Fahrenheit (Chinese: 飛輪海; pinyin: Fēilúnhǎi; Jyutping: Fei1 Leon4 Hoi2; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Hui Lûn-hái; Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: Fui Lûn-hói) was a Taiwanese boy band composed of members Calvin Chen, Jiro Wang, Wu Chun, and Aaron Yan. They were formed in 2005 by Comic International Productions and HIM International Music and GMM Grammy in Thailand. Their music is distributed by WOW Music in Hong Kong and by Pony Canyon in Japan. Fahrenheit ware often associated with their labelmate seniors S.H.E, who are also under HIM International Music.
In June 2011, Wu announced his decision to leave the group to focus on his acting career, but is open to the idea of reuniting with Fahrenheit in the future. Following Wu Chun's departure, the remaining members also went off to pursue solo projects, putting the group in an indefinite hiatus.
Background
Fahrenheit first gained minor recognition around late 2005 when they first acted altogether in the series, KO One, was broadcast on television in Taiwan. Wu Chun joined the group later in late 2005. On December 28, 2005, Fahrenheit officially became a vocal quartet boy band.
Derived from the definition of Fahrenheit, each of the four members represents a season or temperature that corresponds with their different personalities. Calvin Chen represents spring, warm; Jiro Wang represents summer, hot; Wu Chun represents autumn, cool; and lastly, Aaron Yan represents winter, cold. Each of the four members also has his respective temperature represented on the Fahrenheit scale: Calvin Chen is at 77 degrees, Jiro Wang is at 95 degrees, Wu Chun is at 59 degrees, and Aaron Yan is at 41 degrees. Each of their temperatures are separated by 18 degrees.
Music career
Rise to stardom
Before Fahrenheit released their first album on 28 September 2006, they gained minor attention as singers from contributing in several Taiwanese drama soundtracks. Their popularity immediately rose after the soundtracks were released, but was only limited to Taiwan and Mainland China. After their first album was released, their fan base had extended to South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Philippines, Indonesia and the rest of Southeast Asia . Overseas fans such as from North America and Europe are also getting more familiar with them.
As soon as announcements for their debut album pre-order was released on August 30, 2006, the album broke past 10,000 copies. After its release on September 15, 2006, the album entered the G-music charts and was ranked #2. It was less than 1% below Jay Chou's Still Fantasy album, which came out two weeks prior to the release. Fahrenheit's album sold more than 80,000 copies, an impressive feat, in Taiwan within the first month. Ultimately on the G-music Mandarin Charts their album was ranked 11th for the top 20 of 2006 and stayed in the charts for 17 weeks. Their primary song, or zhuda (Chinese: 主打; pinyin: zhǔ dǎ) song, I Have My Youth (我有我的 Young, Wo You Wo De Young) was on Hong Kong's Global Rhythm List as the Top 16th song for weeks. Their duet with Hebe of girl group S.H.E also won them several popular awards. Fahrenheit was also the first new foreign boy band to have won third place for Best Group at Hong Kong's TVB8 Awards. Although unable to defeat their seniors S.H.E and Twins, who had won first place and second place respectively, they have beaten Hong Kong's local boy bands such as Sun Boy'z and Soler. In less than a year, Fahrenheit has already won eight awards. Despite the outburst of winning multiple awards, there had been debates where fans disagreed with the awards that they have won. The most debated topic was when Fahrenheit won HITO Music Awards 2007's Best Male Group award, arguing that Fahrenheit is too inexperienced to have won the award.
Popularity and success
With the help of starring in popular dramas, Fahrenheit has been the fastest moving boy band and has quickly gained their status as one of the top boy bands of the year in Taiwan. Within a year, they had already debuted in over 30 different magazine covers all over Asia. They make frequent appearances in Taiwan's Play and Color magazine covers. After their predecessors F4, they are the second Taiwanese boy band to hold a concert in Indonesia with only just one album released. They already held two mini concerts: one in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia on March 31 and one in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong on April 19. Also, they held 2 concerts sponsored by Watsons Water at the end of September 2007: one in Hongkong on September 28, 2007 and one in Guangzhou on September 29, 2007.
