Zhang Liyin hosts live video streaming events to chat with fans

Zhang Liyin hosted two live video streaming events in the month of November to chat live with her fans. During the two live sessions, she answered questions from fans about her current situation in Korea.

Her first live video chat occurred November 6th, followed by a second video chat a couple weeks later on November 20th. We will be summarizing both video chats in this article.

After teasing fans on Weibo for a few days, the first live stream occurred live at 9:00 PM on Yizhibo. You can watch her first live stream here on her live stream page.

With the freedom of an ungoverned live stream, fans asked her many questions regarding her time at SM Entertainment, as well as questions about present and past labelmates (e.g. former Super Junior member Han Geng, and former Girls’ Generation member Jessica).

The live stream was very casual too. At one point, Liyin was eating and chewing grapes while singing a solo version of “Breath” for fans!

PHOTOS | Zhang Liyin sang a solo version of "Breath" while eating grapes. ? ? #ZhangLiyin pic.twitter.com/7cVxKIBclv

— Chocolyn (@chocolynorg) November 6, 2016

Several netizens randomly came across her chat while it was occurring and asked questions about Liyin – “Are you a singer?” – to which Chocolates were happy to answer for them.

There were some interesting tidbits that came from Liyin’s live chat. One of the top most asked questions was when Liyin will return to China, and when her next album will be released. Liyin confirmed that she is still currently signed with SM Entertainment, and still lives in Korea. However, she will return to China next year in 2017, and has plans to release a new album next year as well. (We’re hoping this means she has been doing research on Chinese entertainment companies! We’re looking forward to see where she takes her career!)

While on hiatus in the past several years, there have been rumours that Liyin was a vocal teacher for SM Entertainment trainees. She confirmed this in the November 6th live chat, but said her most recent students were the members of Red Velvet. So it seems Liyin hasn’t been a vocal trainer for the company for a while now. In fact, she said during the live chat that she hasn’t been to the company building recently either; instead, she’s been at home working on writing and producing her own songs.

INFO | Zhang Liyin says she hasn't been to the SM company building recently because she's been at home working on producing her own songs. pic.twitter.com/P0HwrkaAt3

— Chocolyn (@chocolynorg) November 6, 2016

Fans reminded Liyin to not wear pyjamas to the SM Entertainment building either. She famously wore pyjamas to the company building during SM The Ballad promotions. Liyin responded to that request cheerfully, holding up two ‘OK’ signs:

PHOTOS | These are the 'OK' signs Zhang Liyin gave to her fans when they asked her to stop wearing pajamas to the SM office building. pic.twitter.com/Cq8b3udtJj

— Chocolyn (@chocolynorg) November 6, 2016

Of course, as a SM Entertainment artist who has been with the company for so long, many fans were hoping to gain more information about their biases.

One fan asked during the live chat about the situation regarding former Girls’ Generation members, Jessica. Unsurprisingly, Liyin knew very little about that Jessica’s departure. In fact, she said she first heard about the situation through the news.

[Trans 13] #ZhangLiyin YiZhibo:
(Someone asked if she knows why Jessica left the group)
LY: I have no idea. I just knew from the news too.

— ZHANGLIYIN-THAILAND (@ZHANGLIYINTH) November 7, 2016

Fans asked Liyin about Han Geng and TVXQ too. Liyin read the questions aloud on camera during the live stream, but wisely did not answer. Knowing Liyin, this is likely because they are no longer as close as they were when they were all a part of the same artist agency, and so she genuinely does not have any information to give to fans.

When asked about miss A, however, Liyin said that the members were doing well, and that they went out for hotpot recently.

In terms of music, it seems Liyin has stayed up-to-date with the latest trends. She spoke about watching King of Mask Singer (though did not specify if it was the Korean version or the Chinese version), and said the singers on the show are very talented. Needless to say, fans encouraged her to guest on the show.

Fans requests songs for Liyin to sing on camera too. One fan requested Liyin to sing Adele’s “Hello”, but in a classic Liyin-like response, while looking for the instrumental, she dug up Beyoncé’s “Halo” instead. Hah.

On a more personal topic, when fans asked if she was single at the moment, Liyin said yes, and jokingly added, “Help me find a boyfriend!”

Throughout the November 6th live chat, many fans asked about her dog Beyoncé. Her golden retriever appears in many of the photos Liyin posts on Weibo, so because she was live streaming from home, her fans wanted to see Beyoncé. In response, Liyin said she will bring Beyoncé into the live chat next time.

So on November 20th, in Liyin’s second live chat with fans, she brought Beyoncé into the live stream video.

This is where the funny bits start. Liyin raised Beyoncé from a little puppy, but this is the first time fans have ever seen Beyoncé live in video. It’s interesting too, that Liyin speaks to her dog in Korean, rather than in Chinese. We also have to comment that for a golden retriever, she seems very fat! Liyin is aware of this; Beyoncé eats a lot and currently weighs 45kg. She’s so lazy that she mostly just sleeps and eats. Time to bring Beyoncé to a dog gym, Liyin!

Beyoncé and Liyin seem close though. As Liyin demonstrates in the live stream, Beyoncé will sing along with Liyin when she practises her songs. Liyin then sang “When I Miss You (当我想你的时候)” to show her viewers on the live stream, during which Beyoncé howled loudly to Liyin’s high notes. When a fan requested “I Will”, Beyoncé howled loudly to Liyin’s singing voice too.

[แปล 6] 161120 #ZhangLiyin_Inke:
เพลง《当我想你的时候》(เมื่อฉันคิดถึงคุณ) เป็นเพลงที่ซ้อมบ่อย … บียอนเซ่ร้องตาม pic.twitter.com/aSwzZhUXib

— ZHANGLIYIN-THAILAND (@ZHANGLIYINTH) November 20, 2016

Liyin showed her absentmindedness once again this the November 20th live stream. She sang parts of the English version of “Let It Go”, but ended up messing up the lyrics for that song too. Her English pronunciation has improved a lot, but she still needs to work on remembering lyrics!

Liyin also sang parts of “Timeless” during the live chat, but during the song, she botched up the lyrics and instead of pronouncing the words, she sang the music notes instead.

Following her performance of “Timeless”, a fan asked her if she would ever film a music video with Han Geng. Liyin didn’t answer the question directly, but described the filming of “Timeless” as a big effort at the time, as was the filming of “I Will”.

Liyin asked her fans which duet they preferred: “Timeless” or “Breath”? She said “Breath” was a little more difficult to sing because it required more focus, since it moves between different notes very often.

Liyin shared an interesting fact about herself in the November 20th live stream too. When she was young, she really liked to watch Disney movies, such as The Lion King, Cinderella, and Snow White. We’re not surprised, Liyin seems like a romantic who likes to daydream a lot!

After 45 minutes, Liyin ended her second live stream. We’re hoping that she will return with another live stream event soon. We hardly see updates from her as it is!