2023-07-14 09:32:59
After making stars 3｜Champion’s struggle Phoebus: How can I be considered an idol?
On December 15, 2019, Nine Exhibitions Star Hall. Wu Qiyang (Phoebus) won the championship of “All People Make a Star 2” under the witness of over a thousand viewers.
“Thank you for the intensive training in the past eight months, thank you everyone, thank you everyone in front of and behind the stage and the 99 contestants, thank you sister Hua and the three mentors, and thank you for the family and fans, thank you…”
The crying boy stood in the middle of the stage, holding a trophy in one hand and wiping away his tears with the other, thanking everyone excitedly. Others hugged him, surrounded him, and congratulated him.
That night, he stood under the spotlight, shining brightly. That night, he was full of excitement, imagining the future: Will he become a boy group idol? Will there be a song? Will there be other developments in the TV station…
In December 2019, “Star Making 2” finals, Phoebus spoke following winning the championship, crying with excitement (Source: ViuTV)
Little did he know that following that night, before what he imagined had happened, the epidemic broke out immediately, and what greeted him was a window of nearly a year.
With an uncertain destination, he seemed to be floating in the vast ocean. Later, he finally made his debut with the group P1X3L, but he rarely had a stage to perform. Netizens called them an “invisible combination”, and his teammates once made fun of him as a champion no one knew. At the same time, there are constant voices from the outside world saying that he is too burdened as an idol.
What does it mean to be an idol? After experiencing confusion, following more than two years since his debut, he slowly figured it out.
idol taste
On the day of the meeting, Phoebus was wearing a black outfit with a white flower pattern embroidered on the jacket, and sunglasses hung behind his ears. He nodded and said hello to the reporter, exuding an idol flavor.
This taste may have been brewing slowly since he was 18 years old. In 2014, he was selected in Ocamp to participate in the “FACE U Star College School Flower School Grass” competition. At that time, he had already practiced dancing in front of the mirror, picked up the microphone to sing, and began to know how to wink to the camera. With his outstanding appearance and not bad strength, he successfully won the championship of the school grass election.
Weibo X YES! School Flower School Grass 2018 Wu Qiyang (YouTube screenshot)
Later, he participated in “Star Making 2”, and he also played steadily – he sang and danced rap in every way, his words and deeds are gentle and polite, and he looks like a standard idol. Sister Hua praised him as handsome and star-like. The audience said that he danced and sang well, and he was capable. Jiang Tao also believed that he had the potential to win the championship.
In the end, he won the championship of “Star Making 2”, which seems to be reasonable. On the night of winning the award, he was interviewed, but still mightn’t hide his joy: “This award is where a (dream) begins.”
It looks like a smooth road ahead, but it is not. Looking back on that moment now, he only smiled wryly and said, “Actually, apart from the excitement of winning the award, the other days were more depressed and more stressful.”
Phoebus danced and sang in the “Star Making 2” finals (Source: ViuTV)
Shortly following “Making Stars 1” ended in 2018, the twelve sons formed MIRROR to debut, but soon following “Making Stars 2”, Hong Kong fell into an epidemic, and the entertainment industry fell into an ice age. Phoebus has not been signed for a long time, and is still being questioned by reporters: “Are you out of work following the competition?”, “What’s the future?”, “Will you compare with the last champion?”
At that time, he didn’t know what his future would be. “It seems that following the competition, I’m still floating in the sea, I really want to know the direction…At least I know that I am a singer, and I will be a singer. Or…I am not (a singer)? Or am I a group? Or what?”
Phoebus
The blank period of half a year and the contrast with his brother MIRROR made him depressed. In order to fill the emptiness of the window period, he kept going to classes: dancing classes, singing classes, acting classes… The invisible pressure slowly accumulated.
Just like this, he drifted aimlessly in the sea for more than half a year, and on the next night of the “Making a Star” finals, he finally caught the straw on the shore. On the night of the “Star Making 3” finals, he announced that he will debut as P1X3L with George and Marco, both contestants of “Star Making 2”, and his dream of developing in front of the screen has finally come true.
