Zhou Shen
Zhou Shen, also known as Charlie Zhou, is a Chinese singer. Known for his unique voice and wide vocal range, he gained prominence with his renowned song "Big Fish". In May 2024, he released his second album Shenself and sold over 1 million digital copies in a week. He has performed OSTs for numerous high-profile Chinese films and TV series, including Big Fish & Begonia, Jiang Ziya, and The Wandering Earth 2, among many others.
He won the MTV Europe Music Award for Best Greater China Act in November 2019. In August 2020, he ranked 42nd on the Forbes China Celebrity List of 2020. The ERC Chinese Top Ten Awards named Zhou the Most Popular Male Singer of 2021 and 2022 and the Best Male Singer of 2023 and 2024. Since 2022, he has been a cast member of the popular Chinese variety show Keep Running.
In August 2022, his Douyin online concert "I Want to Be by Your Side" attracted over 140 million viewers. His 9.29 Hz World Concert Tour spanned stadiums in mainland China and arenas in North America and Australia.
Early life
Zhou was born on September 29, 1992, in a mountain village in rural Shaoyang, Hunan. He and his older sister were left behind children, as his parents were very poor and would leave to find work in the city, only coming home once a year. Since his grandparents were no longer around, he and his sister had to look after themselves from a very young age. His family later moved to Guiyang, Guizhou during his third year of primary school. He was subsequently admitted to Guiyang No. 6 High School. Following high school graduation, he went to Ukraine to study dentistry due to more affordable tuition costs. However, after a year, he made the decision to transfer to Lviv National Musical Academy to study Bel canto instead. His vocal range can be classified as being that of a countertenor, specifically a sopranist, but he studied as a tenor in Lviv Conservatory.Career
2010: Pre-debut
Zhou's music career began in 2010, when he began singing online on a Chinese video-based social network, YY.com, under the nickname 卡布叻, or Kabule.2014–2015: Participation in ''The Voice of China''
After listening to Zhou's singing online, the director of The Voice of China invited Zhou to participate in the first and second seasons of the show. However, Zhou declined both invitations, fearful of how audiences would perceive his unique voice. Undeterred, the director continued to invite him for the following season, and although Zhou initially declined again, she persisted for 3 months until Zhou, touched by her efforts, accepted the invitation. Zhou participated in The Voice of China and amazed the coaches with his cover of Chyi Yu's "Huan Yan" in the blind audition round. The song "Lake Baikal" sung by Zhou and Li Wei in the competition was awarded Song of 2014 of The Voice of China. In the same year, Zhou participated in the live tour presented by The Voice of China.He attended Beijing TV's New Year's Gala and supported the bid for the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing by singing a multi-language version of "Let It Go". He also participated in the world tour of the performing-arts extravaganza Cultures of China, Festival of Spring. In May, Zhou went to London to attend The Voice UK with Li Wei on behalf of The Voice of China. He then released a cover album called Aftertaste together with Li Wei in July. On 8 August 2015, Zhou's first single, "The Rose and the Deer", was released, and he won the Best New Artist of ERC Chinese Top Ten Awards.
2016–2018: "Big Fish" and debut album
In May 2016, Zhou sang "Big Fish" for the Chinese animated film Big Fish & Begonia. "Big Fish" and "The Rose and the Deer" were both selected as part of the Top 10 Hits Songs of Freshasia Music Award 2016. ERC Chinese Top Ten Awards named "Big Fish" one of the Top 10 Songs of the Year, and awarded Zhou the People's Choice Male Singer of 2017. He also won the Most Popular Male Singer Online of Music Pioneer Award 2016.Following the phenomenal success of "Big Fish", other films and series began to invite Zhou to perform songs for them, including "Echo" for the series The Starry Night The Starry Sea, "Calm Romance" for the film Brotherhood of Blades II: The Infernal Battlefield, and "Speechless" for the Chinese animation Dahufa. In October, Zhou appeared on the music show Mask Singer. In November 2017, Zhou released his debut album Charlie's Debut Album, created in collaboration with producer Gao Xiaosong, songwriter Yin Yue, and composer Qian Lei.
In 2018, Zhou performed over 10 songs for various films and TV series, including the Chinese promotional song for the Academy Award-winning film The Shape of Water. In May and June, Zhou embarked on his first concert tour, the Deep Space Tour, in Shanghai, Wuhan, and Chengdu. He won the Most Improved Artist of the ERC Chinese Top Ten Awards and the Best New Artist of the Global Chinese Music Chart Awards. In November, Zhou participated in the show Super–Vocal, where his performance of classic songs including "Time to Say Goodbye", "Memory", "Think of Me", and "The Lonely Goatherd" received extremely high praise from industry professionals. He participated in The Masked Singer again, this time using his Bel canto skills and versatile vocals to mislead the guessing panel.
