Li Ronghao

Li Ronghao (born July 11, 1985 in Bengbu, Anhui) is a Chinese pop singer, music producer and professional guitarist.

Personal life

On September 21, 2015, Ronghao Li publicly announced that he was dating Rainie Yang.

Discography

Studio albums

• Model (2013)
• Ronghao Li (2014)
• An Ideal (2016)

EPs

• Stray (2010)
• Dear Composer (2014)

Singles

• Tacit (Main Theme for movie I Belonged To You) (2016)

Critical response

The critical response to Ronghao Li's music is almost always positive.

His first album, Model, currently holds overwhelmingly positive reviews on Douban, 8.3 out of 10, with 7002 critics and listeners, 39.4% of them rating 5/5, 47% of them rating 4/5, and 0.7% rating 1/5.^[1] This album got Ronghao Li nominated for Best Album, Best Male Singer, Best Lyricist, Best Producer at the 25th Golden Melody Awards & Global Music Festival, where he was won the Best New Singer award.^[2]

After one year, Ronghao Li made his comeback with a brand-new concept EP, "Dear Composer". This EP gained huge attention after it was strongly recommended by one of the most influential singers in China, Faye Wong, who called it "an awesome song" (source?). At the same time, Ronghao Li became MusicRadio China's most popular new singer. He released his second album on September 2014, "Ronghao Li"

His second album, Ronghao Li, also holds overwhelmingly positive reviews on Douban, 8.2 out of 10, with 6268 critics and listeners, with 42.1% of them rating 5/5 and 43.0% of them rating 4/5 and 0.8 with 1/5.^[3] This album won the Best Chinese Album award as well as the Most Influential New Singer at the 2015 QQ Annual Music Festival.^[4]

His third album, An Ideal, has average to positive reviews on Douban, 6.6 out of 10, with 1669 critics and listeners, with most of them (33.5%) giving the album 3/5 stars.^[5] Most of the audience gave the album 1 to 3 stars whilst the critics gave the album 3-5 stars out of 5. Most of the critics commented on Ronghao Li's slight change of style, describing it as "kind of disappointing",^[6] "lyrics sound great, music sounds rushed",^[7] etc. Most of the audience thought that this album was "bland and boring". However, some critics praised Ronghao Li's change of style, and some thought that the album's quality is still very high. Most audiences and critics, however, came to a consensus that the overall quality has, in fact, fallen, compared to the previous albums.^[5]

Critical and audience ratings

All of this data comes from Douban, a Chinese music rating website.

Plagiarism

Ronghao Li has been accused of copying John Mayer as there are lots of similarities in the arrangement of the two's songs. For example, Ronghao Li's "Too Blunt（太坦白）" recorded in his debut album, Model, have obvious similarities in the arrangement of the introduction with to John Mayer's "Vultures". Also, Ronghao Li's "Couples（两个人）", also recorded in his debut album, has the same intro and the same melody for the first line with John Mayer's "St. Patricks Day".^[8]

Ronghao Li then responded to this controversy, stating that he "is a huge fan of John Mayer" and these plagiarism accusations are actually him "being influenced by John Mayer".

Awards and accolades

References