Post by -S.H.E & Fahrenheit Adik- on Nov 8, 2008 18:26:16 GMT 8
Fahrenheit (traditional Chinese: ïw݆º£; pinyin: F¨¥i L¨²n H¨£i) is a Taiwanese boy band that has achieved success in the last two years in Southeast Asia. This group consists of four members: Aaron Yan, Wu Chun, Calvin Chen, and Jiro Wang. They are managed by Jerry Fen's Comic Productions Co., Ltd. and records albums with HIM International Music. They are also managed by WOW Music[1] in Hong Kong. Fahrenheit are often associated with their seniors, S.H.E, and are commonly referred to as the most successful Taiwanese boy band after F4.[citation needed]
Background
Derived from the definition of Fahrenheit, each of the four members represents a season or temperature that corresponds with their different personalities. Calvin Chen represents spring, warm; Jiro Wang represents summer, hot; Wu Zun represents autumn, cool, and lastly, Aaron Yan represents winter, cold. Each of the four members also has his respective temperature represented on the Fahrenheit scale: Calvin Chen is at 77 degrees, Jiro Wang is at 95 degrees, Wu Zun is at 59 degrees, and Aaron Yan is at 41 degrees. Each of their temperatures are separated by 18 degrees.
Wu Chun was born and raised in Brunei for most of his life, later graduating with distinction at RMIT, in Melbourne, Australia. He was introduced to the entertainment industry during a trip to Taiwan around Mid-November 2005. A television producer (Ella Chen's second sister's boyfriend) discovered him during this trip, and recommended him to play the lead male role of Tokyo Juliet, which Wu accepted..
Aaron Yan was born in Taiwan, but moved to New York, USA at a young age for elementary school but later returned to Taiwan for high school and college. He attended the Chinese Culture University, majoring in Journalism but later switched universities and majors in his third year. He is currently on a study hiatus due to work commitments. Around early 2005, Comic producers had been searching for elite bloggers around the web. They discovered Yan, who, at that time, was really popular online, and thus recommended him to go casting for a role in a drama. Yan thought it was a fraud at first, but after several tests, he realized that it was true. He was given a small role in 'I Love My Wife' and was later asked to be in 'It Started With a Kiss' as Ah Bu.
After Calvin Chen graduated high school in Taiwan, he further pursued his college education in Canada, where he completed his Masters degree in Economics at University of Victoria. He then further continued his life in Canada by joining a pageant-like competition (Sunshine Boyz) in Vancouver,[2] where he won first place with a free ticket to Taiwan and a contract with a music company.
In 2000, Jiro Wang started to work since he graduated from Taiwan's Fu-Shin community college, and did part-time jobs wherever he could, such as commercial modelling. BMG, the label that signed him, planned to package him with Jay Chou and Jordan Chan to form a boyband called 3J, but because of 9/11, BMG's stocks crashed and the 3J plan was scrapped. He later joined the army for 2 years, and came back around 2003. Since he was still popular around Taiwan, he was given two roles as a guest-star in 'The Pawnshop No.8' and 'I Love My Wife'. Then Comic Productions approached him, and was given the supporting role as Ah Jin in 'It Started with A Kiss'. That was where he was grouped with Aaron, Calvin and Wu Chun.
Although unstable at first, Fahrenheit first gained minor recognition around late 2005 when their first all-together series, KO One, was broadcasted on television in Taiwan. Because it felt awkward to have only three members in a boyband,[citation needed] Wu Chun joined the group later in late 2005. On December 28, 2005, Fahrenheit officially became a vocal quartet boy band.
Musical career
[edit] Rise to stardom
Before Fahrenheit released their first album in September 15 of 2006, they gained minor attention as singers from contributing in several Taiwanese drama soundtracks. Their popularity immediately rose after the soundtracks were released, but was only limited to Taiwan and Mainland China. After their first album was released, their fan base had extended to Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Philippines and the rest of Southeast Asia . Overseas fans such as from North America and Europe are also getting more familiar with them.
