I told myself I wasn’t going to recap this series, but I really enjoyed the most recent episode and wanted to share my thoughts on the blog. I have to say I’m getting quite good song recommendations from listening to the assortment of gems on the show thus far — for instance, Dean Ting’s “Simon”, or Sherly Chen’s “Your Tavern is Closed to Me”.
Here’s how the PK round worked in this episode:
- Five members from each team were chosen to face off with the opposing team.
- Wins would be based on votes from the other two Sing China mentors Na Ying and Harlem, as well as an audience panel.
- The losing team’s mentor chooses two members to eliminate from the remaining competition. These members do not need to be from the lineup in this particular PK round.
PK round 1: Liu Jia Qi (Li Ronghao) vs. Wang Wen Fang (Wang Leehom)
Liu Jia Qi is one of my top picks to win the competition. The alto singer’s vocal tone is clean and comfortable to listen to. I also really loved her auditioning piece “也罢”. However, her performance of “散了吧” seems less god-tier. It’s a combination of what I think was a wrong song choice, and an underwhelming performance from an otherwise competent singer.
Wang Wen Fang on the other hand impressed me here with her jolting energy and precision in hitting high notes.
coffeenlucia’s winner: Wang Wen Fang – Based on the performances in this episode alone, I would choose Wang Wen Fang as the superior singer. Liu Jia Qi’s interpretation of the song came across as stilted and almost monotonous, whereas Wen Fang deftly navigated a technically difficult song while hyping the audience up.
Actual winner: Liu Jia Qi – I am happy about this, since I’m still rooting for Jia Qi to win the whole thing (or at least be in the finals, please).
PK round 2: Luo Lei (Li Ronghao) vs. Qu Yang (Wang Leehom)
Qu Yang’s cover was very meh for me. I guess he gets brownie points for having this emotional connection to the song since apparently he misses his daughter. Okay so his backstory is touching, but I don’t take that as scripture if his performance doesn’t live up. To be fair I feel like the song has that sort of Jay Chou vibe, in that it’s gonna be a catchy song, like one that you’d sing at a karaoke, but has less appeal in showing off a singer’s talents for the purposes of a singing competition.
I adored Luo Lei’s cover of 小半. Just as Li Ronghao commented, her tone is sort of “cold”, which fits this song nicely. I do think that Luo Lei’s performance seemed to do the original justice, but did not necessarily elevate it. The cover also lacked a clear climax (imo) and she seemed to belt out the chorus the first time, leaving little room to increase intensity for the second chorus.
coffeenlucia’s winner: Luo Lei – It’s not that I think Luo Lei necessarily excelled here. I just think Qu Yang’s cover didn’t meet my expectations as much.
Actual winner: Qu Yang – Aight, not sure why. I guess the “cold” on-stage persona of Luo Lei triggered some audience? Maybe they think Qu Yang has more potential? I’m not sure, but either way this PK round wasn’t that memorable to me.
PK round 3: Li Fan Yi (Li Ronghao) vs. Hong Yu Lei (Wang Leehom)
Hong Yu Lei’s performance doesn’t appear to be uploaded on Youtube yet…
Fan Yi pleasantly surprised me here. Or perhaps the prowess of Sing China’s audio technology system is surprising me. In Episode 5, I remember there was a sort of behind-the-scenes clip that foreshadowed this episode, where Fan Yi was singing in studio… Let’s just say that it wasn’t the greatest — pitch was a bit off. But here Fan Yi sounds phenomenal. To her credit, it is possible that she’s improved a lot since that studio recording session. I also love this song (“Your Tavern is Closed to Me”)! I’ve never heard it before, but I will be listening to this on repeat now.
Hong Yu Lei sings “Meteor Shower” and honestly I was more distracted by how expressive he was in terms of body language that I didn’t pay as much attention to his voice. This is your typical ballad song, but there was something about the way he maneuvered the stage and literally covered so much ground by walking around that elevated his stage presence and thus overall performance. It’s hard to tell whose singing ability is stronger here though, because both songs seem pretty equal in terms of difficulty.
coffeenlucia’s winner: Fan Yi – I don’t necessarily think Fan Yi is a stronger singer, but I think her song choice is perfect. Yu Lei perhaps wins in the charisma department though.
Actual winner: Fan Yi – Yay, finally the first person who I thought won actually won the majority vote too!
PK round 4: Li Zhi Ting (Wang Leehom) vs. _____________ (Li Ronghao)
Zhi Ting impressed me in the behind-the-scenes clip from Episode 5. Her notes were stable and clean. I also enjoyed her audition song “你敢不敢” and thought she had this innate ability to infuse the stage and audience with her infectious positive energy. Here her cover of 流沙 is definitely way more technically difficult than her auditioning piece. There’s a ton of runs all over the place, but it gets a bit annoying hearing run after run. On one hand, my jaw is open in shock at how good it sounds for the difficulty of the song, but at the same time the repeating motifs begin to sound whiny.
The other guy (forgot his name, sorry!) actually was really good too! He had this sort of quiet tenacity that wasn’t showy, and certainly not so after Zhi Ting’s performance. However, while he might not have captured my attention as much as Zhi Ting did, he certainly seemed to emote a lot better, given that I wasn’t hearing a run every second.
coffeenlucia’s winner: Hmmmm, hard to say. I’ll go with the person on Team Li Ronghao. I was captivated by Zhi Ting’s performance, but I also have to say o.g. 流沙 is superior. There’s this rawness and longing in David Tao’s recording that is lost in a sea of runs.
Actual winner: Li Zhi Ting – I’m happy for her and I hope that the she goes for fewer runs in the latter rounds of Sing China.
PK round 5: Yi Ge (Wang Leehom) vs. Xing Han Ming (Li Ronghao)
Yi Ge’s R&B song here is a more thoughtful cover than her preceding teammate’s. Yi Ge’s voice tells a story, with a gentle, pleading urgency permeating each note. Man, she’s like the Whitney Houston of this season. I found myself clapping for her even before the song ended.
Xing Han Ming has a very unique tone that was described by Harlem as “alien” in her audition. I myself am not totally in love with her vocal timber but I recognize that she can only benefit an otherwise “normal” Chinese music market. The song choice is also fitting here, with this mysterious vibe that meshes well with her aesthetic.
coffeenlucia’s winner: Yi Ge – Such a lovely cover. I appreciate Han Ming’s unique tone but if I had to listen to a song on repeat I think my preference would lean towards Yi Ge’s voice.
Actual winner: Xing Han Ming – I have to say this outcome actually surprised me a bit. I feel like the Chinese music scene is generally conservative and not as expansive as their other Asian peers (ie K-pop or J-pop) due to many restrictions on music content, so I was not expecting them to be so open towards a new, unique voice. I’m quite happy that Han Ming won; perhaps this is a sign of potential broadening of the Chinese music market beyond the everyday ballad.
So overall: Team Li Ronghao wins!
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