Cai Xukun, also known as KUN, has garnered stardom in China as one of the country’s most promising young singers, songwriters, rappers and DJs. After participating in Idol Producers and receiving overwhelming votes from fans, the artist became a sensation overnight. In addition to his solo career, the velvet-eyed KUN is also a leader of a boy group called Nine Percent, which is currently paving its way into the domestic market.
KUN at Electric Brixton – Photo © Dancing Dragon Management
In August 2018, KUN released his first EP 1, and all the songs topped the Chinese music charts, which helped him to cement his status as a solo artist. Mostly singing in English, listeners can enjoy KUN’s musical creativity as it draws on influences from other Western music genres. The singer subsequently released more songs, including Wait Wait Wait and No Exception, a Chinese single, to positive reviews. In April this year, KUN ventured on a world tour, which included Los Angeles, New York, and London, and with a full house in every single city, the artist truly electrified the audience with his performance.
KUN at Electric Brixton – Photo © Dancing Dragon Management
London, April 12th. The doors to the Electric Brixton opened and over 1300 fans rushed into the venue to watch KUN’s one-off performance in the UK. The anticipation grew minute by minute, and what struck the crowd the most was the moment when the artist walked onto the stage, stood behind DJ decks, and opened his set with powerful tunes, including Bigger. With mind-blowing visuals playing in the background, it only took seconds for fans to go wild. KUN’s versatility as an artist, by continuously adapting his sound to satisfy modern music trends, is spotless, while the phrasing, blending of tracks together and timing of his mixes were also well prepared. With a mix of Micheal Jackon’s Beat It, rap tunes and a little bit of reggae, KUN showed that he thinks outside of the box. The DJ set took thirty minutes or so and, after a solid warm-up, he smoothly moved to singing.
KUN at Electric Brixton – Photo © Dancing Dragon Management
KUN sang songs from his EP 1 as well as his newly released track Hard to Get. He left the audience in awe with You Can Be My Girlfriend, and with his great vocals he impressed many. His interaction with the fans was also pleasant to see and, after a quick outfit change, the artist appeared on stage in a red shiny coat to perform Pull Up, a track that broke many records on the domestic market, and became number one on QQ Music charts, a Chinese music streaming platform with over 700 million users. Then, It’s You and Hard to Get made everyone hungry for more but as KUN’s repertoire is yet to grow, he closed the show relatively fast and in style. He sat in a chair, in the middle of the stage, in almost full darkness with just a few lights directed at his face as he sang one of the audience’s favourite tunes, Wait, Wait, Wait, which again, proved he can deliver not only visually, but also vocally. If there is one thing one could say about his shows it’s expect the unexpected. At just 20 years of age, this young man can certainly pull off an incredible performance.
Rating: 
We would like to thank KUN’s management for their help and kindness during KUN’s London concert.
Written by Maggie Gogler
Photos © Dancing Dragon Management
VIEW OF THE ARTS 
I went to watch his performance in LA from Canada and loved every single song he remixed and sang that night. He is a genius.
Kun is suffering so many rumors and slanders, just like some comments showed here. Haters have been cooking up stories out of spite and telling them to everybody, which has been reported by some unscrupulous media, resulting in a very negative effect. They work so hard to try to pull him down. I really hope people could get to know the real him from his works and performance, but not the rumors.
I have been squeaking since I read the haters’ comments below. The sad but true fact is they will never be an unbothered king like KUN.
He really did a great job in this performance. I love him!
1. HARD TO GET is Kun’s ninth song, we love it, just like we love the other 8 songs
2. Kun has over 20 million fans, or 23.6 million to be precise.
3. Where ever there are lovers, there are haters. It’s alright if you don’t like him, but it’s crime when you make or upload Violent /Killing / Obscene pics or videos towards this boy and share them on internet, glad that you got sued.
4. It’s well known that One Main Reason that Kun got so many attackers in China is, he doesn’t involve in the entertainment circle games played and ruled by the capitals, he focuses on his music, while unintentionally winning over some of best resources others cannot even buy with money. Paid attackers.
5. You better not comment that I’m not speaking English well, cause I’m Chinese! and if you are Chinese you better stop shamming yourself with the low and brainless and abusive dirty words.
6. Thank you, we love your very professional comments on Kun’s Performance. Salute to View of the Arts!
From Kun’s fan Cathy
2019.04.20
He is certainly one of the most talented young artist I’ve ever encountered. And I’m pretty sure that he is able to survive and grow stronger among the current disputes and controversies. What doesn’t kill you make you stronger right?
And congratulations on releasing the 9th single song “Hard to Get” today!
Hope everything goes smoothly in your career and I’ll always stand behind your back and support you!
love KUN. He’s so talented.