As soon as announcements for their debut album pre-order was released on August 30, 2006, the album broke past 10,000 copies. [3] After its release in September 15, 2006, the album entered the G-music charts and was ranked #2. It was less than 1% below Jay Chou's Still Fantasy album, which came out two weeks prior to the release. [4] Fahrenheit's album sold passed an impressive 80,000 copies in Taiwan within the first month. [5] Ultimately on the G-music Mandarin Charts their album was ranked 11th for the top 20 of 2006 and stayed in the charts for 17 weeks. [6] Their primary song, or zhuda (Chinese: Ö÷´ò; pinyin: zh¨³ d¨£) song, "I Have My Youth" (ÎÒÓÐÎÒµÄYoung) was on Hong Kong's Global Rhythm List as the Top 16th song for weeks. Their duet with Hebe of girl group S.H.E also won them several popular awards. Fahrenheit was also the first new foreign boy band to have won third place for Best Group at Hong Kong's TVB8 Awards. Although unable to defeat their seniors S.H.E and Twins, who had won first place and second place respectively, they have beaten Hong Kong's local boy bands such as Sun Boy'z and Soler. In less than a year, Fahrenheit has already won eight awards. Despite the outburst of winning multiple awards, there had been debates where fans disagreed with the awards that they have won. The most debated topic was when Fahrenheit won HITO Music Awards 2007's Best Male Group award, arguing that Fahrenheit is too inexperienced to have won the award.[citation needed]
Popularity and success
With the help of starring in popular dramas, Fahrenheit has been the fastest moving boy band[citation needed] and has quickly gained their status as one of the top boy bands of the year in Taiwan. Within a year, they had already debuted in over 30 different magazine covers all over Asia. They make frequent appearances in Taiwan's Play and Color magazine covers. After their predecessors F4, they are the second Taiwanese boy band to hold a concert in Indonesia with only just one album released. They already held two mini concerts: one in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia on March 31 and one in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong on April 19. [7] Also, they held 2 concerts sponsored by Watsons Water at the end of September 2007: one in Hongkong on September 28, 2007 and one in Guangzhou on September 29, 2007.
Fahrenheit attended to an opening ceremony for their new music label in Hong Kong, WOW Music, at Times Square, Hong Kong, on April 19, 2007, the same evening where they held their mini concert in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong. They also attended with fellow label mate Tank as well as with other popular artists like Candy Lo and Mavis Fan. More than a thousand fans showed up at the mall, the majority being Fahrenheit's fans. There were fans who faced danger and climbed on roofs, cars, narrow roads, etc. to catch a glimpse of them. Some fans also fainted and were stepped on due to the number of people. Over fifty security guards and ten policemen had to appear at the venue to protect Fahrenheit as well as the other artists. There were also some fans who rented vans to chase after Fahrenheit's vans. Some fans also became victims of car accidents because of this. At their mini concert in Hard Rock Cafe, the organizers had to cut down Fahrenheit's performance because the fans were going overboard and out of control. Fahrenheit expressed that they do not want their fans to do anything dangerous. Fahrenheit's company explained that if fans do not correct this behavior they will cut some of Fahrenheit's future trips to Hong Kong. [8]
Major concerts
Ever since Fahrenheit's meteoric rise to stardom, HIM has been giving quite a bit exposure for Fahrenheit, such as promoting the group in two of S.H.E's major concerts in Taipei and Singapore where they were seen performing their duet with Hebe as well as their own songs. Ever since their exposure had hit the Hong Kong market their company does not want to miss this chance for more promotion for the group and is currently organizing Fahrenheit's first major concert in Hong Kong in September at the HKCEC. It was reported that they are originally going to hold a concert in Hong Kong's renowned coliseum, Hong Kong Coliseum, but because all of the performances slots are full, they have to move their concert to a different venue. The director of WOW Music expressed that Fahrenheit is currently slated for performing in the HKCEC for two to three nights. In the winter of 2008 they will debut in the Hong Kong Coliseum. [9] as part of their All-Asia Concert. During their All-Asia press conference for the release of their second album in Hong Kong, it was revealed that plans for the All-Asia Concert were in the works. Confirmed concert stops include Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. Torwards the end of September, Fahrenheit had some concert stops in Mainland China and about a week later, they had a couple more concerts in China with S.H.E. for their Mengniu Promotion-type concert.
