You Zhangjing
You Zhangjing is a Malaysian singer and songwriter based in mainland China. He was a main vocalist of Chinese boy group Nine Percent created by 2018 Chinese survival show Idol Producer. He released his first solo single Yesterday in 2018.
Personal life
You Zhangjing was born and raised in Johor, Malaysia. His early education was in the Chinese schools in Batu Pahat. His family consists of his father, mother, a younger sister and him. He moved to China to be in the undergraduate programme of pop music in the University of Nanjing Arts.Career
In December 2016, he auditioned to become a trainee under Banana Entertainment and successfully gained a place in the company's programme - Trainee 18. During the audition, he demonstrated his singing and dancing talents.In January 2018, he participated in a talent show Idol Producer. In the show, 100 participants were ranked according to the number of votes casted by the members of the public and live audience. You Zhangjing ranked 67 at the start of the competition before his first performance. In the fifth episode, he raised to position no. 10. On April 6, he won the ninth place, the final spot, in the idol trainee finals, which made him the last successful member added to Nine Percent. You garnered a score of 7,706,054 in the final episode to secure that place.
The name of You Zhangjing's fandom was agreed in March 2018. They are called Xīyòu. The colour of the fandom is reddish pink. The fandom identified the colour code as #f18174，R:241 G:129 B:116，C6 M63 Y47 K0.
After the competition, the nine members of the group were taken to Los Angeles to prepare for their tour. There, they were mentored by Rodney Jerkins and Christopher Scott. On May 5, Nine Percent, started their tour to meet their fans in major cities in China. Their first concert was at Mercedes-Benz Arena.
In early 2018, You was invited by famous Chinese composer Dong Dong Dong to sing one of the soundtracks of the TV series, Legend of Fuyao, titled "Ao Hong Chen". The composer stated in an interview that You caught his attention in Idol Producer. The song was released in June 2018 and placed first on Billboard Charts and third on QQ Music charts in the first week.
His second soundtrack was released in July 19, 2018, the theme song of anime movie "Crystal Sky of Yesterday" .
On September 11, 2018, the pre-recorded 10th episode of Rap of China was broadcast. In the episode, You was invited to help one of the 4 remaining contestants with their performances. He covered an adaptation of Stranger In The North by Namewee to help Nawukere. The duo won the first place with the highest number of votes by the live audience. The song went on to top the Chinese chart for months.
On September 22, 2018, You Zhangjing's new song, "West Encounter" was released. The song was a collaborative production between QQ Music and Dunhuang Academy as part of their endeavour to relive the ancient traditional music of Dunhuang. The Western style arrangement is fused with the rhythm of the traditional Chinese instruments to depict the diverse cultures of the travelers on the famous Silk Road.
On September 27, 2018, the first episode of Perfect Restaurant 《完美的餐厅》was broadcast. You Zhangjing appeared in the show for 13 episodes as one of the chefs running a new restaurant.
On November 3, You Zhangjing won the New Male Singer in NetEase Yun National Wind Bliss Night Music Festival.
On November 20, 2018, Nine Percent, including You Zhangjing released their album To The Nines.
On December 1, 2018, Nine Percent won the Group of the Year and Scream Boy Group Awards in IQIYI Scream Night.
On December 8, 2018, Nine Percent won the Most Popular Group Award and Most Popular Male Artists of the Year Award. Their album won the Best Digital Album of the Year. You ZhangJing was the main vocal of group.
On December 10, 2018, You released his Christmas song, .
On January 11, 2018, You ZhangJing and his Nine Percent teammates won the Weibo's Best Group of the Year in Weibo Night.
In February 2019, You Zhangjing flew to New Zealand for a variety show about a group of boys travelling around New Zealand in a motorhome. The first episode of the show was broadcast on March 13 and new episode was released every Saturday for 13 weeks. The show ended on June 1.
