The new music makers

Those who dream of stardom no longer need confine their ambitions to a karaoke room

It's the dead of night and Yang Jie is staring at her mobile phone and feeling sentimental. She puts on her earphones, swipes the screen and starts to sing to the music coming from it.

"I love singing because it relieves the pressure and helps me relax, especially when I'm feeling down," says Yang, 28, an office worker from Beijing. She particularly likes pop songs by singers such as Karen Joy Morris and Rene Liu.