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.
Has any other star had as many different hairstyles as His Royal DIAOness??
Behold his album covers over the years...
Curly hair from the first album circa 2000:
Hair became straight subsequently and with the bangs which kind of defined the Jay Chou look; shaggy, crimped, coloured, etc...but all terribly DIAO, due in no small part to his facial features (which I'll cover in another post) and his insouciant attitude no matter what the hair or attire looks like. :)
And this one with plastered-down fringe...I like his outfit!
Of course, he also liked the upswept-fringe look, which looks cute when done properly...which was not always... ;)
And some hairdos that are plain weird:
Good grief!!! Please fire the hairstylist!!!
And here are some of his movie looks.
He looked suitably goofy in Kungfu Dunk; I love the Kato and Viral Factor hair but not the Golden Flower and Treasure Hunter ones
Fang Shi Jie from Kingfu Dunk:
Kato from The Green Hornet:
Wan Fei from The Viral Factor:
Prince Jai from Curse Of The Golden Flower:
God of Wushu in True Legend:
Qiao Fei in Treasure Hunter:
Hmm...I think I just don't like him in long hair or period styles,
LOL...that's an image of Jay which is present at every event that he graces and look at the sheer number of microphones shoved near him as the reporters hang on to his every word!
This pic was taken at the recent Sprite 'Fearless Boundaries' basketball event which was held on 14 October 2012.
Here's a link to a related news article from Jay Chou Studio:
It was also during this post-event interview that he clarified yet another tabloid rumour about his recent trip to London and regrettably, yet another 'clash' with the paparazzi (henceforth referred to as 'pappz') a few days ago:
Which brings me to the topic at hand for tonight viz His Royal DIAOness' continuing war against the 'dogs' (as he refers to the pappz), which he has waged for at least as long as he has been in showbiz, whether it was writing songs mocking them, taking *their* pics, giving them dog food (yes, he did!) or cursing them verbally.
But thankfully, things have never come to blows, although I'm pretty sure Jay could beat the pappz into a pulp if given half a chance.
The two songs which targeted the pappz were:
Besieged From All Sides (四面楚歌):
And Exclamation Mark (惊叹号), where he probably incurred the wrath of the Apple Daily boss!
Okay...hands up, those of you who have NEVER picked up a tabloid/gossip magazine which was flaunting big, colourful photos and sensational (and usually untrue/unsubstantiated!) headlines about your favourite celeb? Anyone??
Nobody, right?
I admit that I, too have been guilty of doing so, but have stopped since I realised the extent to which these so-called 'reporters' go in order to stalk and taunt celebs, in the name of showing the public their (the celebs') true selves and more.
The papparazi 'culture' has been prevalent in the West for eons....recall the tragic death of Princess Diana whilst she was chased by the pappz in Paris many many years ago?
In the East, from what I gather, Hongkong has always had pappz and unfortunately, that culture crept into Taiwan when Apple Daily started a sister publication there circa 2003, a couple of years after Jay had become a star...and whose face on the cover would probably make the publication fly off the shelves!
He has had more than a few run-ins with the pappz over the years and frankly, I think he has shown considerable restraint already but even role models have their limits and in the recent incident, Jay was really incensed as he felt the pappz had totally gone beyond the boundaries of decency, especially in front of his mother.
This resulted in Yang Junrong issuing a statement and vid on JVR's youtube channel to clarify matters:
Sadly, like it or not, pappz culture is not going to die out anytime soon, not as long as there's a significant proportion of the public who also revel in such rubbishy reporting.
It also goes without saying that this will not be the last time we hear about a Jay-vs-the-pappz clash, given Mr Chou's combative nature, coupled with a strong belief in wanting to maintain his privacy and protect his family and loved ones.
One scene from The Green Hornet which blew me away was when Kato serenaded Lenore with Un Sospiro, an etude of unbelievable beauty by Franz Liszt. It was totally unexpected in a movie of this genre and made me curious enough about this Jay Chou guy, who up until then was just 'some Taiwanese pop star', but that curiousity has since transformed into full-blown mania, which explains the existence of this blog. ;)
Let's go back to Liszt for now, for which this is a clip from a Taiwanese programme where Jay mashed up Chopin and Liszt with a modern twist. He first plays Chopin's famous Waltz in C-sharp minor (used in Secret) and followed by Liszt's Un Sospiro (used in The Green Hornet)...lovely!
