Why I Love Jay Chou

[janl]

Ok....this topic is probably as old as the hills, especially on this forum and I'm well aware there are threads on How Did You Get To Know Jay and How Has Jay Inspired You...all of which I've posted in. :P

But juz wanted to share this here....it's a little piece I wrote for a contest organised by Sony Music recently to commemorate Jay's birthday. Incidentally, I was one of four winners and the only one which was in English!
It's basically an amalgamation of my various posts so far.
Hope you enjoy it!

I walked into the screening of The Green Hornet on 30 January 2011, blissfully unaware of who Jay Chou was. As I was English-educated and always only listening to Western pop music from young, his name at that time meant nothing to me.

Two hours later, I emerged from the theatre, determined to Google the cool, charismatic and confident actor who portrayed the hapless Hornet’s 兄弟。 And what followed has been a year of discovery about Jay Chou: the man, his music, his movies and the numerous other hats which he wears!
Over time, I gradually acquired his albums, movies, books, concert DVDs and piano books from various sources. I also joined an English Jay Chou website viz www.jaychoustudio.com and became an active participant there, as it was the only English Jay site around.

What has made me such a huge fan of Jay?

Most importantly, it is his music.
As I started listening to his albums, it became obvious to me why he was the one who had revolutionized the Mandopop industry.
Like I mentioned earlier, I had only listened to Western pop from young, as my opinion of Chinese pop has always been low.
But when I heard Jay’s songs, I didn’t feel like it was Chinese pop as I imagined till then.
Jay’s voice, melodies and sound were really different.
His unique fusion of rap, R&B, hip-hop and Chinese-style songs completely won me over!
Not to mention his interesting themes and clean lyrics (load of thanks to Vincent Fang as well!).
And his concerts (on DVDs) bowled me over too. Such an amazing performer!

Truth to tell, I was actually also getting quite disillusioned with Western pop at the same time, what with all the stuff relating to sex, drugs and vulgarities in the pop and rap songs. So Jay’s music was a very welcome breath of fresh air!
Until now, his music is still mostly what I listen to, whilst keeping up a little with other artistes, both Western and Mando.

Another reason I love him so much is that he made me more aware of my Chinese heritage through his songs.
My Chinese has improved by leaps and bounds over the past year, as I had to read and listen to more Chinese articles, magazines, programmes in order to get to know him better.
Not to mention understanding his song lyrics.

In fact, my Chinese has improved so much that I can converse with other Chinese-speaking people and also type out Chinese on my laptop and phone much more effortlessly!
And I help translate videos and some simple articles for Jay Chou Studio too.
This would have been unthinkable more than a year ago!

I was also interested enough (thanks to Jay’s 中国风 songs) to attend my first ever Singapore Chinese Orchestra concert last year….and really enjoyed it! And attend my first-ever Chinese play by The Theatre Practice. J

Besides his music, I also checked out his movies and the next movie I watched after The Green Hornet was Secret….which was an absolute gem!
And I was even more impressed when I discovered that he had written all the music and directed the movie himself!
Of course I’m not that impressed with ALL his movies but it was good to know that he was willing to be more than just a singer-songwriter.

I’ve also watched Mr J Channel, which I enjoyed thoroughly and admire him for having the gumption to do a talkshow with his choreographers and makeup artiste….which other singer has done something like that???
And it spoke volumes of his desire to challenge himself as he wanted to improve on his speaking and conversational skills.

Jay has been a wonderful inspiration and role model.
He’s very hardworking and does not smoke, drink, do drugs nor womanise.
I also love his filial piety, respect for elders and ability to keep his friends all these years, from when he was a struggling songwriter to the megastar he is today.
He has absolutely no airs and is always thinking of ways to help his friends in their ventures.
What also amazes me is how generous he is with letting them drive his many (fast) cars!

A few other endearing aspects of Jay are:

His love for PINK!
His utter nonchalance and cool attitude, even when wearing the most ridiculous-looking outfits.
His constant battles with the papparazzi.
And oh…I absolutely adore his dimples when he smiles!!!

I’ve watched The Viral Factor and have new respect for Jay as this movie has pushed him to yet another level.
Getting to see him at the gala premiere was unforgettable!

