Beginner () is the seventh album by Chinese singer-songwriter Joker Xue. It was released on July 18, 2016, by Ocean Butterflies and later acquired by Xue's own label Chaoshi Music.
Background and release Xue spent more than two years working on the album, candidly stating that "When I wrote this album, I was not famous yet." Xue also shared that "Every song and every line of lyrics were carefully made. It was very hard. This album brought me back into everyone's attention, and I think the effort was worth it."
The album was released in CD and LP formats and included the six songs from the Gentleman and Half.
Composition Of the ten tracks on the album, Xue composed music for seven and wrote lyrics for eight tracks. The title track, written and composed by Xue, incorporates strong rock and high drama elements that work well with lyrical imagery to steadily build the song up. Xue also wrote and composed "Just Right" with a catchy chorus and heartrending lyrics: "This is the just right spot to end our journey, before we could reach the ends of the earth together."
Beginner is the focus of Xue's I Think I've Seen You Somewhere Tour, named after the third track on the album, and symbolizes Xue's determination to return to music after detouring to hotpot restaurant, streetwear store, and variety show star in order to fund his music.
Reception The release party for Beginner was held on Xue's birthday, 17 July. The live broadcast received 160,000 reservations and the number of online viewers exceeded 2 million, an unprecedented amount.
"Beginner" charted at the top of Billboard Radio China Top 10 Chart for four consecutive weeks. "Actor" and "Gentleman" both charted on KuGou Music's Top 500 list, with "Actor" ranking first from Weeks 22 to Week 45 in 2015 and "Gentleman" ranking tenth in September 2016; "Actor" also placed first on Global Chinese Music chart dated 23 June 2015. Apple Music named Beginner as the Album of the Year on their 2016 year-end list.
The music video for "Actor" is one of the most-viewed Chinese music videos on YouTube, with more than 200 million views. The song itself is considered Xue's signature song.
A year after its release, Beginner returned to the sales chart and ranked third on YinYueTai's best-selling albums in mainland China chart along with Xue's 2017 album The Crossing which ranked first.
On TME Physical Album Annual Sales Chart, launched in 2021 and five years after the album's release, Beginner ranked 89th in 2022 but then rose and continued to be in the top 50 in 2023 (ranked 43th), 2024 (ranked 49th), and 2025 (ranked 50th) while the vinyl version of the album ranked 96th in 2024 and 87th in 2025.
Track listing
Accolades + Awards and nominations Award Year Category Nominee Result Chinese Top Ten Music Awards东方风云榜颁奖典礼 2016 Top 10 Hits of the Year十大金曲 "Half" City Super Chart城市至尊音乐榜 2016 Top 20 Hits of the Year年度二十大金曲 "Gentleman" Global Chinese Music Awards全球华语歌曲排行榜颁奖典礼 2016 Top 20 Hits of the Year年度二十大金曲 "Beginner" KuGou Music Awards酷狗音乐大赏 2016 Hottest Song of the Year年度最火单曲 "Actor" Migu Music Awards音乐盛典咪咕汇 2016 Top 10 Hits of the Year年度十大金曲 "Actor" Music Pioneer Awards9+2音乐先锋榜 2016 Best Original Song of the Year年度最佳原创歌曲 "Beginner" Music Radio China Top Chart AwardsMusic Radio中国Top排行榜颁奖典礼2016 Top Hit of the Year年度金曲 "Actor" Most Popular Album of the Year年度最受欢迎唱片 Beginner Chinese Music Awards华语金曲奖 2017 Best Mandarin Male Singer of the Year年度最佳国语男歌手 Beginner CMIC Music Awards 唱工委音乐奖2017 Best Pop Vocal Performance最佳流行演唱 "Beginner" Album of the Year年度专辑 Beginner Song of the Year年度歌曲 "Actor" Best Pop Album最佳流行专辑 Beginner Freshasia Music Awards亚洲新歌榜年度盛典 2017 Album of the Year年度最佳专辑 Beginner Global Chinese Music Awards全球华语歌曲排行榜颁奖典礼2017 Top 20 Hits of the Year年度二十大金曲 "Beginner" Most Popular Album of the Year年度最受欢迎专辑 Beginner MTV Global Chinese Music FestivalMTV全球华语音乐盛典2017 Top 10 Hits of the Year年度十大金曲 "Actor" Top 10 Hits of the Year年度十大金曲 "Half" Music Radio China Top Chart AwardsMusic Radio中国Top排行榜颁奖典礼2017 Most Popular Album of the Year 年度最受欢迎专辑 Beginner Top 20 Hits of the Year 年度二十大金曲 "Beginner" V Chart Awards音悦V榜年度盛典 2017 Album of the Year年度最佳专辑 Beginner
References