Mozart's Turkish March is an extremely popular piece of music and one which Jay loves to improvise on for many performances on stage and more recently, he put it into one of the songs on his latest album.
Another piece he loves is Flight Of The Bumble Bee (by Rimsky-Korsakoff).
Here are some occasions where he has done so:
On Mr J Channel, where he injects a Chopin-like feel to it, and ends off with a dramatic flourish of chords...lol!
From LOUD Festival, where he starts with the Flight of the Bumble Bee and goes into Turkish March:
From the ASUS Incredible J promotional event...his piano part is from 2:00 to 3:15:
Here with Yuhao who starts off with Chopin's Fantasie-Impromptu and Jay comes in with his part and some music from Secret, Super Mario and then Mozart's Turkish March (again!), and a Chinese tune, followed by Flight Of The Bumble Bee...awesome!!
And the latest use of the Turkish March was in Piano Hurt aka Qin Shang 琴伤, from his latest album, Exclamation Mark, where he started off with Tchaikovsky's Bacarolle and inserted the Mozart in the middle...the MV is very good too!
Most fans appreciated his usage of such classical pieces in his own compositions but I also know of quite a few who felt that he should not have to resort to doing so as he is a talented enough composer in his own right and I agree that he is, indeed.
However, I also feel that this improvising of his is just another way for him to have fun with his music and also perhaps to open his fans' minds to more classics like when he invited Li Yundi to be his guest at one of his world tour concerts in 2007. Anyway, improvising is also composing and to me, it may be even more difficult as one has to come up with a tune which is distinct yet connected to the original in a way.
Here are some of the pieces mentioned in their original entirety:
Liszt's Un Sospiro:
Rimsky-Korsakoff's Flight Of The Bumblebee:
Chopin's Fantasie-Impromptu in C-sharp minor:
And of course, Mozart's Turkish March...where you'll notice Jay has a tendency to play it really fast and maniacally unlike this version here:
I'm fairly certain that, as a young student who diligently practised his scales, exam pieces and honed other skills as part of his piano lessons, Jay Chou Chieh Lun never in his wildest dreams could have envisioned that he would one day be the King of Mandopop and showered with adulation by millions of fans for his music and more.
Indeed, becoming a piano teacher or performing pianist was a more likely career path but as mentioned in my post on his early years, [http://jaychoudiaoness.blogspot.sg/2012/05/early-years.html], Jacky Cheung's hit song, Goodby Kiss proved to be a strong influence in Jay's teens [http://www.jaychoustudio.com/archives/the-3-songs-that-have-influenced-jay-chou-the-most/569], as he then veered into the world of pop music and the rest, as they say, is history.
For all the rigours of his music education, however, it is irrefutable that it was precisely such a strong grounding in the study of the piano and classical music which would lead to Jay's eventual overwhelming success as an innovative and creative songwriter/performing artiste.
And it is no surprise that the one composer whom he unfailingly mentions as his most favourite ever (yup, even Mandopop Kings have their fandoms!) is none other than Frederic Chopin.
Examples abound of Jay's love for Chopin, which he shows in his music and other works.
November's Chopin (circa 2005)
The photo at the top of this post is the cover for his sixth studio album, November's Chopin...and yes, it is without a doubt, my most favourite cover amongst all his eleven albums! The title, the hair, the suit, the piano, the Venetian background and his whole stance just shouts "COOL"!
Incidentally, this was also one of his first albums which I bought in my early days of Jay-mania (the title and cover were sooo intriguing!) and listened to and it still ranks up there as one of my absolute favourites as I like almost every track on it.
It is a wonderful tribute to Chopin by Jay as the very first track is entitled, Nocturne and is one of his best compositions ever.
As is well-known, Chopin's nocturnes are also among his very best and most melodic works for the piano.
