2020 February - VogueME
Right now, a person can become popular overnight and achieve fame in the entertainment industry. These days, data dominates everything — a drama, a variety show, a song, a super idol may be born. Prestige, business values and opportunities will then follow.
In 2019, a xianxia drama "Chen Qing Ling" was adapted from a webnovel. This became his window. This is the story of a young man who got a chance. Like other idols created by the times, his fans accumulated rapidly, radiating outward from a group of young people, then he became famous in the current era. Now that everything is announced, it's time for the Xiao Zhan to go on stage.
In the summer of 2015, Xiao Zhan did not realize that he was going to switch jobs from the design company ran by his teacher. The teacher didn't think so either. When he participated in a variety show, he was instructed: Go and have fun, get eliminated and come back to work for me.
The program is called X FIRE (燃烧吧少年),which was marketed as a large-scale inspirational program for young people to develop their talents. When it was in broadcast, the introduction of the rules says: Sixteen people will be carefully selected from thousands of 16-year-old to 24-year-olds to be secretly trained.
At that time, Xiao Zhan was 23 years old — quite close to the maximum age limit.
Xiao Zhan only wanted to "go and have some fun". He thought he would be on a tour then maybe come back a week later. As a former university class literature and art committee member, Xiao Zhan loves singing, had won many awards in campus literature and art activities. However, he had not received any serious singing and dancing training. A graduate majoring in design, Xiao Zhan studied painting from an early age, but never wanted to be a painter because "it's too difficult to survive, you still have to eat." He's willing to work honestly. Life plan was clear to him back then: be a designer, get things done and start a company in the future.
Four years later in the summer, the meaning behind the name "Xiao Zhan" has transformed into something completely different: A member of a male idol group, a leading actor in an explosively popular TV series, the owner of more than 22 million followers on Weibo. Using the popular term in the industry, his name is now synonymous to being a Top Traffic.
Trending topics and interpretations surround him, including: Xiao Zhan's appearance, Xiao Zhan's design talent, Xiao Zhan's occupational disease, Xiao Zhan's character, Wei Wuxian.
Like other idol stars who have broken through in this age, he had his own records: Fans of the series uploaded such a large number of homemade videos on the online video platform bilibili that one site inspector complained of "seeing him 800 times a day." Xiao Zhan was then ridiculed for washing bilibili in blood. He then appeared on covers of fashion magazines, and on the day it went on sale, the small program servers of the two magazines crashed one after another.
The heat will only increase by 2020. On January 9, according to Tmall's in-depth data report of Portrait magazine with Xiao Zhan as the cover, it was confirmed that they have sold out 100,000 copies in 3 seconds. Total sales had exceeded 13 million. With the caption "The fandom had brought the print media back to life" being spread to the whole network — it was indeed a huge data battle.
Unlike other current big celebrities, Xiao Zhan did not experience much controversy and his career path was not full of ups and downs. He never thought he would get here: "Sometimes life pushes you forward before you are ready. All you have to do is keep up with the pace."
When it comes to his every single move, netizens then "takes a super large magnifying glass."
Being constantly observed. the pressure for him now is not actually as great as it was in the previous years, "In the past, it was quite difficult to keep up with it, now I learned how to work hard."
Xiao Zhan went to work normally during the reality show. He went up, sang a song and left. He was very happy. Only 32 people were selected. He left the company to rehearse the dance on the show in Beijing without thinking much about it. Then there were only 16 people left. In order to face the audience, he practiced his dancing and his vocals so that he wouldn't fall behind.
The rest is something Xiao Zhan never thought of. The winter in Beijing was very cold. After recording a program, he came out of the Shuangqiao Theatre at three or four o'clock in the morning and saw people were waiting for him. Xiao Zhan was very distressed: "They were all little girls, and it was so cold and dark." The feeling of having fans was a bit surreal.
Sixteen people went to Zhejiang TV "Running Man 2016" New Year Concert to perform. When he saw the stage, he felt it was extremely big and he was happy, desperately thinking that his actions could not be wrong. In the decisive battle of the program, Xiao Zhan's team was defeated and he, as well as several of his companions were rescued by fans.
