Jay Chou’s rough experience (reposted)
The 24-year-old Jay Chou grew up in a single-parent family in Taipei City. His mother was a middle school teacher, and his father divorced his mother when he was young. Because of this, his mother placed all her hopes on him.
From: Club.ChinaRen.com
When Jay Chou was 3 years old, his mother saw that he was very talented in music, so she did not hesitate to take out all the family savings and give him Bought a piano. As a result, Jay Chou was deprived of the right to play in his childhood and spent all his days next to the piano. But every time he practices the piano, he always plays absent-mindedly when he hears the playfulness of his companions outside the window. So, his mother held a stick and stood behind him, watching him finish practicing the piano.
From: Club.ChinaRen.com
His mother’s “stick education” is what Jay Chou is good at, but it also makes him not talkative since he was a child, with a withdrawn personality and poor academic performance. It's also been bad.
After Jay Chou was admitted to Tamsui High School in Taipei, he suddenly became a "well-known figure" in the school because he could play the piano. But while his classmates were nervously preparing to take the college entrance examination, he was still indulged in his music hobby. In the eyes of ordinary people, his future is bleak. Because in China, for a child from an ordinary family, his best choice is to study mathematics, natural sciences and computers in order to find a good job and make a living in the future, while music is a luxury for the rich. Obviously, they think Jay Chou cannot afford luxury. Sure enough, in June 1996, after graduating from high school, Jay Chou couldn't find a job for a while, so he had to apply for a job as a waiter in a restaurant. His daily job is to deliver the dishes prepared by the chef to the restaurant, and then pass them to the guests by the waitress. This job seems simple, but it is not easy to do it. Because there are many guests, it is easy to pass the wrong dishes. And if something goes wrong, not only will the waiter be angry with the customer, but the boss will also deduct his salary.
From: Club.ChinaRen.com
Despite the many worries at work, Jay Chou's interest in music continues unabated. Every time he was paid, he would go to the music supermarket and spend almost all his money on buying tapes. He usually likes to take his radio player with him and listen to music whenever he has nothing to do.
From: Club.ChinaRen.com
Once, Jay Chou was in a good mood, holding a plate of food in his hands and listening to music while walking. Unexpectedly, he accidentally met a The waitress bumped into her head, and a plate of hot food spilled all over the waitress. The waitress's hands were blistered by the vegetables, and she cried loudly in pain. The restaurant manager heard the crying and rushed over immediately. He severely criticized Jay Chou and unceremoniously fined Jay Chou NT$2,000 (equivalent to about RMB 450).
From: Club.ChinaRen.com
Jay Chou, who is not good at words, did not say a word and swallowed tears straight into his stomach. You know, his monthly salary at that time was only NT$4,000! But now, half of it was deducted by the manager all of a sudden. How could he still have money to buy the tape?
Shortly after this incident, in order to improve the taste of the restaurant, the owner of the restaurant equipped a piano in the restaurant and wanted to play music to entertain the guests while they were eating. However, several pianists were invited, but they were all fired because they did not agree with the boss's taste.
One day after get off work, Jay Chou, who had itchy hands, took advantage of his boss's absence to play a song he had just composed on the brand-new piano, surprising the employees: This big boy who never liked to talk, He can even play the piano!
Soon, this matter reached the ears of the boss. The boss immediately called Jay Chou and asked him to be the pianist to play his own music in the hall. A few days later, he notified the local TV station that his waiter not only played the piano, but also wrote songs.
In this way, the boss used the TV station to promote the restaurant and killed two birds with one stone. It not only increased the restaurant's popularity, but also saved a lot of money in hiring a piano player.
From: Club.ChinaRen.com
From then on, Jay Chou no longer had to be a waiter, but sat in front of the piano and played every day. At the beginning, he could still play the songs he composed, but as time went by, some guests asked for songs. In this way, he had to play music according to the mood of the guests.
From: Club.ChinaRen.com
Once again, a guest in the restaurant had a birthday and wanted Jay Chou to play some light music. But at this moment, another boss who had drunk too much threw out a wad of money and said he wanted to hear something exciting. Seeing this scene, the birthday guest did not show any weakness. He took out a large wad of bills from his bag, threw it in front of Jay Chou and said: "Who is afraid of who? I want to listen to "Night Under the Moonlight"! "The two sides were arguing, and no one was willing to give in, and they almost came to blows. Jay Chou had an idea and said: "You are all guests here, I can't ask for this money. Now, I'm going to play a piece of music. Guess whoever guesses correctly will sing along with my accompaniment." The two met. This was a good idea, so I readily agreed.