“I want to thank my fans. I will continue to be your Superman.”

Jay said this when he won the two most coveted awards at the Golden Melody Awards in March last year.
After ten years in the industry, he shows no signs of slowing down!
I look forward to more awesome work from him this year, as he has promised to do Secret 2 and come out with his 12th album by December!

Thank you, Sony Music Singapore for letting me have this chance to express my admiration and support for this Incomparable man, whose creativity has left his mark on this Era and will continue to do so for many years to come!
He is, indeed, very WOW! And a very prominent Exclamation Point!

Cheers to the King of DIAO!

Anyone else want to share?
Especially the Newbies?
Would love to hear from more members!

[Studio Era]

Yes, we should TOTALLY share our stories of how we discovered Jay!  :) Thanks for the thread, Janl!!!!

I've known Jay for all my life but I never really Googled him or anything like that. My parents said that he was some useless artist who mumbles and has no talent whatsoever. That was really insulting to me, even though I didn't really get to know him that time. Whatever was the case, I had a feeling that Jay has a hidden charisma that will really take your breath away.

June 19th 2006: The first time I saw Jay, on the news, with reporters saying something about taking his son out for a walk. But that was just plain bull shit because it was 2006 and he was sooooooooooooooo not married at that time.

January 3rd 2009: The second time I saw him, on a Chinese new Year Spring Gala performance with this kid. My first impression? Crazy. I think we should all watch that video again to refresh our memories: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olWXOEqfcD0

October 15th 2007: Secret was on and my mother told me to watch something piano related because that is what I'm dealing with at the moment and I might find inspiration. I did, but I did not understand the plot of the movie.

My passion for Jay began from my favourite pianist, Yundi Li. He was my inspiration to the love of Chopin's music.

May 22nd 2010: I got to Yundi's collaborations with Jay. I personally thought that both of them played very well but I had no idea how versatile Jay was. He was left alone. :(

August 2010 was THE ERA of my Jay discovery.

August 3rd 2010: My first Jay song was Retreat. I fell immediately in love with it. Yes, his pronunciations were not clear, but music can express a thousand things better than words.

I watched Secret again in that year and I absolutely loved the plot, now that I understood it. It got me very motivated and I cried every time I got to the end. It's just so emotional!

Later on, I gradually fell for him, for his works, movies, voice, personality, ideas, and on October 6th of that year, I discovered this website. And I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  This website really got me to understand of the real Jay, from being so unapproachable to the friendliest shy artist there is.

My collections for this man is only online. The songs, movies, photos, videos, anything. I guess you'll have to say that I'm fairly addicted to him because the excuses are endless!!!!!!!! In fact, there should be NO EXCUSE to people hating him.

I love Jay for his music, his performance, how he inspired me to write my own songs, his good habits, his love for pink ( JUST SO CUTE), dimples, and the way that he changed my old personality. He really got me thinking that life is a self directed and acted creation and you should cherish it while you have it. Without him, I would have never felt so refreshed, so free and so alive.

[chie]

thanks for this thread janl :D and I love reading how fans get to know him :D I'll share mine too..I think I've been a fan of jay almost one year now. It started from Jan 2011 up to present :D So here we goes....

I admit, I somehow hate jay at first because I'm a huge fan of Show Luo. He's my ultimate bias when it comes to mandopop world. I didn't really know jay at that time but every time I look at the any music awards, I always see the name of jay where he always get the most all of the awards, because I'm hoping that Show will get the most of the awards. And it really irritates me because I always read the name "Jay Chou" and it really annoys me alot! And I wonder why he always get the major wards while show is only few.

And there is a english forum of show that I'm also a member of it and i've a thread about the comparison of Rashomon (show's 10th album) and The Era of jay... of course all the people including me supported show in his album.. other people commented that "The Era of jay is not as good as his past album.." so they always go with the rashomon of show because they think it have many styles and genre in terms of the melody. At that time, I was curious about the "the era thing" and I've listened to it........once. And I don't know what song was that I've listened but it is kinda rap.( I think that's kua shi dai) So I told myself......"What? this jay chou always get the major awards and has very weird style of music!" then I've stayed always with show.