Major concerts
Ever since Fahrenheit's meteoric rise to stardom, HIM has been giving quite a bit exposure for Fahrenheit, such as promoting the group in two of S.H.E's major concerts in Taipei, Singapore and Malaysia where they were seen performing their duet with Hebe as well as their own songs. Ever since their exposure had hit the Hong Kong market their company does not want to miss this chance for more promotion for the group and is currently organizing Fahrenheit's first major concert in Hong Kong in September at the HKCEC. It was reported that they are originally going to hold a concert in Hong Kong's renowned coliseum, Hong Kong Coliseum, but because all of the performances slots are full, they have to move their concert to a different venue. The director of WOW Music expressed that Fahrenheit is currently slated for performing in the HKCEC for two to three nights. In the winter of 2008 they will debut in the Hong Kong Coliseum. as part of their All-Asia Concert. During their All-Asia press conference for the release of their second album in Hong Kong, it was revealed that plans for the All-Asia Concert were in the works. Confirmed concert stops include Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. Towards the end of October, Fahrenheit had their Fantasy Tour stop at Taipei Arena on two nights being 24 October 2009 and 25 October 2009.
Musical style
Fahrenheit's songs mainly fall into the bubblegum pop and pop ballad category. However, songs like Teachable Child (孺子可教 Ru Zi Ke Jiao) and Love's Arrived (愛到 Ai Dao) are intended for a light R&B approach. Songs similar to The Secret of Immortality (不死之謎 Bu Si Zhi Mi) and Superb (出神入化 Chu Shen Ru Hua) are leaning toward the pop rock and rap genre, where they displayed their ability to rap and harmonize well.
Their much anticipated second album, Two-sided Fahrenheit, was released on January 4, 2008. The new album saw the four employ more advanced harmonizing techniques as well as some progression from bubblegum pop to more mature ballads, such as Ten Thousand Joys (一萬個快樂 Yi Wan Ge Kuai Le). Nonetheless, the band's youthful energy was retained in songs such as the opening song for the drama Romantic Princess, New Home (新窝 Xin Wo), which is a duet by Fahrenheit and their seniors S.H.E. On the album Little VIP (小小大人物 Xiao Xiao Da Ren Wu) is the Disney theme song for 2008.
Often criticized for the lack of character in their music, Fahrenheit finally moved towards carving a more distinct musical style with their third album, Love You More & More (越來越愛 Yue Lai Yue Ai) which features a new maturity that is brought out by rock ballads like the main track, Lonesome Sprint (寂寞暴走 Ji Mo Bao Zou) and Stay With Me (留下來 Liu Xia Lai)， of which the latter was written by Monster, the lead guitarist of popular Taiwanese band, Mayday. The album also features Artery (動脈 Dong Mai), theme song of Mysterious Incredible Terminator (霹靂MIT), Shining Star (恒星 Heng Xing), theme song of Rolling Love (翻滾吧！蛋炒飯) and the ending song of drama ToGetHer (愛就宅一起) featuring Jiro and Rainie Yang, The Love of Silence (默默 Mo Mo). The album is completed by slower ballads that showcases the quartet's improved vocals and chemistry in harmonization.
After 20 months from the third album, Fahrenheit's fourth album, Super Hot (太热 Tai Re) was released on the 17th of September 2010. This album's musical style is dance and has tracks such as Super Hot (太热 Tai Re) and Sexy Girl. Guardian Star (守护星 Shou Hu Xing) is dedicated to all their fans for supporting them for 5 years and also the opening-theme for the drama Love Buffet . Cherish Your Heartache (心疼你的心疼 Xin Teng Ni De Xin Teng) is a slow ballad. Going On My Way (活得更像我 Huo De Geng Xiang Wo) is a combination of two Taiwanese Hokkien songs (收酒矸) and (酒矸倘卖无) in a rock style. Their fourth album also features Very Quiet (很安静 Hen An Jing), the ending-theme of drama Momo Love (桃花小妹), Mistake (误会 Wu Hui) the ending-theme of the drama Love Buffet (爱似百汇) and Rebirth (新生 Xin Sheng) the opening-theme for the manga BLEACH (死神).
