A personal take on the King of Mandopop, incorporating pics, vids and links to relevant websites and forums.
NB: Absolutely no copyright infringement (of pics) intended.
I have it on good authority that 16 July is Jay Chou Day!!
I think it commemorates the day Yi Fu Zhi Min was
released; 50 radio stations across Asia decided to make this day Jay
Chou Day. And 8million(?) listeners were tuned in!
Here's a lovely fan tribute to this day from youtube, which puts together his performances of Yi Fu Zhi Ming, the list of accolades taken from The Era concert and nice lines to the effect that after all these years, he's still going strong and that being his fan is definitely right!
I saw this mentioned on Facebook too.
So HAPPY JAY CHOU DAY EVERYONE!!!
Actually, for me, every day is Jay Chou Day!! :)
I'm gonna wear something with pink in it 'cos Jay loves pink, as evidenced by this cute collection of His Royal DIAOness in various shades of the colour:
Sigh...I accidentally deleted my Uniquely Jay post today from my iPhone!!!!
The perils of a touch screen! *jumps up and down*
So here I am, rewriting this topic which is an absolute must when talking about Jay's music, where he creates songs in certain distinct genres, either singularly or more often than not, combining a few in one whilst imparting his own unique musical stamp on the song. :)
From The Era, Jay gave us Free Instructional Video, which starts off as an Elvis Presley type song, very bluesy but then develops into a full-blown rock and roll number, with different parts coming in seamlessly, to make it sound completely one-of-a-kind....so much so that it won the Golden Melody Award for Best Arrangement in 2011 for Jay's music arrranger, A-Geng!
Translation: http://www.jaychoustudio.com/jay-chou-translations/free-instructional-video/138
From Capricorn, he wrote a circus-style song viz Mr Magic, with a very cute tune and an absolutely stunning set based on the magic theme!
And now for the song which probably started him on this unique way of composing, this is Cowboy Very Busy, which you either love or hate. I love the chorus with the hand movements and the MV is really a lark!
Translation: http://www.jaychoustudio.com/jay-chou-translations/cowboy-is-very-busy/112
I shall end with Rosemary, from his Still Fantasy album, where he composed a lovely bossa nova style song and he also danced divinely in the MV!
His beloved grandma is also in the MV. :)
Translation: http://www.jaychoustudio.com/jay-chou-translations/rosemary/104
Hi all!!
I've not neglected this blog....just been busy with home stuff and keeping up with all the DIAO news these past few days, some of which I shall post here for my own reference and yours. :)
First up: Final MV release!!!
I just love that pic of Jay and Lara dancing!!!
It's from the final MV of Jay's latest album, Exclamation Mark.
The song is Piano Hurt aka Qing Shang, a somewhat haunting mashup of rap, Tchaikovsky, Mozart and R&B.
Jay's Mum taught him and Lara how to perform the waltz and he re-used some props and effects from earlier MVs eg the piano and the ship...which I think is quite good for promoting recycling!
Nonetheless, the MV was still quite expensive to produce because of the special effects.
I love it....although it's a sad story.
Watch the MV for yourself....it should be pretty easy to follow.
And the behind-the-scenes:
Next, we have news of the release of theDVD compilation of all his MVs from The Era and Exclamation Mark!!
This is another product which the fans have been waiting anxiously for and huge sighs of relief were heard when JVR made the announcement.
The compilation is named [J Moment] and with pre-orders come the gift of the perfume bottle (with perfume, I trust!)....omg, I so want to own that!!
I shall be doing the necessary soon enough. ;)
Updated photo of J Moment:
For international fans, here's the link to YesAsia for pre-ordering:
Jay will supposedly perform at 23:15....it's a little late but what to do?
According to the race organisers, the concerts are to start only after the action on the track is over.
Whatever the case may be, I'm all ready to rock with him and the other fans waay into the night!
I heard two Jay songs on the radio this morning from two different stations! *smiles broadly*
One was Superman Can't Fly.
The other was Summer by Nicky Lee, written by Jay, and one of my fave songs which he wrote for other artistes.
As is well known, Jay started out as a songwriter and and to date, his list of compositions for other singers is comparable to the number of songs which he performed himself for his own studio albums.