Then the Mr. J channel came out.. and all the Show fans were eager to watch the premiere of that because of the "reuniting thing" that I don't know about in their past.(i think of the double J thing that others think that show and jay have a misunderstandings before because show take part on jolin's side Moreover, I simply watch the episode for the sake of Show.. then.....then.... I really loved Show and Jay's chemistry in hosting.. and I can see that there were really friends!! Because they spilled secrets on one another and have lot's of memories.. So I think this jay chou is not bad at all. And Show really supported Jay always!!! that he even came at his The Era concert in Taipei arena!!! and I saw that Show was seated where jay's family and friends are. So.. I didn't hate jay anymore :D


On my Christmas break last Dec 2010, i told my friend to recommend other mandopop artist so I will have a wider range of knowledge in terms in mandopop world. And she told me to listen to Jay Chou.. and she gave me her favorite album of jay which is the "on the run", "november's chop" and the latest which is the era... then i told her, alright, I will listen to it... and she let me watch the "wo bu pei (I'm Not Worthy) because that is her favorite jay song. Then I somehow didn't digested it because I'm still stuck with show, and alice tseng was also a lead gurl of show's mv... so I made comparisons again. And the song "head over heels" by show, have a same plot of jay's wo bu pei.. so I didn't like it.


After downloading on the run album.......I listened to it and it was Cai Hong (rainbow) that I've heard....and OH MY! OH MY! OH MY!!!!! jay's have a very nice voice!!!! very soothing and high, cute voice :D and also when I've heard "cowboy is very busy" It was actually very FUN and have a country feeling :D and different genre! then I told my mom to compare the voice of jay and show.. then she said, she liked jay's voice!!! haha.


After that, I became curious about his latest album at that time which is the era.. and I found it good!! and i was indulge at his raps and intricate music style :D and known only at that time that he composed everything that he sang. And I little by little I admire him a lot, discovering many things about him was exciting :D


in jan 2011, there's the green hornet.. and i watch it because jay chou is there and my other friends said that they will watch the movie because of jay, so I watch it.. and also, I'm kinds attached to his songs already that I give it a try watching TGH. and......and.... it was ultimately fun!!! and his action skills were good. So from that time, I research a lot about him and found one of his concerts a fancam in vancouver.......and i saw the opening and it was awesome!!!! the I told my friend, if she know where i can watch his the concert online.. and she told me just watch on the youtube.. and luckily... i found it :D


I was totally enjoying the concert because it was great!!! and almost all of the song that he sang were my favorites. So i said to myself....."I need to have a copy of that concert! I want it badly......" because jay was very professional singer in comes to stage and I really loved the 3D effects! and I've influence my sister to love jay too! and so we watch his movie secret and it was ROMANTIC!! it was really good. and jay, is very talented because he wrote the story itself and with that, my admiration to him really grows!


i think, my 2011 year, were full of jay's fandom :D because slowly by slowly....im collecting all his stuffs :D then I watched Kung fu dunk (very funny and cute jay) and initial D. My dad become fond of jay's movies too! and some of his songs hahah! I think it's bad that I've influence them haha!


Really...... jay is one of the person that is very talented :D I love his shyness and his love for pink............NOT!
up to now, i can't imagine his thing for pink stuffs :D Oh well I still love him though..... and about his dance steps.............NOT :D haha but it's okay for me! his dance steps were a bit funny for me.


Not to mention his dimples!!!!!!!!!! I love to stare at that!
And that's Jay for me :D

[shammy12]

My journey begins long before I actually knew who he was, probably around 2001 when I heard my first Jay Chou which was a song called 犯賤 he wrote for Jordan Chan. At that time I didn't know Jay composed it. I don't really remember much about it but I defintely heard it before when I was very young.

Around 2006 I was very into hip hop and was searching stuff about chinese hip hop. This is when I came across my second Jay Chou song which was 戰爭 by Edison. At that time I didn't know Jay composed the song.

