18 July 2003 - Just when you thought this side 'o the world is fed up with boy band syndrome, her comes another lovable group of four who goes by the name of F4! Their tag may come from a flowery Flower Four but in reality, the F4 guys --- Jerry Yan, Vic Zhuo, Ken Zhu and Vanness Wu --- are responsible for sending millions of flowers abloom and millions of girls' heats a-flutter. Wanna know why?
Tagged as Taiwan's hottest boy band since the Little Tigers, who disbanded 10 years ago, and the country's entry to the saga where the Backstreet Boys, 'N Sync and Westlife previously reigned, F4 lives up to every girl's idea of what a boy band member should be: good-looking and talented enough to make you go gaga over. Obviously, Jerry, Vic, Ken and Vanness are those and more! Their major plus being the hit TV series Meteor Garden where they share the limelight with Barbie Hus who plays Shan Cai, the plain girl from a middle-class family that enters the world of the filthy rich via enrolling in an elite school where she meets the gorgeous bullies.
A little over a month after Meteor Garden started airing on ABS-CBN, F4 became a phenomenal hit among Pinays of virtually all ages --- from prepubescent to teens. To college gals to the working twenty-something to certified adults --- who are looking for a good substitute to Mexican telenovelas and lengthy local soap operas, which are currently ruling the scene. This Taiwanese series, based from a Japanese manga Hana Yori Dango shares the story of Shan Cai, a middle-class girl who enters an exclusive university hoping to snatch herself a wealthy man to get her family out of poverty. There she meets and clashes with the bullies and the playboys who are suffering from the rich kid syndrome and ends up attracting the precious attention of Dao Ming Si (played by Jerry Yan) as well as Hua Ze Lei's (Vic Zhou). Together with some girl friends, Shan Cai struggles to survive her fears and nervousness to cope with the world of the rich and famous.and with the guys of a band called F4 (where Dao is the leader) close by, her life can't be a walk in the park. The plot is simple yet brilliant, enough to attract all suckers for romance. And talking about the Pinoys, it's not remotely possible to know that everyone's glued to their TV sets when the show airs.
Although it is Meteor Garden that launched the careers of Jerry, Vic, Ken and Vanness, the guys are practically on their own after that. Luckily for us, they're not resting on their laurels. In fact, they have an album to boast accompanied by hit singles left and right entitled Meteor Rain. Suddenly becoming household names not only in their native Taiwan but also in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Brunei, and now the Philippines is inevitable. Their rise to stardom has been nothing short of meteoric. And mind you, they're just starting.
F4's debut album released April of last year, has sold over 180,000 copies in Taiwan alone brags about making it to the third spot on the local charts just three days after it hit the shelves. And boy, they did not look back after that. Numerous hits have followed catapulting them to real boy band stardom --- complemented with chaos whenever and wherever they show up.
Speaking of showing up, you guys better watch out because Sony Music, the local distributor of F4, is said to be contemplating on bringing the guys here to perform in August. Yup, as in in the flesh! So while you're saving up for that big day, when your dreams of hugging Jerry tightly, looking at Vic's sheepish smile, witnessing Vanness' American connection and personally judging Ken's playboy trait feast on our F4's trivia galore, a must-have for every F4 fan.
Source: By Margie McNeil - Teen Stars Magazine/
June 2003 Issue.
Translated by: Carolina Roboch