I am a Chinese,in China,most people don’t like him,due to the fact that he is good at crowing about himself. And he is narrow-minded and he is a forgiving man who never forget a slight.
鸡你太美
Very cool boy！Amazing！
I do not like him
Hummm, I think he is not deserve this name. We cannot call KUN as artist. Please the people who is looking at this passage check some news or latest commends about him. 😦 The reason why KUN’s song used to be top1 is because his fans keep buying the album crazily. Personally, this passage about KUN is not very objective.
We call a singer an artist, a dancer an artist, a painter an artist, a movie star/director an artist, the “artist” tag is just simply a name given to those in the arts and entertainment industry. It doesn’t necessarily amount to a profound accolade like you understand it. Also you mentioned his fans buying his albums like crazy and keeping the songs popular and you don’t like it, but isn’t that the whole point of having fans?? I remember being infatuated with BTS and I was replaying their songs nonstop; buying their albums, concert tickets, basically anything I can get my hands on with them on it🤣it was craaazy. If idols like BTS or KUN put out songs and no fans respond to them, then they’re just gone, so I guess it’s nice that KUN’s fans are there for him and his songs like I’m here for BTS
totally agree with you
Hmmmm I think you need to improve your English first so that I know you are not somebody
To Cathy
You are wrong. His previous songs were free for downloaded and listening. And now his current song, one acc can buy one only. In China, many fans buy more than one copy of a single or an album. This is their culture. Thus it’s not his fault. Also, do you know in Japan and Korea, there are also fans who buy lots of copies?
I totally agree with u..
He is a wonderful song-producer, singer and performer in China. He has a lot of fans. Many people like to talk about him, so now he is one of the hottest star in China. I love him, especially his music. I hope that his music can spread all over the world
no，他制作的歌曲说实话在中国是不受欢迎的，很少有人喜欢他的歌曲，抱歉，我认为他更适合当一个DJ，而不是歌手，他并没有能拿的出手的作品，至于上文中说的他的音乐在排行榜中高居榜首，这完全是一个假消息
How long did you know him! I am a Chinese, and lots of ikuns are Chinese. We like him, and we like his songs!
He is great.I love him.
Woohoo I went to the show in London ! It ’s sooooo GREAT and I really enjoyed it. Kun is so powerful and dazzling on the stage .Can’t wait to listen his new single HTG.
Kun is talented and he really focuses on his music. I LOVE THE NEW RELEASE “HARD TO GET”. Excellent work. He has a huge number of fans in China and now I know the reason why.
I think Kun is a certainly well-rounded player; he plays basketball well, dances sings and even rap. Anyway, he deserves this title! A young basketball player!
He’s not a basketball player.
我也喜欢唱跳RAP篮球，MUSIC
All of his albums and songs are for free. Welcome to listen to his songs. And some people, if you don’t know much about him, please stop slander! He has one of the most fans in China, he focus on music only.
I like singing, dancing,rap,basketball. 🐔ur beautiful.
I appreciate the fact that he writes or co-writes his own songs, and it’s wonderful that he’s expressing himself through music. Can’t call myself a fan yet, but I just don’t really understand why he gets so much hate and verbal abuse in China, the unfathomable thing is the abuse seem to follow KUN abroad. It’s hard for pop stars to reach and maintain national stardom, so wwwwhhyy are the Chinese antis putting him down and trying to burying him so hard…even when he’s abroad?? That I just don’t get…
Haters are working hard both in China and abroad, they do not want him to get love or respect. Stories they made up are terrible and and it is easy for ppl who do not know him to get him wrong.
I just think the haters are taking a step too far. Like it’s bad that the haters are making up stories about him in China, and now they’re taking their hate and made up stories abroad?? Please take your hate and go back home, I have more important issues to worry about like the 2020 race than your false stories
his performance is really powerful！
I am a Chinese too, in China most people very like him, due to he worked hard and had clear goals.He’s very thoughtful and talented.I’m very proud to be a fan of him.
All of his songs are for free. Welcome to liaten to his music. And he has one of the most fans in China. He focus on music only. I hope that some people who don’t know much about him can stop slandering！
He is certainly one of the hottest young stars in China right now and I was also impressed by his performance in London. He has been improving after each show during the tour. Kun’s talents and popularity attracted both a large number of followers and many antis who often go out of their ways to against him. But with Kun’s dedication and passion in music, I believe that there will be more and more people like you who appreciate him as a true artist from China. Thank you for your article.
Kun is suffering so many rumors and slanders, just like some comments showed here. Haters have been cooking up stories out of spite and telling them to everybody, which has been reported by some unscrupulous media, resulting in a very negative effect. They work so hard to try to pull him down. I really hope people could get to know the real him from his works and performance, but not the rumors.