Around 2007 I started talking to a friend about chinese music and she was a very big Jay Chou fan. I asked her to recommened me a song by Jay something soft and mellow. She send me links to Back to the Past and Jordan Chan's 獻世. Even though I loved Back to the Past I never delve any deeper into Jay's repetoire.

So the same year, I went to HK and this was the same time Secret was showing on screens. Here I heard two more Jay songs that were being repeated on TV, the obvious one being Secret That Cannot be Told, and the other being 小小 by Joey Yung.  I also bought the Incomparable concert on VCD since my friend has been raving about him.

Once I got back to the UK I listened to the Incomparable concert many times and also watched Secret twice on the internet. Still I never delve any deeper into his songs. Thinking about this now I don't have a clue why I didn't explore more of Jay's songs. The incomparable concert has nearly all my favourite Jay songs and I really liked Secret especially the piano battle scene.

Jay also released On the Run that year and I remember my friend telling me she didn't know if she liked the Cowboy song or not because it was so strange. I remeber listening to it and finding it strange aswell. I also remember the Cowboy song being played at a chinese restaurant when I was having lunch there. Also, I heard a really low quality version of 菊花台 with lots of static but even with it the beautiful chinese wind melody was prominent. Oh nearly forgot I heard 連帶關系 that year by Twins which was also a song composed by Jay with a similar style to Cowboy.

So summer 2008 I went down to my grandma's house one day and my cousins were watching Initial D but I only caught the really end. I was disappointed as they did not invite me to watch it with them :(

Fast forward to a Decemeber's morning of 2009, I woke up hearing a familar tune being played on the piano. It turned out it was my sister watching Secret on Youtube. I sat through the rest of the film with her and thus begun my obsession with Jay. In the beginning I only listened to a few of his songs on Youtube these being Qi Li Xiang, Flower Pot, Retreat and Wo Bu Pei. I constantly listened to these 4 songs before I decided I'll look into his other stuff. I rewatched his Incomparable concert and was really amazed of the range and quality of his songs. I went and downloaded all his albums and to this day I don't think I've went a single day without listening to one Jay song.

I was pleasantly suprise to find songs I really like which I haven't heard in a long time was actually composed by Jay especially 犯賤 as I probably haven't heard that song in 8 years. This brings me to my biggest regret, which is if only I knew about him all those years ago. It must of been so exciting waiting for a new album back when this forum and JayChou.net had so many active members. But there's no point dwelling on the past, lets look at the future, hopfully Secret 2 will be as good as Secret 1 and his next few albums bring back some of the 感覺 from his old songs.

So there's all my encounters with Jay up to when I started to become a fan. I actually forgot alot of stuff and had to go back and add stuff in so that's why some places doesn't seem to flow that well but oh well

[janl]

WOW!!!

I loved reading your stories, Studio, chie and shammy...and I wish Jay could read them too!!!

@Studio:

I can't believe what your parents said about him...but then again, every artiste will have their detractors.
Do they still hold that opinion tho'?

As for his mumbling....somehow, when I first listened to his songs, it never occurred to me that it was mumbling 'cos their melodies and whole 'feel' were what got to me. And it simply did not matter that I could not understand the lyrics...perhaps in part 'cos I hardly ever listened to Chinese stuff anyways at that time.
I remember one of his songs which I first listened to and juz had to replay over and over was Simple Love...gosh, it was such a cool number!
And Secret never fails to move me, mostly because of the music. :)

@chie:

Show is one of Jay's most longtime friends and he has had his share of ups and downs, but he is another talented and very personable celebrity. I love how he's always taking the mickey out of Jay! And I'm sure their friendship will stand the test of time.
And please give your Mum a hug from me for preferring Jay's voice to Show's....lolz!

@shammy12:

I enjoyed your story very much, even more so 'cos it's coming from a guy.
I feel that Jay's music appeals equally to both guys and gals but gals naturally tend to talk more!
However, I was surprised to hear on one of the Taiwanese radio interviews with Jay (when he was promoting Exclamation Mark), that 3 out of 4 people who called in to ask him questions were guys....and they were quite un-shy about declaring their admiration for him. :)
But you're right about looking ahead to the future for this forum....let's do our bestest to keep things moving 'cos our Superman is still going strong!

