever. But she added, "I don't compare my experience to anyone else's." Because it's true that everyone is in a different environment. ”
Zhang Chuhan participated in a dance performance during college.
path
From high school to college, Zhang Chuhan participated in a total of 3 internship selections of well-known overseas entertainment companies, passed 3 times, and gave up because of the attitude of parents. At first, she also had a group of like-minded friends around her, who could meet in the selection from time to time, but later, these small partners gradually stopped participating in the interview, and Zhang Chuhan also walked to the edge of "admitting his fate".
For a while, she tried to make herself look down on it a little bit and stop thinking about it. After class, I took a dance of the women's group finished dance, and there was money to take, it seemed to be quite happy, wasn't it? But in fact, she understands the difference too well: "When it comes to commercial performances, not all the audience members know what I'm doing, let alone who I am." But I want everyone to know that I'm doing it, and I want them to sing my songs..."
Whose songs were sung on the domestic singing and dancing stage in 2014? It could be the "Addiction" of the EXO Chinese Squad, or it could be the "Youth Cultivation Manual" of the TFBOYS group. This year, with the rise of the rice circle culture under the K-pop star-chasing paradigm in China, various miraculous network data pushed a group of idol boy band members to the public horizon, and the saying of "small fresh meat" went away. In contrast, the girl group SNH48, which adheres to the Style of the Japanese Cultivation System and is named after Shanghai, has not yet washed away the impression of "Otaku Goddess", but the operation mechanism of "Theater - General Selection - Handshake Meeting" has been established and has successfully passed the pioneering stage. Smelling these market trends, keen Internet capital and experienced music production companies have entered the market in batches, intending to create the next big fire of "local idols".
On August 8, 2014, SNH48 celebrated its 100th performance at its exclusive theatre in Shanghai.
Whether it is to find another way outside the successful boy band, or to think that the return on investment is more efficient, they unanimously chose to create a girl group. Suddenly, 1931, SING, the Bee Girls... Domestic "big production girl group" such as the carp across the river. Many girls who gave up their dream of grouping in the early years because they could not cross the country suddenly got new opportunities at their doorstep.
But Zhang Chuhan chose to wait and see: "Because I think that the meaning of the women's group at home and abroad is different, or it is two models." Maybe I'm more familiar with the Korean kind, so I should be ready to come up with an almost perfect piece..."
Her concerns are real. The idol industry has become one of the mainstream industries in South Korea after years of development, and in China, pop singing and dancing girl groups did not start again until four or five years ago, and the public has not yet fully recognized this cultural form. SING women's group was born from the well-known Internet music platform Kugou, Li Maoyang, who had served as a consultant for it, said frankly to the Nandu reporter: "To be honest, at that time, relatively large-scale activities generally did not invite women's groups, and most of them would just need some young and beautiful little girls to make the scene lively." At that time, the domestic women's group circle was so small that "I didn't look down to see", Li Maoyang contacted many producers of other groups, he found that there were many ideas and visions, but the general environment determined that they needed to come up with works as soon as possible: "Many women's groups are releasing new songs for the purpose of publicity or commercial performance, the production team has not yet been able to understand the personality traits of the members, they rushed out of the proposal, the teacher casually divided the words, let the members probably sing a song even if it passes, quite a lot of idols are sold as emotionless goods." In fact, many girls have good singing or dancing skills, but they don't have a complete and systematic production environment to help them show themselves. ”
Before the launch of representative works such as "Sending Bright Moon", the main exposure channel of SING girl group was Station B.
At that time, SING showed that her main channel was B station, and the debut members taught themselves to edit to do UP to maintain the popularity; and Zhang Chuhan showed that her channel was a short video platform, she would upload some videos of her own dancing, and sometimes it could be "discovered" by computer algorithms and sent to the platform.
In her junior year in 2016, an obscure cultural media company sent a private message to her account, sincerely inviting her to Beijing to do a girl group. Zhang Chuhan knew that this was a team that was far less qualified than SNH48 and SING, and was almost in the initial stage, but this time, she agreed.
confrontation
Taking advantage of the window of her junior internship, Zhang Chuhan ran to Beijing and met the "boss" who sent her a private message, an equally young girl. She told Zhang Chuhan and more than a dozen other girls who came to the company to visit her dream of the girl group, and the process of the women's group she initiated and founded that had suffered many divestments, but had raised new money to "resurrect". Now that everything is on the right track, she decided to re-recruit members and become her own captain, giving them the opportunity to contact professional training and some shows and commercial performances.
