“Stars Academy” Showcases Talents of Gigi Yan and Chantel Yiu
Currently eight episodes into its broadcast, excitement is building in TVB singing competition Stars Academy <聲夢傳奇>. Due to their beautiful performances, Gigi Yan (炎明熹) and Chantel Yiu (姚焯菲) have been named as the two most popular candidates to win the championship.
Gigi’s Natural Talent
Belting out to Sandy Lam‘s (林憶蓮) hit classic Without You, I’ll Still Love You <沒有你還是愛你>, 16-year-old Gigi surprised judges and viewers with her powerful and steady vocals. Her performance has reached over 1 million views on YouTube. Praising Gigi for possibly being the next Cantopop Queen, many netizens left comments stating that TVB really hit jackpot in finding such talent.
Thanking everyone for their loving support, Gigi wrote on Instagram, “I never thought I would receive these results – this is really encouraging. I know there’s still a lot of room for improvement. For example, I need to work on my breathing and my enunciation. I will continue to work hard, learn, and improve. I hope that I won’t disappoint! Thank you for all the love and support!”
Chantel’s Sweet Vocals
Another hot favorite to take home the championship is Chantel – who sang Danny Chan’s (陳百強) Love’s Trailer <戀愛預告>. With her cute image and sweet voice, Chantel’s performance received praises and has reached over 700,000 views on YouTube. Many listeners admitted to playing her rendition on an endless loop.
Moved by the positive feedback, Chantel’s mentor JW (王灝兒) said, “Seeing her video as the top trending item on YouTube really moved me. It makes me feel that everyone who has worked on Stars Academy – both mentors and the behind-the-scenes crew, is finally getting recognized. We worked really hard on this show and there were a lot of sleepless nights. Especially for the students who have to juggle between exams and practicing for the competition. You really only see a tenth of their hard work on television.”
Slated for 15 episodes, the finale of Stars Academy will air at the end of July.
Gigi Yan in “Stars Academy”
Chantel in “Stars Academy”
Source: Sky Post
This article is written by Su for JayneStars.com.
Not saying they are not good but I cannot distinguish the voices of singers or potential singers these days.
@bearbear
i think it’s been an issue ongoing not just now. i noticed that since the early 2000s. don’t know what it is, probably a lack of real talented female singers in hk and everyone listens to the same crappy artists.
@m0m0 you cannot compare with the past. Even china with billions people cannot produce ANY godlike like jacky cheung and faye wong. HK already produced the best singers on earth like 4 heavenly king, anita mui, leslie cheung. There is no way to have any future singer that can have such a unique voice with the best lyrics. To find someone that can sing superbly is so easy, just that won’t have any unique voice. Hana and Jinny can sing superbly too but their voices cannot be so unique like faye wong or anita mui.
@xrc56 idk about that. gem tang is pretty good and recognizable. i would say she’s definitely a goddess singer. sa dingding is pretty amazing as well. there are a lot of godlike singers in china…definitely give those singing competition shows a watch. they might surprise you.
@coralie if they cannot attract large amount of chinese from other countries as well, they are not any godlike. Godlike singers can attract internationally. Gem tang cannot la. They only only got local fans. Like their china movies only marketable in china. Go international cannot survive one.
@xrc56 G.E.M. made it on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list one year for music, and won a Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Award in 2014. She is obviously recognized internationally and not just in China.
@xrc56 You have to understand the Chinese music market was much smaller back in the days when HK bursted onto the scene with singers. They didn’t have Kpop, Cpop, Jpop, Tpop, any pop except HKpop. So with limited markets, the focus on existing singers was much bigger. That’s why they’re so recognizable today. If you ask me if I think Anita Mui, Sammi Cheng, Leslie Cheung can top the great artists of today, I will definitely say no. Their singing is not up to par, vocal-skills-wise, anyways. Today’s singers have to do a lot more vocal training and vocal acrobats to gain fans. They’re great in people’s memories because people grew up listening only to their songs (again, limited markets.) In that age and time, I’m sure they were fantastic. Today it takes a lot more to impress, but nostalgia makes people think past icons were better than what we have now.
@coralie wrong, leslie cheung anita mui 4 heavenly king still can conquer the Chinese market if they were 20s now. At least they have proven they can do that in the past. But you don’t see any Chinese singers can ever conquer the world at all. The last one is jay chou and no more until now and hardly any in the future. Because there is no way and quite hard to anyone to surpass their talents.
@xrc56
the chinese singing market has ways to go in promoting their singers but i agree w/ coralie, there are so many talented artiists that such incredibly powerful voices. the fact that they are not being promoted outside of china yet doesn’t mean they are less talented. in many ways, i think the chinese talents are more stronger w/ their knowledge in music, writing and arranging their own song not just a strong/powerful voice. their performances are simply jaw dropping.
@m0m0 that is just your perception without any evidence from the reality. If a person is good, no need to promote internationally also able to attract anyone worldwide. Like jacky cheung, leslie cheung, Michael Jackson, jay chou.
@xrc56
maybe you should really open your eyes and go explore the chinese entertainment. lay zhang has an international fan base and so does jackson wang. luhan as well. there are many greater talents in china. not yet at the level of success of aforementioned but getting there.
@m0m0 ^ this person keeps talking about “evidence” and money but refuses to acknowledge that many Chinese artists, or even Asian artists have an international fanbase that could be even bigger than the one in China.
@m0m0 that is just your perception as well without any evidence. if putting him back to 90s, I doubt much people will spend money to buy his album or he is qualified to participate in any big movies.
@bearbear there are good singers /singer-songwriters in HK eg Gin Lee, Serrini, Aga, but I do agree most in HK do not have a unique voice, especially the female singers.
Gigi is my favourite, she is a good singer and natural. I find Chantel’s cute and innocent image is exaggerated at times.
@hbc1 Gigi is also my fave!
Both have a great future ,
Gigi has a more powerful voice but chantel has a more stage presence.
My bet is Gigi will win, after all this is a singing competition not a personality contest. The whole mentor thing feels like tvb stole yet another idea from Viutv’s King Maker, but it really makes the show a lot better. No one just wants to listen to unknown teenagers song.
@bubbles23 I hope Gigi wins. I think it will come close between Gigi & Rock. As for the mentors, Janice & Gin helped Gigi a lot. JW goes into detail with each participant. And Pakho helped write their song!
@bubbles23 sing*
I really like Felix. He got me when he sang 飛花; wow he reminds me a lot of those old-time opera singers in the past, like Fei Yu Ching. That beautiful, yearning, delicate headvoice.
I was impressed by Chantel’s vocal skills when she sang alongside Yumi & Windy; she had good vocal acrobatics and I like her voice. However, she’s not so good at live singing, or maybe just poor song choices that makes her seem like a pretty meh singer. Given time and training, though, I’m sure she’ll do much better.
Gigi’s an all-rounder. I’m not a fan of her song choices either lol, but she can nail most songs and they’re challenging to boot. She can already publish her own music at this rate lol.
@coralie I agree that Felix has a very nice voice. I hope he will become a singer! Chantel said she lacks experience because she didnt take singing classes or participate in competitions, unlike other contestants that have years of experience. She also said that her singing can sound different every time (probably due to lack of training). And yes, Gigi is soooo good