[Studio Era]

WOW!!!
I loved reading your stories, Studio, chie and shammy...and I wish Jay could read them too!!!

@Studio:

I can't believe what your parents said about him...but then again, every artiste will have their detractors.
Do they still hold that opinion tho'?

*Sigh*, Janl, this is probably the only thing that my parents will never understand. And that is Jay's talent. They still think of him as if he's some uncivilized animal who's too stupid to even pronounce properly. Apparently, they don't hear the beauty behind his melodies and lyrics. Even if the pronunciations are clear, they still pretend as if they don't understand. What can I do? They don't appreciate the fact that I like his songs. They think it's garbage and is too lazy to even understand them. And they'll never understand his story.

My father though, has a slight better admiration of Jay than my mother. At least he "believes" that Jay has talent, but can't understand why a grown man would wear pink pants. My mother on the other hand, she simply detests him and thinks he's a definite idiot. :P

And of course, we all wish that Jay will know of this site and have someone to translate for him. But I don't think he really cares or have the time to look at the comments. After all, they are pretty much the same. I apologize of my negativity but sometimes, I just can't help it. There are always some negatives of every artists. 

[xx0lovalauraxx]

Wow everyone. Thank you for sharing all of your "why i love jc" stories!! It was definitely a great read !! I might share my story sometime later when i'm free. :D

[chie]

@chie:

Show is one of Jay's most longtime friends and he has had his share of ups and downs, but he is another talented and very personable celebrity. I love how he's always taking the mickey out of Jay! And I'm sure their friendship will stand the test of time.
And please give your Mum a hug from me for preferring Jay's voice to Show's....lolz!

Me too! I love when he teases jay a lot!! because jay is a total shy ahahaha :D my mom likes jay's voice a lot :D and also because he has a lot of genres... one time, i listened to nov chop album while she was cooking..... then suddenly she told me that the songs were nice.. and she even asked me to save my favorite songs about jay so she can listened it at her office LOL! and also my dad!!!!!!!!!! haha. he likes uncle joker so much :D and I even asked myself "What's happening with my parents?" :D

another thing...... my grandfather likes twilight's chapter too!! especially the into of the song :D

[Studio Era]

Jay deserves to be teased. He's just so shy at times and so cute.

[chie]

Jay deserves to be teased. He's just so shy at times and so cute.

agree! haha. I love it when Show Luo kept on teasing him

[martz]

I love Jay cause he's DIAO! Lol ~

I never knew who he was before until a friend named Chie introduced him to me last 2010, I think. The first song I listened to was Cai Hong. Oh, memories. ~ Then she recommended The Era to me. :) I liked it the first time I heard it! I listened to his other albums and my favorite is November's Chopin. FTW! Haha. I love how romantic Lang Man Shou Ji is. ♥ I love every song in the album. His songs are worth listening! ;)


I love his dimples ♥ I know you people love it too. Haha! I have watched 3 movies of him which are Secret, Initial D & The Green Hornet. I haven't watched The Viral Factor but I would love to watch it. Anyway, looking back, after watching Secret, I was so inspired to write a fanfic related to it! And I did write one. :) Initial D ignited me with my love for cars and drifting! Lol ~ And he is so cute in The Green Hornet! His english there is totally DIAO. Lol ~


And simply, I love him cause he's true to his Music. ;] Long live Jay! Haha.

[janl]

looking back, after watching Secret, I was so inspired to write a fanfic related to it! And I did write one. :)

And simply, I love him cause he's true to his Music. ;] Long live Jay! Haha.

Oooh!!!

Please share your fanfic with us in Jay Fan Fiction!!

[Studio Era]

Another collection of stories :) Can't wait to read it.

[longlu]

Actually Jay has directed only one movie, it's  secret.

Other movies are not directed by Jay.  Something that jay did wrong was that he had been acted in some bad movies.    He should 've choose wisely.

[Studio Era]

Actually Jay has directed only one movie, it's  secret.

Other movies are not directed by Jay.  Something that jay did wrong was that he had been acted in some bad movies.    He should 've choose wisely.

He only directed one movie. Everyone knows that.