Spotlight: Tan Jianci

Greetings Jellies, 

I wanted to do something different this spotlight and do a soloist and a Chinese singer. While some fans of Chinese dramas may recognize Tan Jianci from dramas like Under the Skin ( a personal favorite) and Love Me Love My Voice (also wonderful), he actually started out as a competitive ballroom dancer (something I learned recently).  Back in 2006 he became a trainee, before debuting in boy group M.I.C. While I know technically he isn’t fully a soloist because he started in a group, I want to focus on his solo music because that is how I got introduced, mostly through his OSTs. 

Chinese music is a lot harder to find. Sometimes I could find OST’s from popular dramas, but even that could be hard at times due to translation issues. Even with Tan Jianci, a lot of his music isn’t available, of the ones available I also was trying to avoid music videos with talking/spoilers or live performance with sound issues. 

This first song is the intro for Under the Skin. While it does have music video, it does contain scenes from the drama with talking. As I didn't want to spoil it if someone hasn't seen it, I opted for just the song. If you're unfamiliar with the drama, Tan Jianci plays an art student who is dragged into a criminal investigation after his art is used in connection to a murder. These events leave a deep scar on him and makes him step away from art to become a portrait artist for the police. He has gives lessons on art history to the police academy, including its long standing connection to the darker side of humanity. Personally as a history student, lover of art museums, and mystery enthusiast this one hit a sweet spot for me.

This is from a stage performance he had, I thought his live vocals were quite lovely. 

This song is called Dawn and Dusk, it's from the Love Me, Love My Voice OST. It's video also has a bunch of scenes from the drama so I'll just share the song. If you're looking for a soft and low angst watch, I definitely recommend the drama. Love Me, Love My Voice is a story of two people drawn together through a voice chat. One is a college student trying to compose historical music (think costume drama music) who loves a particular voice actor's voice and hopes to work with him. One day they both meet in a voice chat. This is the romance drama for people whom have a list of favorite actors specifically for their voice, they'll definitely understand the female leads feeling falling in love with a voice. Warning: this is a slow paced, chill, slice of life, romance. Slower dramas aren't for everyone and that's okay.

I am including a second song from the Love Me, Love My Voice OST. I felt that this was a very meta song to share as it is a song performed for a show within the show. Plus this demonstrates a different style of singing. 

Because I want to showcase his range, I’ve included this music video which has a very different vibe from the other music I’ve posted.

My final song I’m sharing is the newest one I found by him. 

I hope you've enjoyed this introduction to Tan Jianci. Please look into his dramas and music, I don't know if he has any upcoming music, but he has several dramas coming soon. 

- Rei