Hu Xia (Chinese: 胡夏; English name: Fox Hu; born 1 March 1990) is a Chinese singer and actor. He won the sixth season of Taiwan's One Million Star in 2010 and released his debut album, Hu Love Xia, later that year.[1][2] He has sung a great number of soundtracks for Chinese TV series, movies and games, the most famous ones being, "Those Years" (那些年), for You Are the Apple of My Eye in 2011 and "Don't You Know" (知否知否) for The Story of Minglan in 2018.
Career
2008 – 2010: Debut and Hu Love Xia
In 2008, Hu entered Mengniu Yogurt Music Dream Academy, titled "Running Towards Beijing, Achieving Music Dreams" and held by Enlight Pictures.[3] He finished in the Top 8 and became a member of the idol group Fengyunbang (风云帮).[4]
In September 2009, following the disbandment of Fengyunbang, Hu went to Taiwan to compete in the sixth season of One Million Star.
In May 2010, he signed with Sony Music Entertainment Taiwan as the winner of One Million Star.[5] Hu was the first mainland China contestant to win a talent show in Hong Kong and Taiwan.[6] On December 17, Hu Xia released his debut album Hu Love Xia (胡 爱夏). The title was taken from his father and mother’s family names, Hu and Xia, which is how he also got his name.[7] The album earned him the award for Best New Artist at the 17th Singapore Hit Awards, the youngest and the first mainland China artist to win the award.[8]
2011 – 2013: "Those Years" and Flame of Love
In 2011, Hu sang the theme song, "Those Years" (那些年), for the Taiwanese movie You Are the Apple of My Eye. The song became a mega hit in Asia and the music video, uploaded to an unofficial channel, garnered more than 100 million views in YouTube and is one of the most-viewed Chinese music videos on that platform.[9] The song was nominated for the Best Original Film Soundtrack award at the 48th Golden Horse Awards.[10] Same year, he made his acting debut in the musical Young Music (乐动青春).[11]
On February 24, 2012, Hu released his second album Flame of Love (燃点). On March 25, he held his first concert "Let Me Love You" in Taipei.[12] In August, he held an unplugged concert in Nanning.[13] In September, he starred in his first film Sad Fairy Tale, for which he also sang the theme song.
2013 – 2017: Silly Tango and Love Odyssey
On June 20, 2013, Hu released his third album Silly Tango (傻瓜探戈). It topped the six major charts in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan (G-music, Chinese Music Chart, Asia Pacific Music Chart, QQ Music Popular Chart, China Mobile Migu New Song Chart and Newcomer Chart).[14] In November, he sang the theme song "Letting Go" (放下) for the movie The Four 2.
In April 2014, Hu covered Lao Lang's "My Old Classmate" (同桌的你), which was the theme song for the film of the same name. In August, Hu released "Ruthless" (无情), the theme song for The Four Final Battle.
In 2015, Hu released his fourth album Love Odyssey (替我照顧她) on April 14. Same month, he also starred in the film The Left Ear and released the promotional song "A beautiful Yesterday" (美好的昨天) for the film. On August 15, he held "Suddenly Summer" (忽然一夏) concert at Beijing Century Theater and donated the proceeds to the victims of the 2015 Tianjin explosions.[15]
In 2016, Hu chose not to renew his contract with Sony Music Taiwan and Enlight Pictures. From June to July, he participated in the Chinese and South Korean music show The Collaboration and teamed up with Zico.
2018 – 2021: "Don't You Know?" and Reading the Old
In August 2018, Hu sang the first ending song, "Sighs of the Palace Walls" (红墙叹), for Story of Yanxi Palace. In November, Hu partnered with 2D content creation community CFun to create the comic "Young Detective" starring Hu's two-dimensional image IP "Hu Xiaoxia".[16]
In December, he performed "Don't You Know?" (知否知否) with Yisa Yu for the TV series The Story of Minglan. The song became a mega hit, topping Tencent Music's UNI Chart for 5 consecutive weeks, the QQ Music New Song Chart 16 times, the Kugou Music Chinese New Song Chart and the Rising Chart, and the Kuwo Music New Song Chart for a whole month.[17]
On April 12, 2019, Hu participated in the season 7 finale of the singing competition show Singer as Chyi Yu's partner. On April 17, Hu released his fifth album Reading the Old (念·旧), under a new label Raining Culture (大雨文化).[18]
In 2020, Hu appeared on Singer again, this time as a challenge singer. In July, he released "Indeterminate Fate" (未定的注定), the promotional song for the game Tears of Themis. In December, he sang "Red Supreme"(红绝), the ending theme for donghuaHeaven Official's Blessing.
From December 2020 to February 2021, Hu participated in the competition show Shine! Super Brothers, finishing in 2nd place behind Tan Jianci and forming the group Tan, Chen Zhipeng, Fu Longfei, Fu Xinbo, Liu Wei, and Alan Yu.[19] In March 2021, he released "Untitled"(无题), which is one of the soundtracks for the TV series Word of Honor. From September to December 2021, Hu participated in the music variety show Singing with Legends season 3 as a New Singer and was paired with the Veteran Singer George Lam, winning the best pair prize of the season.[20]
On February 17, 2023, Hu released his sixth album MORE Hu Xia (MORE胡夏). On November 18, Hu held the first stop of his "Those Bygone Years" concert tour ("那些年"巡回演唱会) at the Guangzhou Asian Games City Gymnasium.[22]
In 2024, Hu participated in multiple reality and variety shows, including Fresh Singer Group (鲜活唱游团),[23] season 4 of Call Me By Fire (披荆斩棘的哥哥),[24]Enjoy Your Journey (乐在旅途),[25] "Friends Sing Night" on season 6 of Singing with Legends (我们的歌),[26] and Hit Songs 2024 (有歌2024).[27]
Discography
Albums
胡 爱夏 (Hu Love Xia) (December 17, 2010)
燃点 (Flame of Love) (February 24, 2012)
傻瓜探戈 (Silly Tango) (June 22, 2013)
替我照顧她 (Love Odyssey) (April 14, 2015)
念·旧 (Reading the Old) (April 17, 2019)
MORE胡夏 (MORE Hu Xia) (February 17, 2023)
EP
三 (Three) (May 17, 2013)
拾 (Ten) (May 14, 2020)
Singles
Release Date
English title
Original title
Note
2014/07/15
Between the Mountains
山水之间
Cover Xu Song, included in Xu Song's EP Between the Mountains
Names in Bold indicate the winning singer, while Italics indicate the runner-up singer. Singers are listed based on their original season appearances, returning singers (who participated in seasons 5 or 8) are not repeated.
Singers participated in groups are listed in parentheses. Initial singers first listed in order of official announcement, followed by Substitute/Challenge Singers in order of appearance.
