Promotional material of Kris Wu's EP Testing Photo: Courtesy of the Kris Wu Studio

Former member of South Korean boyband EXO, Chinese-Canadian singer Kris Wu, released his new EP Testing on Wednesday. It became an instant hit with the hashtag for the EP earning 210 million views and 232,000 posts on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo.

The EP, which includes three Chinese songs and one English song, debuted at 11:06 am Beijing time on Chinese music streaming platforms QQ Music, Kugou Music and Kuwo Music. The EP had been highly anticipated. Pre-sales surpassed 1 million units within 87 minutes on QQ Music, a first for a digital album on the platform.

Promotional material of Kris Wu's EP Testing Photo: Courtesy of the Kris Wu Studio

The versatile singer took on the duties of writing, composing and producing the three Chinese songs, and participated in composing the English song "Throwback" as well.

Echoing the title of the EP, the tracks were something of an experiment for Wu. For "The Sea of Time," Wu incorporated a significant amount of auto-tune techniques into the urban pop song. The use of electronic keyboard, saxophone and drum kits further gives the song a unique touch.

"I've been listening to the EP on repeat and haven't taken off my headphones for two hours," wrote one netizen on Sina Weibo.

While fans have shown strong enthusiasm for the EP,  "Throwback" appears to be the most well-received track on social media currently.

With 50 million followers on Sina Weibo, besides music, the 29-year-old singer has also been starring in films, modeling for brands such as Louis Vuitton, and appearing on popular TV shows including The Rap of China and Four Try.

Global Times