In December 2020, “Starmaker 3” finals, Phoebus announced that it will form P1X3L with George and Marco, making its official debut (Source: P1X3L fb)
men’s team challenge
“I remember it was funny at the time. George and I were talking on the waterfront in Kwun Tong regarding whether we should really form a boy group. We asked whether it was a boy group or not? What would it be like?” On the day they learned regarding the group formation, the three sons of P1X3L exchanged ideas. On the phone, I mightn’t hide my excitement: “You can feel his words, he is ‘Wow! Right! Let’s go together!'”
Just as the chaotic days were finally turning the page, I vaguely saw the way ahead, but I didn’t expect that P1X3L would receive rave reviews as soon as it debuted.
“The three of us watched the (
In the face of negative reviews, Phoebus blamed himself for not being good enough, and just wanted to do better, better. The turning point in his eyes was when he appeared on the variety show “Seven Saviors” hosted by Seven Masters. “After that, everyone knew us a lot and supported us a lot. Then it would be nice to start doing shows with everyone slowly. Some people are starting to notice the songs they release or the live performance they do.”
Variety shows make them “inside the house”. At that time, P1X3L released “Oh My 7 God” with Seventh Master, and the discussion on the Internet increased, and there were more media reports. In the same year, they also won the Bronze Award of the “New Force in the Music World”. Everything seems to be slowly getting better.
Not quite. Today, P1X3L has debuted for two and a half years, but has yet to hold any concerts—not even in smaller venues, such as Jiuzhan Music Zone.
In May of this year, following the Hong Kong and Taiwan Top Ten Chinese Golden Melody Awards Ceremony, when a reporter asked whether P1X3L would have a concert, Phoebus smiled wryly and said: “(The company) has been talking since the year we debuted. After releasing “Braceless” and “Just Lean On Me” in 2019, I would do it next year, but I would do it next year (2022), but I didn’t do it. I said I would do it this year, but I didn’t do it…”
After finishing his speech, he frowned, looked at the ground, and when he looked up, his eyes were filled with tears. He laughed and said that those were just sweat.
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In May 2023, following the Hong Kong and Taiwan Awards Ceremony, Phoebus was asked by reporters regarding the P1X3L concert, and tears came to his eyes. He laughed and said it was sweat. (Screenshot from ViuTV)
“Actually, I wouldn’t say that I really want to make this matter big, but (cancellation) over and over once more, it’s easy to be really unhappy. But that unhappy doesn’t mean that I will… um…” When asked regarding that scene once more during the interview, Phoebus touched his nose, moved his eyes up and down, thought for a while, and said, “It’s just… I can easily digest that unhappiness, and turn it into motivation to continue to do better… I just hope Get it quicker… so you (record company) can give us a concert.”
He likes to dance, sing and perform in groups. He has always longed for a stage to perform and interact with the audience. Helplessly, he also understands that his current works are not enough.
Four years ago in the “Starmaker 2” finals, Phoebus received the championship trophy surrounded by runner-up MC Zhang Tiantian and other contestants. Four years later, MC has released three albums, more than a dozen singles, and even held a solo concert at the Red Hall at the beginning of the year. As for Phoebus, they released three solo songs and five group songs, but it didn’t go well.
People often compare the two. Phoebus emphasized in the interview that he is already happy with the existing opportunities, and he just wants to cherish every opportunity and do everything well.
In December 2019, “Star Making 2” finals, Phoebus embraced runner-up MC Zhang Tiantian and Hugo Qiu Kaixiong following winning the championship, feeling emotional (Source: ViuTV)
formal baggage
Phoebus always likes to say “do it better”. Some people criticized him in “Making a Star”, but he admitted that he might do a little better in singing and dancing. In an interview following winning the championship, he still said that he was not good enough, and he had to work hard to do better. This visit, he was the same.
Ask him how to digest negative reviews, he thinks he should do better. Regarding the concerts that have not yet been held, he said that he needs to do a little better. After his debut, he has developed in filming, variety shows, and dancing and singing. When asked which area he wants to focus on, the boy still replied like this: Do everything well.
This habit has started since middle school. At that time, Rainie Yang’s song “Ideal Lover” was very popular, and the girls in the class were discussing which boy is the ideal lover. The tall and handsome Phoebus is naturally among the best. He said that since he got this title, he wants to do better in many things in the future. In retrospect, he looked at the table with a little embarrassment, chuckled and said that the reason was “very idiotic”.