2019: Planet C-929 Tour, ''Our Song''
In 2019, Zhou performed over 20 songs for various films and TV series, including "With the Wind" for Mystery of Antiques, "Only You" for Relying on Heaven to Slaughter Dragons, "Longing for a Wholehearted Lover" for Royal Nirvana, and "Untouchable" for The Upside. He was awarded Breakthrough Artist of the Year and the song "Blossom" won the Top 10 Songs of the Year from ERC Chinese Top Ten Awards 2019. A continuation of his first concert tour was held in Beijing in January, followed by Shenzhen and Hangzhou in June and July. In April, Zhou participated in the Super–Vocal and Never Say Goodbye concert tours. He also held a joint music concert with Isabelle Huang in Shanghai on 18 May. On 25 May, he attended Victor Wong's "The Pursuit of Happiness" concert in Beijing as a special guest. On 12 June, he participated in the Nanyang Khek Community Gift of Warmth Charity Concert 2019, a charity concert in Singapore for people with autism, together with Chyi Yu, Huang Hongying, and Roy Li Fei Huei.In October 2019, Zhou was ranked on the music industry list of Forbes 30 Under 30 China 2019. On the 1 and 2 November 2019, he participated in the Nanjing The Untamed music concert, performing his song "Passing by the Deserted City". In November 2019, he won the MTV Europe Music Award for Best Greater China Act. From November 2019 to January 2020, he held his second concert tour, named Planet C-929, with stops in Beijing, Nanjing, Suzhou, Chengdu, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. From October 2019 to January 2020, Zhou participated in the first season of the singing competition Our Song, broadcast by Dragon TV, where his duets and comedic interactions with his senior partner, cantopop legend Hacken Lee, widely contributed to the popularity of the show. Zhou and Lee were ultimately crowned the winners of that season.
2020: ''Singer 2020'', end of contract with The Voice of Dreams
From February to April 2020, Zhou appeared on Hunan TV's Singer 2020 as an initial singer. Zhou was one of the most consistently high ranking contestants across all seasons of the show. He won first place in episode 8 for his cover of the song "Dalabengba", in which he blended singing with voice acting, using 5 different voices in his dynamic performance. This performance proceeded to go viral on Chinese platforms, receiving over 10 million views within a day of release and remaining trending on Chinese search engines. It dominated the music charts and within a month had over 100 million streams on Netease Cloud Music alone. This version has been widely praised by China's domestic music critics, noting how his viral performance has contributed to the spread of ACGN culture. "Dalabengba" won NetEase Cloud Music's 2020 Most Popular Single and Most Popular Show Performance categories.From January to April 2020, he participated in the cultural reality show The Great Wall. As Zhou gained widespread recognition in 2020, he also appeared as a guest in many popular Chinese variety shows, including Day Day Up, Ace vs Ace, Back to Field, Smoothly Flowing Melodies, and Keep Running!. Zhou later participated in the variety show Youth Periplous II as a regular cast member.
On 19 July 2020, the establishment of Zhou Shen Studios was officially announced after his six year contract with The Voice of Dreams ended. His first online concert "Good Night, See You Tomorrow" was then held on 25 July through TME live, on the 6th anniversary of his debut. The concert was streamed on multiple platforms, and the QQ Music broadcast alone attracted over 7.2 million online viewers.
In August, he ranked 42nd on the Forbes China Celebrity List of 2020. Zhou collaborated several times with internationally renowned pianist Lang Lang, performing "Interstellar Train" on The Coming One: SUPER BAND as well as "Big Fish" and "Scarborough Fair" on Jiangsu TV's Kuaishou "One Thousand and One Nights" Gala on 30 October. On 16 October, Zhou also collaborated with renowned Mongolian singer Tengger to perform a mashup of "Big Fish" and Tengger's "Heaven" on the TikTok x Zhejiang TV Autumn Gala 2020.
From August to November 2020, Zhou appeared on the variety show Go Newbies, in which he learned how to drive and obtained his driving license. Starting from 4 November, Zhou Shen appeared in a workplace-observational reality show An Exciting Offer Season 2.
On 20 December, Zhou was awarded The Most Popular Singer of 2020 at the Tencent Video All-Stars Night 2020 Awards Ceremony. On 31 December, Zhou Shen gave performances at multiple New Year's Eve concerts, including China Media Group's "Set Sail 2021" New Year Gala, Jiangsu TV 2021 New Year Countdown Concert, Bilibili 2020 New Year's Eve Gala, "Welcoming Olympic Winter Games" Beijing Media Network's 2021 New Year Global Gala, and Guangdong TV 2020–2021 "Passing on Joy in Beautiful Life" New Year Celebration.