S.H.E.

I. Introduction

S.H.E is a popular Taiwanese Mandopop girl group who debuted under HIM International Music in 2001. Formed after the HIM sponsored talent competition, "Universal 2000 Talent and Beauty Girl Contest", the group was meant to bring freshness to mainstream Taiwanese pop. Their debut album and subsequent albums sold impressive numbers, but the group was criticized for their off-key singing. Their breakthrough came with the release of their fourth album, Super Star, which featured stronger pop-rock influences. Since then, S.H.E has remained the top girl group in Taiwan. S.H.E is derived from the first letter of their English names (Selina, Hebe, and Ella).

II. Career

III. 2001–2003: Pre-debut, Girls Dorm, Youth Co.,Ltd., Genesis, Together and Super Star

Before releasing S.H.E's first album, HIM International focused on the group's chemistry, and assigned the three girls to live together in a dormitory room. Selina revealed in 2009 that their English names were also changed to fit the group name. Selina named herself Cola, while Hebe was called Anita, while Ella called herself Water pre-debut. On 11 September 2001, S.H.E released their debut album, Girls Dorm, in memory of their prior living quarters, selling an impressive 150,000 copies for a debut group. It also quashed the speculation of an unremarkable debut being on the fateful day and the total sale in Asia is over 750,000 copies. On 29 January 2002, S.H.E's second album, Youth Society, was released and went on to sell more than 250,000 copies and over 1.25 million in asia. With the release of this album, S.H.E Girl Friends underwent a name change and became simply S.H.E. The trio's third album, Genesis, was released on 5 August 2002, approximately six months after Youth Society. Continuing the successes of the group's previous albums, 20,000 copies of Genesis were ordered in advance of the release date. The album would go on to sell 180,000 copies and over 1.75 million in Asia. S.H.E later signed an endorsement deal with N-age, a South Korean online game company. Not only did N-age appear in a couple of music videos, but they also sponsored S.H.E's first major concert in Tainan City, the N-age Genesis Concert, which attracted over 20,000 fans. On 23 January 2003, S.H.E released Together, their first compilation album which sold over 2 million copies. S.H.E's fourth album was intended for release on 6 August, but due to an injury to Ella, Super Star arrived in stores on 22 August 2003. The album featured the group's first pop/rock song, "Super Star", which, for ten consecutive weeks, placed no lower than fourth on Singapore's YES 93.3 music charts selling more than 2.75 million copies. To date, Together and Super Star have combined to sell 580,000 copies; 250,000 copies of Super Star were sold in Taiwan alone.

IIII. 2004–2005: Magical Journey, Fantasy Land World Tour and Once Upon a Time

On 6 February 2004, S.H.E released their fifth album, Magical Journey, in two different versions: a Magical Version and a Journey Version. The two versions combined to sell 2.5 million copies in Asia, including 160,000 copies in Taiwan alone. On 2 June, S.H.E and HIM International agreed to extend the trio's contract, which would have expired in October 2005. Later that year, on 4 September 2004, S.H.E began their first major tour, the Fantasy Land Tour. The tour started in Taipei, where more than 25,000 attendees were present, and ended in Genting Highlands, Malaysia. During their concert at the Shanghai Stadium, the trio set an attendance record. The tour raked in NT$22.4 million in gate receipts. The release of S.H.E's sixth album, Encore, was pushed to 12 November 2004 to accommodate Selina's graduation from university in late November. Encore sold two million units in Asia within one week of its release; since then, that number has surpassed 2 million. By the time Encore was due for release, media outlets had already begun labelling S.H.E as "The Number One Girl Group" (Chinese: 女子第一天團). S.H.E had released albums every few months until the end of 2004. However, due to their busy concert schedule, it was over a year until their next album appeared. After releasing Encore, they contributed to the Reaching for the Stars soundtrack, which sold only 50,000 copies. That same year, the girl group Twins released their first Mandarin album, Trainee Cupid, in the Taiwanese market. That album would sell 800,000 copies in two months. The poor sales of the soundtrack and the success of the Twins album led to this period being described as one of the lowest times of S.H.E's career. On 25 November 2005, the trio finally released their seventh album, Once Upon a Time. The album not only set a record with 50,000 pre-orders, but it sold more than two million copies, overshadowing Trainee Cupid. Once Upon a Time debuted on the G-music Chinese language album charts at #1, retained that position for four consecutive weeks, and stayed on the charts for a total of 13 weeks. The album's title track, "Don't Wanna Grow Up" (Chinese: 不想長大), won Song of the Year at Hong Kong’s TVB8 Awards.

