F4 (band)

2001: Meteor Garden and Formation

The group formed as a result of the success of a Taiwanese drama series, Meteor Garden. The series is an adaptation of the Japanese shōjo manga series Hana Yori Dango. Yan plays the lead role of Dao Ming Si, an extremely arrogant and rich college student who meets his match in the poor but proud girl, Shan Cai. Chou, Wu and Chu play his friends Hua Ze Lei, Mei Zuo, and Xi Men, respectively. In the series, the four men were identified as a group called "Flower Four" due to their dreamy appearances, often shortened as F4.

Meteor Garden was released in Taiwan in 2001 and propelled its leads to pan-Asian fame.^[3] A sequel, Meteor Garden II, was released in 2002.

2001–2004: Meteor Rain and Fantasy 4ever

In 2001, F4 became a boy band and signed a record deal with Sony Music Taiwan. In the same year they released their debut album, Meteor Rain, and in the following year they released Fantasy 4ever. The album includes the Mandarin version of "Can't Help Falling in Love" that they recorded for the Asian version of Walt Disney's Lilo & Stitch soundtrack,^[4] a Mandarin version of "Yo Te Amo" by Chayanne, and a Pepsi advertisement theme song "Ask For More".

From 2002 to 2003, F4 held the Fantasy Live World Tour spanning 19 shows across 12 cities, which attracted a total audience of 570,000 to 600,000 people.^[5][6] In 2003, they embarked on an Asian tour to support Fantasy 4ever, and went on an unannounced hiatus in 2004 afterwards as the members began to focus on their solo careers.

2007–2009: Waiting for You and name change to JVKV

On April 29, 2007, Meteor Garden producer Angie Chai announced that the group would no longer be known as F4. The change in name stemmed from copyright-related issues. Japanese publisher Shueisha, who owns the copyright to Hana Yori Dango allowed the group to use F4 as its band name in 2001. However, as Japan had filmed and aired its own live action version of the manga, to avoid confusion over the name in different countries,^[7][8] the Taiwanese group was renamed JVKV using the initials of each member, by the order of their birth dates from oldest to youngest.^[1] However, the name JVKV has never gained recognition, nor has it replaced F4 in popular usage.

Three F4 members appeared in Wish To See You Again, starring Chou and Chu, while Wu made a few guest appearances in a few episodes. Due to scheduling conflicts, Yan did not star in the series; his part was played by Kingone Wang. Despite rumours of disbanding,^[9] JVKV released their third album, Waiting For You, on December 28, 2007.^[10] Their third album still bore the name F4, instead of JVKV. In 2008, F4 held a tour in Japan, making them the first foreign artists to host 7 consecutive concerts in the country, which attracted around 80,000 people.^[11]

2010–present: Solo careers and reunions

F4 had performed twice together after their announcement of disbanding in 2009. In January 2013, the group was confirmed to perform at Jiangsu TV's Spring Festival Gala in China along with Harlem Yu.^[12] The performance was taped in Beijing on January 30, 2013,^[13][14] and was aired on February 10, 2013. During the show, they hinted that they were going to have a concert tour in China, which did not come to fruition. On October 30, 2020, at Jiangsu TV’s "1001 Night Festival" concert, Wu appeared live on stage, while his bandmates’ pre-recorded performances were projected via holograms, allowing them to share the stage with him during the broadcast.^[15]

On July 12, 2025, the group reunited at the Mayday concert 5525 Back to That Day Tour in Taipei, Taiwan.^[16] In December 2025, three F4 members, Yan, Chou, and Wu, launched a concert tour without Chu, beginning in Shanghai. The tour’s music producer and chief planner was Ashin of Mayday.^[17]

Studio albums

Compilation albums

Live albums

Video albums