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The Back Dorm Boys were a Chinese duo who gained fame in 2005 for their
lip sync Lip sync or lip synch (pronounced , the same as the word ''sink'', short for lip synchronization) is a technical term for matching a speaking or singing person's lip movements with sung or spoken vocals. Audio for lip syncing is generated thr ...
videos to songs by the
Backstreet Boys Backstreet Boys (often abbreviated as BSB) are an American vocal group consisting of Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, AJ McLean, and cousins Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson. Lou Pearlman formed the group in 1993 in Orlando, Florida. The gr ...
and other pop stars. Their videos, captured on a low quality
Web cam A webcam is a video camera which is designed to record or stream to a computer or computer network. They are primarily used in videotelephony, livestreaming and social media, and security. Webcams can be built-in computer hardware or peripheral de ...
in their
college dorm A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or university s ...
room, have been viewed by Internet users within
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
and around the world. Many of their videos can be seen on
YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
, giving them YouTube fame. The two, Wei Wei () and Huang Yixin (), were sculpture majors at the
Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts The Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts (GAFA; ; also known as Guangzhou Institute of Fine Arts) is a Chinese national university based in Guangzhou which provides doctoral, master and bachelor's degrees in fine arts and design. History Guangzhou A ...
(). The Dormitory Boys, a blog of note on
Blogger A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order s ...
, which some believe is not maintained by the Back Dorm Boys, but written by a
ghostwriter A ghostwriter is hired to write literary or journalistic works, speeches, or other texts that are officially credited to another person as the author. Celebrities, executives, participants in timely news stories, and political leaders often h ...
, took requests, asking fans to recommend a song they should lip sync to. In January 2006, a poll was conducted from songs picked from 427 requests received 2005, December.
The Black Eyed Peas Black Eyed Peas (also known as The Black Eyed Peas) is an American musical group consisting of rappers will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo. The group's line-up during the height of their popularity in the 2000s featured Fergie, who replaced Kim Hil ...
' song "
My Humps "My Humps" is a song recorded by American group the Black Eyed Peas for their fourth studio album '' Monkey Business'' (2005). It was written and produced by group member will.i.am. Musically, it's a hip hop and dance song structured as a due ...
" won the poll, but the Back Dorm Boys lip synced to the song "
Don't Lie "Don't Lie" is a song performed by American recording group the Black Eyed Peas, taken from their fourth studio album, '' Monkey Business'' (2005). It was released as the second single from the album on June 29, 2005, after the successful "Don't ...
" by the Black Eyed Peas instead, which was a huge hit on
YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
as well as their host country. The Back Dorm Boys have produced and starred in various
drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
s and films, including Mainland China
sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...
-
drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
called Nonstop (青春进行时) and a movie,
Almost Perfect ''Almost Perfect'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on CBS from September 17, 1995, until December 11, 1996. The series focused on the professional life of the female executive producer of a television cop show, her witty, zany ...
(2008).


Members

As many fans do not know the real names of the Back Dorm Boys, Wei Wei is often called simply "the big one" and Huang Yi Xin "the small one". In most videos, Wei Wei is seated on the viewer's right and Huang Yi Xin on the left. Huang Yi Xin has a
cast Cast may refer to: Music * Cast (band), an English alternative rock band * Cast (Mexican band), a progressive Mexican rock band * The Cast, a Scottish musical duo: Mairi Campbell and Dave Francis * ''Cast'', a 2012 album by Trespassers William * ...
on his left arm in some early videos from when he got hurt playing basketball. A third "dorm boy", Xiao Jing, is in the background of most of the videos. He is often playing the ''
Counter-Strike ''Counter-Strike'' (''CS'') is a series of multiplayer tactical first-person shooter video games in which teams of terrorists battle to perpetrate an act of terror (bombing, hostage-taking, assassination) while counter-terrorists try to preven ...
'' computer game while Wei Wei and Huang Yixin are performing. His back is usually turned to the camera and his face is only rarely seen. He does, however, occasionally play a role in the videos. In the video for the Trio song "Da Da Da", Xiao Jing gets up from his chair to hold a cardboard soccer ball in the air for Huang Yi Xin to head and kick. However, Xiao Jing did not appear in the video for 'Radio In My Head'. The Back Dorm Boys graduated from the Guangzhou Arts Institute in June 2006.