I have painstakingly compiled as many of these as I could find on my youtube channel here:
Of course, I have some favourites and would very much like to share them here.
Some of them are performed by Jay himself at his concerts; most are by the artistes he wrote for.
First up, Rooftop. This is from 1999, originally performed by Jacky Wu and Landy Wen but I like this version from Landy's concert with Jay singing.
You Are Happier Than In The Past, also from 1999 and sung by Jacky Wu. I prefer Jay's voice here, though....yes, I'm so biased!
Another 1999 song was The Sound Of Rain for Jody Chiang which she sings in Taiyu (the Taiwanese vernacular).
The next one is one of my absolute faves, from 2000, this is Genie Of The Night Sky sung by Leo Ku. The melody is SO beautiful and Leo's voice really does it justice. :)
Jay wrote Tell Fortune for Jacky Cheung in 2001, a very cool rap song which the God Of Song performed admirably, in a change from his usual style. Kudos to him!
Love love LOVE this song which he wrote for Jordan Chan in 2003 viz Waste of Space! Jay sang it at his HK concert in Cantonese...beautifully! Never get tired of hearing this one!
A-du is a Singaporean singer whom Jay wrote this song, entitled Give In and delivered the demo to him by plane! Circa 2003:
I love this one for Nan Quan Ma Ma viz Disintegrate, from 2004. Very haunting.
Also from 2004, this is Rewind which he wrote for Jolin Tsai but I like his version better:
Jay wrote Self Hypnosis in 2005 for his good friend, Show Luo, who was having a stressful time and difficulty sleeping:
I love this next song which Jay wrote for Heavenly King, Aaron Kwok in 2006 viz Love:
Jay once wrote Nunchucks for A-mei, which she rejected. But not this next song, written for her in 2007 is just so her...If You Also Heard. Love her voice here!
From 2007 comes another very beautiful song in a zhong guo feng style, Xiao Xiao, for Joey Yung. I love this one very much too.
In 2010, Jay wrote and performed this very touching song with Chris Hung, entitled A-ba (Father) for a movie about Hung Senior. The Hung family were prominent in the Taiwanese entertainment industry.
The song I mentioned at the beginning of this post is from 2010, for Nicky Lee viz Summer. It's very Jay-style but eminently suited for Nicky's voice although I can imagine Jay singing this one very well too!
Jay composed a song for popular Korean group, Super Junior in 2011 viz Love Is Sweet, a very nice Jay-esque number. :)
Another lovely song for Aaron Kwok in 2011, Love is Never-Ending:
So there you have it...my personal fave list of songs which Jay wrote for other artistes.
After songwriting, singing, acting, directing....what would Mr Chou try next?
Hosting his own talkshow, that's what!
I suppose after guesting on COUNTLESS talkshows over the years since his debut, he was keen to turn the tables, so to speak and be the interviewer rather than the interview-ee. ;)
Jay also wanted to challenge himself to improve his conversational and speaking abilities, as he had always been known as a man of few words since his early years in showbiz.
He, of course, had his own ideas about how to go about things and before long, rolled out Mr J Channel, where he would appear together with another FOUR co-hosts.
They were his makeup artiste and good friend, Du Ge; choreographers Ice Cream (Xuegao) and Xiao Mai; and Eri Otoguro, a Japanese starlet who had previously appeared on one of the Drifters' MVs with Jay.
"These people grew
up with me and we are very familiar with what makes each other laugh. We
have chemistry. The interaction will be very natural and the humour
won't be fake," said Chou of the cast (save for Eri)
He also said:
"When I started out
[in showbiz], I may have been a little worried. But after a decade in
the entertainment industry, I am quite confident in my speaking ability
now and I am not afraid of any awkward moments."
He, however, stated explicitly that every episode would follow his
strict policy of 'three don'ts' – he would not sing, dance or act.(haha)
For the uninitiated, Show Luo himself is a very popular talkshow host who has also worked his way up in the Taiwanese entertainment industry, with his share of ups and downs.
He and Jay have been friends from their early days in Alfa Music but some time ago, there were rumours that they had fallen out, which Jay cleverly put paid to by getting Show to be his first guest.
