Zhang Liyin returns to Beijing after contract ends

It’s been a quiet few months.

As mentioned in our previous update, Zhang Liyin’s contract with SM Entertainment officially ended sometime in April 2017. Since then, Liyin has moved back to Beijing – she held a permanent residence there during 2008 I Will promotions – with her mother to develop this new stage of her music career. There have been far and few social media updates from Liyin, but we’ve managed to scrape together a couple of minor updates.

Fan speculation on Liyin’s new management company

Rumours on Liyin’s new management company is the meatiest news update we have from these quiet few months. So far, there hasn’t been any concrete news as to which company Liyin signed with, but there has definitely been some fan speculation.

The biggest rumour so far is of Liyin possibly signing under the same management company that manages Chinese singer Jane Zhang. Earlier this summer, fans noticed that Liyin had searched for Jane Zhang’s name on Weibo and followed her on the social media network. Weeks later, Liyin shared Jane’s original post of her latest release, commenting that the new song has a wonderful melody and emotional vocals. This would be nothing strange if Jane Zhang hadn’t returned the sentiment and followed Liyin back on Weibo!

One Chinese fan speculated that Liyin made the repost because she was giving respect to her new “boss” – that is, the most senior artist at her new management company. If rumours are true, Liyin’s new company would be Jane’s current management company, a Beijing agency called Show City Times.

Liyin’s new music

Unlike music artists in Korea where talent management companies are seen as media conglomerates, Chinese singers are often times managed by two different companies – a talent agency who handles public appearances, and a music label who handles the music releases.

In Liyin’s case, there has been no confirmed news as to which company Liyin signed with since leaving SM Entertainment, but we have noticed a couple of interesting social media activities from our favourite female singer:

• Universal Music Hong Kong – Liyin followed this Weibo account early this year. Universal is a large international music company that releases music from Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Eason Chan, Kris Wu, Show Luo, and A-Mei.
• Yu-peng Chen – Liyin followed him, a song composer, earlier this summer. He is most well-known for composing the theme song to Painted Skin II.

We know for a fact that Liyin is focused on producing new music. Just check out her latest YouTube channel subscription activity! It ranges from YouTube channels that publish music instrumentals, to original songs, to dance routines, to workout videos. Liyin deleted her old cover songs from YouTube earlier this spring, but from her YouTube activity, we can tell that she’s been working hard on creating a brand new career path for herself.

What are your hopes and theories on Liyin’s career? Let us know in the comments below!