Call Me Fire (2021)

台上一分钟，台下十年功 (Every min on stage comes from decade of hard work)

When my friend first recommended this show to me, I checked it out mostly out of curiosity - because this show has a couple of artists that I recognize.

What got me stayed on after was the familiar songs and performances, especially the 1st episode - oh my, how nostalgic, and before I knew it, I was hooked and binge-watched this show the entire day to the latest episodes.

Firstly, the narrative and editing makes us care for the brothers. I really enjoyed the way the producer edited and strung the narrative together in CMBF. It was more than the songs and performances. CMBF managed to show us that the brothers’ talent and persistence over the years / decades led them to standing at Call Me by Fire stage - it showcased their professionalism and hard work in the face of challenge, as well as their healthy rivalry in motivating and influencing each other to present their best performances for the audience.

At first, I only care about the songs and performances. And then, I start to look forward to the clips of their practice and commentary prior to the performances. And then and then, I start to watch the brothers' interaction in selecting for the songs - which is often very comical and entertaining.

Team survival competition has a lot of relatable elements to corporates world, more than one might thinks. This is where you can tell how the experiences as well as ability to make decisions and judgment of some brothers that's good for the team stand out more than the other.

Here is when wits and slightly more strategic / leadership thoughts made some brothers (e.g. Max Zhang, Nathan, Cannon, Bridge, Pax) stand out in a bunch of nerdy...ahem, I mean famous artists and musicians who generally don't put much thoughts beyond their interests and profession.

Indeed, the teams that go further were the ones that have good leaders and followers, each contributing their talent to create something together that individual alone can't.
Special shoutout to Nathan, Max Zhang, Vincent, Pax, Andrew Yin and Welly Zhang - the former three in leading their teams, the latter three in supporting their teams. Of course this is a biased comment. Each brother’s team to your own!

At the core of it, Call Me by Fire is a Music Variety Show, structured in competitions. All brothers gather together for their love of music and performances. I have always been more of a pop song consumer, hence my bias will be more towards the performances with songs I am familiar with. Through this show though, I got a better understanding of the different genre of songs and better appreciation of them. It is one added perspectives to better understand how the world works.

Which brings me to the next point, I now have a greater appreciation to raps and rappers' culture. I used to dislike rap a lot as I find it too noisy and the rappers too aggressive. Through this show, I find that rappers' culture are a bit like what Vincent said - the modern world of 江湖 (the pugilist world) - rappers care a lot for brotherhood and their own set of principles. They are a bunch of misfit and often misunderstood by the society. The rappers that come to this show really are the ones that step out of their comfort zone, presenting rap to the audience as well as showing that the rappers too have the same struggles we all resonate with - and that rapping is their way to relate with each other, with the world and themselves. Personal favorite rapper is naturally MC Jin - his enthusiasm, optimism and carefreeness - admire! He also grew up in the States, thus, his conduct and way of behaving is something I can relate more to.

>>>>>>Performances highlights and my favorite (not in order)<<<<<<

1) General audience enjoyment

1.1 笨小孩 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVgJoFFRFT8&list=PLUM8x224JrX8-E8Kirv3PiY0Tz0eWrNYj&index=57
Though this performance has no special techniques or any X-part, it is one with all the brothers - when Terry Lin's voice comes right at the tail end of rapper parts, that's quite X on its own.

1.2 Yellow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aT3fEqTYMY&list=PLUM8x224JrX8-E8Kirv3PiY0Tz0eWrNYj&index=33
Very deserving of 1st place during the 1st team competition indeed. This is how a cohesive band comes together and shows you what a great team stage performance means. It's also one of the few (if not only) English songs in this competition and I like that it's performed by this group. Nathan is a great leader - he cares for each team member and he knows his stuff. He has great judgment and has conviction to follow it. Call Me by Fire is definitely a great springboard for Nathan's career after being a full time house husband for awhile.

1.3 花祭 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv4QqK0l07k&list=PLUM8x224JrX8-E8Kirv3PiY0Tz0eWrNYj&index=20
I especially like Paul's Cantonese version. You can hear the feeling in his voice. Welly and Nathan have already established themselves in the heart of audience by the time of this performance.