The same frequency resonance of the dream touched Zhang Chuhan; it is also important that she sees the space for her influence in the new team: "Since I have studied the idol girl group for so long, I know very clearly and clearly what I want to do, then, if I can make suggestions, maybe it will make my team better." 」 At the end of the nearly one-month run-in period, most of the girls did not stay, and Zhang Chuhan took the idea to sign the contract. She later said, "In fact, when I first came out, I didn't know the doorway completely, and I also found some immature and unprofessional parts of the team, but at that time, I really believed that 'my life is up to me', and my blood and love overcame everything." ”
Zhang Chuhan (first from left) participates in commercial performances with his women's group.
After moving to Beijing, she finally got her wish to live a group training life and met professional teachers who were recognized from the bottom of her heart. In the past, she was reluctant to find someone to teach, preferring to learn from the original video on the Internet. "Because dance has a 'style', just like vocal music has a singing method, I am afraid that it will be difficult to find it after learning it." Zhang Chuhan explained it this way. And this time, Cui Pengke, who was invited by the captain, was really an expert with more than ten years of experience in choreographing of the women's group.
In 2016, when she first took over their training, Cui Pengke felt that Zhang Chuhan's "style" of dancing popular dance was very good, and later heard that she had always learned ethnic dance and Chinese dance, and she was a little surprised. "She was more ignorant at that time, on the stage did not know how to express herself, how to find the camera, is a bloody dance, happy, smirk." But to talk about ability, then it is not bad, remember the action, formation and so on are particularly fast, in our industry's parlance is, born to eat this bowl of rice. Cui Pengke told Nandu reporters.
In the group, it shines and is recognized by people who recognize it, and for the first period of time, Zhang Chuhan, a trainee of the women's group, had a very happy life. But after all, they are not "interest groups", but commercially operated girl groups - without the protection of mature companies, girls immediately face a dismal market situation. Theoretically, they have debuted and published new works, but basically no one knows, and they rarely have the opportunity to go on stage, in order to maintain exposure, they also have to install and pay for cars and horses from time to time to record 15 sets of CCTV song programs.
After nearly a year of this (already a girl group with endurance in The country), their foreign affairs and practices are decreasing day by day, and some members have begun to be excited. For Zhang Chuhan, as she graduated from school, her father, who was originally in a state of semi-acquiescence, became more and more impatient, hoping that she would find a better way out, which made her more uneasy. Before the Spring Festival in 2018, I really couldn't hear these daily singing declines, and Zhang Chuhan blocked his father's WeChat.
After graduating from college, Zhang Chuhan continued to "drift north" as a girl group.
Soon after, the film crew of the documentary "Women's Group" followed Zhang Chuhan back to Yichang and recorded the fierce debate at the first reunion dinner table with the camera. The father who was "closed wheat" faced his daughter with a furrowed brow and waved his chopsticks with a large range: "Art is to pay attention to reverence!" Just by virtue of the fact that a few of you little girls got together, you came up with a work? Is it useful? You can't do it for two more years! A remark stabbed Zhang Chuhan and retorted loudly: "Am I doing a very bad job now?" Am I not doing a terrible job right now! ”
Calm down, in fact, Zhang Chuhan also understands that her father is not preventing her from doing a girl group, but reminding her of the importance of an experienced production team - this is something she has agreed with since high school. It's just a pity that this extreme way of communication has made her humble enough to split into a kind of inflated conceit to protect herself, and she can't relax in front of her close relatives and talk about her heart.
When she came home for the New Year, she failed to tell her father at the first time that their group was on the verge of disbanding. Not long before, she and her 3 teammates all passed the audition for Tencent Video's "Creation 101", so they decided to use this external force to make a judgment: if they rushed into the top 11 group positions, they would continue to walk along this road; if they were eliminated in the program, they would let each other be free and do what they wanted to do.