Musical style
All four members of this group have contradicting vocal ranges to complement each other when harmonizing. Wu Chun's voice ranges from within the bass to the baritone. Therefore, Wu usually harmonizes as the supporting voice but sings more in songs when they are intended for a lower key. Wu's voice can be easily distinguished from his accent. Jiro Wang's vocal ranges is less wide when compared to Wu's, but Wang has a higher voice, closer to a tenor approach with vocal belting techniques. His voice is the easiest to distinguish out of the four because of its nasal sound. Calvin Chen and Aaron Yan are the baritone to tenor vocalists of the group, and therefore are the predominant voices in most of their songs. Although their voices are difficult to distinguish at times, Yan's voice has a richer and higher voice and usually does the singing the melody with a vibrato while Chen usually does the supporting vocals. Ultimately, Yan has been acknowledged as the member with the most impressive vocal ability. In most songs, Wu Chun sings the harmony, while Calvin takes the higher harmony, and Aaron sings the melody and often any parts of the songs which require a rich and high voice, and Jiro either does melody as well, or does the other parts of the songs, i.e rapping.
Fahrenheit's songs mainly fall into the bubblegum pop and pop ballad category. However, songs like "Teachable Child" (Èæ×ӿɽÌ) and "Loved" (Ûµ½) are intended for a light R&B approach. Songs similar to "The Secret of Immortality" (²»ËÀÖ®Öi) and "Superb" (³öÉñÈ뻯) are leaning toward the pop rock and rap genre, where they displayed their ability to rap and harmonize well.
Their much anticipated 2nd album, Two-sided Fahrenheit, was released on 4th of January 2008. The new album saw the four employ more advanced harmonizing techniques as well as some progression from bubblegum pop to more mature ballads, such as "Yi Wan Ge Kuai Le" (Ò»Èf‚€¿ì˜·£©. Nonetheless, the band's youthful energy was retained in songs such as the opening song for the drama Romantic Princess -- "Xin Wo" (ÐÂÎÑ)£¬ which is a duet by Fahrenheit and their seniors S.H.E. On the album "Xiao Xiao Da Ren Wu" (СС´óÈËÎis the Disney theme song for 2008.
Film career
Further information: Fahrenheit filmography
Similar to their seniors F4, each member of Fahrenheit has first gained recognition in participating in certain idol dramas.
Jiro Wang was the first discovered among the four, appearing as a small character in The Pawnshop No. 8 and a supporting role in It Started With a Kiss as Ah Jin. Closely tracing his popularity that It Started With a Kiss has given him, his company decided to give him the lead role for KO One as well as Calvin Chen and Aaron Yan for they were discovered around that same time. After KO One aired, HIM International Music decided that it was time for Fahrenheit to release their first studio album to fulfill fans' requests. Wang and Yan will reprise their roles in It Started With a Kiss's sequel, It Started With a Kiss II.
Wu Chun, however, was heading toward a different road. The last to join Fahrenheit, Wu starred in a separate drama with Ariel Lin, a manga-based drama titled Tokyo Juliet. Following the success Tokyo Juliet has brought him, he was soon chosen to star in Hanazakarino Kimitachihe (Hana-Kimi) along with fellow band member Wang and S.H.E member Ella. Wu also guest starred in KO One, but had a very short appearance.