IIIII. 2006–2007: Forever, The Perfect 3 World Tour and Play

On 21 July 2006, S.H.E released a second compilation album, Forever, which sold over 150,000 copies within a week. The album featured five new songs, a compilation of older works, and three songs from older drama soundtracks. Forever included many collaborative works with other artists in the Taiwanese pop music industry. C-pop megastar Jay Chou composed "Electric Shock" (Chinese: 觸電) for the album. The song "Solo Madrigal" (Chinese: 獨唱情歌) was a duet between Selina and Tank, the latter of whom had originally recorded the song for his debut album. For the Tokyo Juliet soundtrack, Hebe and boyband Fahrenheit sang "Only Have Feelings for You" (Chinese: 只對你有感覺), which won several awards including Taiwan's Best Duet Song at the 2006 Sprite China Music Awards. S.H.E's second major concert tour, The Perfect 3 World Tour, commenced on 8 July 2006 in Shanghai, where they set yet another attendance record by filling more than 60% of the stadium. After their Perfect 3 concert in Hong Kong, which was recorded and released as the group's second live album, S.H.E was commended for their perseverance, amount of dance preparation, and ability to hit their notes. Within the tour's first five months, the group attracted over 200,000 fans, and collected NT$200 million in gate receipts. On 18 April, S.H.E signed on with WOW Music to improve their presence in Hong Kong. Play, the trio's eighth album, was released on 11 May 2007, and was the first S.H.E album released under the new distribution label. Play went double gold within the first four days of the album's pre-order period; by 5 June, more than 150,000 copies were sold. A month after Play's release, S.H.E was nominated for the Most Popular Female Artist award at the 18th Golden Melody Awards but lost to pop diva Jolin Tsai.

IIIV. 2008–2009: FM S.H.E, Map of Love, S.H.E is the One concert and Shero

On 23 September 2008, S.H.E released their ninth album, FM S.H.E. On this album, members of the band take on the role of radio hosts, and the album itself is interspersed with radio station-esque snippets. The album had a pre-order sale of 42,000 copies in Taiwan and over 1.2 million in asia. An online radio station, FM S.H.E, was also set up for a month in line with the album where there will be different programs being broadcast everyday. The viewer-ship of the online radio hit a record high of 100,000 views.

In June 2009, S.H.E released their first digital album, Map of Love in China, where this album will only be digitally release on internet music stores. The album consist of 10 songs of which 8 songs are from their previous albums and 2 new songs, 鎖住時間 "(Lock Up the Time)" and 可愛萬歲 "(Long Live Adorableness)". On 16 October 2009, S.H.E commenced their third world tour, S.H.E is the One concert, with Hong Kong being their first stop. The tickets to the Hong Kong concert were sold out within a few days and this concert had received positive reviews. As of 2010, the concert is still ongoing with more stops to be made. On 26 March 2010, S.H.E released their tenth album, SHERO. The album received positive reviews, with 50,000 copies being pre-ordered in Taiwan before it was released.

IIV. 2010–present: Selina's injury, Blossomy and second hiatus

On 22 October 2010, Selina suffered third degree burns on 54% of her body, mostly her back and legs, during an indoor film shooting in Shanghai for musical movie "I have a date with Spring (我和春天有个约会)". On 19 January 2011, after Selina was hospitalized for two months and discharged, the trio held a press conference to formally address their fans about Selina's injury and her recovery. In May 2011, SHERO, nominated the 22nd Golden Melody Awards's "Top vocal group award". In June 2012, S.H.E performed on the 23rd Golden Melody Awards and declared regression. On October 11, 2012, S.H.E declared renewal and became one of the main shareholders of HIM International Music. Blossomy, their eleventh album, was released on 16 November 2012. Since 2014, the group entered their second hiatus. In 2016, they were immortalized with wax figures in Shanghai's Madame Tussands, and then on August 26, issued an extended play "Irreplaceable", and one of the songs "Irreplaceable" in the EP was commemorating for 15th anniversary of S.H.E's debut, after that held "S.H.E 15th Anniversary Exhibition" at Songshan Cultural and Creative Park in Taipei from August 26 to September 19, 2016. In 2017, S.H.E. returned with a full 16-cassette set of all albums (including 12 full albums and 2 compilation mini-albums) called "S.H.E's in style" on their 16th anniversary. As of April 2018, Ella is the vocal instructor for Produce 101 China. Ella’s contract has ended with the record label and announced to be not re-contracting on 10 July 2018 with plans of creating her own management company with her husband, however, the group will not disband and continue doing projects as the management will still cooperate with Ella. On August 30, 2018, a digital single "Seventeen" was released by S.H.E, it was commemorating for 17th anniversary of S.H.E's debut, and the single was issued by form of digital music download, after that held "S.H.E 17th Anniversary Concert" to celebrate the 17th anniversary of S.H.E's debut at Liberty Square in Taipei on September 11, 2018. On September 30th, 2018, HIM International Music officially announce that S.H.E will no longer be managed by them. After ending the 17 years collaboration with HIM International Music, three of them had come up with their management agencies individually.

