Chinese singing duo Chopsticks Brothers have admitted that they have lip-synced their viral hit “Little Apple” at the American Music Awards last week, but deny speculation that their song was granted the first-ever International Song Award only because they paid for it.
Not shying away from the speculations, the Chopsticks Brothers unapologetically admitted to lip-syncing at the AMA performance, which didn’t receive an as warm reaction from the AMA audience as did fellow Asian invasion sensation Psy last year, saying “it’s a lot of pressure to sing and dance at the same time, so lip-syncing is the safest choice”.
While state media Xinhua was touting the news of Chinese pop culture going stateside with headlines like “Little Apple blows up the American Music Awards,” some Chinese observers pointed out that their performance was filmed in the US during a commercial break and wasn’t even aired American viewers.
The award for “International Song” and also “International Artist,” which was granted to Chinese artist Zhang Jie — footage of his award being given wasn’t aired in the US either — are both new to the AMA this year. Thes artists, along with their awards, initially weren’t even included in the winners’ list on the AMA official website.
By Tuesday morning on Weibo, the phrase “Chopstick Brothers bought an award” was among the top-searched terms on the popular microblogging site, according to the WSJ.
In response to the skepticism as to the award's authenticity, AMA organizers said that the award was indeed a genuine one. “There are many awards given off camera and these were no different,” said spokesperson Liz Morentin.
Aside from the news regarding “Little Apple,” the Chinese web blew up again today when netizens found out that a Chinese man pictured sitting on the lap of One Direction heartthrob Harry Styles was the agent for Zhang Jie, winner of the first-ever International Artist Award (not to be confused with the International Artist of the Year Award won by Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson).
How did this come about? Or, as millions of teenage girls are doubtless thinking, “what's that person who’s not me doing sitting on Harry’s lap?”
Well, the agent was popping a squat in front of Styles in an attempt to snap some photos of his client when the golden-hearted pop star (and biggest winner of the night) generously offered him a seat — on his knees, naturally.
Then, while he was taking his time filming the acceptance speech with his phone, “Curly Harry” (a nickname coined by his Chinese fans) wrapped his arms around the dedicated agent, like any of us would have done.
Meanwhile, the Chopsticks Brothers were back stage posing for pics with Ms. Taylor Swift, AKA Harry “Taylor wrote a song about me” Styles’ ex-girlfriend. It's wheels within wheels.
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