Chinese Canadian singer, actor and model Kris Wu has appeared in films like "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets" and "xXx: Return of Xander Cage," and had his Travis Scott-featuring single "Deserve" hit number one on the U.S. iTunes chart. And this former member of Kpop band EXO had two North American firsts at the 2018 iHeartRadio MMVAs in Toronto on Sunday.
Wu won the audience-voted Fan Fave New Artist trophy before the big show, and performed for the first time on Canadian television on the same night.
"This is my first award in North America, so I feel blessed and thankful every day," said Wu, during the iHeartRadio MMVA pre-show.
"This one for sure goes out to all my fans, without them I wouldn't be there," said Wu, who arrived dressed in a black Givenchy suit. "Thanks to my fans and Canada. "Every time I come to Toronto and to Canada, it's always ... people come out and support me." He ended his acceptance speech with a "xie xie," (thank you in Mandarin) for his Chinese fans.
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Wu's energetic performance saw the singer shed his white and blue dragon jacket to dance up and down multiple MMVA stages, and included a rendition of his latest single, "Like That."
The singer, who moved to Vancouver from Guangzhou, China when he was 10 and now lives in Richmond part-time, has a strong history with Toronto, having played on Drake's celebrity team for the NBA All-Star Game back in 2016. He also teased a new album, a collaboration with Migos rapper Quavo, and told etalk's Ben Mulroney that he "really [wants] to push that east and west in music."
To make his "east and west" attitude more official, Wu was photographed posing backstage with hometown hitmaker and fellow hearthrob, Shawn Mendes.
Our hearts just EXPLODED! πππ @ShawnMendes x @KrisWu#Kris#KrisWu#ε΄δΊ¦ε‘pic.twitter.com/338L5tQE50
β CTV (@CTV) August 27, 2018
CLARIFICATION: Aug. 27, 2018 - An earlier version of this story stated Kris Wu is Chinese. He is Chinese Canadian.
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