2) Great dance performances

2.1 MMA - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mQVOn8CgRI&list=PLUM8x224JrX8-E8Kirv3PiY0Tz0eWrNYj&index=28

2.2 跳舞街 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-9Qyit3r-A&list=PLUM8x224JrX8-E8Kirv3PiY0Tz0eWrNYj&index=8 and

2.3 好春光 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pnrRxhACAc&list=PLUM8x224JrX8-E8Kirv3PiY0Tz0eWrNYj&index=14 and

Led by Max Zhang, I love this team’s dance performances the most. They may not have the best vocal, but they have a team leader with good judgment and taste when it comes to movement.

3) Songs performed with great technical capabilities

3.1 悟空 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hFJTVk5sMw&list=PLUM8x224JrX8-E8Kirv3PiY0Tz0eWrNYj&index=26
I am surprised that I am able to enjoy an opera-like performance. If Yellow hadn't already prove that, Wukong is then the performance that made Welly (and actually Henry as well) really shined through this song - all his decades of hardwork and practices, leading him to that moment. Each of them, Welly, Pax and Henry, represented Wukong in different stages of his life in this performance. If Henry's scandal didn't come out at this time, I believe he will be one of the brothers who will get a lot of attention for his talent.

3.2 飞云之下 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpNlCUgabpc&list=PLUM8x224JrX8-E8Kirv3PiY0Tz0eWrNYj&index=25
Terry is not a team player, but he is definitely one of the best, if not the best, vocalists. He is very passionate and enthusiastic about creating the best art. He sees music as a way of expression and storytelling. He also has the technical capability to project his voice the way he wants it, honed by years of his obsessive-like discipline. The combination with Hotdog rap and Cannon's 和音 support in this song, it is indeed a performance that only this team can do.

4) Songs with stories, imaginaries and feels

4.1 往事只能回味 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y93m7f4hP6k&list=PLUM8x224JrX8-E8Kirv3PiY0Tz0eWrNYj&index=24

4.2 當年情 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbJ2a6Jq8Og&list=PLUM8x224JrX8-E8Kirv3PiY0Tz0eWrNYj&index=1

4.3 你要如何 我们就如何 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDmMD16Je2A&list=PLUM8x224JrX8-E8Kirv3PiY0Tz0eWrNYj&index=21

Jordan's group's greatest strength is their decade-long friendship among members and supportive fan base. I feel that this is a group of brothers know where their strengths are and what their fans expect from them. They are not here to specifically challenge themselves out of their comfort zone (not that they don't have to work hard or the performances are within their comfort zone). More than anything, I find most of these HK artists are practical doers. They are here to enjoy and perform, as friends and as a team. The addition of 2 rappers add some interesting dynamism for this group.

The third one on the list is also the performance where it showed rappers can sing too. Coupled with the visuals on stage, this performance created a lot of 画面感 (imaginary) and invoked a lot of feels. It's the feels of surrendering to fate, yet still maintaining the hope that tomorrow will be better, that there's something to look forward to. Love it!

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Love for musicians!

I gave this show such a high rating because it is definitely worth your time. I started watching this because of Leon Zhang and in return discovered a passion for watching music variety shows. This show is definitely an emotional rollercoaster where you will see many contestants trying their best to improve their singing and dancing skills while working in different teams. Their journey together will definitely impress you and it's so amazing to see grown-up men still learning and trying their best. It depicts how we as humans can learn and grow at any age. I would 100% recommend watching this show. It's great.

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Simply one of the best

I truly appreciate survival type programmes featuring all the older idols, actors, singers, dancers etc.. Very dynamic, very funny mainly because of Jordan, Gao Hanyu with Pax Congo, all the language barrier shenanigans and more. You'll definitely cry with these grown men at times (Love Letters to Filmmakers is a strong cocktail). The last episodes featuring some contestants wives are pure gold (relationship goals sad lol). I highly recommend to watch. Just the last episode which is a whopping four hours is a little bit tiring with all the talking and stuff. Max Dance Company for the win.

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