When capability meets luck
First things first, this year’s sisters’ performances caught me by surprise. Each stage has at least 1 song (or more) I played on a loop. Some was due to compatible song selection, some was due to 姐姐‘s great vocals, and some was due to catchy song options. Either way, I feel these performances speak for itself considering this is a singing competition after all.Here are my favourites
1. 留不住的雪 - https://youtu.be/qZTexvlRQHc
2. 过 - https://youtu.be/Pxw5IYYQOvQ
3. 小雨 - https://youtu.be/H1n4nrm_xAs
4. 精卫 - https://youtu.be/YMDwBXjNzAo
5. 问风 - https://youtu.be/xAP8Dmd7ctE
6. 密不透风 - https://youtu.be/eDVv6lKdUro
7. 爱 - https://youtu.be/HQ8YoEwVEdk
8. This is Me - https://youtu.be/kzPH4z6lkiY
Secondly, the production team got a lucky break with the right script with some sisters. Chen Haoyu is the formidable black horse story that we audience will always root for - the unexpected unscripted deserving champion; Shang Wenjie is the humble solid tutor whom most if not everyone would respect - as shown in how she visibly raising her teammates’ performance capability; Cai Wen Jing and Vanida provide a lot of laughters - making the off stage part of this show enjoyable. And of course, I am only naming my top personal biases for purpose of my review. I do feel every sister is great and each has her own story that’s worth listening.
Third, I enjoy the onscreen interactions and interviews I’ve seen with the sisters. Chemistry is an odd thing, and this includes friendship chemistry. I am glad Chen Haoyu and Vanida had the chance to form a team together with Li Jiage and Suni during 3rd stage, and since then, had been in the same team. Their team has great team spirit, energy, friendship and fitting skill set of a girl group. Especially after Tia, Nicole and Xie Jingyan joined, they amped up the vocal and dance capability. Love seeing them overcoming the popularity disadvantage with their teamwork, lucky break, and capability.
As for Shang Wenjie, I love seeing her storyline too - the introverted awkward businesswoman with a caring personality. She is smart and knowledgeable. She’s also sincere, truthful and kind. One can tell Shang Wenjie’s tactfulness today is a result of being humbled by the “world’s” abrasiveness yesterday. It was awe inspiring hearing her Live version of Chandelier, and heartwarming hearing her singing Love, a song that hold so much meaning to her. RE: No.7 in the song list above.
If all these doesn’t persuade you to give this year’s sisters a try, at least tune in to episode 7 where Chen Haoyu, Cai Wenjing and Sa Ding Ding got appointed to be team leaders from the competition rules. Get a feel of how likeable they are :D
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
(Note: I watched the show about 2 months ago, so my memory is not the best while writing this)I pretty much watched this show for Chen Lijun, I saw some of Lijun stages on YouTube (Chen Lijun's first performance and the fourth stage) I was pretty impressed with the stages so I got curious and decide to watch the show. I didn't have any expectations of the show and barely knew or heard of many of the contestants apart from Chen Lijun, Kuo Shu Yao, Jeannie Hsieh, Qi Wei and Nicole Jung but I really enjoyed it from the stages to the interactions between sisters particularly Shang Wenjie and Zhu Dan, There were moments where I shed a few tears while watching this show,
Some moments from the show that I want to highlight are:
Fa Ru Xue stage is a definition of art , love the bit wear the smear the white dust on their hair. Su Reverse was pretty good too, Sa Dingding's high note at the end. Chen Lijun put together a good team, loved the team dynamic. The team name being called 春秋大梦 due to Sa Dingding wishful thinking.
The final song selection for the fifth stage between the three teams and captains is was so funny and chaotic, it didn't turn out the way how the captains wanted as their selection had to match their teammates selections. Probably the funniest part of the show, in my opinion.
Dong Feng Bo stage - hearing it during the assessment makes you think that the arrangement isn't going to work but when it came to the actual stage it's pretty good. Liu Xin did such a good job of the putting the stage together and standing her ground of combining Yue Opera into the song, too bad both the music director and stage directors didn't think it was a good idea but Chen Lijun and Liu Xin proved them wrong and put on an impressive stage.
Mi Bu Tou Feng - the stage is pretty good for an original song. I noticed that original songs are often not super popular among the participants so it's often performed by sisters that aren't good at singing and dancing which means the performance may not be as a good as the other stages. It's also done in one take, it took a lot of practice to perfect that stage and even the smallest mistake can affect the stage.
Wang Lin for making it all the way to fifth stage despite the criticism from netziens for her age, it's not something that many people at her age often do. She stepped out of her comfort zone from what she was used to and to take on the challenge on to perform Po Feng, a song that requires a complex dancing, it's not an easy feat. The award was defiently well earned for Wang Lin.
It was nice to see the all the members of 春秋大梦组 making into top 10. from winning the first stage together and making into finals.
