Wowkie Zhang


Zhang Wei, known professionally as Wowkie Zhang or Da Zhang Wei, is a Chinese singer, songwriter, and musician. He is best known as the lead singer, guitarist, and primary songwriter of the rock band The Flowers, which is recognized for its distinctive pop punk style and satirical, youth-driven themes.

Early life and career

1983–1998

Zhang was born on 31 August 1983, in Beijing, China. He completed his elementary school education in the Chongwen District in Beijing before joining the Children's Cultural Palace to practice singing. At the age of 10, he won first place in the Chongwen District singing competition, as well as the Beijing Middle School and Elementary School Students Sing Competition.
In the fourth grade, Zhang, along with other singers in the Children's Cultural Palace, attended the Children's Choir competition in Russia and came in second place. During the fifth grade, Zhang became a member of the China Central Television Yinhe Teenage Art Troupe after passing its audition. The Yinhe Teenage Art Troupe has produced many superstars in the contemporary Chinese pop music world, including Faye Wong, Cai Guoqing, Wang Xuechun and Liu Chunyan.

1998–2009

In February 1998, Zhang and his friends performed in a pub and met artist/agent Hong Feng, forming The Flowers together in June 1998. As Zhang Wei was a common name in the Chinese language, he became known by his stage name, Da Zhang Wei.
In January 1999, The Flowers signed with a small Beijing-based Chinese independent label, New Bees Music, and released their first album, On the Other Side of Happiness. The album turned out to be a success with many hit songs like "Stillness", "Disillusion", and "School's Out".
In December 2001, they released their second album, Strawberry Statement.
In 2002, they won the Media Award for the 2nd Chinese Pop Music Festival.
In 2004, they won the Most Popular Band in the 4th Global Mandarin Pop Chart and the Chinese Music Pioneer Chart. The same year, the band signed a contract with EMI. In June, they released a single CD, I Am Your Romeo.
From 2004 to 2005, the band experimented with various musical styles, including hip hop and techno. In 2005, the band released "Xi Shua Shua", propelling Zhang to household-name status. "Xi Shua Shua" remains popular overseas, in countries such as Malaysia, as well as in China, especially for parties, square dancing and karaoke.
Xi Shua Shua was included on the band's fourth studio album, Hua Ji Wang Chao, or Blooming Dynasty, released in July 2005. The album won numerous awards in China and sold some 200,000 copies in the forty days after its release.
The Flowers have been referred to as China's "first famous adolescent band." The band disbanded in 2009, and Zhang embarked on his solo career afterwards. Since 2009, he has released five albums and over thirteen singles, achieving record sales of over five million copies.

2010–present

Zhang became known to younger audiences as a host and TV personality. In 2016, he became a co-host for China's top talk show Day Day Up. In 2021, he departed from the show along with Wang Yibo, as Hunan TV reworked Day Day Up and Happy Camp following scandals of other hosts.
In 2014, Zhang released "Bei-er Shuang", meaning "Super Euphoric". He performed the song at China Central TV's Spring Festival Gala, a show viewed by Chinese audiences at home and abroad. The song became an instant national sensation. Psy used "Bei-er Shuang" when he performed with Chinese girl band SNH48 in China.
In 2016, Zhang created a theme song for the advertisement of Alipay's new function, combining Beijing opera with EDM. He also performed in Heroes of Remix as a guest performer, remixing Beijing folk song "Beijing Chick" and 1980s rock song "The Long March" in the song "New Beijing Chick". In the same show, he also remixed the theme song of 80s cartoon Hulu Brothers. In this show he brought forward the concept of CDM—China Dance Music, encouraging musicians to create music using their own ethnic style, rather than forgetting their own cultural identity in following international trends.
In 2018, Zhang appeared as a judge on Rave Now. On the show, he scouted the winning performer, Jiang Liang. He also scouted a team of EDM musicians who mainly performed in underground pubs and bars in China. His 2018 song, Am a Popping Candy, combines EDM with traditional Yunnan ethnic style and Shandong clapper talk, an ancient storytelling music performance.
His 2018 song "Sunshine, Rainbow, White Pony" gained popularity in Western media after becoming an internet meme popularized by internet celebrities like IShowSpeed because of its chorus, containing a common Chinese phrase labels=no , which, similarly to labels=no nà ge sounds like the racial slur "nigga" in the English language. The lyrics may sound as if they are racial slurs in the song, however it is supposed to be a repeated horse "neigh" sound and in romanized Chinese is "nèi nèi gè nèi nèi nèi gè nèi gè nèi nèi". The song became a recurring song sung by fans and IShowSpeed himself throughout his tour of China, and towards the end of the tour in Changsha, IShowSpeed met Zhang and sang the song together on stage.

Artistry

Influences

Zhang's early influence came from the bands Green Day and Sex Pistols. After he went solo, he turned his interest to EDM. He also tries to incorporate elements of traditional Chinese art forms into his music.
Zhang writes his own songs., he had written over 190 songs. During his time with The Flowers, he was the principal songwriter of all the songs on the band's albums.