Westerners react to the music of Jay Chou (
However, on listening closely a Mando-pop first can be heard: the successful marriage of East and West.
Chou was trained in classical music and has combined this with Western elements -- R 'n' B, pop, rap, heavy metal and experimental genres.
PHOTO COURTESY OF ALPHA MUSIC
This winning formula isn't something he aims to change. His awards number in the hundreds. This year alone he's won 58.
He's been awarded the accolades of best Asian male singer, best songwriter in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China (to name just a few) and has appeared on the cover of Time. But for Chou, "Sales are more important than awards."
Not bad for a 27-year-old from Linkou (
The release last week of Chou's sixth album, November's Chopin (十一月的蕭邦) was awaited by millions. Named after his favorite musician, the album is another cultural fusion and includes five torch songs crafted specifically for the KTV market.
Sony BMG is already pleased with the album's pre-sales, 1.5 million in Asia.
Jay's total artistic control over his work was earned after years of composing, gaining rights to his own music, managing his image, and directing music videos.
For Hair Like Snow, Alpha Music wanted to pursue a
traditional Chinese music style.
Jay only agreed to do the song after the label promised that it would break with tradition.
With lyrics written by Vincent Fang (方文山), Chou composed the melody, using an eight-tone Chinese "hook." Then an imperial-style set was rented for the music video that cost NT$1.5 million and which Chou directed.
His manager, Yeung Jin-long (楊峻榮), trusts Chou's creative judgment, saying he "doesn't care what Jay does with the money, because good music is money."
"Director Chou" is using the experience to vault into film and music production.
He's been nominated for the Best New Performer award at this year's Golden Horse awards for his role in the film Initial D (頭文字D).
Chou plans to direct a movie,Bangka (艋舺), and has even announced his intention of starting a music studio to foster other people's talents when he hits 30.
Jay exercises the same sensational effect the Beatles had on the West in the 1960s.
Yet when asked who his favorite Beatle is, he said "everybody loves them," and said he couldn't name one in particular.
In Taiwan, every telephone shop, tabloid or passing public bus seems to carry his image and every 7-Eleven and hair salon seems to play his music.
Referred to as the "young heavenly king," (
Some say he's the best Taiwanese artist to emerge in decades, if not ever -- a raw talent becoming ever more refined.
All those years spent daydreaming in class, learning the ropes from former manager Jackie Wu (吳宗憲), and crashing on the couch at the recording studio have finally paid off -- big time.
Jay is the pride of Taiwan, although he may deny it. He wisely ducks politics, enabling him to tour China, something his compatriot, singer A-mei (張惠妹), has had trouble doing.
Does he feel Taiwanese or Chinese? "Wherever I go I tell others I'm Asian, because we have the same yellow skin," Chou said.
Is Jay Chou a man in complete control of his career?
By the way he strode into a press conference on Monday, a dark silhouette with the elegant slouch of a poet musician, it would seem so.
Directed to pose, he did so -- in a rather deadpan way -- patiently fielding questions from TV and radio journalists, then settling down to a roundtable talk with 16 reporters, including myself.
Reputedly a "mumble-rapper," in person Jay Chou is poised and articulate, deftly parrying the inevitable questions about his private life.
"Would you invite [your girlfriend] Pattie Hou (侯佩岑) to be in your music videos?" one asked.
"That would be awkward," Chou quipped back.
"You are always the one in a relationship to finish it. What do you think?"another asked.
"Gossip again," he said, mentioning a compulsion to "be careful about the girls." He and past collaborators have gone on the record as "non-lovers."
The paparazzi have been intrusive though. Several paparazzi chased him down Keelung Road a few weeks ago as he was driving a car with Hou by his side. An angry Chou pushed over a Next magazine reporters' scooter.
"I focus on my career," he said. "Music is what's important. There's a day when I'll kiss girls and they won't care," he said.
Even so, he said he wrote Tse Mian Chu Ge (四面楚歌) about his relationships. A proverb signifying "surrounded on all sides," the song likens Apple Daily journalists to a "team of dogs (狗仔隊)."
"They bite an apple in their mouths, long cameras in their hands, seems they want to talk conspiracy," the lyrics say.
When asked about his English ability, Chou replied, "I have no talent for studying, only for making music."
When I asked how he planned to enter the Western market, Jay said that since his English "had stopped at junior high school," and his native languages are Chinese and Taiwanese, he made music "in Chinese only," adding he would "never do a song in English."
In the past, though, he has incorporated some Hakka, Japanese, Korean and Cantonese into his songs.
The following day's media reports focused on Chou's "poor English," and how there were many foreign reporters at the press conference. There was only one -- myself.
Despite the media, Jay seems to have taken his meteoric rise in his stride.
It is widely known he still manages to shoot some hoops.
And he's been given credit for not contracting "the illness of conceit."
The pressure of fame, he once said, "was like watching a movie. I change into a detective, or maybe a racer when others chase after you. You need to adjust your own mood."
Jay plans to tour Japan in June, and is considering playing in England.
Maybe he will decide to hire an English teacher, but then again he doesn't need to tap into the English-speaking market.
With an average 3 million sales per album in China alone, and lucrative Pepsi and Panasonic contracts as icing on the commercial cake, his English skills are irrelevant.
The People’s Republic of China (PRC) last week offered us a glimpse of the violence it plans against Taiwan, with two days of blockade drills conducted around the nation and live-fire exercises not far away in the East China Sea. The PRC said it had practiced hitting “simulated targets of key ports and energy facilities.” Taiwan confirmed on Thursday that PRC Coast Guard ships were directed by the its Eastern Theater Command, meaning that they are assumed to be military assets in a confrontation. Because of this, the number of assets available to the PRC navy is far, far bigger
The 1990s were a turbulent time for the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) patronage factions. For a look at how they formed, check out the March 2 “Deep Dives.” In the boom years of the 1980s and 1990s the factions amassed fortunes from corruption, access to the levers of local government and prime access to property. They also moved into industries like construction and the gravel business, devastating river ecosystems while the governments they controlled looked the other way. By this period, the factions had largely carved out geographical feifdoms in the local jurisdictions the national KMT restrained them to. For example,
The remains of this Japanese-era trail designed to protect the camphor industry make for a scenic day-hike, a fascinating overnight hike or a challenging multi-day adventure Maolin District (茂林) in Kaohsiung is well known for beautiful roadside scenery, waterfalls, the annual butterfly migration and indigenous culture. A lesser known but worthwhile destination here lies along the very top of the valley: the Liugui Security Path (六龜警備道). This relic of the Japanese era once isolated the Maolin valley from the outside world but now serves to draw tourists in. The path originally ran for about 50km, but not all of this trail is still easily walkable. The nicest section for a simple day hike is the heavily trafficked southern section above Maolin and Wanshan (萬山) villages. Remains of
With over 100 works on display, this is Louise Bourgeois’ first solo show in Taiwan. Visitors are invited to traverse her world of love and hate, vengeance and acceptance, trauma and reconciliation. Dominating the entrance, the nine-foot-tall Crouching Spider (2003) greets visitors. The creature looms behind the glass facade, symbolic protector and gatekeeper to the intimate journey ahead. Bourgeois, best known for her giant spider sculptures, is one of the most influential artist of the twentieth century. Blending vulnerability and defiance through themes of sexuality, trauma and identity, her work reshaped the landscape of contemporary art with fearless honesty. “People are influenced by
RSS