Lin Yanjun

1.1. Childhood and Education

Lin Yanjun was born on August 24, 1995, in Haikou, Hainan, China. His father is from Taiwan, and his mother is from Jiangxi, China. Due to his father's work, he spent his childhood moving between Taiwan and mainland China, residing in places such as Tainan, Jiangxi, and Guangdong. This upbringing exposed him to various dialects and cultures. He pursued higher education at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, where he majored in English. Lin Yanjun is proficient in several languages, including Mandarin, Cantonese, Minnan, Korean, and English. He also has a younger sister.

1.2. Trainee Period and Debut Preparation

At the age of 18, Lin Yanjun received an invitation from JYP Entertainment to become a trainee, but he declined the offer to prioritize his studies and fulfill his mandatory military service in Taiwan, which lasted four months. In 2016, he signed a contract with a Taiwanese brokerage company. However, due to unmet training promises, he and other members held a press conference to voice their grievances, leading to his departure from the company. Subsequently, he successfully passed the global trainee audition for Shanghai Banana Entertainment, officially becoming a trainee under their Banana Entertainment label, where he was part of the pre-debut group Trainee18.

2.1. Idol Producer and Nine Percent Debut

As a member of Trainee18 under Shanghai Project Banana Co., Lin Yanjun released the trainee graduation single "Rock The Show" on January 22, 2018. He then joined the idol survival show Idol Producer in January 2018. Throughout the competition, he showcased his talents in various evaluation rounds. For the class evaluation, he performed "Make the World Destroy" (Rap). In the group evaluation, he performed "Contra Code" (Rap). He took on leadership roles in the position evaluation with "Love You" (Leader, Vocal) and the concept evaluation with "Firewalking" (Leader, Vocal). He also performed "Zero" (Rap) during the mentor collaboration round and "It's Okay" (Center, Main Vocal) in the finale. Lin Yanjun was recognized by his fellow trainees as the "Most Handsome Trainee." His ranking fluctuated throughout the show: he was 31st in Episode 1, 27th in Episode 2, 30th in Episode 3, 28th in Episode 4 (with 622,535 votes), 19th in Episode 6, 22nd in Episode 7 (with 2,622,836 votes), and 11th in Episode 9 (with 2,410,729 votes). In the final episode on April 6, 2018, he ranked fifth with 12,131,367 votes, securing his debut as a member of the temporary Chinese boy group Nine Percent.

Following their debut, Nine Percent released their first album, To The Nines, on November 12, 2018, featuring seven tracks. The group also engaged in various fan meetings and variety show appearances across China. On September 26, 2019, they released their second album, More Than Forever, which included Lin Yanjun's solo song "Like A Star". Nine Percent officially concluded their activities and disbanded on October 6, 2019, with a graduation concert held on October 12, 2019.

2.2. Solo Music Career

Soon after his debut with Nine Percent, Lin Yanjun launched his solo music career. On August 24, 2018, he released his first trap single, "YOU," for which he personally wrote both the lyrics and the music. His personal studio was officially established on August 29, 2018.

On January 7, 2019, Lin Yanjun released his first solo extended play (EP), Imperfect Love (刚好的伤口^Chinese), which contained two songs. The EP achieved remarkable success, earning 5.00 M CNY within 28 seconds of its release and breaking six sales records on QQ Music. The music video for Imperfect Love was released on February 19, 2019, and the single reached No. 4 on the Billboard China Social Music Chart on March 3, 2019. In March 2019, he won the Best New Singer Award in Hong Kong and Taiwan at the 26th ERC Chinese Top Ten Music Festival, where his EP Imperfect Love also received the Most Popular EP Award in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

On April 6, 2019, coinciding with Nine Percent's first debut anniversary, Lin Yanjun released image teasers for his second personal music EP, Escape. The EP was officially released on April 12, 2019, featuring two songs: "Get Outta My Head" and "Over You". Lin Yanjun wrote the lyrics for "Get Outta My Head" and composed the melody for "Over You". He performed both songs live at his EP launch fan-meetings in Guangzhou and Chengdu later that month.

On August 24, 2019, he released his new single "Competitor" (对手^Chinese). The music video for "Competitor" was released on August 30, 2019, on QQ Music and YouTube, becoming the third music video to accumulate 50 million points on the QQ Music MV Peak Chart by October 3, 2019. Prior to its release, he shared a two-part documentary on his Weibo account, which was also uploaded to Sony Music Taiwan's official YouTube channel.

