Culture> Music and Theater

Overnight fame

By Chen Nan ( China Daily ) Updated: 2014-02-21 07:20:09

Jike Junyi wows audiences of the TV show The Voice of China with her passionate and unique style of singing. The small-town girl admits it has taken her a while to adjust to her new life, which includes releasing albums, staging concerts and working with the fashion industry. Photos Provided to China Daily

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That was how fame landed on the lap of Jike, the tanned singer with a big smile who often wears a long ponytail. Over the first season of the reality show, the most popular talent show of the year, which attracted millions of viewers, she became one of the country's most talked about and adored singers.

In March, she will release her first album and hold her first concert in front of 7,000 people in Beijing, which will be followed by a national tour.

Jike describes the concert as the conclusion of her previous achievements and the start of her future.

She admits that it took a while for her to adjust to her new life. Once she took off her high heels and wore slippers during a news conference. "I love high heels but they were killing me," she laughs. "But I will never do it again. The very next day, all the newspapers published the photo of me wearing slippers."

Jike is not just another overnight success story, says Zhou Hao, CEO of Beijing-based TH Entertainment, the company responsible for organizing Jike's concerts. "Thanks to her fashionable image, easygoing personality and her attachment to her family, she has a large fan base ranging from 20-somethings to middle-aged people, from students to white-collar workers. She will go far and international," Zhou says.

Liu Huan, who was one of the four judges of the show and later became Jike's tutor during the reality show, says: "Her voice and style are unique. She is exactly what the listeners want.

"I believe that she will shine on a bigger stage. Her passionate and wild nature inherited from her ethnic group is a great treasure. I hope she will remain that way no matter how far she goes."