Ongoing innovation

In May, a music video titled Little Idols in China's Northeast Region went viral on the popular video-sharing and streaming platform Bilibili, attracting 5 million views.

The footage includes shots of cheering audience members and regional cultural features such as ginseng, a Siberian tiger, barbecues and tourist sites.

One netizen said in the video: "Independent Japanese girl groups make people who mainly stay indoors yearn for an energetic life, while Chinese groups bring a sense of freshness. People feel as though they are watching their own daughters perform on stage."

Such comments pose a key question for independent girl groups about their operating philosophy. To avoid appearing the same, these bands must innovate to succeed.

Ying Tao, a dancer, supervises Heartbeat, a girl group in Shenyang, Liaoning province. The band features cultural elements from northeastern China, including costumes with cotton-padded jackets. The group is also considering introducing more regional characteristics to its original songs and choreography.

Independent girl groups are making progress in producing original works. In July, a group in Changchun, Jilin province, released its first original song, the eponymously titled Blossom.

Watermelon, the band's leader, loves errenzhuan, a type of folk singing and dancing popular in Northeast China.

"As a resident of the northeast, I want to promote the culture of my region," she said on her Bilibili account.

Independent girl bands are also turning to professionals to create original work.

Last year, Transparent Classroom & Parallel Girl, a girl group in Hunan province, released its first nine-song album in collaboration with Liang Jiaman, a member of the band HappyWheel, and Japanese singer Omori Seiko.