Mayday Should Take the Responsibility of Lip-synching

By Qinglang Wu, December 2023

I've been a Mayday fan since middle school. I still have pictures of their concerts in my Instagram highlight story.

But on Dec. 3, Mayday was revealed to have done lip-synching at several concerts, including the Nov. 16 Shanghai and the Nov. 28 London concerts.

Then, I experienced a roller coaster of emotions, shock, disbelief, acceptance of the truth, disappointment, and anger. 

I scrutinized the videos posted by fans.

The video shows Ashin (lead vocalist of Mayday) dropping the mic on the last word of the lyrics, but the voice continues. In another clip, his lip-sync is just terribly off from the lyrics. And the song in the video doesn't have a bit of out-of-tune or breath sounds. 

There is also a professional music influencer who posted on Bilibili (Chinese YouTube) showing he used professional software to analyze the vocals of 12 songs at the Nov. 16 concert. The result is that 5 songs Mayday performed were lip-synching.

Mayday is a 5-member band at the peak of Taiwanese pop music and has debuted for 26 years. They have had many golden hits. When speaking of these, I'm still proud to be their fan.

Maybe 5 years ago, I would have been what they call a "brainwashed fan" arguing with the truth that I didn't want to believe and taking their side against others on the internet.

But now I won't.

I can state unequivocally that as a mature fan, I feel I have received greater deception and hurt than the general public. Because I poured more emotion into them than anyone else, I would, in turn, feel more emotionally hurt and betrayed.

When I spend a lot of money on hotels and tickets to a concert to see my idol and try to shorten the distance between me and the person in my headphones, all I hear is the same sound recorded on the CD. I mean, what’s the point of even going to the concert?

It's like spending a lot of money to go to a three-star Michelin restaurant, but the food served is pre-made.

“Ashin is 48 years old, he can’t always be perfect at singing,” and “They've had a dozen concerts in a row and they're tired,” these seem to be reasonable explanations, but I will no longer forgive a professional singer for these facts.

Real singing, on-the-spot play, and acute interaction are the unique charms of a concert. People's Daily commented on this behavior on December 5 that “any form of lip-synching by the singer is irresponsible to the consumer… real singing and real playing are the duties of performers and the cornerstone of their market appeal.”

Some fans say, “We don't even care about lip-synching, so why should anyone else.” I just want to say that if this trend is fueled within the entertainment industry, it will only lead to more and more singers who don't care about improving their abilities, leading to the entire Chinese music circle becoming a mess.

Every industry has its bottom line, and as a singer refusing to lip-synch at his/her commercial concerts is a basic guideline that must be followed. If you're a studio singer, then concentrate on your CDs; but if you're a live singer, then your real singing is the key to impressing your fans.

I've criticized lip-synching at festival galas before, but now I think the nature of lip-synching at individual concerts is even worse.

Lip-synching at China's annual Spring Festival Gala is nothing new, it’s a “tradition” that’s been around since the 90s. However, in order to ensure the broadcast effect, and for the fact that it has a wide audience base and it’s a public welfare performance, lip-synching seems can be slightly justified.

But commercial concerts are making money from consumers. According to Article 28 of the Regulations on the Administration of Commercial Performances, commercial performances shall not deceive the audience using lip-synching or finger-synching.

If Mayday’s concert is confirmed to be lip-synching, Mayday and its agency will need to bear the corresponding legal responsibility.

On the contrary, another Chinese singer, Jackson Wang, that he had decided to cancel several concerts afterward due to health reasons and concerns about the quality of the performances, and that he would return the ticket money at the original price and reimburse his fans for their airfare and hotel money. 

This makes Mayday's behavior look even worse in comparison.

At this point, Mayday’s lip-synching is beyond questions. But Ashin's reply is ambiguous. I think this is already a moral issue that concerns the sincerity of one's character.

Mayday, who has created so many songs with a human touch, should not play deaf and dumb on this matter but should take up this responsibility.

If Mayday still wants to be taken seriously by the public and continue their career path, I would like to offer the following suggestions.

1. Publicly state whether or not they did lip-synch in concerts.

2. If they admit lip-synching, make a public apology, either in text or video.

3. Detail the concerts at which they did lip-synch and offer ticket refunds to fans who attended those concerts. Any consumer who has been to those concerts can get a refund for the original price of the ticket with the ticket stub and proof of identity.

4. Negotiate with the relevant departments for specific compensation behavior.

China's pop music market and even the cultural market need a cleaner environment, and I hope that one day, “lip-synching” can be completely killed at first place, so that all listeners can hear, and in fact, they deserve to hear the most authentic and cleanest voice.

I don't want to say anything too harsh because my feelings for them are still there, but that doesn't mean there isn't a dagger stabbing at my heart.