Evaluation
With five colors of training clothes, numbered seats, and enlarged name tags attached to the body, "Creation 101" does not hesitate to show the industrialized side of the star-making system. There is the original overseas "PRODUCE 101" pearl jade first, the domestic head video platform echoed a hundred responses, achieving the first collective appearance of the local women's group industry. According to the program team, more than 100 contestants participating in the recording were screened and salvaged from 13,778 young girls from 457 companies in China. Some of them have already debuted but their stars are dim, some are training, and some have just been dismissed by the company - such as the 1931 girl group created by YY Entertainment in 2014 with a huge investment of 500 million.
When they came to the studio, the contestants' first task was to choose their own seats, from the luminous throne with "1" on the highest point to the transparent plastic chair marked "101" at the end, and the program team wanted them to determine their position in the entire industry.
Zhang Chuhan and his 3 teammates walked in wearing uniform black academic uniforms and sat down in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th places among the 101 people. On the one hand, this is for the effect of the program, on the other hand, it is also the embodiment of self-confidence. Before entering the "factory" to record, Zhang Chuhan deliberately practiced hard, prepared a "personal skill" plus test, and had 3 overseas company interviews in his heart.
However, the competitive competition quickly taught them a cruel lesson: on the first stage, they showed a part-of-voice a cappella chorus, which resulted in a mutual influence that went out of tune, and was rated D and F respectively.
When receiving the evaluation results of F, Zhang Chuhan described to the Nandu reporter, "It is like being struck by lightning." In front of the camera, she dropped a sentence of "thank you teacher" in her eyes, and began to cry the moment she turned and stepped off the stage. "Do you know what it means to cry? It's the kind that the whole studio, including the staff on the scene and backstage, can hear..."
An F destroyed her inner order, and even more destroyed her sense of security. Before, she felt that the stage was home, a harbor, because on the stage, she always got good feedback, but now she has disappointed everyone. And according to the recording requirements, this unexpectedly obtained F was also made into clothes to wear on the body, attached to the waist in a conspicuous position, Zhang Chuhan continued to collapse: "At that time, in the F class (Note: the same level of players training together), I had a hard time adjusting my mentality, and then went to the canteen arranged by the program group to eat, passers-by looked at the different colors of training clothes on us and said, 'You see, this is Class A, this is Class F, the worst class.'" It's hard for me to think that I'm an F, but it's become a label for me, as if I didn't do well because of F, and I couldn't make my debut because of F, and I couldn't justify it. ”
In the first performance of "Creation 101", Zhang Chuhan (front row, second from left) sang and danced "Love You" with other contestants. She said she was still not out of a state of collapse.
She and her teammates knew that the only way to escape the bottom was to move up. The captain of the original group took them to practice every day, and because of the longest extra practice time, they were rewarded with two stage C positions (center positions) during the first performance of "Creation 101". However, the show was set to stay at the pick value, and due to the lack of off-site votes, the other 3 girls in the group except Zhang Chuhan failed to enter the second stage.
Later in the program, Zhang Chuhan was promoted from Class F to Class C. She told herself, "You must have willpower to do things, and if you don't practice foolproof, you are not qualified for entertainment and rest", and the result is more tense, farther and farther away from the "sense of ease" she wants. She is extremely concerned and regretful that before the game, she followed the trend to play "slimming face injection" to improve her appearance, stiffened her expression muscles, and chewed gum after entering the group, so that the original most proud expression management was also in a state of failure. During the group class, several instructors said similar things: "Chu Han, can you be happy from the bottom of your heart?" But she was overwhelmed and returned to the dormitory to nibble on the iron bed, avoiding the camera all the time.
On June 23, 2018, the vigorous "Creation 101" came to an end with the large-scale circle of Wang Ju, Yang Chaoyue and others and the debut of Rocket Girl 101. Zhang Chuhan's "graduation" came earlier, and she left in the second round of "58 into 36". In front of the camera, she and Lai Meiyun and Wu Qianying were amused by each other's red eyes, in fact, their hearts were empty: Is my stage over...
