iQIYI Forms New Music Group With “Youth With You 3” Trainees?
Despite not airing its finale, iQiyi music survival show Youth With You 3 < 青春有你3> is said to be forming a group named XWONDER with nine of its most popular trainees. The group members are speculated to be: Luo Yizhou (罗一舟), Lian Huaiwei (连淮伟), Tang Jiuzhou (唐九洲), Neil Liu (刘冠佑), Jerome Deng (邓孝慈), Sun Yinghao (孙滢皓), Jun Liu (刘隽), Duan Xingxing (段星星) and Sun Yihang (孙亦航).
Group Name to Be Trademarked
After Youth With You 3 got embroiled in the yogurt dumping and contestant Tony Yu’s scandals, the show immediately halted production as per Chinese authorities’ request and angered fans who were highly invested in the show. Aside from issuing a public apology over the handling of its program operations, iQIYI has been low-profile in the aftermath of controversy due to continued scrutiny from authorities.
However, checks revealed that multiple trademark applications for the name XWONDER were filed in May by Beijing Qiyi Century Technology Co., Ltd., an affiliate of iQIYI. With the timing of the application and current trademarks already pending, netizens immediately guessed that iQIYI is forming a new group for the Youth With You 3 trainees.
However, fans pointed out how the Youth With You groups from season 1 and 2 all have “nine” in their names – Season 1’s boy group UNINE with Li Wenhan (李汶翰), Li Zhen Ning (李振宁), Yao Mingming (姚明明), Li Guan (管栎), Jia Yi (嘉羿), Hu Chunyang (胡春杨), Xia Hanyu (夏瀚宇), Chen Youwei (陈宥维) and He Changxi (何昶希). Season 2’s girl group debuted The NINE (THE9) with Liu Yuxin (刘雨昕), Esther Yu (虞书欣), Kiki Xu (许佳琪), Yu Yan (喻言), Shaking Xie Keyin (谢可寅), Babymonster An (安崎), Zhao Xiaotang (赵小棠), Snow Kong (孔雪儿) and Lu Keran (陆柯燃).
The New Face of XWONDER
News that XWONDER may debut quickly trended on social media, with fans eager to know whether Luo Yizhou or Tang Jiuzhou will be the real face of the new group.
A graduate of People’s Liberation Army Academy of Art, Luo Yizhou later joined the The Central Academy of Drama. The 21-year-old is now rumored to be acting in Heaven Official’s Blessing <天官赐福> next, and his future certainly looks bright.
Whereas Tang Jiuzhou, better known by his stage name Jojo, had debuted after hosting Mango TV’s reality show I Got You <哥哥别闹啦>. The 23-year-old has charming good looks and intelligence in equal measure, explaining his high popularity.
Rumors are Debunked
When iQIYI was reached for comment over speculations regarding XWONDER, the company claimed that the name was only a software trademark. An iQIYI programmer further responded in a social media post, “Unexpectedly, one day there will be a topic in the software we developed? And how does it have to do with the group name of Youth With You 3? XWONDER is really just a piece of software we developed.”
The response left fans once again frustrated over the lack of closure over the future of their favorite trainees from Youth With You 3.
This article is written by JoyceK for JayneStars.com.
“Youth with You 3” Ordered to Stop Production Due to Tony Yu’s Controversies
another hint that the final debut members in these so call survival shows are always predetermined and not by fan votes.
@m0m0
Reality shows are always rigged in my opinion. I heard America’s got Talent is rigged too.