Author | Summer Edit | Fan Zhihui
Three years is enough to make a group of girls go from youth to maturity.
In 2018, two phenomenal idol drafts, "Creation 101" and "Idol Trainees", jointly opened the "first year of idols" in full swing. In the next few years, similar talent shows such as "Creation Camp", "Youth with You", and "The Name of the Teenager" were launched one after another, until this year's "pouring milk storm" came to an abrupt end.
We see that every year the talent stage is full of dreamers who are full of hope for the future, and every year someone shines on this stage. But the debut is always a minority, and no one will always shine. After leaving the stage, will they continue to chase their dreams, or will they disappear from the public eye?
In the latest issue of "Thirteen Invitations: Dialogue with 101 Girls", Xu Zhiyuan witnessed and told the dream stories of the three "101 Girls" around three years ago from the perspective of a bystander. And Meng Meiqi, who successfully debuted, Wang Ju, who transformed into an actor, and Qiang Dongyue, who returned to the origin, the three of them just represent the successful, out-of-line and silent majority in the draft.
From their stories, we may be able to glimpse another side of the idol industry.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="14" > "I changed, I didn't change"</h1>
Meng Meiqi is the representative of the idol in the hearts of the public, with superior appearance conditions, excellent singing and dancing strength, and has started her trainee career in South Korea since the age of 15.
However, entering a strict practice life too early also made her yearn for the lives of ordinary people. She said in an interview, "I sometimes envy Wang Ju, and that kind of life will get different harvests." Talking about her debut, Meng Meiqi said that because she had a short debut experience, she wanted to make friends more. But in the end, relying on the singing and dancing skills of the previous training, she debuted in the first place.
Three years later, the interview was conducted in the studio, and by this time she had fulfilled her desire to become an idol.
Although she is now fully receptive to the cost of losing her freedom and maintaining perfection to become an idol, she still imagines herself jumping out of it from time to time — walking freely on the street, wandering aimlessly, living a life outside of eating and sleeping.
In contrast, Wang Ju is clearly not an idol that conforms to the public imagination. On this track, she's like an outsider. In an interview in 2018, she mentioned that she was mentally prepared to be attacked because of her appearance at the festival, but it was also this "non-standardity" that also made her successfully out of the circle.
Reviewing Wang Ju's exit from the circle is more because of his own personality and the empathy of the audience's self-substitution. Idols like her who are fans of the personality circle are not uncommon in the talent show variety show, and the Shangguan favorite of "Youth with You 2" in 2020 and Li Luxiu in this year's "Creation Camp" are such players with distinct personalities, but they are also irreproducible.
In an interview three years ago, Wang Ju was full of expectations for her debut, and for her, the women's group is a different attempt and experience. After three years, she felt that there were too many things that singers and dancers needed to take care of, and she was more willing to focus her energy on the acting career she had always enjoyed.
Talking about "Creation 101" three years ago, Wang Ju felt that she was very lucky, although she did not form a group in the end, but it was this opportunity that allowed her to be watched by more people, and had the opportunity to really enter this industry and engage in the work of actors she had always been interested in.
Although Meng Meiqi and Wang Ju have chosen different directions, they have temporarily gained a foothold in the industry.
In contrast, Qiang Dongyue is still outside the lights of the idol industry. In the first issue of "Creation 101", she once achieved a good result of second place, but finally stopped at 21st place. Not being in a group was a pity for her, but life went on.
Qiang Dongyue said that he was writing songs and preparing to continue to participate in the competition. Although she is often labeled as a "back-to-pot meat", this is one of the few ways she can be seen by the public. The dream continues, and the hardships of life have been overwhelmed. She laughs and says that the realistic desire to eat, buy a bag, buy a house in Shanghai has outweighed her desire to be famous.
Meng Meiqi, who successfully debuted to realize her dream, Wang Ju, who stepped into the actor industry with the help of the 101 stage, and Qiang Dongyue, who is still hovering on the edge of the entertainment industry, represent a small number of successful debuts, popular players who failed to make a successful debut, and most of the unknown trainees.
If it weren't for this show, I don't think most people would have paid attention to Qiang Dongyue's recent situation, and in the rapid iteration of idol industry, most of the trainees would eventually become the black curtain behind this spotlight.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="44" > robot, look at the data and "back to the pot meat"</h1>
Most of the time, the aura on the idol is so dazzling, from the psychological projection of the fans.
In the show, everyone prefers the radiant hot contestants, and for the idol herself, everyone also prefers her perfect character.
Meng Meiqi mentioned in the interview that after becoming an idol, she is like a robot, always needing to maintain a perfect human design, which once made her unable to accept any flaws in herself. It was tiring, but in her opinion, it was a responsibility to her followers.
When Xu Zhiyuan asked rhetorically, "People are full of flaws, isn't it also important for everyone to realize that everyone is a normal person?" At that time, Meng Meiqi did not respond positively, but only euphemistically said that her current self was much more free than in the past.
Maybe it's because life is not perfect, so everyone will build a utopia on idols.
When asked about the least favorite part of the entertainment industry, Wang Ju said that the least favorite thing is to look at data. Although data is a standard of measurement, it should not be the most direct and standard reference.
This strange phenomenon of only traffic is the first to look at, and indeed trapped the entertainment industry for many years.
In 2019, one of the Douban netizens was titled "Jay Chou's data is so poor, why are concert tickets still difficult to buy?" The post accidentally triggered a data war between Cai Xukun fans and Jay Chou fans.