KUN is really a great C-pop star! He always has some talented ideas in every single show! Can’t wait his live house show back in China! Love you KUN!
kun is so gorgeous!I went to the 3 performance in U.S.A, he did the great job !I just want to enjoy the music with him! He played his new song,hard to get,and it’s awesome!love him so much! expect his music video.
I love this guy. He has a certain logic of the world, and I like how he present his thoughts in his songs! I wish I can watch his solo in Hong Kong!
Kun, take it easy and step by step! You deserve a better future!
I consider lots of his fans are so crazy that I cannot understand. The reason why I don’t like him is that his fans are not honest and make some fake flows.
In addition, some foreigners called him “asian beautiful ladyboy”.As a Chinese,I feel very shame.
good jod!
A lot of people don’t like him！！！
原来外国也有蔡徐坤的水军啊
He is very annoying！
So please stay away from him.
This is a non-profit website and we run it in order to share various content with our readers, content that we find under-represented in other English-language media. While we appreciate all the comments, it must be made clear that we do not tolerate abuse! Any type of online bullying aimed at us will be and has been recorded and then removed from the page.
The review has been written purely based on KUN’s London performance, which we – as journalists – appreciated. We do not involve ourselves in gossip and KUN’s private life. We are here to spread positivity with our work, not negativity.
He is a product packaged by a flow company, and undoubtedly he is a successful product. But he and his fans are very unpopular in China.
Except he doesn’t HAVE the backing of a company. He’s being sued by his former (useless, if I may add) management company to the tune of six figures and his activities are currently managed by his own studio, which he controls. Who exactly do you think is “packaging” him to the public, other than himself?
Any evidence? Do you know he doesn’t have a big strong company to support him at the back? His music road is not as easy as you think.
my god ，i was in the live , my friend took me there, it was amazing and I thought this guy is indeed a young artist with good tastes! Some abuse is purely insulting …… just to emphasis it was great show in London and he was loved there!
You are absolutely right. As you can tell, because of his immense popularity, KUN and his fans have been the center of attention and a target of online bullying in China right now. This is unfortunate for a young artist who has been spending all his time on music production and performance. Nevertheless, your article is appreciated by a lot of people and thank you again for sharing. All hard work will pay off.
There should be zero tolerance on online bullying. I really like the way that you say “ we are here to spread positivity with our work, not negativity.” This should always be the case, unfortunately there are people online or behind the scene and just saying whatever they want, thinking that they do not have to take any responsibilities. I was at Kun’s NY livehouse tour on 4/7/2019 and I enjoyed it a lot. It was awesome! He is a very talented and positive singer/musical producer/idol.
I feel sorry that you see so many online bullying towards to KUN and now somehow affects here. Believe or not, haters are not telling the truth, they are misleaded by some we media for some reason. I feel shame on them to come here and give inappropriate comments. Hope it will not bother to much, I LOVE KUN, and I know lots of people love him like I do. He is an intelligent and hard working idol，singer, and artist.
Thank you, we will fight with online bullying till the end!
thank u so much.
Although he is 20 years old, he has released nine songs now. I voted him when he competed in Idol Producer. He is a diligent guy. He loves stage and enjoy stage. On the stage, I could know who is KUN. This year, I went to his NYC concert, the live performance is amazing. I love him no matter what you say. He is a talent, and he has enough quality.
You criticize his clothes and makeup, but no one knows it’s all for stage meditation. This article was written by a professional after seeing kun’s performance. hater have neither heard his songs nor seen the performance， you are not qualified to make up a story here.
I’m afraid you just can’t reason with crazies, their logic defies normal. Oh and KUN ROCKS!!! Went to his SF performance, and it was lit man🔥come again
chicken，you are so beautiful
I am so exciting that his new single “Hard to get” finally releases out today. The beat and melody are so attractive that I could not stop singing with it. Frankly, it stuck in my head since I first heard it in his performance in NYC. KUN always has the best. Look forward to the music video!!!
I’m 32 years old. My son likes Cai Xukun’s songs. I like to listen to Beyond’s songs. We never talk about the music we listen to. Sometimes the children will laugh at me and say that Beyond’s songs are too local to Kunkunwan’s. But I won’t say that he likes Cai Xukun. After all, the person who likes Cai Xukun is my son.
I’m 32 years old. My son likes CaiXukun’s songs. I like to listen to Beyond’s songs. We never talk about the music we listen to. Sometimes the children will laugh at me and say that Beyond’s songs are too local to Kunkunwan’s. But I won’t say that he likes Cai Xukun. After all, the person who likes Cai Xukun is my son.
chicken,you are so beautiful！！！
Since his debut last year, he has been immersed in his music world and has released nine singles so far. Few participants participate in variety arts, but still in the form of public welfare and lead fans to transmit positive energy. It is hoped that some people in the comments will first get to know him in depth and then comment on him, instead of sending out stereotypes that are easy to mislead passers-by. He is very popular in China, of course, which is in line with his strength. Thank you for the praise of the extranet. He’s just 20 years old and has a long future. Time will prove everything.
