#and then tencent will be amazing and debut a second group

[ceceliinee]

This is not my personal Top 11 but to me this line up would make the most sense chemistry wise! It's international, everyone is friends and no one has to leave their bestie behind (no specific order):

1. Liu Yu

2. Santa

3. Rikimaru

4. Nine

5. Patrick

6. Zhou Keyu

7. Hu Yetao

8. Oscar

9. Caelan

10. Mika

11. Zeng Hanjiang

[shadowetienne]

I’m going to babble a little bit about Chuang 2021 and QCYN3 under the cut. I’ve been following them, but not posting a ton about them because grad school/student teaching and life eating my time, but we’ve had another elimination since last I posted for each of them (QCYN3′s today), so I’m going to update my top debut # lists for each and just babble a little. There are spoilers under the cut, you’ve been warned...

Chuang 2021

Per usual, I think that my tastes don’t align with Tencent’s as well as they do with iQiyi’s, just in terms of who they seem to choose to promote/elevate and the sorts of narratives that they write. I’m not the target audience for either though, so this isn’t super surprising. I lost several favorites in this last elimination, but my top top cluster made it, so that’s nice.

We’ve had 3rd stage for Chuang, and I’ve got to say that I wasn’t super caught by any of the songs. I’ll rewatch the performances later though, and maybe some of them will grow on me. I thought that a lot of people performed well (or at least better than I would have expected though).

My Top 11 for Chuang 2021:

Xue Bayi -  He’s gorgeous, all around quite talented, and was in my favorite audition performance and favorite of the position stages. I love the aesthetic that he has for himself, and his dynamics with other trainees. He is clearly someone that Tencent badly wants to gloss over though (all the camerawork involving him just makes me grumpy, it’s like watching for crumbs). I’m glad for his friendships keeping him onscreen as much as they do. 

Liu Yu - Also gorgeous, also all around talented, especially amazing dancer, also in my top audition performance. I’m a little worried for him (not in terms of making it through, but in terms of honestly the pressure being put on him right now). He’s come up to my second position on this list partially because of his friendship with Bayi though.

Hu Yetao - I struggled a little with him deciding to cut his hair short, to be honest, not because it makes him less pretty, just because that’s an aesthetic choice that I have feelings about. Poor kid seems to be having a rough time of it, and I hope that the positive treatment in the performance episode was enough to help carry him through to the final.

Bo Yuan - I’ve adored Bo Yuan since partway through QCYN1. He’s all around talented, an amazing vocalist, and an amazing leader. I love how caring he is towards all the other trainees, and I really really hope that this is where he gets his big break.

Rong Yao - So as you might be realizing, this first audition performance left an impression on me. Rong Yao’s again, very well rounded, has an awesome voice, and I really love how positive he’s been and how well he’s meshed with a variety of styles. I don’t have much hope of him making it through this next elimination though.

Nine - He’s adorable, and has a wonderful voice, and solid, rapidly increasing all around skills. I’ve really enjoyed him as part of room 1002 as well. The friendships in that room are so precious.

Riki - He’s an incredible dancer, and I love the way he meshes with groups and works with others. I’ve got to say the fact that in his first blog he highlighted Bayi’s dance really did endear him to me, but overall, I like his personality a lot, and I think that he’s super talented. His voice is pleasant too, if in need of a little more training. --- (This is where I stop having strong feelings) ---

Lin Mo - Ridiculous, adorable kid. Nice voice, seems pretty well liked among the others.

Jing Long -  Very good vocalist.

Yu Gengyin - Good leader, good all around skills. Like his dynamics with a bunch of other trainees.

He Yifan - Very nice voice, I’ve enjoyed his overall presence.

There are a ton of other talented trainees, and it’s really that top seven that I have strong feelings about. The last four, I was scrolling through the list of who’s left and going, who do I enjoy? So who I put in those last 4 on my list could vary in name and order just based on how I was feeling/which names popped out at me first. I’ll probably need at least 3 of that top 7 of mine to make it to actually follow follow group activities rather than casually keep an eye on what the final group is up to.

---

Qing Chun You Ni 3

I do think that I’m having closer feelings on the two shows this year than I have in a lot of past years, but QCYN3 continues to highlight things that I like a little bit more. I will always appreciate that QCYN/IP in all its iterations has included variation in their uniforms that allows trainees to pick what they are comfortable in and what suits them. While it’s less prominent in this season than in last season, it’s one of those little things that makes me like their treatment of the trainees better in many ways.

