Abstract: His teacher once mistakenly thought that he was dumb. Idol producers used to think he was too ugly. But Jay Chou has become the most popular pop star in Asia.
No silk brocade suit, no retro cool motorcycle, no fans screaming for his concert, no girls kneeling at his piano. Jay Chou's "Alpha Music" Music Studio is located in a gray building in the east of Taipei. Between the leather sofa and the blue-green wall, there is only a narrow pale yellow floor. This is Jay Chou's world. During concert after concert, he can curl up here, lie on the floor, take a nap, or ponder over tunes and lyrics repeatedly. When composing new songs, he always captures scattered songs in his dreams, then wakes up from his dreams, retells the songs on the piano, stutters with lyrics, and finally adapts these nocturnes into singles or makes samples.
For two years, Jay Chou was a contract composer, writing songs at a price of $600 each. He wrote one song after another for singers who are not so talented but more handsome or beautiful. He rarely even leaves his music studio. Write the main theme, then compose the harmony, and then write the lyrics after the "buyout menu"; Finally, exhausted by his work and musical talent, he will plunge into the quilt to sleep and magically brew the next song in his dream. Jay Chou, who eats cakes and fried chicken all day, dreams of becoming a music producer, not a pop star.
The Beatles have a cave club, Elvis Presley has a sun studio, and sex pistols have a 100 club. For Jay Chou, alpha music is his music foundation. Here, he tries his own music ideas, summarizes his own music theory and explores how to make his songs full of passion and unforgettable. Gradually, he understood that music is the most important thing compared with appearance, movement and image. He has witnessed too many idol singers coming and going: handsome guys who are not sure about the tune, actresses who are not talented enough, boys and girls who choose their members according to dance rather than voice, and so on. He found that the only thing that can make the singer remember for fans and make him look different is the song itself.
From Taiwan Province Province to Hongkong and then to Singapore, these ideas are very unusual for the whole Chinese music scene. In the cynical and fickle pop music world of China, the existence of 24-year-old non-idol singer Jay Chou is a miracle in itself. Most idol male singers are almost born in a musical family. They spend a lot of money since childhood, and the final image will always be fragile and handsome and feminine. They will all get a tailor-made good song and then go through stylized commercial packaging. If you are lucky, you will be seen by film directors or advertising producers and embark on the road of performing arts.
So, how did this humble young man with irregular teeth, aquiline nose and pointed chin get metabolism, Liu Hezhang and become the hottest pop singer in Asia? Everything comes from a simple music studio, hard years, songs and the revolutionary concept of "music is the most important". "Even the female fans around me won't call me handsome," Jay Chou explained. "They just told me that they like my music. It is my music that attracts them. "
Since the debut album "Jay Chou's Album of the Same Name" was released on June 5438+065438+ 10, 2000, Jay Chou's music began to dominate or change the development direction of the whole Asian pop music industry. His first album contains 10 songs, some full of passion, some full of thoughts and some emotional love songs. craig david can't help but be moved by that gentle, harmonious and inspiring style. Although all his songs are written in Mandarin, his albums have easily won two or three platinum records in his hometown of Taiwan Province province, Chinese mainland, Hongkong, Malaysia and Singapore.
At the recent MTV Asia Music Festival, he was selected as "the most popular male singer in Taiwan Province Province". Hong Kong media called him "Little King of Heaven", although Jay Chou himself didn't like it. His recent performance at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas attracted more than10,000 spectators. Several big companies sent him sponsorship contracts, including Pepsi (China) and PCCW, and Matsushita asked him to be the spokesperson for a new type of mobile phone.
When Jay Chou was a child, he was considered a little slow, or rather, "stupid". Sue Ellen, his high school English teacher, said that his learning ability was poor: "Jay Chou has few facial expressions, and I once thought he was dumb." Children are not interested in math, physics and chemistry, and even less willing to worry about English homework. But his mother found that this quiet and shy boy always seemed to stagger with the western pop music he played.