IIVI. 2019-present: Various reunions

In January 2019, they reunited for child philanthropic feast and made donations to the child poverty charity before Lunar New Year.

On June 29, 2019, they reunited again for The 30th Golden Melody Awards as guests and presented awards for Best Group and Best Band. On September 28, 2020, they made a surprising reunion during the Taipei leg of Hebe's individual One After Another Tour.

III. Discography

IIII. Albums

[2001.09.11] Nusheng Sushe (女生宿舍; Girl's Dormitory)

[2002.01.29] Qingchun Zhushihuishe (青春株式會社; Youth Society)

[2002.08.05] Meili Xin Shijie (美麗新世界; Beautiful New World)

[2003.08.22] Super Star

[2004.02.06] Qihuan Lucheng (奇幻旅程; Magical Journey)

[2004.11.12] Anke (安可; Encore)

[2005.11.25] Buxiang Zhangda (Once Upon a Time) (不想長大; Don't Wanna Grow Up)

[2007.05.11] Play

[2008.09.23] Wo De Dian Tai FM S.H.E (我的電台 FM S.H.E; My Radio)

[2010.03.26] SHERO

[2012.11.16] Hua You Kai Haole (花又開好了; Blossomy)

IIIII. Other Albums

[2003.01.23] Together (New+Best Collection)

[2005.01.14] Qihuan Leyuan Taibei Yanchanghui (Live Album)

[2006.07.21] Forever (New+Best Collection)

[2006.12.22] Yidong Chengbao Yanchanghui @ Xianggang Hong Kan Tiyuguan (Live Album)

[2009.06.22] Ai De Ditu (愛的地圖; Map of Love) (Digital Album)

IIIIII. VCDs / DVDs

[2001.12.18] Nusheng Sushe Xingguang Party VCD (女生宿舍星光Party VCD)

[2002.03.31] Qingchun Yingxiang Guan Yingyin Jingxuan MV+Karaoke DVD (青春影像館 影音精選 MV+Karaoke DVD; Youth MV Gallery DVD)

[2002.10.08] Meili Xin Shijie Yingyin Jingxuan MV+Karaoke DVD (美麗新世界 影音館 MV+Karaoke DVD; Beautiful New World MV Gallery DVD)

[2003.03.05] Together Yingyin Jingxuan DVD (Together 影音館 DVD)

[2003.11.11] Super Star Yingyin Jingxuan MV+Karaoke DVD (Super Star 影音館 MV+Karaoke DVD)

[2004.06.04] Qihuan Lucheng DVD (奇幻旅程 影音館 DVD)

[2005.01.07] Anke DVD (安可 DVD)

[2005.01.28] Qihuan Leyuan Taibei Yanchanghui (奇幻樂園台北演唱會; Fantasy Land Tour in Taipei)

[2006.01.20] Buxiang Zhangda (Once Upon a Time) DVD

[2007.01.26] Yidong Chengbao Yanchanghui @ Xianggang Hong Kan Tiyuguan DVD (移動城堡演唱會@香港紅磡體育館 DVD; Moving Castle Concert @ Hong Kong Coliseum DVD)

[2007.08.17] PLAY Yingyin Jingxuan DVD (PLAY影音館DVD)

[2011.03.04] Ai Er Wei Yi Yanchanghui Yingyin Guan (S.H.E愛而為一演唱會 影音館)