Liu Yuxin (; ; born April 20, 1997), known in English as Xin Liu, is a Chinese singer, dancer and producer born in Guizhou Province, Southwestern China. She rose to fame as the top contestant of IQIYI's survival reality program Youth With You 2, finishing first and becoming the center of the girl group The9. In late 2021, Xin began her solo career. Her album Epsilon and Xanadu tops Chinese billboards. Xin is also the very first female captain of Street Dance of China (season 5). Xin joined 88rising and made her US debut at Coachella in April 2024.
Xin first gained recognition as a contestant on Chinese television talent show Up Young! (向上吧！少年) in 2012. In 2016, she competed in the girl-group survival reality program Lady Bees (蜜蜂少女队), debuting as a member of the resulting girl-group, LadyBees. In 2020, Xin finished first on iQiyi survival reality program Youth With You 2, leading to her debut as a member and the centre of The9.
As a dancer, Xin started learning street dance when she was ten years old and focused on popping dance techniques. She has performed a variety of dance styles ranging from street dance styles to modern dance styles, including popping, locking, krump, urban, hip-hop, jazz, house, waacking, contemporary, swag in different dance competitions and shows.
As a singer, she released her 3-track EP Epsilon in 2021, which tops the best selling records in China and worldwide. Since December 2021, she started releasing her first full-length album Xanadu that includes 10 songs with 10 MV of 10+ different dancing styles. Some of her representative works include "Baby I Know", "Boom Tick Boom", "Hurricane", "Look Into The Mirror", "Like Love", and "Beatholic".
Xin's fandom name is "Um", which stands for umbrella; her fandom colour is "Xin Blue".
Early life Xin (ethnicity: Manchu), was born on April 20, 1997, in Guizhou, China. Her mother was a national level-local opera actor specialized in Kunqu. Her father worked in the Chinese classical music industry. Her grandfather worked in a Peking Opera group prior to retirement. Since her childhood, Liu had been traveling with her mother to different performances. She had learned ballet dance for a short period and passed Grade 8 of the Piano Grade Examination in China.
Xin started learning street dance when she was 10 years old, and she went to Beijing by herself to further her training in street dance when she turned 12. She finished her secondary education at the Beijing Contemporary Music School, majoring in Contemporary Music and Contemporary Dance. In 2010, she became the only disciple of James Lin, a well-known street dancer in China.
In 2014, Xin was accepted to the Tianjin University of Sport, majoring in Music Recording in the College of Art & Culture. Xin graduated with her bachelor's degree in June 2018. At the college graduation ceremony, she was a student speaker for the graduating class. She received the "Gold Harvest Award for the Most Influential Graduate of Class of 2018" and presented "The Most Innovative President" award to the university president as a student representative.
Career
Early career In 2012, Xin participated in Hunan TV's youth empowerment variety show Up Young! (向上吧！少年), winning the title of "Most Positive Youth Award".
In 2013, Xin participated in Dragon TV (SDTV)'s dance competition variety show So You Think You Can Dance (舞林争霸) and won the pass tickets from all four mentors including Yang Liping, Jordan Chan, Jin Xing and Fang Jun. In the same year, she was the winner of Sexy Dancer Popping competition in Guiyang, Guizhou, the winner of Top Battle in Beijing Contemporary Music Academy competition, as well as the runner-up in China Popping Session.
In 2014, Xin won the runner-up in Dance in Qian City and released her very first original song "Never" (从不).
In 2015, Xin released another original piece "18" and won the first place in the contemporary dance division of the 5th Annual Panlong Cup dance competition in the College of Art & Culture of Tianjin University of Sport.
2016–2019: LadyBees In March 2016, Xin participated in Zhejiang TV's Chinese girl group survival reality program Lady Bees (蜜蜂少女队). Prior to recording, she was a trainee for a 3-month closed-door training hosted by Xunfeng Culture. During the competition, was mentored by Nicky Wu as a member of "Shining Dragon Ball" throughout the show. On May 28, 2016, She made her debut as the center of LadyBees.
