S.H.E |
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| This Girl-band is probably the biggest phenomena in Asia
with millions of album sales throughout the Chinese speaking world. For
instance S.H.E's seventh album, Encore, was puplished on 12th November
2004 and sold 1 million copies in Asia within one week of its release. S.H.E or 女朋友 in Chinese ( literally: "Girl Friends") are (L to R): 田馥甄 (Hebe Tien), 任家萱 (Selina Jen), and 陳嘉樺 (Ella Chen). |
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They formed in 2000 as a result of a talent competition held in Taiwan. All three girls were in the seven finalists for the deciding TV round. Selina won the competition outright, but joined with Ella and Hebe to form a threesome. At first the record company HIM found it odd to balance the three girls voices, but this was resolved by making them live together for many weeks - and led to their first album "Girl's Dorm". | ||||||||||||||||
With their first album recorded in autumn 2001, they still needed a name, so eventually HIM finally decided on S.H.E; so as a result, Jen Chia-Hsüan became Selina, Tien Fu-Chen became Hebe, and Chen Chia-Hwa became Ella. Their music is mainly pop with catchy tunes and great live performances. S.H.E began mixing light-hearted pop ballads with elements of hip hop and dance, or sometimes bubblegum beats and even rap. They often include covers of others work, which is sometimes used as a criticism somewhat unjustly. However, since 2004, the group has recorded no more than two covers per album. They have only written a few songs themselves, but employ songwriters most notable being Shi Rencheng (traditional Chinese: 施人誠). He has been S.H.E's main lyricist since the group's debut and some even say that Shi's "legendary" lyrics were partially responsible for the trio's success. Whilst being phenominally successful in Asia for over a decade, they are little known in the west, due mainly to virtually all information and free downloads being in Chinese (Mandarin) only. China Expats hope to correct this anomaly because we really like their music! What we like most is that they are original people in their own right. They have not bowed under pressure to become what they are not - such as slimming in order to keep a trim figure (They eat what they like and burn off the calories with spontanaity and exuberence). This makes them real to ordinary people.
The band have also been involved with more traditional Chinese music and bringing this to the modern ear in an accessible format for young listeners. They have performed soundtracks, and also have TV careers, most notably Ella. However, we rate their recent release "Zhong Gwok Hua" as being one of the best international songs of the decade. Links are provided at bottom of page.
This track breaks all shackles and mixes rock, rap and Kung Fu all together - seeing is wondering, wondering is S.H.E! Media:We chose this album as a lot of tracks are in English, and it is a very good introduction to modern Chinese pop music. Also check out 'Encore' a vcd/hvcd/vcshvcd3dmp4 thingymagig with live video and their top seller to date. It's Pop, but not as you know it - check-out video's: China Girl (English) and Cinderella (Mandarin) or try this version by Tata Young in English: Cinderella We have the single in English, but Copyright issues! This links to one of their latest video offerings: SHE: Zhong Gwok Hua And if your into something really different, try the beautiful S.H.E 的长相思 Websites: S.H.E the nerest thing we can find to an official website (Use Google translate) Wikipedia have great resources and some very long pages about this group: Wiki main page and Wiki Discography Otherwise there is scant information about S.H.E in English |
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