In 2016, Xiao Zhan made his debut as a member of the X9 Youth League. While signing the contract, Xiao Zhan realized that he was going to switch jobs for a new career. "I was still a child at the age of 23, but nobody treated me like a child at that time." Xiao Zhan was the oldest in the group. He made his own decision to sign, figuring he can always go back to his old job if he couldn't survive. He had no intention of banging himself on this road.
Three and a half years after his debut, actor Xiao Zhan had to explain to reporters his obsession with work. That day he had a pimple on his left face and the makeup artist was applying him with essence. The dressing room is under the gallery, a place enclosed by a curtain on the 2nd floor, where people can come and go: the editor communicates with the manager about the shooting plan, the stylist comes to deliver the clothes, and he sits there with his eyes closed and allows others to smear on his face.
Xiao Zhan's eyes are narrow and long, it's also large. He is very fair and his side profile is graceful. Looking like this, it's in line with the idea that his character should be a little bit colder, tolerant, and slightly melancholic, like a fine noble son that could move a girl's heart in idol dramas. But Xiao Zhan's character and appearance are not consistent. He is serious and self-disciplined and may only offer a few words at first. But generally speaking, he's a relaxed person who is occasionally funny.
"A lot of people who study art don't want to go to work." The reporter said. Xiao Zhan learned to paint when he was a child. When he was a kid, he was particularly happy whenever a prize-winning work was praised by the teacher. The other usual things he was glad about was having a delicious meal at noon, going to amusement parks, or liking a girl in high school.
"Then they've not been exposed to social torture." Xiao Zhan responded. He described himself as "tortured for a while". From an early age, his father instilled in him to be independent, self-reliant and to settle his debts. Then he would speak how Bill Gate's children* were
(*For context, Bill Gates refused to spoil his kids and even set up very small trust funds for them)
"I wanted to say, God, you're not Bill Gates."
Nevertheless, he will not need his parents' money as soon as he graduates.
When he studied design in college, he felt that he had lived a very natural and unrestrained life: He grooms* himself everyday. Although it seems that the results are not very good now, at least he was neat. Though Xiao Zhan stressed that he was "absolutely not" the most handsome boy in the school.
(* they used 捯 饬 which is in Northern dialect, refers to organizing, collating, grooming and grooming yourself, but also refers to organizing items.)
He was a good student. The teacher is knowledgeable and set up a studio in his spare time. The design studio works on posters and logo designs；There are three people in the photography studio. Xiao Zhan took photos while the other two were responsible for lighting.
He went to a design company for an internship before graduation, and it was easy to find a job. He went to work for less than a year and earned four thousand to five thousand yuan a month and lived at home. At that time, Chongqing's income was not bad.
The male idol group soon released an album and made a web drama. The way to get things are done this time was very different from his previous job: He was positioned as a warm man, Xiao Zhan didn't like it very much but he practiced it conscientiously and was still very good.
Someone on the show suggested he should lose weight. "I'm already too thin to lose weight." he answered. Prior to being a celebrity, Xiao Zhan stood 1.83 meters (6ft) tall, 75 kilograms. His mother used to say on a daily basis that he's too thin, and he felt the same way. But then the other party showed him the recording. "The camera lens is a really terrible thing. I was practically a ball". It wasn't easy for Xiao Zhan to lose weight, sometimes he was so hungry that he eats in his dreams. Xiao Zhan is now 63.50 kilograms. But this isnt his thinnest figure.
"What was it like when you first started out?"
"Foot-scratching*" Xiao Zhan spoke slowly and gently, popping out a little deadpan sense of humor, he didn't necessarily laugh and when others laughed, he continued to talk seriously.
(*抠脚 Using this in pop culture means that a certain celebrity has no schedule and has not appeared in front of the public. There's no performance to look forward to, so he has time to stay at home and scratch his feet.)
