After the last show of Phantom of the Opera China in Shanghai last night, Liu Lingfei, Ayanga, and He Liangchen took to the stage to serenade the audience with Music of the Night, later joined by the newest Phantom, Ma Jia.
I came for Xiao Zhan and stayed for Ayunga (turned out Liu Yuning was also in the package!)
YouTube brought me the 1st season of Our Song and it's been such a wild ride! First of all, Xiao Zhan is such a KITTEN *heart eyes* I still haven't watched the Untamed (don't throw anything at me please, ahah) because I'm relatively new to cdrama and I'm exploring some other rabbit holes for now, but I can say that his personality is golden. He's such a cutie pie! With a very lovely, beautiful, and straightforward voice. He paired up with a very cool and funny lady that's like his older sister and they had some outstanding performances together. BUT!
There is also this extremely handsome former ballet dancer/present musical singer Ayunga (he's from Inner Mongolia) who looks like an actor celebrity with an absolutely amazing opera-esque voice. The character is also there! The show is very humorous and lively, and the way everyone jokes around is absolutely precious (thanks for the eng subs to whoever translated it). Seriously, I would've watched it for all the cute bickering only, but the music was also there XD. Because of Ayunga's background, you will hear some musicals and some English songs as well (the 80s' hits medley was so much fun!).
Unsurprisingly, both young Chinese idols and established senior singers have amazing voices, so listening to the songs is pure delight, just melodically and musically, it's perfection even if you don't know the language. And all the bickering that's happening between the contestants is just too hilarious. Then there are other teams where you will find Liu Yuning and Zhou Shen, a guy with a very high soprano voice, so there's a lot of versatility. And everyone's personalities are very vibrant.
But I loved when Ayunga's group A competed with the group B whose leader was super short (and Ayunga is super tall) they had these cute and funny moments together (their hug was something straight out of a cdrama, with the hilarious height difference XD). When you become invested in the singers' personalities - it's such a joy to watch this show.
And not Liu Yuning asking "Xiao Zhan Lao Shi" what he has to say about his performance because "everyone wants to hear that" ahah XD The man is the king of fan service, for real))) Liu Yuning is amazing in this show as well, but it's from 2019 and it's good to see that he's come a long way, getting more acknowledged for his talents. He's beyond humble.
Anyway, here's a playlist of the show on YouTube, it has 8 out of 14 eps, mostly subbed, the rest needs to be fished out on Dailymotion. But it's worth it! You will laugh a lot and the music is beautiful, too.
happy pride month everyone shoutout to that one time i was clicking around shitty resolution ayanga rehearsal vids and accidentally found him wearing the calvin klein pride hoodie