Hana-Kimi's pilot episode started off strong, posting a rating of 3.05[10] Until the premiere of Show Luo and Barbie Xu's Corner With Love, Hana-Kimi was the ratings king in its time slot. Barbie Xu bet that Corner With Love's first episode would reach a ratings zenith of 2.9; however, she was off by quite a bit, as Corner wound up with a mere 2.81, peaking at around 3.25.[11] Corner With Love proved to be no match for Hana-Kimi in subsequent episodes, as the latter drama's ratings broke 5.0 by its twelfth episode.[12] Ratings-wise, Hana-Kimi was dominant for each of its 15 episodes, ending off with a finale that averaged around 5.98.[13] In light of Hana-Kimi 's success, reports claimed that Selina and Wu would be acting in the sequel to It Started With a Kiss as a couple. [14] However, the director of the sequel stepped out and rebunked the rumor.
In a report at Liberty Times, it was confirmed that Wu would be starring in a new manga-based drama alongside Angela Chang. Chen would also slated to take part as the second male lead in the drama. [15] Filming for this drama, eventually confirmed to be Romantic Princess (¹«Ö÷СÃÃ), began in early May. Romantic Princess has since premiered in Taiwan with a rating of 3.33 for its pilot episode. It was broadcasted weekly and ended its run after 13 episodes. Its ratings remain constantly in the 3-4 range, edging out its main competitors, Sweet Relationship starring Vic Zhou and Bull Fighting starring Mike He and Hebe Tian.
The other members of Fahrenheit were also busy with their own filming commitments. Following the success of KO One is its sequel, The X-Family (½K˜OÒ»¼Ò). Wang, Yan and Chen reprised their roles as Da Dong, Xiao Yu and Ya Se Wang respectively whilst taking on new roles in this new drama set in a separate dimension. Wu guest-starred and only appeared in the last two episodes of the 55-episode long drama. Shooting for The X-Family started in June, 2006, and ended in April, 2007. The drama has since enjoyed a full run on GTV, showing every Monday to Friday, and has recently concluded. Its popularity led to a slew of follow ups, including an online game as well as an original soundtrack that was promoted in numerous Asian countries.
Idol dramas aside, it was also reported in various Chinese sources that Wu will be starring in a new Hong Kong-based film with Gillian Chung of Twins. Another report claimed that Wu is currently preparing for a new drama directed by actor/director Stephen Chow. [16] On April 27, 2007, the media announced that Alex Fong will take Wu's place in the new Hong Kong film, Bathing Beauty (³öˮܽÈØ). [17] However reports claiming a future project with Chow is still unconfirmed.
On March 17 2008, a press conference was held to announce that Wu will be filming a movie, Butterfly Lovers (Îä‚bÁº×£) with Charlene Choi, the other half of popular Hong Kong group, Twins as Gillian Chung had voluntarily gave up her role after being embroiled in the Edison Chen sex photos scandal.
Jiro Wang has finished filming GTV drama, Rolling Love (·L°É£¡µ°³´ïˆ) and is going to start filming Superstar Express with Rainie Yang and George Hu. After being casted as second male lead for a few of his drama series, the youngest member of Fahrenheit Aaron Yan will be starring as the main lead in the GTV drama The Clue Collector (ÅùìZMIT). Wu is involved in yet another idol drama, Hot Shot £¨ÀºÇò»ð£©, acting alongside established artistes, Show Luo and Jerry Yan.