I’m really excited to see the 3rd stage here where they get to do their own songs that were produced for them, and I’m interested to see the rearrangement process (though I’ve read spoilers on that, and I’m tentatively happy with some of it).

My Top 9 for QCYN3:

Sun Yinghao (Kachine) - He’s gorgeous, he’s an amazing dancer, he messes with gender binaries, if anyone’s surprised that I like him, I’m a little baffled honestly. His voice is relatively untrained (he was a backup dancer and dance teacher and small time makeup vlogger before he was a trainee, so really well trained dancer, very little time on voice so far). He shows potential though, and as long as he stays in the parts of his range where he’s comfortable, does fine. He has been improving on this front quite a lot, and I’m proud of him for it.

Liu Jun - The best dancer on the show, hands down. His personality is also delightful, and I love his dynamics with so many other trainers. Like Yinghao, didn’t come in with a ton of vocal training (and he’s an independent trainee, so didn’t even have that structure). He’s got some natural ability on that front and training seems to be doing his voice a lot of good.

Jiang Jingzuo - I liked him in IP, and I liked him in Tangram, and he just keeps getting better. I love his all around skill and how well he’s adapted to and helped different groups.

Lian Huaiwei - I liked him a lot in QCYN1, and I was sad when he didn’t make it through to the group, so I’m thrilled to be seeing him to so well here. Another very good all around talent.

Duan Xingxing (X) - Amazing dancer, solid basic skills across the board in other things. I love how much he seems to like trying cute/sweet concepts. He’s also got a great bond with other trainees, and that’s fun to see.

Sun Yihang - Really good dancer, solid all arounder, really charming interactions with Huaiwei (and many others).

Wang Nanjun (Krystian) - He’s got such a good solid base of skill and he’s really all around talented. I’m definitely soft for his childishness/reactions, in a way that I wouldn’t be necessarily if he didn’t have the skill to back it up, but his dynamics with a lot of other trainees, but most notably to me Liu Jun, are really endearing.

Liu Guanyou (Neil) - All around good talent, adorable but versatile in his skill set. Really sweet dynamics with a lot of other trainees, most notably Duan Xingxing.

Xu Ziwei - One big reason: voice! He’s a really good vocalist, and he works hard on dance and has been improving dramatically. Basically in the exact opposite position training wise from trainees like Yinghao and Liu Jun.

There are many other people I like (including most of the top 9 that aren’t in my list, though I’m kind of neutral on a few of them). There are a whole lot of interesting and talented trainees, and this is just a list that reflects my personal tastes.

I’d love the chance to talk to other people about the shows and trainees that we both like (especially Bayi and Yinghao and gender presentation related feelings).

[beihonglin]

do you know why cai xukun left swin? I'm confused about what happened to that group and why they all separated, but I'm clueless as to where / how to find more information about them! If you could explain a bit, that would truly be so helpful, thank you!!!

hi! kunkun was in the music/dance subunit of swin, swin-s, and left after their debut ep, new world. he was in their 《New World》 mv here and their 《只因你太美》dance practice video here. he was also in their 161112 dorm livestream here, where he was roommates with liu ye (uwu!!). 

but alas pelias is a Shit Company that Doesn’t Know how to Manage Talent or the Promotion and Marketing of Idols… and kunkun realised it early (end 2016, after new world was released) and got himself out of there before his career went down the drain. no official post was ever released by pelias, understandably, and i doubt kunkun would ever want to talk about it publicly, but it’s been more or less accepted as such based on how the other swin members have described their years in pelias (no promotions, few comebacks opportunities, being pushed into acting etc). 

but after he left pelias, kunkun made it to beijing where he stayed alone, learnt how to play the guitar alone, learnt producing alone, picked up music alone, without any source of financial income for an entire year until he got picked up for idol producer. 

swin-s used to be six: cai xukun, wu muti, he yifan, yu gengyin, zhao pinlin and liu ye. there was also another sub-unit of swin called swin-e, which basically were all the ‘entertainers’ (actors lmao): zuo qibo, zhu yunlong, gouchen haoyu and tian shuchen. typing all their names out make my heart hurt?? five of them left (muti, fanfan, kunkun, gengyin, huadi) but five of them are still in swin (pinlin, liu ye, zuozuo, yunlong, gouhao)!! 

wu muti: the youngest (990707), 1/3 of didi line, sweetest baby angel, the first one to make friends with everyone on super idol, fluent in korean, spoiled the most by his geges along with kunkun. he went on to participate in under nineteen after he left swin, and he’d probably have gotten into the final group too if they didn’t make him leave the show because of visa issues. 

