Variety entertainer: To be or not to be

Jacky Xue and Wowkie Zhang stand in first and second places, respectively, in the "Chinese Most Popular Variety Entertainer" chart listing from July 2015 to July 2016. [Photo/Weibo]

Jacky Xue is one of them. Before becoming a variety entertainer, Xue was a young musician in China without much of a reputation. Several years ago, he became a jokester by constantly posting self-deprecating humor on the internet and gained much influence there.

With a sharp speaking style and exaggerated behavior, Xue is the most popular variety entertainer in China right now. He's been involved in 30 TV shows in a 12-month period, from July 2015 to July 2016, topping the "Chinese Most Popular Variety Entertainer" chart listing.

Indeed, Xue's life has undergone fundamental changes after his identity transformation.

As a musician, he successfully released his new album, Beginner, on July 18, turning his long-awaited dream into reality.

But this time, the dream is more pleasant than he expected. Since the album's release, he's stood at the top of the charts among popular singers on China's major music platforms, such as QQ music, Netease Music and Kugoo.

Ten songs on the latest album, for example, attained an average of 20,000 comments each from online music users on the Netease Music platform, a key indicator of the popularity of the song and the singer.

As a variety entertainer, Xue has become a blockbuster due to his very high appearance fee and tight schedule.

"The reason I want to be a variety entertainer is to make more money and then devote that money into my music career. My personal wish is to write and produce more fabulous music for the people. After all, I am a singer," Xue said on a music interview program.

Xue is not alone in this situation. Many celebrities feel uncomfortable being called variety entertainers.

"It is such an interesting thing to participate in several reality shows sometimes. I can show my talents to the audience and make more people support me in the future. But my main duty is to make impressive performances. I am an actor, in essence," said Sun Honglei, a renowned actor in China.

"In the past, music fans would not judge a book by its cover. But everything has changed. The success of a piece of music is not relied on due to its quality but the singer itself, especially a good-looking singer," Zhang added.