Career history

The Back Dorm Boys initially began making videos to show to their friends. They took their inspiration from a funny 10-second lip sync video that they watched, creating a video of themselves lip-syncing to an entire song. They completed their first video in March 2005, after much trial and error, uploading the finished video to the local network at their college. The other students liked it so much that they helped to spread the video more widely. While still at school, the Back Dorm Boys were signed as spokespeople for
Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent p ...
cellphones A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive telephone call, calls over a radio freq ...
in China and eventually become host of Motorola's online lip-sync contests. They also signed a contract with
Sina.com Sina Corporation (, "new wave") is a Chinese technology company. Sina operates four major business lines: Sina Weibo, Sina Mobile, Sina Online, and Sinanet. Sina has over 100 million registered users worldwide. Sina was recognized by '' South ...
, one of the largest Chinese Internet portals as bloggers and podcasters. The Back Dorm Boys maintain a Chinese-language blog through Sina.com. In 2006, they received "The Best Podcaster Award" from Sina.com. In February 2006, a few months before they graduated, the Back Dorm Boys signed a five-year contract with
Taihe Rye Music Taihe Rye Music is a C-pop (Mandopop) record label, founded in China 2004 by Song Ke and Zhang Yadong. History The company was founded in 1996, originally as a subsidiary of Warner Music Group. In 2004 Taihe Rye Music broke away from Warner to f ...
, a talent management company in Beijing, to continue making lip-sync videos as well as to appear in commercials for major brands such as
Pepsi Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by PepsiCo. Originally created and developed in 1893 by Caleb Bradham and introduced as Brad's Drink, it was renamed as Pepsi-Cola in 1898, and then shortened to Pepsi in 1961. History Pepsi was ...
. They went to Beijing to build their own Studio Video and Multimedia Arts. They also began studying singing, dancing, and stage arts with Taihe Rye. The Back Dorm Boys filmed a lip-sync video, "The Perfect Day", as a pilot project for their new studio. They also released their first original single, "O Yi O Yi A". This single was accompanied by both a professional music video and a lip sync version showing the Back Dorm Boys giving their own song their usual treatment. They are also known for making their own film in their new studio, directed by
Huang Dao Huang Dao (; April 25, 1900 – May 23, 1939) original name Huang Duanzhang (), also known as Yiming () was a member of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army and the New Fourth Army. He was born in Hengfeng County, Jiangxi Province. He was th ...
, in late 2006. The group has known to have made use of their art school education to help them prepare the composition, visual effects, and lighting in their videos. The Back Dorm Boys phenomenon has resulted in an
Internet meme An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...
and spawned a variety of parodies and imitations, including attempts by non-speakers to lip-sync to Chinese lyrics of songs used in their videos. The Back Dorm Boys received mainstream media attention in the United States through ''
The Ellen DeGeneres Show ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' (often shortened to ''Ellen'' or ''The Ellen Show'') is an American daytime television variety comedy talk show that was created and hosted by its namesake Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it was prod ...
''. The group released their last album together in 2010 before breaking up a year later due to their expiration of a 5 year record deal with Taihe Rye Music. Since then, Huang has continued his solo career and eventually making a comeback on
Your Face Sounds Familiar ''Your Face Sounds Familiar'' ( Spanish: ''Tu cara me suena'') is a Spanish interactive reality television franchise series where celebrity contestants impersonate singers. The format, similar to Dutch television series ''Soundmixshow'', was ...
and has been a successful actor, director and singer. He has been married and has a child. Wei experienced ups and downs as an actor and before finding success as an arts studio owner with acting as a secondary job.


Blogs


Notes and references


External links


后舍男生的BLOG
Official Chinese Back Dorm Boys blog
Sina BDB site
Official Chinese Back Dorm Boys site

Several downloadable
wmv Windows Media Video (WMV) is a series of video codecs and their corresponding video coding formats developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Windows Media framework. WMV consists of three distinct codecs: The original video compression technology ...
videos
What Tian Has Learned
Basic information and links for videos ( mov)
Back Dorm Boys Reviews
Another links for their lip sync, videos, bloopers, and real life video. {{DEFAULTSORT:Back Dorm Boys Chinese Internet celebrities Music YouTubers Internet memes introduced in the 2000s