On April 26, 2017, Xin released a single "Only Have Music Left" (穷得只剩音乐) with Evey Zhang and Teresa Tseng, a promotional song in movie Hot Rival (热血情敌). On June 24, she participated in iQiyi's rap competition The Rap of China Season 1 (中国有嘻哈第一季) and passed audience approved by mentor Kris Wu. However, due to conflict of schedule, she stepped down from the competition after advancement.
On February 25, 2018, the network movie Lady Bees starring Liu was released on iQiyi. On March 17, 2018, Xin participated in iQiyi's dance reality show Hot Blood Dance Crew (热血街舞团). On March 23, Xin released her first solo EDM song "Feel Good". On May 20, Liu released her first EP entitled Xin, including "Hot Party", "Feel Good", "It's You" (就是你), and "Don't Want to Miss You" (不要想念你). Liu also participated in the preparation and post-production process of this album. In August 2018, she made a guest appearance in the movie iPartment 5 (爱情公寓5). In November 2018, LadyBees released the single and mini-album entitled Queen Bee, in which Xin starred in minifilm "Girl Power Age".
On May 18, 2019, Xin participated in Youku's street dance competition Street Dance of China Season II (这！就是街舞第二季). She successfully advanced from Vanness Wu's audition with her popping performance but was eliminated at the seven to smoke battle in the fifth episode as the 49th place of the season. On August 3, she was a special guest in the VERVE Street Dance Show hosted by professional street dancer Viho Yang.
Due to different personal and professional plans, LadyBees was disbanded later in 2019.
2020–2021: Youth With You 2, The9 In 2020, Xin participated in iQiyi's reality survival show Youth with You Season 2. She performed her original song "My Opening Speech" (我的开场白) as a self-introduction on February 22, 2020.
On March 22, 2020, Xin performed "No Joke" (adapted from Show Lo's song) in her Preliminary Ranking stage, and was ranked as A-class. On March 26, 2020, Xin performed "The Eve" from Exo. She was voted as the first place of the group with 184 votes, and the group was ranked third place among all dance groups. On April 5, Xin was voted as the center of the theme song "Yes! OK!" with 26 votes from fellow trainees. On April 18, Xin performed "Miss You 3000" (想见你想见你想见你) from the band 831 during the second public performance and won the 1st place wweepstake (MVP) with 291 votes. The group was ranked as the first place among all performances. The original singer 831 publicly invited Xin to perform together through Weibo. On May 7, Xin performed "Lion" during the third public performance and won the 1st place sweepstake (MVP) with 183 votes. The group was ranked as the first place among all performances. On May 30, Xin performed "Yes! OK!", "A Little Bit", and "Promise" with the top 20 trainees on the finale night. Xin finished first in the competition with 17,359,242 votes and debuted as the center of the project girl group The9. Xin was also awarded the title International Most Popular Trainee at the finale.
Performance SongOther PerformersRankingReferencePreliminary RankingNo JokeN/AClass A1st Public PerformanceThe EveKiki Xu, K Lu, Three, Aurora, Ruohang Feng, Jenny Zeng1st Place in the Group2nd Public PerformanceMiss You 3000DDD, Xiaowei Duan, NaHo, Monster SunTeam Winner
& 1st Place Sweepstake (MVP)2nd Performance Studio VersionAmbush On All Sides IIBabymonster An, Jessie Fu, Snow Kong, Victoria LiN/A3rd Public PerformanceLionBabymonster An, Jue Chen, Diamond, Frhanm Shangguan, Yan Yu, Sharon Wang1st Place Sweepstake (MVP)QQ Music Bonus PerformanceReverseBabymonster An, Jue Chen, Diamond, Frhanm Shangguan, Yan Yu, Sharon WangN/ACooperation StageI'm Not YoursLisa, Aria Jin, K Lu, Snow Kong, Esther Yu, Jenny ZengN/AFinal Performance A Little BitDiamond, Snow Kong, NineOne, Frhanm Shangguan, Xinran Song, Sharon Wang, Shaking, Yan Yu, Jenny ZengN/APromiseTop 20 of Youth with You II
On June 1, 2020, Xin released the single "Beatholic", a song she assisted with writing and producing. This is her first individual music production after debuting as the center of The9. "Beatholic" was prepared in 2019 prior to Xin's audition for Youth with You 2. Japanese music producer Hiroshi Kawaguchi and photographer Mika Ninagawa were invited and assisted with the music and MV production in Japan. On June 5, 2020, "Beatholic" MV was released, featuring Japanese top street dance group KING OF SWAG.On August 10, 2020, The9 released their first EP "Sphinx X".
