Thread by @yesterday_ying, AS PROMISED, here is a thread about young Mandopop singer Liu Yuning, [...]

AS PROMISED, here is a thread about young Mandopop singer Liu Yuning, and why you should at least listen to one of his songs. I am a casual fan at best (unlike his mega fans who turn up at his concerts in bridal gowns), so this is more primer than deep dive. OK LET'S GO

AS PROMISED, here is a thread about young Mandopop singer Liu Yuning, and why you should at least listen to one of his songs. I am a casual fan at best (unlike his mega fans who turn up at his concerts in bridal gowns), so this is more primer than deep dive. OK LET'S GO

IN MY HUMBLE OPINION, ALL LIU YUNING THREADS SHOULD START WITH THIS PICTURE.

Because so far it has not failed to capture people's attention

IN MY HUMBLE OPINION, ALL LIU YUNING THREADS SHOULD START WITH THIS PICTURE. Because so far it has not failed to capture people's attention

Liu Yuning 刘宇宁 is the frontman of Modern Brothers 摩登兄弟. Frankly I don't know what his bandmates' names are, I've never seen them talk, and LYN already has a solo album out, but this sweetheart still always introduces himself as "Modern Brothers' Liu Yuning" everywhere.

This gives you a sense of the kind of guy he is. He has been described by his co-workers (like veteran singer Richie Jen 任賢齊 and variety show co-hosts) as "always grateful", "always saying thanks to staff", "very polite".

Liu Yuning had a very humble upbringing. He was raised by his grandparents. He shared a hearth bed with his mother, uncle, and younger brother as a kid. He used to sing for wedding banquets in the countryside for, like, RMB50 and free food. He's sold corn snacks with an ex.

(These are all things he's said on Our Song 我们的歌 and Fresh Chef 100 鲜厨100. Obviously I don't know whether some details are true or exaggerated.)

In fact, Liu Yuning trained as a chef in a culinary institute in Dandong (his hometown). So lately he's been on a number of cooking shows on HunanTV. E.g. he's a judge on 鲜厨100 Fresh Chef 100 (crap concept, surprisingly good execution).
Here's him eating something super tasty!

This montage from S4 of 中餐厅 Chinese Restaurant shows he is a super reliable sous in a pro kitchen.
The first guy basically says "ah it's so different when the guy has serious chops".
(Btw he is 林述巍 Jack Lin, who's been head chef for 5☆ hotels and banquets like the G20...)

Okay back to the music. He consistently makes the Top 10 on charts. Last year he picked up 8 awards, including "Best Newcomer" and "Web Influencer".
So far in 2020 he's released 14 tracks, and 9 are drama themes.
(Clip for @regrettsu, who has sat through *so much* Yuning yelling)

But before Modern Brothers got famous in 2018, they street busked and livestreamed for 4 years. They got famous on Douyin. In fact, they're known as one of the rare few - if not first ever - to successfully cross over from QQ livestream to mainstream success and national TV.

Here's them singing their song 昨日少年 Yesterday Youth, the theme for anime 企鹅公路 Penguin Highway, on a paid livestream

...and this is 昨日少年 again, this time on an actual livestream where they just hang out with fans with a super DIY setup. This has some classic Yuning livestream elements - banter, weird stickers appearing mid-song, his bandmates wandering off behind him...

What endears Liu Yuning to fans is he is very casual. A lot have followed him since busking days so the boundary was never there.
LYN and fans are really sarcastic to each other on Weibo. They call him 老大 (Boss), he calls himself 宁哥 (bro Ning) to them. https://twitter.com/Iiuyuning/status/1285495166581698560?s=19

https://twitter.com/Iiuyuning/status/1285495166581698560?s=19

And fame hasn't changed that.
This clip compares him hanging out with fans at airports in Sep '18, and June '20. These days he flies out straight after filming, but he sits on the floor with them because they've waited hours. (Watch him struggle with his long, long legs)

as a side treat, here is Ayanga running into Liu Yuning at the airport right after filming a post-pandemic livestream show to promote Hunan products for HunanTV

Ayanga says "慢慢开会~ have a good meeting" to Yuning, who was chatting with his fans https://twitter.com/Iiuyuning/status/1274250026370265088?s=19

https://twitter.com/Iiuyuning/status/1274250026370265088?s=19

Btw this was the broadcast when a crazy fan went on stage to propose to Dilireba. All the guys were very sweet! Yuning was also on stage, he used his body to physically separate her from the guy & watched him to make sure he got hauled off stage properly https://twitter.com/langdianxia/status/1269619187942486016?s=19

https://twitter.com/langdianxia/status/1269619187942486016?s=19

I'm gonna take a break before posting actual music (omg i keep getting sidetracked) let me know what you like about Liu Yuning so far!!

Also - I usually try not to use airport pics/vids because privacy, but I think since LYN stays to entertain his fans, there's tacit consent.

OKAY wow this break took longer than I thought it would! But I'm back to share some Liu Yuning performances and music!!!

I think what I'll do is embed some clips, and then maybe put links to full performances in the replies. Thanks, algorithm, lol

I think most int'l fans get to know about Liu Yuning through Our Song 我们的歌, which most of us would have first tuned in to because of Xiao Zhan.

By the way, Our Song is really brilliant. It introduced me to a whole generation of new singers like Ayanga, Zhou Shen, etc.

Liu Yuning caught my attention early on. He is so expressive and adorable. I mean how can a man so tall look like such a smol kitten??? What are those crescent moon eyes when he smiles??

(Also, he's really pale on air. Sometimes I call him vampire boy

)

Liu Yuning caught my attention early on. He is so expressive and adorable. I mean how can a man so tall look like such a smol kitten??? What are those crescent moon eyes when he smiles?? (Also, he's really pale on air. Sometimes I call him vampire boy )

On the show, Liu Yuning says he tends to sing a lot of rock. Hi raspy voice!!!

Here's he and Richie Jen's cover of Jen's 依靠 (Depend On)

i'll let you lean on me / come into my arms / if you want to cry / go ahead / nobody has to know

Then he sings his own songs and it's a bit whiplash because... the rock influence is clearly there but the sounds are much cleaner and pop??

This was his audition - him singing his own song, 乞丐 Beggar

Here are Liu Yuning and Richie Jen singing Jen's classic 心太软 Soft-Hearted!

I love many things about this performance:

- the storytelling, the big bro little bro vibe
- Yuning's adorable acting, the way his hand actions follow the pauses of the song
- the Police mash-up lol

Yuning is getting more attention - deservedly so - so I'll just add a couple of Tianwen-related things to this thread

I'm really hoping Tianwen could be that song that makes him become more popular

https://twitter.com/yesterday_ying/status/1378652404699201538?s=19

https://twitter.com/yesterday_ying/status/1378652404699201538?s=19

Here's Yuning reviewing Gong Jun and Zhang Zhehan singing Tianwen during the SHL concert, and being utterly kind about it.

He's also almost definitely imitated the way Gong Jun sings Tianwen in a separate livestream too

https://twitter.com/yesterday_ying/status/1391438323168649216?s=19

https://twitter.com/yesterday_ying/status/1391438323168649216?s=19

Fresh Chef 100 is BACK for season 2 and on the episode that aired 22/4/21, Liu Yuning sang the chorus of Tianwen live to try to get a contestant on his team

"I'll sing a song that's quite well-liked lately - a song from Shan He Ling."

*cue screams*

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