Melody maker

Zhang Yuxuan can turn many things into melody in her music world－a box of candies, water, pens and glass bottles. She records the sounds around her and mixes them into songs.

Better known as Vicky Xuanxuan on social media, the 15-year-old girl has attracted nearly 1.7 million followers on China's leading video-sharing and livestreaming platform Bilibili and made national headlines. The sudden popularity has brought her opportunities to cooperate with celebrities, such as pianist Li Yundi.

Yuxuan's most hit clip－the release of her English song She－has been viewed more than 14 million times and received over 1 million thumbs-up emoji on Bilibili.

"In the clip, I tried to let viewers know how the song was created," says Yuxuan, who lives in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong province.

The six-minute video tells how a melody coming to the ponytailed schoolgirl's mind during a math class is developed into a beautiful song in half an hour. She records playing the guitar on Apple's music-making app GarageBand, and then mixes vocals and backing tracks.

Inspired by the Hollywood blockbuster The Devil Wears Prada, she writes the lyrics for She: "She got a beautiful eye/Walk in a line/Smile with her type/She knows all about life/Never ask why/Driving everyone crazy crazy/She has long hair/Tight skirt/She doesn't need a lover or a partner."

Talking about her inspiration for She, Yuxuan says: "I really appreciate the protagonist's confidence and independence in the movie. Women like that are so charming."

The song has amazed people. A Bilibili user says it is a song that "you cannot stop playing time and time again".

The video has forced many to reflect on their own productivity, as another user posts: "A student in junior middle school can create a song in half an hour, but I, a college student, can only finish my meal in half an hour."

Besides the clip, Yuxuan has uploaded nearly 90 videos to Bilibili, including over 20 songs of her own. She has also sung the song Dance Monkey with Irish singer Allie Sherlock and the song Let Her Go with Yonina, the Israeli music sensation.

On Yuxuan's YouTube channel, she has over 120,000 subscribers. A subscriber named Carolyn Davidson comments: "I'm 71 years old and it definitely healed my heart."

Obvious talent

Fascinated by music from an early age, Yuxuan started to take violin lessons after entering primary school. Meanwhile, she became a fan of English songs by Barbadian singer Rihanna, US singer Taylor Swift, British singer Adele and Australian singer Sia Furler.

After five years of violin practice in primary school, the then-fifth grader became a student of Russian violinist Gleb Dontsov, who has won several competitions in Russia.

Although knowing the difficulty in developing a career in music, Yuxuan's parents have always been on her side－Yuxuan entered Shenzhen Arts School, receiving music theory studies and violin lessons, and set music as her dream.

"I know it is a road less traveled, but music makes my life different," Yuxuan says, adding that playing the violin has been a part of her life.

She began to learn the piano at sixth grade and became interested in the guitar after entering junior middle school.

Although winning awards at competitions, she didn't go into the spotlight until her songs went viral on social media earlier this year.

Wishing to share her music with more people, she opened a Bilibili account in April 2019, uploading her singing clips. In December 2019, her first English song, December Composer, was released on the platform and viewed over 3.3 million times.

"I am just an ordinary teenager, who dreams of being an idol one day," Yuxuan writes in her Bilibili account.

Many of her classmates, even her teachers, follow her on social media. Her teacher Guo Wenxin told Yangcheng Evening News that Yuxuan is a good student at school.

"Our school will support students, like Yuxuan, to pursue their dreams," said Guo, adding that sudden fame means both opportunity and challenge for the teens.

"On one hand, the creative girl is passionate about music and social media provides a way to let her music be enjoyed by more people. On the other hand, she still has a long way to go, during which she must keep learning," the teacher said.

For Yuxuan, she has her own plan－to keep making music and study at top music schools in Europe or the United States one day.

Different voice

Just as the old saying goes "a coin has two sides", internet fame can bring criticism, some of which go beyond borders.

US singer Madilyn Bailey with more than 8 million YouTube subscribers has her way to take on hate comments from her channel－writing them into songs to show how cruel some people can be.

Inspired by her, Yuxuan has also turned the negative reviews into a song.

Insults like "you look too old for a 14-year-old" and "don't sing again, for the sake of the listeners" are in her lyrics. The clip has been viewed more than 1.3 million times. Although she felt bad about these comments at first, Yuxuan started to learn to get used to them and be more confident.

"My works being good or bad are not decided by their popularity on the internet," she says.

No matter how mean some people are online, to be seen and heard by more people has motivated Yuxuan to keep posting her singing clips.

Her song Runaway Forest may indicate her attitude facing difficulty－"You don't have to be upset/Just walk straight ahead/… I'm the one with the shining light."

Although she has a busy schedule at school and will enter senior middle school in September, Yuxuan enjoys the opportunities brought by her popularity online and the process of music production.

"I have met some great musicians and directors, who have taught me a lot," she says, adding that besides becoming busier, her life hasn't changed much.

"Studying and making music are my daily routine."

The short-form video trend has made many ordinary people, like Yuxuan, well-known. With 223 million users each month on average in the first quarter, Bilibili has 2.2 million users who have created 7.7 million videos on average per month, according to the platform's latest data.