Kris Wu’s “Like That” Breaks into the Billboard Hot 100, A New Record for Chinese Singers
Kris Wu’s (吴亦凡) hot new single “Like That”, released on May 18, has reached not only the US iTunes chart but also Billboard Hot 100, setting a new record for Chinese-language singers.
The Chinese Canadian singer, who is now based in China, debuted his new single on May 18 to chart-topping success in his native country. In a June 4th report, the single broke international walls and rose to #1 on the US iTunes Chart. It also debuted at #73 on the Billboard Hot 100, a first for a Chinese-language singer.
According to Kris, the single took two years to prepare. He hopes to become the Jackie Chan (成龍) of music, bridging the west and the east together.
For the last two years, Kris worked closely with American rapper Travis Scott to release the singles “July”, “Juice”, and “Deserve”, all which reached the US iTunes Chart. Kris said, “Though I’ve released enough singles to put out an album, I still want to continue release new things. I want every song in the album to be capable of being the title song.”
In regard to his Billboard ranking, Kris said via Weibo, “As a Chinese, I am proud. The blood in me runs the blood of the descendants of the yellow [emperor]. Let the world hear our music. This is what I have been striving to do.” On the difference between English and Mandarin Chinese rap, Kris said simply, “I just want to maintain realism.”
Kris debuted in April 2012 with the K-pop group EXO and was the leader of EXO-M, EXO’s Mandarin-singing subgroup. In 2014, Kris left the group following a legal dispute with the group’s agency S.M. Entertainment. He returned to China for an acting career, but found nationwide fame with his appearance in the survival show The Rap of China <中国有嘻哈>. Kris is credited for popularizing rap in the Chinese music industry.
In 2017, Kris starred in D.J. Caruso’s xXx: Return of Xander Cage with Vin Diesel, as well as Luc Besson’s Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. Kris has modeled for brands such as Burberry and Bulgari, and was invited to participate in the NBA All Star Celebrity Game for three years in a row.
Check out the music video for “Like That” below!
Source: Chinaqw.com
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
Without that pretty face and height, Kris would be nowhere. He has no talent. He can’t even speak properly, let alone, rap or sing. He’s lucky that he was born into the right generation of brainless worshippers.
@lynn90
Korean managers must’ve been brainless to have signed him for a long contract and designated him leader of EXO. What was Burberry thinking when they chose him as model/spokesman. And the NFL recruited him for the All Stars competition TWICE, mind you.
@msxie0714 Haha.
I did say that Kris has the face and height.
1. KPOP is all about visuals, check.
2. Burberry and brand names are all about visuals and what’s “popular,”check.
3. Don’t forget the “stars” in NFL All Stars. Kris is popular enough to be invited/recruited, check.
So which point doesn’t involve popularity, which comprises of fans, who are “worshippers” from a young generation, who by the way, love him for his visuals? Haha.
If you strip Kris of his pretty face and height, I doubt any Korean agency would have recruited him and that alone, he would have never made it to be a part of Burberry or NFL All Stars. KPOP relies heavily on visuals. Why else would talented singers still dance in their short shorts and tough male rappers who wear more makeup than an average girl?
@lynn90
I think you guys mean NBA Celebrity All Stars.
NBA is trying very hard to have more exposure in China, it is their 2nd largest market.
@terrycrews19 I thought it was the NBA, too, but I didn’t want to correct the fan, since I don’t follow Kris enough to correct fans on his activities, so I thought the fan knew what she was talking about. Hehe.
The NBA is a fair exchange for Kris. Everyone wants to bank in China, so like you said, the NBA is trying hard to have more exposure in China and on the same token, Kris is trying hard to have exposure in the US, releasing English songs continuously and collaborating with US artists plus hanging around some of the most popular NBA players.
I don’t understand his rap because I don’t even understand him half of the time when he speaks. He talks lazily like he won’t pick up his tongue. Lol His acting sucks. He should stick to singing but even then, he has no emotions, his voice falls flat. That explains why he was a rapper in EXO and not one of the main singers like Luhan. At least Luhan can sing. Kris shouldn’t rap either because he’s trying way too hard that it doesn’t flow and it’s so cringey. I watched him a few times and I’m like uh, no. It’s hard not to see him when he’s everywhere, but hey, he must have some talent right to make this much money?! Yeah, it’s called his face and height and young fans just throwing their support at him because he’s pretty and bad boyish. On top of that, Kris walks around looking like he owns the place. Talk about no talent and humility. But I’m just saying.
@terrycrews19
my mistake…it’s NBA.
@msxie0714 not really. He does have a face and height required for model. As for his voice, he’s an idol, not a singer. Back then he was part of EXO, people said that he had the second worst voice in the group (while the worst -with almost no line in their songs- is one of the most popular member than the one with the best voice).
A few weeks ago, SK netizens critiqued a girl idol group when they sang live. Their fans came to defense, mostly with saying: ‘they’re an idol, not a singer’ or ‘I prefer pretty girl with bad voice than ugly girl with good voice, at least I can enjoy their visual on stage’
@windy
He should stick to modeling and variety shows. Same with Angelababy. Both have a blindly dedicated fan base quick to defendbad acting skills on the basis of how hard their idols work!
@lynn90
“Without that pretty face and height, Kris would be nowhere.”
I am not a fan of Kris Wu, but you pretty much summed up what IDOL singers are. Kris WU is an IDOL hence the importance of his appearance supercedes his talents.
@anon
on another thread, Deng Lun was criticized by a blogger for not being handsome. Looks are the primary criteria for most young and immature fans.
@msxie0714
Looks can be the primary criteria for ANY age group. This cannot be truer than idols in Korea and Japan. They have fans from all age groups that worship them like gods. The keyword here is they are IDOLS. They were commercially manufactured entirely based on looks to attract an audience. Everything else is secondary.
@msxie0714
Deng Lun may not look as handsome as some other actors, but he is very likeable. People often say beauty (in this case, it’s handsomeness) is in the eye of the beholder. 🙂 He does have a great smile though!
Can anyone actually understand his rap? I listened while reading the lyrics and I still scratched my head, ‘huh’?
Did he really popularized rap in China? I remember there was already rap songs that won awards back in HK golden years day. Some was even in Mandarin.
This is my opinion of him just base on this song: the song is over auto tuned. It likes it’s the best the machine can do to make it sounds like he’s singing! And even that can’t save the song, his auto tuned voice is so jarring to the ears that make you want to switch it off. I tried listen to the song but after a minute in, my ears were bleeding… don’t know how anyone can listen to this PoS. Let’s alone be in the top 100! But hey, if the stupid hamster song was no.1 once for many weeks, this could be in the top 100!
For his face, meh, he does not look that great in valerian, and his acting…. so terrible!
I also do think that take away his face and his height, he’s nothing.
I can never appreciate rap. LOL. I do not find him particularly handsome though he does posses the naughty boy look which some girls find sexy, I think. Girls love him so anything sells.
kris is indeed very tall and handsome. i do think that without his looks, he’d be able to make it in kpop. it’s not that he’s got absolutely no talent, although rap is not exactly my taste. i can’t really judge on his rapping from the little that i know about it.
Srly, being tall is a sure-win criteria for being an idol??? =o He does have that Kpop and feminine face and look, which all Kpop become after, even during their Kpop training.
Looks aside, his music is junk, so is 99% of all modern artists that consider themselves “rappers”. Auto-tune and their English illiteracy killed rap. Mainstream rap died post-2000.