Some of my favourite stages are
发如雪 Fa Ru Xue
溯Reverse Su Reverse
华夏 Hua Xia
密不透风 Mi Bu Tou Feng
东风破 Dong Feng Bo
月亮之上 Yue Liang Zhi Shang
Also check out Chen Lijun's stage of Xiake Yin (Not from the official Chengfeng account but from a fan account) from Xin Long Men Ke Zhan documentary film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tjPrk-Ou-k
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
I watched this for 3 reasons: 1) Queen Sa DingDing, 2) Queen Tia Ray, and 3) Queen Chen Lijun. But most of them were Queens by the end of the season.I only watched Call Me By Fire S4 before, so comparing, I think the girls are more determined than the guys. I thought I wouldn't find the same camaraderie as in CMBF4 but I was pleasantly wrong. The girls (women, since they are all older than 30) showed a lovely bond and admiration between them. Take for example the first magnificent group (SDD, CLJ, Chen Haoyu and Liu Yan). They all formed different groups afterwards, but that first group was the most beloved for all 4 of them. SDD and LY formed again later on a duet where they told the other girls how they teased each other. Or you could tell how much CHY admired and looked up to CLJ (she was never too far away from CLJ, and always wanted to collaborate with her). Then there were Laure Zhang and ZhuDan, and Joyce + Han Xue. There were many girls that formed a tight bond with another, and it was very nice to see.
What is nice about this type of reality show is that you can see how someone who is excellent inspires others. And how someone who is mediocre gets better after much determination and perseverance. Like Zhang Yuxi ans ZhuDan, two very mediocre artists who couldn't sing nor dance at the beginning (whenever they sung in the first episodes, it was so embarrassing) but they persisted and both got so much better at the end.
Much admiration for Joyce, the French artist and the only Western artist that persisted till the end ( I wonder if Mai, Sasha Alex Sloan and the Russian girl felt too overwhelmed but the best reason they could give was "health issues"). Joyce (a Queen) sings many songs in Chinese, and as an Ambassador for France, she committed to learning Chinese. And she sings so well (I fell in love with her with that first very song, and the one she sings with HX is on my playlist).
Two things where CMBF4 was better: 1) the first half of this show the performances were MEH.. the songs the show gave to the girls were, 40%, of the "cute" type, and the other 40% of the "slutty" type and only 20% of the good type. We had to wait a bit for the "cool" performances, and even then, the actresses didn't have stages where their skills as an actress were shined. Unlike CMBF4 that had many stages that mixed dance, singing and acting. And 2) CMFB4 had 17 winners, RWTW5 had only 15, and they were:
1) Liu Xin: the rocker who cried a lot XD She is very cool, can sing, dance, arrange, and be an awesome leader. Her voice is great.
2) CLJ: one of the most consistent artists. Everyone wanted her on her team, but her greatest fan was without a doubt, CHY XD Not only she is beautiful but also handsome and amazingly talented in Yue Opera (the representative of this type of Opera). She was the Wang ZhengLiang of this season.
3) Qi Wei: I wouldn't say she was the best at dancing nor at singing, but she was a Winner right from the start. Her personality, her determination. She was the Hacken Lee of the season.
4) CHY: from a somewhat shy actress that was self-taught in musicals to a more confident leader. She was the Azora of this season.
5) He Jie: she could do everything: dance, sing, lead... very extrovert.
6) Tia Ray: who doesn't know her singing skills? And she can dance too! And even if her voice stood out over everyone's, she wasn't overwhelming and knew that it was fair that she shouldn't sing all the high notes.
7) Shang Wen Jie (or Laure Zhang): I knew her from "Super Vocal" as a judge. And she continues to be a good judge here. And mentor. And she could easily speak in Chinese or French or English. Starts as an introvert artist who can't dance... but then she is a very good dancer :)
8) SDD: our weird Queen, she was a bit crazy but so funny. And we see her dance! And she danced very well too. I love her and I am going to miss her.
9) Joyce Jonathan: what more can I say about her? a French Queen.
10) Cai Wen Jing (or Elvira): a very outgoing girl, she could talk! Impossible not to like her specially at the beginning where she "adopted" the two oldest contestants (that were over 50). She can sing and dance, not like WOW but she was good.
11) Liu Yan: the sweetest actress, I am so glad she made it to the end! I was sure she would bc she had been in the top3 once, and bc she was part of that 1st Top Group. She teased SDD and wasn't in awe about anything.
12) Han Xue: a very regal Lady. Sings like a Queen, but can't dance :D Her English is very, very good, and she formed a tight duo with Joyce.
Anyway, I liked all the girls that got it till the final episode. I was sorry for all of them having to wear those super high heels + long dresses + that terrible stair though XD Like it happened after I finished CMBF4, I have withdrawal symptoms, I am going to miss them all <3
Was this review helpful to you?
