My Case Against Jane Zhang

July 27, 2009 — 7 Comments

Who’s Jane Zhang?

She’s 2nd runner-up to the Super Girl contest, back when Chris Lee (Li Yuchun) won, and Bibi (Zhou Bichang) placed 2nd. Meaning… Jane was just behind Bibi.

I don’t wanna start anyone’s fire. Don’t want to attack the fans, but some of Jane’s fans online had been very vocal on Chris Lee even calling her “man-woman” – I can’t take that. While Li Yuchun fans are happy-go-lucky… after all, they did win. LOL’ – Some of Jane’s fans can’t keep their comments down.

Yes, I get it. Chris Lee is not the best vocalist. I know that.
But she doesn’t suck, you know who sucks at singing? I do. LOL

First time I heard Jane Zhang was on the Lee Hom Wang album, and I thought her voice was very generic Chinese pop idol. My friend happened to ask if I had heard of her, which led me to find out she’s sung in different languages. I admit, it got me interested… she’s sung Contigo en la Distancia!

[iframe width=”480″ height=”390″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/fzA5QrlDhec?rel=0″]

Regardless of understanding her Spanish… tell me you did not just see Christina Aguilera’s gestures there? An interesting comment about her accent being and English Spanish accent, instead of a Chinese Spanish accent – because she obviously took the song from Aguilera, and not let’s say… Luis Miguel, or Caetano Veloso.

Don’t get me wrong. Zhang’s got a voice. She can hit the high notes, but isn’t part of performing singing your own version… singing like yourself and not someone else?

Just look at her rendition of Beautiful – a song which I love, even though I didn’t love  that Aguilera era (lol’ that rhymes! xD) – but tell me she doesn’t imitate Aguilera’s gestures and voice on this performance.

[iframe width=”480″ height=”390″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/8_UNpV_4nVs?rel=0″]

Once again, disregarding her English.
Tell me without an image, if it’s not Aguilera. –
btw, the first judge singing demonstration is kick ass! – xD

So I thought it might be just her Aguilera performance (after all, she did pick 3 Aguilera songs), so I ended up listening to her performance of 4 Non Blondes of What’s Up – classic 90’s song… call it a One Hit Wonder if you want… even though Perry did end up making big smash hits later on.

[iframe width=”480″ height=”390″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/2bzNW2KmBNs?rel=0″]

Tell me you just didn’t witness a member of 4 Non Blondes.
Same gestures, way of singing…
I mean, not like that song is known for it’s perfect vocalization,
so no reason to complain about the English,
but you gotta admit it feels like some other artist to the Aguilera ones.

And it doesn’t end there… her performances also got the same gestures as Madonna on Evita, while singing Don’t Cry for Me Argentina… and Mariah’s Vision of Love.

[iframe width=”480″ height=”390″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/AZmNFLqIwUs?rel=0″]

[iframe src=”https://player.youku.com/player.php/sid/XMzA4MzcyMA==/v.swf” width=”480″ height=”400″]

I don’t doubt she might be finding her style now that she’s got her own music, but to say that she should’ve won Super Girl (Supergirl?) instead of the “man-woman” Chris Lee, it’s quite offensive… not to mention pure nonsense. Yes, Zhang has a good singing voice. Bibi does too (even a more soulful voice, in my opinion). But they’re different styles, and in the end… competition was about standing out. And I… as a sore would-be-loser who might have supported Bibi in those days, have to admit that Li Yuchun is a more out-going performer than the other two.

Thoughts, flames and comments?

7 responses to My Case Against Jane Zhang

  1. excuse me
    but is that playback
    cus dayum girls is imitating like quite good
    and this post was unnecessary

  2. lol
    xD

    but is it objective?

  3. Hey Amy,

    I like your site, thanks for putting so much work into it. :) I like Jane Zhang, especially her ballads like ‘To Be Loved’ (which I absolutely adore). I saw an episode of Supergirl on cable when I was in the Philippines in 2005 and hers was the performance that I remembered. I haven’t heard the other contestants, so I can’t comment, but I agree that uncouth fans who take up swords and bucklers for their idols usually end up acting like fools. They should keep their venom to themselves.

    Cheers.

  4. Hey there~
    thanks for the comment =D

    What songs would you recommend for me to listen to?

    If you haven’t listened to the other contestants, you should definitely check out Bibi and Li Yuchun. I made a small playlist with them here.

    Bibi’s an amazing vocalist, I particularly enjoyed her album WOW (part of her double-disc) because it’s so different. Kind of pop/rock but not really it. Maybe a bit rock&roll, haha.

    Also, kind of off-topic, but Han Hong is an amazing vocalist as well, though in a whole different range of voice.

  5. Hi Amy,

    What songs? I don’t know, I might show my poor taste :p. I like To Be Loved, Girl of Your Dreams (though if I were the lyricist, I would have changed some of the words to make them less cheesy) and Dream Party (which is in Mandarin, so I don’t really understand it, I just like the sound).

    Thanks for the suggestions, I’ll look Bibi and Li Yuchun up. By the way, the first link doesn’t load.

    Cheers.

  6. Hmm, I’ve no idea which link you’re talking about.
    All links seem to work fine for me.
    =D

    And please, do feel free to browse the site for other content – ^^ It’ll be awesome to make a fan out of you, at the risk of sounding cheesy with this Mulan line xD

Trackbacks and Pingbacks:

  1. personal.amy-wong.com – A Blog by Amy Wong. » Blog Archive » Jiang Yingrong – Bad Angel - September 8, 2010

    […] Yingrong won last year’s Supergirl (yeah, that same contest that found us Chris Lee, BiBi and Jane Zhang… thankyouverymuch), and it just goes to show you the changing tides in the cpop scene. In her […]

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