After his debut, he felt more relaxed than an intern in the company. Xiao Zhan didn't let himself be idle, and went on to learn vocal music and dancing, and gave his utmost best to sing and dance. But he remained a little confused: When he was designing, the future was clear, but when he started out with his entertainment career, he didn't know where the future lies.
"I can count all the dramas I've filmed with my fingers." Xiao Zhan said. He then enumerated them out loud: Battle Through the Heaven, The Wolf, Oh! My Emperor, Chen Qing Ling, Qing Yunian, Jade Dynasty, Oath of Love..... He didn't count the earliest one, "Super Star Academy" — when filming this web drama with his group members, Xiao Zhan was still fat and didn't know what he was doing.
Acting had been his own idea. He didn't even take acting lessons during the audition. After seeing the director, he got a piece of paper with the plot written on it and acted hard. Xiao Zhan did not feel embarrassed either. If you want to do what you want, then go ahead and do it joyfully and try your best to catch every opportunity. On the contrary, he was more nervous than happy when he arrived on set. The feeling of performing is different from singing. Singing has always been his favorite thing, and Xiao Zhan's first song was chosen by fans. Being watched on stage, he had always wanted to do better. Acting on the other hand, is a strange door.
The first turning point was during "The Wolf" drama. In less than two hours of audition, Xiao Zhan tried a lot of roles: the bounty hunter who threatened others, the prince whose brother was beheaded……Xiao Zhan got the role of the bounty hunter — he sprinted to fourth rank on the cast list.
When the crew did the preliminary training, he was also working on "Battle Through the Heaven" He was filming during the day and taking acting classes at night, writing summaries until two or three o'clock in the morning. "The Wolf" was very important, this was a drama that Xiao Zhan regards as a formal contact performance.
In 2018, Xiao Zhan stayed on the production team until "Chen Qing Ling". The drama was filmed for 4 months. The director divided the team into 3 groups of ABC, working from morning till night. At that time, he didn't feel exhausted, he just had to get some sleep. "I'm willing to do my own work. I only feel very motivated. I will do better tomorrow than today." Xiao Zhan likes Wei Wuxian and thinks he's fresh. During the performance in the first month, he doubted himself daily. Was the role correct? Will the audience pay the bill? Xiao Zhan communicates with the director every day regarding his role. A month later, he stopped asking and felt that he is indeed Wei Wuxian.
It's difficult to obtain acknowledgement when it comes to a a webnovel that got adapted into a drama. His hope for Wei Wuxian was that he "doesn't want everyone to hate this character through my interpretation".
It was in the summer of 2019, when the series was broadcasted, that the real turning point came. Tens of millions of fans. Frequent microblog searches. Becoming the cover of several magazines and even lead to the collapse of the sales server......
His Weibo is one of the rare "Weibo accounts set up to show microblogs for only half a year" among artists, and yet it didn't have any impact on the popularity.
(*A Weibo feature where users can actively hide content that has been published for more than 6 months as visible to themselves only. This function is intended to “enhance the user’s autonomy and processing ability on the content of their own account.”)
Fan interaction is often humorous, and the data is eye-catching enough. Last year during Qixi Festival, he posted a photo to inform fans that he had gained weight. His trouser leg was rolled up and his legs were in the swimming pool. The manner of the fan's reply was "Okay, I know that your leg hair is all right" 190,000 likes made it the top comment.
"After watching Chen Qing Ling and Qing Yunian, I feel that the method of your performance is quite like yourseld, it's peaceful. You're like an AI, you do it all the way up to standard."
"You're highly professional." The reporter concluded.
At the beginning of the conversation, Xiao Zhan had just finished an outdoor shooting scene, with both people sitting, leaning forward and baking their hands on the electric heater. "Being an artist is a job," he said. "I don't like artists who put themselves in an upper position. Just as you are a reporter who interviewed me today, I am just an interviewee today. Cooperation, we can all do a job, today's shooting is my job, every staff member is performing their job. It's only that the type of work we have is different." Having experienced "social torture", Xiao Zhan understands the truth about work and respects the social division of labor.
