So You Want To Be A Pop Star In China

How a Danish crooner hit it big in the world’s hottest music market.

- Lucas Shaw

Two hours before the concert was scheduled to begin in Shanghai’s Xuhui District, young women were already lined up outside a coffee shop under a pink neon sign that read, “Please don’t tell my Mom.” One wore a hooded sweatshirt with the name and face of the night’s performer, the Danish pop star Christopher Nissen. Others dressed, for unclear reasons, like Harry Potter and his classmates. Most wore all black, as they’d been instructed on the invitation. When the doors opened, around 7 p.m., on a Monday evening last December, these early birds—many of whom had already intercepted Nissen the night before at the airport—swarmed to the front row, bypassing a table with free snacks and drinks. They were followed, at a more leisurely pace, by ad agency executives and social media influencers, who’d come at the invitation of the night’s sponsor, Dynaudio, a Danish stereo company. Guests chatted through a presentation about Dynaudio’s new wireless speakers, then hushed when a Chinese emcee standing on a makeshift stage in the front of the room introduced the night’s musical guest.

Nissen ambled out wearing a V-neck white T-shirt and a black leather jacket. “Is this your first time in Shanghai?” the emcee asked him in English.

“Noooooo,” the crowd answered for him.

“They know,” Nissen said, beaming. He dedicated his first song, Heartbeat, to the fans who met him at the airport and later performed a brief verse in Mandarin. “It’s my little party trick when I’m out here,” he said, with a knowing wink. The girls in the front row roared.