Related Publications
February 14, 2007: Fahrenheit Photo Notebook (¿áÛïw݆º£ / Œ‘ÕæÊÖÔý)
June 20, 2007: Fahrenheit: First Photo Album (ïw݆º£Œ‘Õ漯: º£½ÇÒ»˜·ˆ@)
November 16, 2007: Fahrenheit First (ïw݆º£Œ‘Õ漯: Fahrenheit First) - Japan Limited
Endorsements
2006: Master Kang's 3+2 Crackers (PRC)
2006: Heme: Man Simple (Taiwan)
2006: Honey-Fruit and Vegetable Juice (Taiwan)
2007: OraLabs Ouboshi SPF15 Vanilla Flavored Chapstick (Taiwan)
2007: 7-11 - with S.H.E (Taiwan)
2007-2008: C.C.Lemon (Taiwan)
2007: Cadanro (PRC)
2007: Taisun Freeze (Taiwan)
2007-2008: Taisun Xian Cao Mi (PRC)
2007-2008: Ai Lian Jin Shi (Taiwan)
2007: Hong Kong Disneyland: Mickey's Summer Blast (Hongkong)
2007: Watsons Water (Hongkong)
2007: Watsons Water (PRC)
2008: Mengniu Yogurt - with S.H.E (PRC)
Controversies
Disbandment
Aaron Yan's injury
In the later months of 2006 when the quartet were busy preparing for their debut album, the youngest member, Aaron Yan, tore a ligament in the knee while filming a dancing shoot for their music video "I Have My Youth", also known as "Wo You Wo De Young" (ÎÒÓÐÎÒµÄYOUNG). Yan had to be brought to the hospital to do surgery. He was hospitalized for well over three weeks. For four months the other three members of Fahrenheit had to attend to overseas album promotions and functions without the presence of Yan. The Taiwanese media then composed rumors saying that Yan was a disadvantage for the group and that he was dragging the group behind, which would cause disbandment. More rumors surfaced saying that HIM was planning to dispose Yan so Fahrenheit could become a group of three instead of four, therefore complementing more with the prefabricated trio S.H.E. However, Fahrenheit stepped out and confirmed that Yan is still in the group despite his inconvenient condition. To prevent more rumors from happening, as soon as Yan was available he appeared more often in the future promotions with the other members, clearly seen using crutches. [18]
Remedy disputes
A disrespectful host
In mid-January when the boy band Fahrenheit were guests on the Chinese program, Super Winners (³¬¼¶´óÓ®¼Ò), fans had filed complaints toward the host, Frankie Kao, for his disrespectful and careless attitude towards Fahrenheit and their fans. [19] Fans listed their arguments, criticizing Kao for being contemptuous; before the program was to be recorded Fahrenheit and their fans had to wait for over two hours because Kao had to practice his dance for the opening [19]; when Aaron Yan had his eyes burnt, Kao completely ignored his injury and continued on with the program. When fans began to worry and cry, he became annoyed and screamed at the fans to shut up. Fans also complained that when Fahrenheit was dancing, Kao had caused them to NG many times and therefore they were required to dance several more times. Fans witnessed an extremely exhausted Jiro Wang, who was almost to the point of collapsing after the dancing. The ill Wu Chun was also a victim; fans had witnessed Kao requiring Wu to do health-risking activities when Wu was sick with a fever.
Frankie Kao files lawsuit
After reports of Frankie Kao being disrespectful to new comers like Fahrenheit had been released, Kao immediately filed a lawsuit against the producer of the program, saying that the producer of the program "did not edit the production fairly" and was "destroying his image." [20] Kao demanded 100 Million Renminbi as retribution for the damage it would cause on his image. However, after the episode of the program was aired, Kao canceled the lawsuit because he was satisfied with the result. [20]
Hacked Online Accounts
Recently, HIM Comic Productions announced that online accounts of members Aaron, Jiro, Calvin, and Chun have been hacked. It was recently discovered by the company that Wu Chun's Yahoo and Wretch account, Aaron's Wretch account and MSN account, Jiro and Calvin's MSN accounts have been hacked. The company has already sent out a warning and apologies to all the fans who could be receiving offensive or virus-infected mails from any of the Fahrenheit members' accounts. This was already evident in Aaron Yan's last blog post where he mentioned things about privacy and hacked e-mails. Currently, Fahrenheit's blogs are in an idle state and the layout and some photos were altered or removed.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit_(Taiwanese_band)