He knows how people feel when faced with unreasonable demands when speaking to clients as Party B, so he doesn't want to be that kind of person. He has a uniform standard of work: When efficiency is accomplished, it will bear good results. Everyone is happy, there's no need for anyone to serve others further and "Once I'm done, I'm already off duty. Don't look for me after work. Leave me alone."
"Ordinary people offer their labor in exchange for food, clothing, shelter and transportation. They have time for recreation after work, freedom and privacy. On the other hand, public figures and artists are the product themselves, The work is still oneself. You have to export material, contribute work, and then acquire the opportunity to grow in exchange for higher social status, a higher sense of value, and better material. Some people attach dreams to their professional attributes." The reporter said.
"It's quite comprehensive. You lose what you get. Being a public figure means having a lot of eyes on you and they will evaluate everything you do. Whether it's positive or negative, misinterpreted or not. True or false. Isn't this the way it is in this circle? Who knows whether the rumors are true or false?" Xiao Zhan said.
On January 5, 2020, Xiao Zhan worked in a sculpture park in Songjiang, Shanghai, taking a group of cover photos published on Vogue Me. It was cold, the door of the art gallery was open, and the wind blew from the first floor to the ground. People all put on overcoats.
In the morning, beside a metal sculpture on the first floor, Xiao Zhan and model Estelle Chen faced the camera respectively. The camera clicked, their eyes and limbs did not touch. When the photographer asked the model to sit on the ground, Xiao Zhan said only one thing: "Watch your head." as he used his hands to help her block the convex part of the sculpture behind her head.
The opening advertisement of Weibo on this day was also Xiao Zhan. While he raised his head slightly in front of the camera and gave the photographer a cold look, or glanced sideways into the distance, he also smiled sweetly on the phone screen to promote instant food.
In the afternoon, the photography team went outdoors, next to the cement sculpture at the entrance of the gallery. Xiao Zhan and the model stood in front of the camera. The arm was on the model's shoulder, and the two looked at the camera together--- he was thinner than the female model. In another scene, people set up ladders and climb a grassy slope on top of a shed in the art gallery. A cold stone slab was selected, and the assistant lay on the side of the coat to test the light. Then it was Xiao Zhan's turn. Wearing a red and green jacket with a blue shirt and a baseball cap, he lay on his side of the stone, propping up his elbow and supporting his head. When shooting was suspended, the assistant handed him a long cotton-padded jacket with dark blue diamond lattice, which was very thin. He wore the clothes backwards, and put his hand into his sleeve to protect the front of his body. Then the assistant handed him another thermos bottle to cover his hand. Xiao Zhan basically said nothing and affixed the bottle to his neck to keep warm.
The work ethics of artists include weight loss, starvation, exposure to cold and staying up late. Wearing winter clothes in summer is the norm at work, and not drinking water before shooting is to dehydrate to look good on the camera. People who do well may be popular, and so may those who are good-looking or lucky. Now Xiao Zhan has a chance, and like his previous job, he chooses to do things honestly.
In the evening, a green curtain was set up on the second floor of the gallery. At 17:44, Xiao Zhan was in place. The agent reminded the clothing supervisor to pay attention to the proportion of clothes: "The sweater is too long now." So the sweater was shortened by a section. Then the photography assistant carried the stepping box, the cameraman adjusted the machine and began to record the video. After several scenes, it was stopped in the middle as the manager and the photography team negotiated the camera orientation. This is the 10th hour of shooting. Xiao Zhan sat behind the table, resting his head on a prop box and waited quietly. You are unable to discern whether he's tired or not.
The shooting was over and it was already dark. Xiao Zhan hasn't finished work yet. The media men called it a day, the agents were moving around like flies, arranging Xiao Zhan to change clothes and get on the car to catch up with that night's rehearsal — time is running out. The two teams waved goodbye, Xiao Zhan was gentle elegant, you still can't see whether he's tired. After less than an hour's drive, he's going to sing on stage. Then the next task is to complete the fitting of 20 sets of clothes.