he yifan: second youngest (980822), 1/3 of didi line, cheeky lil bitch, sunshine meme boy, would bicker with kunkun over anything. he went on to participate in all for one after he left swin and turned into a yeehaw boy but because youku is a shady bitch and kept changing rules left and right, pulled out of the show halfway. he was really good though and all the swin boys said he rly grew up so much!! he’s now in ONEGROUP with zhao fangzhou (also on super idol)! 

yu gengyin: leader of swin-s (960428), responsible half of main vocal line, soft warm boy, knows every single jj lin song by heart, used to livestream regularly, quite possibly the love of my life. he’s swin’s Biggest Fan and if any past or present member goes on a survival show gengyin’s the first to post support and cheer them on ;n; he was also a mentor on another show《青春最强音》. he released the cutest song 《特别的安排》recently, and just wrapped up filming for a movie!! i translate for him sometimes here.

tian shuchen: ¼ of swin-e (941026), pretends to be fierce but is a puppy, has a dog called zongzi (rice dumpling). unlike the rest of them who left swin because pelias crap that doesn’t deserve them, huadi revealed that he left swin because of zhao pinlin. he also went on all for one after he left swin and debuted in one of their two final groups, BlackACE. his group, BlackACE, has released two songs, fission and because of you. check out more subbed content here! 

as ot9, they made two more comebacks - ep1 on 170717 (《告别少年》mv here, 《发光的星体》mv here and the cutest song 《和你去海边》dance practice here) and ep2 on 180109 (《BFGF》christmas version here and 《不解释》mv here). they also had a group variety show but they had to stop it after three episodes.  

as ot5, we got 《25Hours》on 180928 and 《动听醋语》on 181013!

zhao pinlin: still in swin! 1/3 of swin-s’ gege line (940629) but the youngest in ot5 swin, brat half of swin-s’ main vocal line, grouches a lot but would kill for his boys (especially ex-roommate gengyin). he also went on all for one as part of the three members of swin they sent on and all his performances were amazing!!! he ended up debuting in one of the two final groups of all for one as first place (!!!!!!). his group, BlackACE, has released two songs, fission and because of you. check out more subbed content here! 

he was also the one who went to look for kunkun in beijing after kunkun left swin, and was the first one kunkun called when he got the centre position in idol producer ;;;;; he didn’t tell kun that he was participating in all for one because he didn’t want to bother him, but pinlin ended up debuting in first place too ;;;;;;;;;; 

liu ye: still in swin! 1/3 of swin-s’ gege line (931115), dance prodigy, hid his age for three whole years until he got exposed as a 93 liner on produce camp, the softest shyest angel, used to be kunkun’s roommate, easily teased but would die with any of his friends. he’s gone on street dance of china and produce camp! he ended up debuting in r1se, produce camp’s final group, in 8th place (!!!!) despite tencent’s reluctance to give him any screen time at all. although he’s still in swin, he’s no longer under pelias - that piece of shit company sold his contract to 1cm some time in the middle of produce cam. i translate for him sometimes here! 

gouchen haoyu: still in swin! 940427, the sweetest swin boy, constantly showering love and affection, purest cat boy - he has a tattoo of a cat on his left shoulder and his cats are called dough stick (youtiao) and soymilk (doujiang) and he posts videos with them all the time sobs!! he also hangs out with / cat sits for xia zhiguang (x-nine, r1se)!! he also went on all for one as part of the three members of swin they sent on. he ended up debuting in one of the two final groups of all for one, called New Storm!! 

zhu yunlong: still in swin! old man (920413), singaporean, girl group dance lover, looks sweet but would probably kill you in your sleep. he also went on all for one as part of the three members of swin they sent on but got SNAKED by youku!!! he’s currently filming something with gouhao. 

zuo qibo: still in swin! another old man (920119), actor and the member with the most solo songs, including 《世界将我包围》(the world surrounds me),《这是爱》(this is love, an ost for a show he acted in) and 《I Won’t Cry》! he also went on the next top bang but also got snaked by dragon tv. honestly, he’s probably the most consistently employed in swin. 

as for how to keep up with them, i follow the boys, their work studios and their fanclubs on weibo! also the SWIN and 星动一班 chaohuas are great for constant emo swin hours (not that it’s never emo swin hours in this household).

anyway i hope this helps!!!!! ;u;