Before this data war, Jay Chou's list data was not high, and Jay was not in the top 100 last week in the "2018 Most Commercially Valuable Star List". However, the downturn in the list data will not hinder his huge influence, in just one week, the "sunset fans" will send him to the first super talk, and the super talk influence has also successfully broken 100 million, breaking the Weibo record.
Jay Chou's influence comes from his strength, and the data is only the icing on the cake for him. In contrast, at present, data has become the first indicator, and with data and traffic, we can have more variety shows and performance resources. In such an environment, whether they like it or not, artists have to spend some time and energy to cater to this trend. Like Wang Ju said, I don't like it, but I can only accept it, I can't change all this.
If Wang Ju has already felt the fear of being dominated by data at close range, then Qiang Dongyue is still on the verge of accepting the ridicule of "returning to the pot meat".
In Qiang Dongyue's view, "back to the pot" means that he is not good enough, not enough to have a point that can be supported for a long time, so that he can have a stage without participating in the competition, can be remembered by everyone, and can make money. Otherwise, who wants to go back to the pot?
In fact, in addition to the reasons for the players' own strength, the emergence of a large number of "back to the pot meat" is not unrelated to the imperfect infrastructure of the idol industry. Qiang Dongyue believes that the reason for returning to the pot is that he is not good enough, but even if he is good enough and strong enough, he may not be able to get rid of the fate of returning to the pot.
Different from South Korea, the domestic draft is more interested in the "eye edge". Yang Chaoyue, who was at the same time as her, is a typical example, although the singing and dancing strength is not good, but the personality circle is fan, pleasing, and the popularity soars all the way, and finally successfully debuts. On the one hand, strength is not the only criterion for debut, and can only be forced to return to the assembly line of the idol industry; on the other hand, the lack of a singing platform makes many idols can only face the dilemma of "debut is the peak".
Take Liu Yuxin, the "back to the pot meat" player of "Youth with You 2" in 2020, as an example.
Back in 2012, she was known for her "Up! The outstanding performance in "Teenager" became the only female member of the big dance troupe; in the 2019 "This is Street Dance 2", he was also recognized by his mentor Wu Jianhao for his outstanding performance, and he had already debuted through the Bee Girl Team before participating in "Youth with You 2".
However, the lack of a singing platform allows the Bee Girls to spend more energy on magazines, variety shows, and micro-movies after their debut, and the gap between reality and expectations makes the team eventually go to dissolution. Even THE9, which is backed by iQiyi, was not spared, and when they returned to the stage of "Youth with You", mentor Lisa bluntly said that their stage ability had declined.
No matter where they are in the idol industry, these girls have their own troubles. Some can be solved, more often, can only choose to accept and adapt.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="86" > "The stage is brutal, but I still love it."</h1>
Behind the bright and beautiful stage, in addition to sweat, perfect human design, looking at data and "returning to the pot meat", there is also cruel competition.
In the documentary, some media people mentioned that most of the fans are March fans, and after three months, they are fans of new people. According to statistics, the internal entertainment draft has been carried out so far, and more than 800 idol artists have been sent to the market. The continuous launch of the talent show has plunged fans into the embarrassing situation that this wave of people have not yet recognized all, and new people have come out, and fans are not enough.
Everyone wants to be Yang Chaoyue and Meng Meiqi, but most of them are Qiang Dongyue.
When some netizens went to Disney Amusement Park to play, they found that Chen Yuyan, who had participated in "Creation 101" and was concerned for singing "Backlight", was re-employed as a dance performer, which was inevitable. The Middle Cherry, to which she once belonged, has now transformed into a video MCN agency.
Gou Xueying, who participated in "Creation 101", had stunned the scene in the performance of "Alien", but had no choice but to stop with the result of ranking 48th. Two years later, Gou Xueying appeared on the "Youth with You 2", the song "Forgetting in Travel" out of the circle, and finally stopped in the top 48, and also failed to debut successfully. After leaving the stage, Gou Xueying now signed a contract with Qingwa Entertainment and transformed into a singer.
And runners like Chen Yuyan and Gou Xueying are the fate of most trainees. According to Tencent News, There are currently tens of thousands of trainees in China, but only 10% of them can debut, and less than 1% can become famous. After a brief exposure, their lives returned to calm, and the draft was like a dream.
Xu Zhiyuan mentioned in the interview, "In today's social values, there are successes and sparkles everywhere, and pain, struggle, and loss are too little, in fact, they are very important parts of life." Ultimately, all of us must learn to coexist with the misfortunes and helplessness of our own lives."
Despite the fierce competition, the ridicule of "back to the pot meat" and the industry looking at data make people so helpless, the stage still has a huge attraction for girls. The difference is that the emotion of three years ago was to enjoy the pleasure brought by the stage; now it is a deeper love after seeing the loss behind the stage and having no choice.
As Qiang Dongyue mentioned in the interview, the stage is like the rain in Suzhou, tourists think that this rain is sentimental and romantic, but the locals only think of dry clothes and moldy quilts. She still longs for the stage, probably the one who still thinks the rain is romantic when she looks at the moldy quilt and the clothes that can't be dried.
Whether it is Meng Meiqi in the center of the stage, or Qiang Dongyue, who is still hovering on the edge of the stage, they will find a way to reconcile with themselves in the process of this chase.
Typography | Anlin
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