Best and most of Super Girls 300

By idarklight

This year's Super Girls are definitely pretty, but can they sing?

A brief overview of the top 300 of this year’s Super Girls. Note that I haven’t watched every competitions, or even half of it. I watched most of Chengdu, Changsha and online. The rest are viewed only if someone on baidu tieba recommended them. And though there are a lot more good singers, I’ve only picked some that really stood out to me. All opinions are mine.

Best English singers: Yu Kewei and Pan Hongyue

I really love what judge Wu Qixian said about the two of them:

Right now, among those who can sing Western songs so beautifully, but still maintains the identity of Chinese, one is Qi Yu, and the other one is Yu Kewei. Pan Hongyue, you have even more techniques and things to show off than Yu Kewei. Unfortunately, when you sing Western songs, you become no longer Chinese but a foreigner. We can only see an imitation, not a Chinese who can understand the essence of Western music and culture. That’s the difference between Yu Kewei and you. Many may be wowed by your glamour today, but what we really seek is the uniquely Chinese way of expressing our values,spirit and culture, and you need more careful thought on that. I hope you can grow, and understand how much we expect of you.

Yu Kewei singing “Gloomy Sunday:”


Pan Hongyue singing “Prelude to a Kiss” and the judge’s comments

Celebrity Lookalikes: Yao Yao and Gong Mi.

Yao Yao became famous at the age of 10 after winning a singing competition. Since then, she’s been on and off the radar. Unfortunately, she seems to sing better when she was 12 than she does now. She’ll be nice for the Super Girl group since she also has a dancing background. Gong Mi is the Cecilia Cheung look-a-like that everyone’s been talking about. She probably has the worstvoice of the top 300.

Most Zhong Guo Feng: Dong Zhen and Wang Mengran

Dong Zhen has gained popularity for composing and singing many songs for popular video games. She’s quite talented, though she seems to be too nervous on stage. Wang Mengran from Inner Mongolia also composes zhong guo feng and Mongolian styled songs.
Dong Zhen’s self-composition, theme of Zhu Xian

Prettiest: Luo Zhenhuan and Liu Xijun

The good thing is, neither sings terrible. Luo Zhenhuan’s okay, but she probably won’t go solo anytime soon. Liu Xijun, sings better, but not amazing.

Dancers of the group: Yue Liang and Zeng Sixuan

Yue Liang was the dance teacher for the Super Boys competition, but now she’s a competitor in Super Girls. Yue Liang breezed through the competition, much to the dismay of many who complained about her singing. Zeng Sixuan majors in modern dance and sings a lot better. Definitely an eyecatcher.

Other recommendations: Jane Zhang girls and Huang Ying

Other than English songs, Jane Zhang seems to be a favorite among the girls this year. Though they both sound way too much like Jane Zhang for my liking, my two favorite performances of Jane’s songs are Wang Lulu’s “We’ve agreed” and Li Ling’s “Only for love.” Huang Ying’s voice seemed like screaming at parts, but for some reason, her voice touched me. Most renditions I’ve heard of this song were sad, but hers was agonizing:

Ending note: Pan Yuehong and Zeng Zixuan are two of the eleven current Sichuan Conservatory of Music students in the top 30. There are also more alumna, but no one made a list, and I wasn’t going to baidu all 300 of them. Over the next two weeks, the top 300 will be split into 6 groups of 50, and those 50 will compete for 10 spots each, forming the top 60.

Words of Wisdom by Judge Ding Wei

Ding Wei, the singer-songwriter who mainly now composes for others has stated in the past that she is afraid competition singers results in an excess of young aspiring hopefuls that the market may not be able to accommodate. I wasn’t really sure what to think of those words when she first said them, but after reading more about her she seems like someone who really cares about the growth of these young artists, rather than someone who wants to discourage them, or is afraid of them ruining Chinese music.

She was a judge for Kunming’s 30 to 10 round (which we haven’t found videos off) and praised the girls for being very sincere in her blog.

I loved how in her blog entry she chose to praise in particular someone who didn’t make it rather someone who did:

A girl ran up to me and said:

“Ding Teacher, I was one of the contestants that was eliminated today. After seeing today’s contest and hearing your critiques, I know why I was eliminated. Thank you, I will continue to work hard. “

I was very happy to hear these words, not because she thanked me, but because she learned from the experience, and thus her entry into the competition was not wasted.”

One of the nicest things about running Cfensi is discovering people like Ding Wei. For some reason I had never heard of her before, but she’s someone I definitely admire now. I hope she gets to judge in later rounds and I hope all the girls listen to advice from this woman, who’s already gone through the route that they hope to travel.