In "Creation 101", Zhang Chuhan left at the time of "58 into 36".
reconstruction
After the game, Zhang Chuhan returned to Beijing to pack his bags. The consensus reached by the members of the group before was that if they did not debut on the show, they would consider disbanding. But they soon felt that the successive hits of "Creation 101" (later renamed "Creation Camp") in 2018 and the similar program "Idol Trainee" (later renamed "Youth with You") produced by iQiyi brought fire to the local idol industry as a whole, and the women's group became a public topic and investment outlet, and their group also received a number of advertising and commercial invitations at this time. The "first year of Chinese idols" is coming, and the prospects seem to be promising, but Zhang Chuhan proposed to the company to break up.
That summer, she suffered two major blows: first, the defeat of "Creation 101", which made her unbreakable confidence in the stage, and second, shortly after the end of the game, the only grandfather in the family who unconditionally supported her died of illness. The two spiritual pillars collapsed at the same time, and Zhang Chuhan almost stopped walking out of the room, brushing his mobile phone from morning to night. Unlike when she was a child wrapped in a quilt and watched MP4, she would deliberately avoid the idol group's MV and the scene, "because I was afraid that I would remember it after seeing it, and I didn't dare to face it." ”
After peacefully terminating her contract with the company, she moved out of her original residence to join a circle of friends, and soon received a video from the film crew of the documentary "Girl Group". That was a clip of her grandfather being interviewed at home during her participation in the recording of "Creation 101", who was not yet sick and thin, and his spirit was also very good.
"At that time, the teacher of the documentary asked him, 'Do you think Chu Chu can succeed this time?' I never preached great truth when I was fair, but that time I suddenly said very seriously, 'I think Chu Chu has liked this since she was a child, so she must be able to do it.' I told myself that since Grandpa said I could do it, I would be able to do it. Thanks to her father's harsh and somewhat militarized teachings over the years, she went from cowardice to tenacity, and she knew in her heart, "I will not sit still!" Whatever I do, I naturally want to do my best. ”
When she set off again, she had no stage, and could only take the film and television road like most idols in China, constantly running group auditions, and helping her rebuild her confidence in the process. At that time, there was no staff around her, and a person holding her resume sent it everywhere, in others " Ah? You are obviously an artist, not a vegetarian" In surprise, he smiled and agreed, saying that he was willing to start from scratch. In this way, she tried the IP web drama "Hand can pick the stars", which gradually opened up the situation in the film and television industry, and at the same time, since the second half of 2018, she has also been using her savings, less frequently but never stop looking for Cui Pengke to take dance lessons.
As a senior and division commander, Cui Pengke witnessed her regrouping, and later looked a little impressed: "To tell the truth, the little girl with a slightly better image in the circle now can't stand the pain of this running group, either sign a company to help her arrange, or find an agent, assistant or friend to introduce." "He has the heart to help this particularly serious and dedicated student who has passed the test of professional ability."
Cui Pengke himself is also a stage director, and has been rehearsing popular programs for the CCTV Spring Festival Gala for the past 9 years. In May 2019, the first Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations held a literary and artistic performance at the Bird's Nest, attended by dignitaries from all over the world, and the task of choreographing the fashion song and dance program "Youth Asia" fell on his head. Cui Pengke invited artists Zhang Yixing and Chen Weiting, and selected 20 idols of the boy band and female group to participate in the performance, including Zhang Chuhan. This is the first time that such a performance form and performers have appeared in major national literary and artistic activities. Cui Pengke told nandu reporters about his selection criteria: "At this critical moment, a person with empty traffic cannot stand up, so I don't think much about popularity, I mainly consider their professional standards, attitudes and cooperation." ”
In May 2019, the song and dance program "Youth Asia" performed at the Bird's Nest was the first time that the idols of local boy bands and girl groups appeared in major national literary and artistic activities. The fourth left in the second row is Zhang Chuhan.
Fast forward to July and August 2019, the industry rumors that the second season of "Youth with You" will produce a girls' version. "Originally, after I had participated in a talent show once, I wanted to say, absolutely, absolutely not to participate in a second time. Because when I came to the show, I felt like I had become a 'person in the cracks', and it was really not easy to prove myself in a short period of time. And at that time, she also tried on some important roles in the play, and the recording time conflicted.
