How China’s ‘ugliest’ girl group reclaimed a taunt that brought them fame
Five teens who went viral by accident took an online jeer and made it their own brand
They don’t look anything like your typical celebrities and aren’t particularly talented performers, but five teenage girls have made a name for themselves in China for precisely these reasons.
The 17-year-old high schoolers, known collectively as Sunshine, have been dubbed China’s “ugliest” girl group.
But the unflattering label doesn’t faze them. Rather, the girls – Abby, Cheryl, Cindy, Dora and Nancy – have quickly taken what started as cruel taunts by internet users and reclaimed the disparaging term, adopting it as their defining feature and empowering themselves in the process.
“From the very beginning, we raised eyebrows because of our ugly features,” Abby told the South China Morning Post as she recounted how the five schoolmates rose to fame. The girls have not released their Chinese names to protect their families from the media glare.
The teenagers, who used to sit together in class in Bozhou, in eastern China’s Anhui province, had agreed to enter a singing competition in late 2015, attracted by the mobile phones being offered as prizes.
They made a recording of themselves singing and posted it on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, alongside photos of themselves. But they never got around to applying for the contest and soon forgot about it.