Review: Chinese reality show ‘Sisters Who Make Wave’ transforms in its debut

Being a part of a girl group and debuting is the goal that thousands of performer trainees dream of every day. There are also TV shows featuring young trainees forming idol groups, such as “Produce 101″ in Korea and “Youth With You” in China. 

Those shows are completely featuring young girls, especially about the trainees who haven’t had any interaction with the celebrity world. However, a unique show recently premiered — the Chinese reality show “Sisters Who Make Waves.” 

The word “sisters” stands for 30 female celebrities older than 30 years old who compete against each other through various styles of performances over a period of time. The sisters who won will eventually form a girl group.

You might ask, why are they willing to attend? Aren’t they already popular? One of the sisters Wan Qian explained this perfectly on the show.

“I was used to the life of being an actress for the past 10 years, I thought it would be enough to keep acting and improving my skills. However, new stimulation is necessary, I hope to absorb new energy and challenge myself as a new identity through this TV show, age never stands as an obstacle,” Wan Qian said on the show.

Qian, 38, emphasized that age is not the only standard for trying new things. It’s more about the courage to forget the popularity and re-debut as a whole new person, she explained on the show.

One of the attractive element of this show would be the diversity among those “sisters.” Many of them are already successful whether in the field of acting, singing, dancing or hosting.

Every one of them seems unique among the other 29, so what chemical reaction will they perform by mixing 30 disparate particles into one solution? Will they dissolve and melt with each other as a standard girl group, or will every particle inflame with a combination of contrasting? 

Other than their dissimilar career, the TV show also features the diversity of family life among those women over the age of 30. Some are married, some have children, and some of them are single. However, it doesn’t matter what their family life is. Every single one of them presents a positive energy state of mind.

Besides, they are like the role model of the other 30+ women in today’s society who feel constantly anxious about the balance between their job and household. I believe the majority of the “older women” will have some sort of mental transformation of being more confident of who they are.

The final girl group will be formed by seven most outstanding sisters after many rounds of public performances in groups. At the end of every performance, the 4-6 sisters with the lowest vote from the audience will be eliminated. Therefore, they devoted at least 10 hours each day practicing dance and vocal skills in order to show their best when it comes to the performance. One sister, Shen Mengchen expresses her thought after she was eliminated after the second round.

“I’ve been a host for many years, I had a lot of great opportunities to be on stage, but I always have a dream to be a part of the girl group,” Mengchen said on the show “The two past performances happened just like a dream to me, I got to sing and dance, I really enjoyed every single moment on the stage.”

The result is voted by the audience and how many votes each sister receives mainly depends on their popularity. Although it seems a little bit unfair, however, the sisters still work very hard with 100% dedication in order to prove themselves with strength instead of purely popularity.

One scene that touched me deeply was when Zhang Yuqi expressed her thought of forming girl groups.

“It is so necessary to become excellent in your ability in order to be balanced with your high popularity — barely popularity does not make you a complete artist,” Yuqi said.

She is a talented and popular actress, but she is definitely not the best singer or dancer when it comes to forming a girl group. Therefore, she spent a lot more time learning and practicing the things she has never experienced before in order to get the recognition of re-debut.

These women are breaking the stereotype of the traditional girl group. Age 30 can also be a brand new start, even though they might not have the youthfulness as 20-year-old trainees. But they know exactly what they want in their life. All they have to do is brave the winds and overcome the waves or they can even make the wave that suits for themselves.

Just like the society we live in today, “wind,” “rain” or “snow” visits all the time. COVID-19 is like a storm that lifts thousands of waves. Nearly everyone is affected, some people are overwhelmed by the closing of the cinema, mall or restaurant, meanwhile, another half of the people find the joy of staying indoor and even learning a new skill in this special time.

Like the actor Jeff Bridges once said, “It’s a wonderful metaphor, catching a wave, for how you can look at another challenge in your life.”

For a surfer, there are always some waves to go on. What about celebrities? Do they have waves in their career when they reach a certain age limit?

The way your life goes on, the mood you live in totally depends on you. Like Nikki Banas said, “My lovely friend, I hope you learn to ride your wave.”