In addition, say to KUN: Hard To Get really sounds good, you have been innovating yourself, breaking through yourself, you are growing, I see. We’ll wait with you. Please continue to be free to do what you want to do. I like you today, too.
was a good live
, love the singing parts
中式英语够了，一读就读出来了
Most of the time I just like reading, no intention to leave any comment. This time I need to make an exception. I know Kun for his attempts on diff areas of music, for his large group of followers who love him crazily, for his newest song hard to get , it is one of my favourite songs on the playlist.
kun is the king👑👑👑👑👑👑
KUN is a quite talented and humble artist. He sings better than most of players in NBA. When facing the insulting by others, KUN Never Minds Scandals and Liber.
Are you really iKun? Why do you compare his vocal with NBA players? I guess you are trying to attack him technically.
I went to his LA performance, and it was so amazing! The atmosphere was fantastic, my friends and I just cannot stop dancing with the music. I really love the part when all the audience sang You Can Be My Girlfriend together with him! It was so wondeful and empathic! Also, his new song Hard To Get is really great, I love the melody and rhythm of this song! Guys can listen on Spotify! Not only from vocal, he visually presented a complete story, his own story, about himself, about music, and about life.
Reading those hating comments made me feel so sad. If you have been to his live you won’t leave such comments. He is very hardworking and talented for a singer at his age. Guess people are judging too easily nowadays.
Chicken you are so beautiful !!!
I was lucky to get a ticket to watch this show in London. It’s amazing and I can’t believe he is just 20. So many fans came here in the morning in order to get a good spot. He is really a popular guy and my friends tell me the reason why he has so many haters is that he can’t play basketball well as a professional NBA player. That’s so ridiculous 😂 I don’t think an artist should also be good at basketball. We should focus on his works !
Lol, I’m betting that when you guys uploaded this short piece, you were hardly expecting a miniature war to start in the comments. I was ready to jump into the fray too, but then I realised that all that seems to be beside the main point, which is… well, your actual article.
I just wanted to leave you a note of appreciation for your coverage of KUN’s performance. As an iKun (i.e. KUN fan) who has not yet had the opportunity to see him live, I enjoyed reading your review – he’s already known to be a great performer within fan circles, but this gave me a taste of what I could look forward to if I do get to see one of his shows in the future, in a way that LQ fancams just… don’t. I’ve since read some of your other content as well and what really jumped out to me was the diligence that clearly went into the articles in order to provide readers with the necessary (and accurate!) background information on the artists that you cover, most of whom, I believe, tend to be lesser known internationally. It’s especially appreciated given that mainstream media outlets usually can’t even be bothered to verify that the cover pictures they slap onto their “news” articles are actually of the people they are naming.
tl;dr Thank you, loved the article and review, keep up the good work!
Thank you for your kind words! View of the Arts Team 😁
It’s an amazing article, many thanks to you, View of Arts Team!
I love this guy, he’s fantastic and also handsome. I went to the NEWYORK with my friend who really love KUN, I feel the power from China.
I live in LA, and I went to his performance with my friends. My friends are not fan of him, but they both enjoy the performance. He is really an artist. I really like his songs and all his performances. I am really excited to see his future.
KUN is a very talent singer,he is the most popular stars in China,many people love him.
There are some rumours going around that are not true.
KUN is very young and became famous until recently in China. That’s why there are so many pathetic haters. There are also plenty of his crazy fans in China and other countries. I appreciate his great expressions and the talent for music. The one more thing I really admire is that he can ignore those slanders and always focus on his music. I really love this article and thanks for your objective evaluation to KUN!
THK.I am a fan of KUN,IKUN.Many people like KUN, but many people are not kind to him. He is a contradictory figure of public opinion.In my mind, he’s just a stubborn man with some music dreams of his own.I’m sorry for the negative energy you feel.But I hope that this will not lead to misunderstanding of the Chinese people.This is not a universal phenomenon.CHINA,my country,always made me proud.
Kun’s songs are really amazing. He is a talented singer and songwriter. “Hard to Get” and “It’s You” are my favorite which are really worth listening to. He is experiencing cyberbullying in Chinese social media and the haters even have never listened to the music he produced. They just wanna make fun of him. That is really lamentable
Nobody can please everyone, and so art and music do. If you don’t like any artist, please give a constructive suggestion instead of insults.
He’s a real raper of this time.
wait wait，Am I living in an Internet world without the”wall”???
Chicken you are too beautifui.
Like singing,dancing,rap,basketball.music