Wu Qiyang
Some people said that he was too reserved, like a careful and good student, always afraid of saying or doing wrong things. Even at the beginning of filming variety shows, he only wanted to present a good side, and even his teammates laughed at him for being burdened. In 2020, Phoebus, George, and Marco filmed the variety show “Boys in the Sea” directed by Mike. George joked in front of the camera that Phoebus won the championship but no one knew it. Phoebus was so surprised that he opened his mouth for a moment and paused , then stammered: “These…these…”.
Can you talk regarding these things? he was thinking.
When he first debuted, sometimes the media compared him with Jiang Tao, the former champion of “Star Making”, and he only said some general words. “In the beginning, I will talk regarding something more broad and general, and some people will sit up straighter.” He sat upright, and continued, “It seems that some people will be more standard and cautious.”
Even in filming, he often plays some cute and flattering roles, such as Jia Ming in “In the Dark”, the squad leader of “I SWIM”, and the male god of “Preseason”. “From his debut to now, there is a saying , I am a very good person.”
ViuTV drama series “Preseason”, Phoebus plays the role of “Squad Leader” (ViuTV stills)
Persistence in acting
In the yet-to-be-released ViuTV drama “Fei Huang Teng Da”, there is a contemptuous rich second-generation character played by Phoebus.
At the beginning, the burden in his heart was stirring once more, thinking “would it be disliked for me to play these roles?” But following thinking regarding it, the labels of “good baby” and “even bag” have been with him for too long. If you really want to break the label, you have to think outside the box.
“Should I continue to be Jiaming and monitor? Only do good roles, and I won’t do bad roles?”
At the same time, he is preparing for the new song “BAD”. The lyrics that Xiao Ke handed over explore the definition of an idol, encouraging him to jump out of the frame and be himself, and Phoebus resonated deeply when he saw it. The rap words written by him, “Be a good baby I don’t think so” and “There is no need to modify the puppet bag”, all just responded to the labels of “good” and “puppet bag” since his debut.
He wants to remind himself: Don’t be limited by the external framework.
Phoebus described that from the beginning of filming “The Boy in the Sea” to now, he has been exposed to more variety shows, and he has slowly put down his idol bag. When filming “The Man in the Sea”, the director wanted to shoot a scene where the three of them took off their pants, and he was shocked. Speaking of this, he frowned, “Is it possible to get out, is it really going to be filmed?” .
Later, in the filming of “Seven Saviors”, there is an episode where Phoebus wears an all-gray outfit, his crotch is sprayed wet, and he is carrying a large backpack on the street, handing out lotus roots to the neighbors, symbolizing “letting go of the bag”. He never thought he would do these things, and then he bit the bullet and did it.
ViuTV “Sea Boy” Screenshot
“At the beginning, there was a mental journey, that is, I would reflect on whether I did this, would it mean letting go of the “even bag”? But in fact, in the process of reflection, I found that there are many things I don’t want to do. “I I don’t think this is good, I don’t think this is good”, these are the frames I set for myself.”
Along the way, experience has gradually increased. Phoebus said that now he has gradually stepped out of these frameworks. Pai lotus tried it, even tried to take off his pants in front of the camera, he covered his mouth with his hands, and smiled shyly, “Damn, I feel like there’s nothing (bottom line).”
“Actually, I think that the Phoebus presented now is the self who is not particularly restrained or specially packaged…” He hesitated a little in the words, “I always show everyone my own way, and slowly show the real side.”
Wu Qiyang
He admits that even now he is still obsessed with image. He still pays attention to hairstyles and outfits. After the interview that day, the reporter saw that following he walked out of the company gate, he put his sunglasses upside down behind his ears once more, making him look different in the crowd.
But following debuting for more than two years, he slowly learned to retract. “The biggest difference is that when I need to let go, I can let go. Now I sometimes shoot shows or do other things, and I don’t wear a set head, or I’m OK with no makeup.”
However, letting go of the burden of a perfect image does not mean letting go of the obsession with performance.
He held his neck and said slowly, “I don’t think this can be done with acting. It can’t be regarding giving up. There must be persistence. But now I will allow myself, because not everything can be done by myself.”
Wu Qiyang
Text/Cheukying
攝／Nasha Chan
The article is simultaneously published in Wave. Pop culture annals
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