"Before he learned to walk, he was very sensitive to music." Mother Zhou recalled. Therefore, when Jay Chou was four years old, his mother sent him to piano school in Zhou. He can really play. He practiced as if he were possessed, and he liked the keyboard as much as children of the same age liked ice cream. When he was a teenager, his creative talent was beyond his years. "Once, he played a very solemn tune on the piano," said Chen Chali, a piano teacher at Jay Chou High School. "But he turned it into an interesting and naughty tune."
Outside the piano room, Jay Chou is no different from ordinary people. He likes watching kung fu movies and playing video games. While other children are studying hard for the senior high school entrance examination, Jay Chou often skips classes and spends more time on his "music ivory tower". It seems that he will accomplish nothing. Music? If you come from a middle-class family in Taiwan Province Province, math, science, engineering and computer programming are your ways to survive. What about the music? That's just a matter for young men after noble families, and it has nothing to do with the children who grew up in Linkou, in other words, it has nothing to do with Jay Chou. Subsequently, he lost his reputation in Sun Shan and was about to be thrown into the cruel real world. He may become a natural gas worker, or, if he is lucky, sell electronic keyboards in front of you.
However, music has always influenced Jay Chou's life. Music saved him. Music sublimated him. Music is his savior and his lucky star. Music is the only thing he has. Even when Jay Chou was still confused, music had arranged his life for him, and Jay Chou didn't know how valuable his talent for harmony was.
By chance, he accompanied a junior girl to participate in the "Super Newcomer King" program in Taiwan Province Province, which attracted the attention of Wu Zongxian, the owner of Alpha Music Studio and producer of Taiwan Province Province. Recalling the first time I met Jay Chou, Wu Zongxian said, "My first impression was that he was too shy and quiet. I even think he is a little slow. " Jay Chou's music touched Wu Zongxian, but Wu Zongxian only thought of him as a songwriter. "I don't think Jay Chou can become an artist," Wu Zongxian admitted, "because he is not very handsome."
Later, another famous music producer discovered Jay Chou's musical talent. After listening to Jay Chou's singing, he decided to make an album for him. At this point, overnight, Jay Chou changed from an unknown little musician to a singer; So suddenly, so quickly, even Jay Chou himself was a little flattered.
Talking about music, Jay Chou said that his music is like magic. It should be pluralistic, short-lived, changeable and divergent. "This is my magic." He said it again, looking at you seriously and sincerely, as if he really needed you to understand all this. "My philosophy of life is that no matter what you do, you can't always follow others. Go your own way, okay? " He said.
It seems that Jay Chou did not put R&; B music was introduced by the first batch of musicians in Taiwan Province Province. Before him, Tao Zhe and Wang Leehom had tried it, but it was not until Jay Chou debuted that R&; Singer B began to really occupy the music scene in Taiwan Province Province. "There is no doubt that Jay Chou leads the development of music," said Fang Laiqi, a Hong Kong music critic. His success in music creation and singing brought him a large number of imitators.
Jay Chou sat lazily in a Chinese restaurant after his performance at MGM Grand Theatre. He is still wearing a sweaty baseball cap and a shabby cowboy shirt. He seems to be a little thoughtful and surprised by his great success. In fact, there are still many fields in the entertainment circle that Alexander needs to conquer, including: TV, movies, going global, marching into the United States and so on. But Jay Chou doesn't seem to take English learning seriously, and he is not interested in finding a director for his film. In the end, he got used to what fame brought him. He has begun to integrate into his role, and his philosophy of life has guided him so far, and he has learned to believe in himself.
A 24-year-old superstar still has a lot to learn to do, and various commercial forces will guide him to shoot such advertisements, such magazine covers and so on. R & ampb or rap? Nike or Adidas? He shook his head. The first thing he wants to do is to go back to his music room in Taipei, lie on the sofa, take a nap and sing more magic music in his dreams.
China Net March 2003 17