On April 16, 2020, he released the single "You Are So Beautiful," a remix of a song by Karen Mok, with Lin Yanjun contributing to the chord remix. This song garnered a staggering 900 million views in mainland China and created a significant impact across many Southeast Asian countries. On October 13, 2020, he collaborated with American singer Doja Cat on a Chinese remix version of her hit song "Say So".

On his birthday, August 24, 2020, Lin Yanjun announced the upcoming release of his new EP, 1995, and shared a short teaser clip featuring an excerpt of a new song. The song, titled "Waiting for the Whole Winter" (等待整個冬天^Chinese), from the 1995 EP, was released on October 27. However, the song was taken down hours after its release for re-production due to similarities in three lines of its lyrics with an existing song. It was later clarified that "Waiting for the Whole Winter" was co-composed by Lin Yanjun and his friends before his debut in 2018, and he was not involved in writing the problematic lyrics.

After a period of public absence, Lin Yanjun returned to music. On August 5, 2021, he released the song "Turn Off" (休息之道^Chinese), for which he contributed to the lyrics and harmony. "Turn Off" quickly reached No. 1 on QQ Music's "Peak Popularity Chart" in Week 32 of 2021 and achieved gold single status. It also became the top-interacting song on Kugou Music from the beginning of the year. On September 16, 2021, he released "Lost" (在飞翔与迷失之间^Chinese), a song for which he also contributed to the lyrics and harmony, co-producing it with The Rose, Tat Tong, and Joe Bozzi. "Lost" reached No. 1 on QQ Music's Breakthrough Chart and topped the iTunes chart in Vietnam for several hours.

In 2022, Lin Yanjun signaled his official return to the public eye. On March 9, 2022, he posted a video on Weibo titled "I won't leave you again," which quickly trended at No. 1 on Weibo's Hotsearch, generating excitement among fans. On March 31, 2022, he officially released his new song "Stay No More" (别待了^Chinese), the final track in his "Return Trilogy" series, for which he contributed to the lyrics and harmony. Within two hours of its release, "Stay No More" reached No. 1 on iTunes Vietnam, topped QQ Music's Breakthrough Chart, led the Apple Music C-pop trend for the week, and reached No. 7 on Tencent Music's Youni chart based on its performance on March 31 alone. On April 2, 2022, he participated in Tencent Music's charity project "If Music Has Shape" for World Autism Awareness Day.

2.3. Acting Career

Lin Yanjun expanded his career into acting, taking on roles in television dramas and musical theatre. On June 13, 2020, he attended the filming ceremony for his first drama, Fall In Love (一见倾心^Chinese), in which he starred as Xu GuangYao. The drama was filmed in Hengdian, and Lin Yanjun performed challenging scenes without the use of a stunt double. Fall In Love aired exclusively on Youku from November 9, 2021, consisting of 36 episodes.

On September 14, 2020, he attended the filming ceremony for his second drama, Crush (原来我很爱你^Chinese), produced by iQIYI. In this series, he took on his first main male lead role as Su NianQin, a visually impaired character who is also the mysterious songwriter Yi Jin. The drama premiered on August 3, 2021, receiving positive reviews and quickly reaching No. 1 on iQIYI's Rising Chart. Crush was ranked 63rd in the Top 100 Chinese TV Dramas by the Huading Awards, and Lin Yanjun's portrayal of Su NianQin earned him the 3rd spot in the Top 20 male leads of domestic TV dramas as voted by Douban users. On August 12, 2021, the original soundtrack for Crush, featuring a song performed by Lin Yanjun, was released.

On June 14, 2022, Lin Yanjun confirmed his participation in the musical Love Beyond Time (我在时间尽头等你^Chinese), where he took on the male lead role of Lin Ge. This marked his debut in musical theatre, with performances scheduled for early August 2022 at the Tianqiao Art Center in Beijing.

2.4. Television Appearances

Lin Yanjun has made numerous appearances on various television programs, including reality shows and variety shows.

3.1. EPs

3.2. Singles

3.3. Soundtrack Appearances

3.4. Collaborations

4.1. Dramas