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Chen Zhiling (陈志玲), better known as America, is a Singaporean idol under SYNTH Entertainment. She is the lead vocalist, lead dancer, and visual of ello.
2001 - 2016: Early life[]
Chen Zhiling was born in Singapore. Her father is a high-ranking employee of a technology company and her mother is a chemist.
When Zhiling was growing up, she wanted to be a Broadway actress. She dreamed of moving to New York City and having the starring role of a musical on Broadway. In school, Zhiling joined a youth musical theater company. She performed with them for three years. Instead of following her Broadway dream, Zhiling decided to become an idol. In 2017, Zhiling auditioned for SYNTH Entertainment.
2017 - 2018: Predebut[]
TBA
2019 - present: Career[]
TBA
Image[]
America has built her image around being kind-hearted and gentle. Everything from how she dresses to her mannerisms is extremely feminine and soft. Fans have called her Singapore’s Princess and she takes the name with pride. She values her femininity and hates that people assume it means being fragile.
America is very open about LGBTQ+ rights. She is openly lesbian and came out in 2021. Even before she came out, America felt like her sexuality was being assumed by netizens and that it was one of the reasons why the group couldn’t gain fans. She internalized a lot of homophobia towards herself in the early days of her career. After she came out, America used her platform to discuss what it is like being part of the LGBTQ+ community as an idol.
Due to America’s background in musical theater, she is a talented actress and vocalist. She has performed skits at ello’s concerts and has performed musical theater numbers. America is a huge musical theater aficionado and considers it to be her biggest interest outside of being an idol. As well, her strong vocals have been noted as being one of the best in K-pop by fans, along with Vir’s vocals. America projects her voice well especially while dancing.
The fans have noted America to be very thoughtful. On livestreams, America freely discusses different topics with a considerate perspective. She takes her time to think things through and speaks carefully.