Here is the pilot episode from youtube in three parts, with English subs....watch it and judge for yourselves:
I found the episode very entertaining, but have to admit that Show was the main reason with his witty personality which played off Jay's awkwardness, being his first time as a host.
Show delights in taking the mickey out of Jay and it's always very fun to watch the two of them together on other shows as well. :)
It has to be said that with Jay's stature as a mega pop star, taking on a hosting role was never going to be easy and would inevitably invite loads of criticisms from his detractors and tabloids eager to bring him down, if for anything just to boost their circulation.
Here's a link to an article about feedback on the show and Jay's/JVR's responses:
Mr J Channel ran thirteen episodes with guests like Jody Chiang, A-mei, Kevin Tsai, JJ Lin, Lin Chiling and Jay's friends, Nan Quan Ma Ma.
My personal take on Mr J Channel:
I have watched all the episodes and found them quite enjoyable on the whole, with Jay gradually improving in his hosting skills over time.
He, however, has many frequent mannerisms, such as flicking his fringe and covering his mouth when he laughs, which are probably nervous habits. Nonetheless, they should not happen when one is the host as it is rather distracting for the audience.
I also felt that it was not necessary to have five people hosting the show. I mean, it's nice of Jay to want to let his friends share the stage and limelight. Perhaps he was also nervous and needed the support of his friends whilst being a newbie host..
But it could get quite confusing when more than two of them talked at the same time. Or one or more might not say anything and so appear utterly redundant...most notable example being Eri, The language barrier was obvious and I felt for her as the rest them bantered on endlessly sometimes.
Although Jay had mentioned that he would not sing, dance or act on the show, being the performer that he is, there was really no way he could have refrained from crooning and playing the piano, whether as an accompanist, improvisator or entertainer. It's just such an innate trait of his.
Yes, as a fan, I loved the show for its colourful sets and pianos, Jay's often-times outlandish clothes, the funny side-comments onscreen (which are a typical part of all Taiwanese talkshows) and the equally funny music snippets which accompany said comments....thoroughly entertaining.
I loved seeing Jay let his hair down (metaphorically), joking and being teased as it showed another side of him.
BUT:
It is for those very same reasons I mentioned which probably turned off many other viewers as well; viewers who were not fans of Jay, as there were many in-jokes and references to Jay's works.
As such, the ratings were not great and after one season, Jay decided not to continue the show, citing lack of time and a full schedule.
Planning and recording a weekly talkshow is extremely time-consuming and with his numerous other commitments in film, music, commercials and performances at many venues in China, it was no wonder he would find it tremendously difficult to keep up with Mr J Channel.
However, Jay's experience on the show definitely improved his speaking skills (as he had hoped it would!) as can be seen, where he interacts so much more easily with the audience and his guests on stage at his concerts subsequently, like during his performance with Nicholas Tse in Gaoxiong.
And also for public appearances and promotions, where he gets thrown all sorts of questions....he has become much more verbal but at the same time, able to make self-deprecating and witty remarks. He has also become quite adept at side-stepping tricky and potentially embarrassing queries about his love life...eg during the Harry Winston gala dinner recently.
And of course, his cute yet wise words at the Golden Melody Awards in June. :)
So His Royal DIAOness accomplished *something* and Mr J Channel was not an utter fail after all!
And who knows, perhaps Jay will find time for another season later on when his schedule allows and I'm pretty sure he would be a much better host then. :)
""Jay's worst affliction is his back, because of his ankylosing spondylitis. The pain can wake
him up and he has to sleep sitting up. Initially, I got a shock."----- Xiao Mai, Jay's good friend and choreographer
Tonight's post was inspired by a bout of backache which I'm enduring now, no thanks to two hours of bum-dancing at the Grasshopper concert two nights ago. *grimace*
Pain, stiffness and the inability to move at my usual pace and agility.....all these remind me of Jay, who was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis some time in his late teens.
For the uninitiated, Ankylosing Spondylitis (or AS as I shall henceforth refer to it as) is an inflammatory joint disease affecting mainly the spine but also other areas to a smaller extent.
