Grasshopper

Grasshopper (Grasshopper) is a renowned Hong Kong male dance-and-vocal group active in the Mandarin pop music scene. The group was officially formed in 1985 by Cai Yizhi, Cai Yijie (who are brothers), and Su Zhiwei. That same year, they participated in the 4th Hong Kong New Talent Singing Contest. Although they did not make it into the top three, their energetic and avant-garde stage performance caught the attention of Anita Mui, who was already a superstar at the time, and were subsequently taken under his wing by Anita Mui. They began touring with him across various regions, gaining extensive live performance experience.

In 1988, Grasshopper officially signed with PolyGram and released their self-titled debut Cantonese album, *Grasshopper*, quickly rising to fame in the Hong Kong music scene. In the Hong Kong mainstream music market, which at the time was dominated by slow, lyrical love songs, the emergence of Grasshopper filled the void for male idol dance-pop groups. Their musical style was heavily influenced by Japanese and Western dance-pop, with their arrangements featuring powerful synthesizer beats. With classic hits featuring distinct rhythms and high catchiness—such as “Heartbreak,” “Half a Snack,” and “Forgetful Samba”—Grasshopper achieved exceptionally high physical album sales in the Hong Kong and Taiwan music markets in the early 1990s.

In addition to conventional audio recordings, Grasshopper made another major contribution to the Hong Kong music industry by introducing “visual-style” projects. Influenced by their mentor Anita Mui, Grasshopper invested heavily in the cover art, costumes, and music videos for each of their physical albums. Their stage personas—at times alluring and glamorous, at other times sunny and dynamic—completely shattered the stereotypical stage image of traditional male singers. This production standard, characterized by a high degree of audiovisual cohesion, ensured that their concert video and audio products (such as VCDs and DVDs) consistently maintained extremely high consumer demand in the market.

After entering the 2000s, although the group underwent several label changes (such as moving to Rock Records and later to record label under Lin Jianyue), and the group members began pursuing individual careers across various fields, Grasshopper has never officially announced its disbandment. They continued to hold large-scale concert tours across the Chinese-speaking world, and thanks to their exceptional physical stamina and stage presence, they are widely recognized by the Hong Kong and mainland music industries as the longest-lasting, hall-of-fame-caliber sing-and-dance group in the Chinese music scene. Their extensive studio discography and remix dance albums serve as crucial physical archives for studying the development of Mandarin-language electronic dance music in the 1990s.