On September 11, 2020, Xin attended and performed at the Make Up For Ever new product release event as its brand ambassador. On September 20, Xin attended the Christian Dior fashion event, Designer of Dreams, performing "Hot party" and "Don't Want to Miss You" (不要想念你) at its private live concert.
On October 3, 2020, Xin performed <This is X> as a special guest at the season finale of Street Dance of China Season III (这！就是街舞第三季). In the same month, she participated in a podcast documentary, The Nth Years of Intangible Cultural Heritage (非遗第N年), organized by China Central Radio and TV station. As a storyteller, Xin narrated intangible cultural heritage elements from Guizhou province of China. From September 13 to October 26, Xin competed at the JiangsuTV's Masked Dancing King (蒙面舞王). She was crowned as the Challenger of the second round. On the season's finale, Xin battled in 8v8 routine dance, "Sanchakou" duet dance (a dance incorporating both Peking Opera and popping elements), and an urban dance "Try". Xin won the Best Battle award of the season.
In December 2020, Xin's fashion reality show Fourtry 2 (潮流合伙人2) was aired. On December 19, she attended the annual Sohu Fashion Award and received the "Most Popular Celebrity" award. On December 25, The9 released its first album "MatriX" (虚实X境), featuring Xin's original song "Biu Biu". On the same day, Xin was selected "Top Ten People of the Year" by Southern Metropolis Entertainment (南都娱乐). On December 28, Xin was selected as "Most Popular Female Celebrity" by iFeng (凤凰网). On December 31, she delivered her first "BiuBiu" performance on JiangsuTV 2021 New Year's Eve Concert.
On January 5, 2021, Xin was featured on iFeng Entertainment's End of the Year Special Campaign We Still Have Faith - Role Model of the Year (我们还有信仰 – 年度榜样). She was recognized for her tagline "I don't forbid any tags" (我不忌讳任何标签).
On February 9, 2021, Xin performed at the ShandongTV Spring Festival Gala with her solo "Hot Party" and "BiuBiu". On February 10, Xin was a special guest for Liu Qian's magic show on ZhejiangTV Spring Festival Comedy Gala with her teammates. On February 11, Xin performed "Youth on the Run" (奔跑的青春) at CCTV New Year's Gala. On the same day, Kuaishou 2021 Orange vs White Talent Show was aired; Xin performed "Miss You 3000" (想见你想见你想见你) and "BiuBiu". On February 12, Xin collaborated with singer Mao Amin on HunanTV Global Overseas Chinese Spring Festival, performing "BiuBiu" and "Smiling at the Sight of You" (一见你就笑).
On March 26 and 27 2021, The9 hosted their first online concert X-CITY (虚实之城), an online live-stream concert utilizing extended reality technology (a combination of virtual, augmented and mixed reality).
On April 20, 2021, Xin released her 3-track EP "Epsilon", including songs "Of Course", "Practice", and "U and I". It tops the best selling albums in China and worldwide. On December 5, 2021, The9 officially disbanded and Xin began her solo career.