Here is a link with more info:
From his mother's foreword in his book, Grandeur de D Majeur (circa 2003) comes this indication of how severe his pain could be: (Translation taken from Jay Chou Studio)
"Jay who doesn’t smoke, doesn’t drink, doesn’t go to night stalls, the
thing that worries me the most is his old illness - ankylosing
spondylitis, sometimes when I see him in so much pain, even when he gets
up from bed to go to the door, he takes 20 minutes, being his mother, I
could only shout in my heart: “God! Can I take the pain for him?” My
son seeing my reluctance, instead he comforted me: “Mom, I’m alright,
I’ll be fine in a moment.”
And from the Jay Chou Studio archives, here's a link about his back pain circa 2009, which also bears testimony to Jay's strong determination not to let AS get the better of him and that there are others who are much worse off than him: " I still think I'm very lucky, no matter how much more it hurts, someone
else will be hurting more than you, no matter how much more pitiful you
feel, there's someone more pitiful."
Of course there was the not-unexpected query from different quarters about the authenticity of his AS and whether he was using is as an excuse to shirk his military duties, which was investigated and found to be totally above-board:
Dissatisfaction rose again later when he was filming The Green Hornet and doing some nifty stunts, to which his company JVR replied:
"It is a fact that Jay has spinal chronic
disease. He received an official letter [of exemption] from the military
in 1999, before he became a celebrity. The doctor also said that with
moderate care, patients like him are able to do stunts he did.
Furthermore, Hollywood uses a lot of special effects."
I found a good snippet from an interview during his promotions for Treasure Hunter where he talked about his AS: "I'm not afraid of getting injured. I only worry that my back will act up when I have to film a scene. Even when I have concerts, I always hope that my back won't act up because I have to dance or perform. That's a constant worry I have. whether I'll be okay when I have to work. In Treasure Hunter, I was fairly lucky, my back only hurt for a couple of days. It's a good and bad thing, this back problem. Because of it, I didn't have to do national service and I got to do the things I wanted to do. I got to become a singer. I can't say I'm thankful but if it weren't for this problem, I may have gone into national service and then maybe I would not have become Jay Chou. So no matter how difficult it is, I accept it."
He has also recently been working out at Wil's gym, where there were specifically designed exercises for him, in view of his AS:
So at the age of 33, Mr Chou appears to be in the greatest physical shape he has ever been, AS notwithstanding!
His indefatigable spirit and never-say-die attitude will ensure he keeps going for a long long time. :)
From my friend, havamahal on multistars comes this amazing set of vids where Jay performed at a mini concert in Malaysia waaay back when he was a newcomer.
He was sooo cute in those days, with his cap and casual clothes and lowkey attitude, but also a hint of wry humour.
You
can also see the beginnings of his greatness in his interaction with
the fans, shaking their hands and getting everyone to sing along.
And his awesome keyboard skills.....be still, my heart...le sigh....
I shall provide some nutshell translations, which I did for the forum last year:
In a vid before this one, the emcee ribbed him about being a man of few words and indeed, Jay could only muster up one greeting for the audience.
In the above vid, Jay says he felt anxious and couldn't say much. The emcee then asks him about
his type of girl and Jay replies (deadpan).."well, someone with long
hair like our emcee here" and she says there's an age gap(!). Finally
concedes that the girl must be one his Mum approves of. ;)
After he
sings, he talks to the audience, saying it was his first time in
Malaysia and he wasn't sure of the response from the fans, but was very
thankful for all of them.
In the above vid, he sings Clear Stars and throws stuff to the fans.
This is the basket ball vid and they wanted four people on stage, two males and two females.
One of the girls stood next to Jay, before being hustled by the MC away to where all the contestants were standing.
The
game was for Jay to show some basketball moves for them to imitate and
if successful, they could make one request of Jay each.
One of the girls requested a kiss!
After the game, the girl who did well asked Jay: is it your habit to sleep in the nude?? ^-^
Jay's answer: Not a habit but I have done it on occasion. :D
The guy asked Jay when he would be coming to Malaysia again
Jay's answer: when I release my next album.
At one point, he was also asked if he preferred Jolin or Steph Sun:
Jay's diplomatic reply: In terms of music, Steph. In terms of dance, Jolin.
He then sings Wife...in his tank top, showing off his lovely arms.
He sings Tornado, claiming it's the final song.
Of course, the fans wouldn't let him off so easily, and 'demanded' an encore with Lovable Woman, which Jay obliges with. :)