After a few days of entanglement at home, Zhang Chuhan still decided to compromise with her stage dream: "I will comfort myself, since I was able to try the play with my ability before, I will definitely be able to do it in the future; but if I don't go to "Youth with You 2", I will definitely regret it. ”
Feedback
Returning to the studio of the women's group talent show again, the moment I saw the stage, the familiar feeling returned, as if a voice was saying: "Chu Han, you are home." ”
This time, she was in a full state and her mindset was well adjusted, and she didn't need to rely on other ways to relieve her anxiety. As two years ago, she carefully prepared the first stage, and the "personal skills" plus test part still asked Cui Pengke to do the guidance, in order to show her real strength.
Cui Pengke designed an ending pose for her to turn around and jump up and kneel. When cutting the details, Zhang Chuhan slammed directly to the ground with a "bang", did not wear any protective gear (Cui Pengke said, it was useless to wear it), the entire knee was blue and black, and the people in the classroom were stunned. Later, in the main film of the show, vocal mentor Ella Chen Jiahua was also stunned - two years ago, "Creation 101", she also sat on the jury. In the end, this stage got a B, and in the later theme song assessment, Zhang Chuhan was unanimously rated as A by all the tutors plus cai Xukun, the representative of the active idol, and stood on the 9-person stage at the center of the theme song recording of the program.
"Youth with You 2" was broadcast in the second half of the broadcast, Zhang Chuhan attracted more and more attention, but due to the influence of the competition format and the overall configuration of the contestants, she actually became a halfway out of the house RAP director, basically did not have the opportunity to show her better dance. In the elimination before the night of the final, she stopped at the 27th place among the 109 contestants in this year, leaving a frozen picture of touching the stage in the hearts of the audience.
Zhang Chuhan became the RAP director appreciated by rap coach Jony J in "Youth with You 2".
Zhang Chuhan told Nandu reporters: "I understand that business ability is not the only measure, there are many decisive factors, but in the face of what I like to do, I have no way to completely treat it as a variety reality show, I just feel that 'I have a stage again'; I am not ashamed of each stage." The end result may not be exactly what I wanted, but I am quite satisfied. Because it proves that even if I am only one person, even if I am still stupid, I will still be seen by some people. ”
What will be her path in the future? Now many people are worried about Zhang Chuhan. Because she is 24 years old this year, she is close to the age limit of the domestic women's group industry convention (although there is no reason to talk about it). For this, Cui Pengke was not too worried. He said that in the idol industry, some people's goal is to make money by becoming famous, so they are always pursuing topics and exposure, and Zhang Chuhan is obviously different: "I think her concept is good, she really likes it, and she has requirements for her profession." As long as she can maintain this state, there must be a chance. Even if I may not be a girl group in the future, and be an artist with strong comprehensive ability, whether it is filming or singing and dancing, I feel that there is still hope. ”
On May 13 this year, Li Maoyang released a new song "Confession in Progress" with Zhang Chuhan, who is also the songwriter and producer of this non-profit single. In his view, the debut age line of the 24 and 25-year-old debut of the girl group does exist, but Zhang Chuhan can be regarded as a category of tolerance with her previous works and popularity accumulation, in addition, she can also try to be a singer.
In 2019, Zhang Chuhan recorded a collaborative single with Li Maoyang.
"Confession in Progress" originated from Li Maoyang's "D-Zone Girls' Project" - inviting members of Chinese girl groups with different personalities to participate in the production, presenting a style other than idol music. After becoming an independent producer, he was able to practice his girl group producer feelings in this way.
"In fact, many domestic idols really hope to attract the audience through their own efforts to make the industry more prosperous and better, which I think is quite worthy of respect; including many producers and investors in the idol industry, they have also been exploring models that are in line with national conditions and cheering each other on." Li Maoyang said, "Every culture needs to go through this stage before forming a system, and as to whether we can reach a certain height in the future, it is yet to be verified." ”
This young industry, along with the young individuals in the industry, is waiting for the wind to come. Zhang Chuhan said in her usual stubborn tone: "I think as long as you are willing to 'work hard smartly' and be willing to be in awe of everything you do, there will be no bad results." The rest is left to fate. ”
Written by: Nandu reporter Hou Jingjing
Image courtesy of respondents (some infographics from the web)
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