The Flowers (simplified Chinese: 花儿乐队; traditional Chinese: 花兒樂隊; pinyin: Huār Yuèduì) was a Chinese rock band formed in Beijing in 1998. The line-up originally consisted of Dà Zhāng Wěi (lead vocals, guitar) (大张伟), Guō Yáng (bass guitar) (郭阳), and Wáng Wénbó (drums, percussion) (王文博). In 2001, the Flowers brought in Shí Xǐngyŭ (guitar) (石醒宇). The Flowers recorded and released six studio albums.
Following personal struggles with Zhāng Wěi, Xǐngyŭ left in the summer of 2008. The group held a talent competition looking for a new member before disbanding in June 2009.
History
Three of the band's members, Zhāng Wěi, Guō Yáng, and Wáng Wénbó, met while attending high school. They first performed in local bars and clubs around Beijing, playing music in the style of pop punk reminiscent of Green Day and Blink-182.[1] In 1998, the trio signed to a small Beijing-based Chinese independent label, New Bees Music.[2] A year later, the band released their debut studio album, On the Other Side of Happiness. The album has three songs, "Stillness", "Disillusion", and "School's Out."[3]
The Flowers became involved in a two-year-long lawsuit with their first company, New Bees Music. The dispute was eventually settled out of court. They were signed to EMI in 2001, and the fourth member was added, guitarist Shí Xǐngyŭ.
Strawberry Statement, the Flowers' second album, was released in December 2001. The Flowers recorded and released their third studio album, I Am Your Romeo, in July 2004. The album has a hip hop- and techno-experimentation music style.
In 2005, the band released the single "Xi Shua Shua". The song was included on the band's fourth studio album, Hua Ji Wang Chao, or Blooming Dynasty, released in July 2005. The album sold 200,000 copies within forty days of its release. Later that same year, The Flowers made an appearance at China Central Television's Lantern Festival gala show. The group was nominated by organizers of the Pepsi Music Chart Awards in China for Best Arrangement, Best Lyrics, Best Composer, and Best Rock 'n' Roll Band.[3] The nominations were later revoked due to accusations of plagiarism.
Hua Tian Xi Shi, the Flowers' fifth album, was released in October 2006. In 2007, the Flowers began work on their sixth studio album. Hua Ling Sheng Hui, or Flower Age Pageant, was released on October 15, 2007, with "Qiong Kaixin" (or "Shiny Happiness") as its lead single. In an interview, Zhāng Wěi states that his motive was to incorporate traditional Chinese performances and cultures. The same year, the Flowers received the award for Best Mainland Band at the China Music Awards.[3] The Flowers were asked to write and perform a Mandarin version of the theme song of the hit Disney film High School Musical 2, which the group agreed to.[4]
Breakup
In July 2008, it was announced by the Flowers' record label that the band's guitarist, Shí Xǐngyŭ, had quit the band after seven years with the group.[5] Following Xǐngyŭ's departure, the band held a talent competition in Beijing, with fifty contestants competing to be the new members of the Flowers. The winner would have been able to participate in its upcoming tenth anniversary concert tour.[6] However, on June 21, 2009, the Flowers decided to disband.[7] After the band's breakup, Zhāng Wěi embarked on a solo career, releasing his debut solo album in August 2009.[citation needed]
Controversy
Plagiarism accusations and scandal
The group was accused of plagiarism when it was discovered that they had copied at least twelve of their songs from various foreign artists, including the song "Xi Shua Shua", with its similarities to the Japanese pop duo Puffy AmiYumi's song "K2G"; "Emperor's Favorite", which resembles "Fuori dal Tunnel" by Caparezza;[8] as well as "Hua Die Fei", which purportedly sampled O-Zone's "Dragostea din tei".[9] Zhāng Wěi and representatives of EMI admitted in an official statement that while the songs were not plagiarized, there were some flaws in the songs. None of the artists have responded to the issue. The Flowers chose to drop out of all music award competitions for the rest of 2006. Zhāng Wěi claimed that he and his bandmates, 'having listened to up to 100 songs per day', have so many tunes stored in their heads that they "have no time to identify, revise and remove" ones that are not theirs.[10] In 2015, Belgian and Dutch media again reported a case of plagiarism regarding the song "Tong Hua Sheng Si Lian", which closely resembles the song "Heyah Mama" by Belgian girl band K3.[11][12]
Fighting incident
In 2007, the band was seen eating at a restaurant in Beijing near Chaoyang Park. The group were seen talking and soon started arguing with one another. The incident escalated when Zhāng Wěi hit another band member (later revealed to be Xǐngyŭ) and shoved a man who was trying to intervene, the report said. This whole scene was captured on a cell phone by a man nearby who was also in the restaurant. The band's label admitted that there was a dispute, claiming that it was because the band's members had different views on their upcoming album. According to a senior official from the record company, Zhang Yi, the quarrel began when Zhāng Wěi and another fellow band member expressed differences over the sound of the record. Zhang added that the band felt very pressured during recording after having been involved in a plagiarism scandal. Some have even questioned whether the fight was a mere publicity stunt to promote sales for the forthcoming album, but Zhang Yi stated that the band was too busy to do so.[13]
Shí Xǐngyŭ, nicknamed Xiǎo Yǔ (小宇), was born on 11 January 1983. Xǐngyŭ was the last to join the band in 2001. His favorite bands include Blink-182 and Smash Mouth.
Guō Yáng
Guō Yáng was born on 29 May 1978, in Beijing. Yáng thought of Green Day and Nirvana as sources of inspiration.
Wáng Wénbó
Wáng Wénbó was born on 22 October 1982, in Beijing. His inspirations are Green Day, The Cure, and Nirvana.
Discography
Next to Happiness (1999) (幸福的旁边, Xìngfú de pángbiān)
Strawberry Statement (2001) (草莓声明, Cǎo méi shēng míng)
I Am Your Romeo (2004) (我是你的罗密欧, Wǒ shì nǐ de luōmì'ōu)
Blooming Dynasty (2005) (花季王朝, Huājì wáng cháo)
Hua Tian Xi Shi (2006) (花天囍世, Huā tiān xǐ shì)
Flower Age Pageant (2007) (花龄盛会, Huā líng shènghuì)
