“I want to convey Chinese culture and incorporate the elements of The Untamed into our music and connect with fans across the globe. In terms of conveying Chinese culture to the world, we hope to do it through the composition of our music, and of course through our style, clothing and just generally our work and through ourselves.”

It was through Fearless – performed during The Untamed live concerts held throughout China following the show’s success – that T.U.B.S became a formalised boy band. They only had 15 days to prep before their first live performance in Nanjing and two days to practise together, but it was their dedication to performing that prompted the members and the drama team to form something more permanent.

T.U.B.S currently features four members: Yu Bin, Ji Li, Cao Yuchen and Li Bowen. The Untamed co-stars Zheng Fanxing and Song Jiyang had previously been part of the original plans but they left the project in January.

For the four remaining, T.U.B.S represents a new career path – although each member is also focusing on his own career at the same time. The group get together when they can to record music or perform, but live in separate cities, release their own content and have their own distinct identities beyond the musical act.

An upcoming music video for one song, Still the One, from the debut album, shows the group’s natural bond. The four members were separately invited to come to Beijing without being told why or that their bandmates were also coming, ensuring the video captured their genuine warm interactions when they get together.

Being part of T.U.B.S gives each member the opportunity to do things beyond his own personal path, opening up new avenues to them.

“Cao has really nice vocals, but had no opportunity to release music before,” says Luffy Huang, the senior vice-president of media company NewStyle Media Group, the band’s managers. “Li also had a dream of standing on stage and performing, and Ji also wants to be a rapper. So, taking all of this into consideration, we formed T.U.B.S and have slowly come to this point where they actually make music and release an album.”

For Yu, it’s a return to a previous path. The 29-year-old had been a part of the Mandopop-meets-K-pop boy band M4M, formed in 2013 as a joint venture between South Korean company Cube Entertainment and China’s Xing Tian Media, but the group never really went anywhere.

“For me, to be doing activities as T.U.B.S feels kind of familiar,” he admits.

Through the project, Yu and the other members get to perform not only as a whole, but in smaller units and with foreign artists, including Canadian musician Daniel Powter on the song The Beauty of Following Our Hearts. Yu and Cao also released a music video for Favorite Song together in March.

“I’m happy to be able to sing and dance again,” Yu says. “Before, when I was in Korea as an idol, I didn’t have so much stage experience. As T.U.B.S, I’ve had more opportunities to perform and hold bigger scale concerts and fan meetings. As a T.U.B.S member, I definitely feel more comfortable and natural on stage now. I can really feel my growth in comparison to the early days of my career. I’ve always dreamed of having my own concert, so it’s great to have my dreams come true.”

The bond between the members of T.U.B.S, formed through The Untamed, may come as a surprise to people who watched the drama and weren’t aware of behind-the-scene footage or other promotional activities. The members rarely, if ever, appeared together on-screen.

“Even though we weren’t acting together in The Untamed, behind the scenes and on-set we were all hanging out and messing around a lot,” Yu says. “Even before the filming started, we had martial artist training together so we’re really familiar with each other already even before the filming, so there wasn’t such a transition regarding our dynamics between filming and forming T.U.B.S.”

“There’s definitely still room for growth so that fans can see the charms of a Chinese boy group, but for the start T.U.B.S has released an album and that’s the first step,” Huang says.

At the moment, they have plans to hold Chinese concerts beginning in May and potentially an online concert. They are also looking to release a physical album for their songs, and will be recording a Japan exclusive album.

“Even though T.U.B.S is originally a group of actors, I hope everyone can see the different sides of us and our passion towards music and performing,” Yu says.