It was certainly an interesting year, for not just C-Pop but the entirety of Chinese entertainment in 2021, with events that have impacted the industry permanently. While we are at the dawn of the new year and continue to see the repercussions of the events from last year, let’s take a look at some of the highlights of C-Pop in 2021 and better moments that came out a wild year.
Chuang2021
The fourth season of Tencent’s idol survival show surprised everyone with its success, both domestic and on an international level. To compete with the international success that Youth With You 2 had achieved when they invited Lisa to be a mentor on the show, Chuang 2021 showrunners sought out international talent, providing a fresh feeling to the franchise. What followed was a heartwarming show focusing on delivering fantastic performances, heartwarming friendships, and a lot of entertaining moments.
Even now, many of the Chuang alum have reunited, some performing together or creating music together, speaking to the strong bonds and friendships that we hope will continue in the future.
Without Chuang 2021, we would never have gotten Lelush bringing the C-Idol industry to international headlines, and that alone is worth a highlight.
INTO1 have also just released their second EP, with some great songs on it and hopefully, this success will continue into the coming year ahead.
IXFORM Finally Debuts
While Youth With You 3 did not find the same amount of success as Chuang 2021, they still had plenty of very talented trainees and some great performances on the show, so it was a huge disappointment that the finale never made it to air and there was no proper closure for the final contestants.
What followed was weeks of silence from the supposed top 9, rumors of the contestants being confined to hotel rooms, theories about whether they would debut as a group or not, some fans even jokingly making missing person posters for their bias.
Needless to say, it was a pleasant surprise when the group finally announced their debut as “IXFORM” at a music festival. It hasn’t been an easy road for them, but they’ve already begun to release music, so hopefully, 2022 has more in store for them.
R1SE’s Graduation Concert
This isn’t on the list because we wanted R1SE to disband, but more so an ode to their run as a group. Despite only having a two-year contract as a group, they managed to grow as a group, putting out some great performances and building a dedicated and loyal fanbase.
Throughout their graduation concert and EP you can feel not only the deep relationship between the group and their fans but also between the group members themselves. We hope to see these friendships continue into the future (you can already see some of the members reunite on the variety show “Welcome Buddies”!).
Our Song (我們的歌) Crossing Generations Through Music
One of the better music-focused variety shows left is Our Song, a show which pairs together an older singer with a younger singer to perform together. The show focuses on bringing different generations together to create great music, and has produced some fantastic performances.
This year boasted an all-star cast, and once again delivered memorable and touching moments. In particular, the 74-year-old George Lam pairing up with the 31-year-old Hu Xia really showed how music can transcend through so many different generations. Hopefully if there is still another season of the show, it continues to deliver such moments.
This is just a fraction of all the more positive moments from C-Pop in 2021, and we look forward to what the new year will bring. Let us know if you had a favorite C-Pop moment from 2021!
