Talent show highlights young musicians

The talent show We Are Blazing, where young music groups including idol groups R1SE, SNH48, Black ACE and indie rock group Penicillion compete onstage will be aired on Tencent's video platform on May 29.

Last summer, 11 individual contestants with an average age of 20 got the highest votes from audiences in the reality-show competition Chuang and took the opportunity to break into Chinese entertainment circles as an 11-member boy group, titled R1SE. This year, they seek to challenge themselves by taking part in another competition show.

"Since we formed the group, we've been making music in our comfort zones," says group leader Zhou Zhennan, 19. "We need a competitive atmosphere to help us deep out more inspirations and emotions." He adds they have many creative ideas about composing, lyric-writing and stage design, which they haven't previously had much chance to try.

The talent show will provide a platform for them to flex their musical muscles. For the girl group Sis, which was founded in January, the talent show will be their official debut on stage, as the COVID-19 outbreak disrupted their performance plans for the last few months.