Here's an article about the shooting of this photo, taken from multistars forums, which shows how much passion and commitment Jay put into this album:
"Ye Hui Mei album was Jay's wonderful present to his mother. And now,
November Chopin is also a present to Jay's idol, Chopin, with an extra
feeling of respect. November Chopin will be released on the 1st of
November. Although it is a bit late this year, but still, his fans do
felt the perfectionism that Jay wanted on his album. He even went to
Venice for album cover photoshooting, this shows that inside Jay has the
genetic of Romantic & Classical. Being a perfect album, AlfaMusic
had put up almost a million dollars on photoshooting! This has been the
most expensive photoshooting Jay ever had.
This ancient romantic
scenary is from Venice, Italy - Piazza San Marco. To avoid the place
being crowded, Jay and his workers woke up very early, at about 6 AM for
photoshooting in this empty piazza without any people around. As early
as that, even pigeons weren't seen flying. Not long after the begun of
the photoshoot, the pigeons were seem so hyperactive, flying around and
creating a wonderful and perfect scenario in the photoshoot for Jay's
new album promotional pictures. What's so special was for a classic
brown colour piano to be inserted on the scene, workers were in such
trouble because in Venice, there's no suitable piano available. Not
bothering anything, the classic brown piano actually traveled for 5
hours by ship from Milan to Venice. The night before the photoshoot,
people were hired to look after the scene .
The photoshooting
session costs the earth, not including the flight ticket and hotel, they
spent almost a million dollar. Mainly because of many photoshooting
scenes needed rental pay, such as Piazza San Marco, Opera House, Castle,
Ballrooms ... When the staff actually spotted the master bedroom, the
owner who'd never allowed any photoshoot inside its castle, had
surprisingly let Jay to shoot in the castle just because the owner was
impressed by Jay's piano skill .
Jay Chou was nominated in the
movie of Initial D in Golden Horse Award as in the Best Newcomer Award
& Soundtrack Composing Award - Piao Yi + Yi Lu Xiang Bei. These 2
songs have a lot been discussed by fans in forums. Therefore , AlfaMusic
decided to put in these 2 tracks as bonus track in Jay Chou's upcoming
album. In addition included 3 MV's - Ye Qu, Yi Lu Xiang Bei, and Fa Ru
Xue. Plus the photos have been shooted in Venice were to print into
calender to satisfy Jay's fans."
Firstly, Chopin is mentioned in a classroom scene early in the movie and named as the Poet Of The Piano
Secondly, there are paintings of the master and his lover in the piano room where Xiang Lun and Xiao Yu discuss the love affair between Chopin and George Sand.
Thirdly, the iconic Piano Duel between Jay and Yuhao (who's referred to as the Prince of the Piano in the movie) features two Chopin pieces viz Black Key Etude (Opus 10, No 5) and Waltz in C# minor (Opus 64, No 2), with wonderful improvisations by Yuhao.
Fourthly, Qing (the other main female character) is seen clutching a book of Chopin's music in a scene at their lockers.
Fifthly, the Time Travel theme which starts off very Bach/Baroque-like in the first part evolves into a Mozartean-sounding midsection and then goes into a Chopin-ish march with the virtuousic running notes in the right hand and the emphatic base, ending in an awesome flourish!
It is noteworthy that these attributes owe alot to Jay's love for and imbibement of Chopin's music as the master himself was, after all, known as the Poet of the Piano...'nuff said!
For more in-depth analysis about Chopin's music, here's a good link and I'd like to highlight some quotes:
"Chopin found in the piano sonic possibilities soon to be exploited by
Liszt and, later, the French Impressionists and the rest of the world." "For all the high craft of this music, however, it conveys an
improvisational sensibility, as if the pianist were inventing these
mercurial lines at the moment."
Of course, there are other composers who have also influenced Jay and I shall write about them in a separate post, as I feel Chopin deserves his own space here. :)
My pianistic standards, unfortunately are not up to performing Chopin with any degree of competency but as a result of wanting to write this post, I have been reading about and listening to more Chopin works now and am appreciating his immense effect on Jay even better.
I just listened to this beautiful piece and would like to share it here.
It's the second movement from Chopin's Piano Concerto No.2 in F Minor-Larghetto, performed by Artur Rubinstein:
And here's the Chopin Waltz featured in Secret, in its entirety...enjoy!
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