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How Liu Yuxin of THE9 proved you can be a C-pop star by being yourself and not another cute clone off a production line

  • In Chinese reality-TV show Youth with You Season 2, Liu Yuxin stood out because of her tomboy looks, as well as her superb dancing and singing skills
  • With an image that combined short, dyed hair and androgynous looks, she could easily have been taken for a member of a K-pop boy band

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Liu Yuxin’s androgynous looks were a big hit on Chinese reality-TV show Youth With You Season 2, and she won a place in C-pop girl group THE9. Photo: iQiyi

Of the nine winners of China’s hit reality TV show Youth with You Season 2, Liu Yuxin sticks out like a sore thumb.

Picked to be part of new all-girl pop group THE9, the 23-year-old singer doesn’t look like a typical TV talent show contestant. With her short, dyed hair and her androgynous looks, she could easily be mistaken for a member of a K-pop boy band. And that is precisely why there is so much buzz about her.

Throughout Youth with You Season 2, which was streamed on popular Chinese entertainment platform iQiyi, Liu, from Guizhou in southwest China, wooed the audience with her tomboyish fashion sense as well as her superb dancing and singing skills.

While other contestants wore grey blazers, bow ties and uniform-type skirts in promotional posters for the show, Liu wore a pair of grey shorts and a tie.

In Youth With You Season 2, Liu mixed her tomboy looks with superb dancing and singing skills. Photo: iQiyi
In Youth With You Season 2, Liu mixed her tomboy looks with superb dancing and singing skills. Photo: iQiyi

She is by far the most popular member of THE9 after receiving 17 million public votes – four million more than the second-placed Esther Yu Shuxin. The nine winners were selected from 109 contestants.

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