Meanwhile, on April 1, 2019, You's personal work studio began operation. With the establishment of the studio, You now has a group of staff dedicated to his development as an artist. Every Saturday, since the studio began operating its own Weibo homepage, a video or audio video of You Zhangjing is released to provide information about You's work directly to his fans.
On April 28, 2019, after months of speculation, You Zhangjing's studio officially announced the release date of his first solo song - May 15, 2019. The caption is accompanied by "P/S Music is attitude". This phrase has since become one of the unofficial slogans of his fans. On May 10, the cover of the album was announced and the following day, the title of the first song was published . At the same time, the studio revealed that the album would consist of 10 tracks.
Meanwhile, on May 10, the song written for Wrigley's, was released with its extended MV ad.
On May 15, "The Night of a Star" was released. It won the "Popular Diamond Singles" certification in the "QQ Music Summit" within 21 seconds of its release. The song achieved gold certification on QQ Music, breaking the 2019 record to date.
On June 6, 2019, the theme song for the show Magical Chinese Characters was released. You was one of the five young singers singing the song.
On June 12, 2019, Pin Guan aka Victor Wong released a song with You entitled . The Malaysian singer composer stated in an interview and again in the press release that he had wanted to work with You Zhangjing ever since he saw his performance of Can't Stop in Idol Producer.
You Zhangjing started shooting for a new variety show on June 17, 2019. The name of the show has yet to be announced.
On June 19, 2019, You released the second song for his album, Azoraland. The song is titled , literally translated A Person Remembers. This is his first love song.
On June 20, 2019, You's company, Banana Entertainment and IQIYI released the first episode of the musical variety show This is Our Concert, which shows him and his fellow Banana artists preparing for the company's major concert on August 3, 2019.
On September 19, 2019, he released the third song for his album, Azoraland. The song is called , literally translated Absurdist or Absurd Scientist.
On December 27, 2019, You released the third song for his album, Azoraland. The song is called , literally translated as The Time has Come.
On January 11, 2020, You held his first solo concert in Beijing.
Endorsements
Ninepercent was an endorser for many popular brands in China - Innisfree, PizzaHut and Fendi in 2018, Individually, You Zhangjing was chosen to be the endorser and spokesperson for chewing gum brand, Wrigley's, and skin care brands, Mistine, Tripollar and Snail White and Hong-Kong based food brand Wan Chai Ferry Peking Dumplings. In early 2019, he was chosen to represent technology giant Panasonic and since early June, he has been appointed the spokesperson of Tropicana China. He has also been appointed the spokesperson for Wrigley's two years in a row.Filmography
Reality Shows/ Talent competitions
Discography
| Title | Tracks |
| Azoraland |
|
| Title | Date of release |
| "Rock the Show" With TRAINEE 18 | January 22, 2018 |
| "Drifting North " With LIL-EM | September 15, 2018 |
| Hi Wake Up with Fan Chengcheng, Zhu Zhengting, Wang Ziyi, Fei Qiming & After Journey | March 7, 2019 |
| Magical Chinese Characters with 仝卓、胡一天、Justin、王鹤棣 | June 6, 2019 |
| 投己所好 with Victor Wong | June 12, 2019 |
Awards and nominations
Group| Year | Nominated work | Award | Category | Ref. |
| 2018 | Nine Percent | iQiyi Scream Night 2019 | Group of the Year | |
| 2018 | Nine Percent | iQiyi Scream Night 2019 | Scream Boy Group | |
| 2018 | Idol Producer | iQiyi Scream Night 2019 | Best Variety Show | |
| 2018 | Nine Percent | 12th Migu Music Awards | Most Popular Male Artist of The Year | |
| 2018 | Nine Percent | 12th Migu Music Awards | Most Popular Group of The Year | |
| 2018 | To The NINES | 12th Migu Music Awards | Best Digital Album | |
| 2019 | Nine Percent | Weibo Night | Weibo's Best Group of the Year |