From: Club.ChinaRen.com
In this way, the smart Jay Chou first played a piece of light music and let the birthday guests guess correctly. Another weird symphony was played for the drunken guests to guess. After a few songs, both parties were very satisfied. Instead of fighting, they even started singing duets with each other. In this way, the atmosphere in the restaurant immediately relaxed. The boss was very happy and immediately gave Jay Chou a salary increase, with a monthly salary of NT$7,000.
From: Club.ChinaRen.com
2. Selling songs to survive, Andy Lau is unwilling to sing his songs
From: Club.ChinaRen.com
p>In September 1997, Jay Chou's cousin signed up for him on an entertainment program on a local TV station - "The Rookie King". At that time, the host of the show, Wu Zongxian, was also the owner of **Alfa Music Company. He arranged for Jay Chou to perform piano accompaniment and allowed him to bring a singer to sing.
From: Club.ChinaRen.com
On the day of the performance, Jay Chou wore casual clothes and a peaked cap with the brim low, giving him a cool look. Unexpectedly, at the beginning of the performance, the music he accompanied made his singer's singing very unpleasant. Suddenly, boos broke out from the audience...
From: Club.ChinaRen.com
Jay Chou's performance was terrible. At this time, Wu Zongxian, who happened to be standing next to the judges, took the song sheet and looked at it. He couldn't help but be surprised - this seemingly careless, even a little bohemian young man wrote the song. Not only was the score very complicated, but he also copied it neatly. . Out of curiosity, after the show was completed, he invited Jay Chou to come to his music company to write songs after he resigned.
From: Club.ChinaRen.com
Although Jay Chou didn’t understand why he was still favored by the host even though he failed in his acting, once he heard that he could write songs full-time, he readily agreed.
When he first joined the music company, Jay Chou's position was a music production assistant. This job requires him to do all kinds of chores. Among them, buying lunch boxes for his colleagues is his daily "repertoire". He knew that he was new here, and if he wanted to make a living in the music company, he had to help his colleagues "run more errands", so he was always very diligent.
From: Club.ChinaRen.com
Once, the company produced a record for a big-name Hong Kong singer. Because there were so many people in the recording studio and they were relatively scattered, Jay Chou couldn't count how many people wanted to eat lunch at the same time.
In order not to leave anyone behind, he bought food from 12 noon to 3 pm that day, running back and forth four or five times. In the end, he couldn't even drink water, and no one in the recording studio helped him.
From: Club.ChinaRen.com
Wu Zongxian saw this in his eyes and thought to himself: This young man is practical and not afraid of hardship, but he is always so busy. He had time to write songs... So he equipped Jay Chou with an office and named it Alfa Music Studio, allowing him to concentrate on writing songs.
From: Club.ChinaRen.com
Since then, this small place has become a platform for Jay Chou to fly his dreams. Although his salary was only NT$5,000, he was full of unprecedented interest in music. Even outside the recording studio, he can feel the joy of music. Therefore, he works like a duck in water.
From: Club.ChinaRen.com
Since Jay Chou has laid a solid foundation in music since he was a child, he quickly composed a large number of songs. But what always makes Wu Zongxian feel incomprehensible is that the lyrics he writes are always weird, and almost no one in the music circle likes them. First, he always puts aside Jay Chou's manuscripts in disappointment.
From: Club.ChinaRen.com
Once again, Jay Chou took his favorite work and gave it to Wu Zongxian for review. This time, Wu Zongxian saw his proud look and wanted to provoke him. After getting the manuscript, he crumpled the song into a ball without even looking at it and threw it into the trash can next to him.
From: Club.ChinaRen.com
Seeing this scene, Jay Chou turned around and left the boss's office without saying anything. His tears couldn't help but flow out...
But this young man who refused to admit defeat knew that giving up would mean getting fired. So, he continued to compose, the next day, the third day... He composed at the rate of one song per day. For seven consecutive days, Wu Zongxian could always see Jay Chou's works on time when he went to work at eight o'clock every morning. Finally, he was deeply moved by the young man's talent and diligence, and agreed to find a singer to sing the song he composed.
From: Club.ChinaRen.com
In February 1998, Jay Chou composed another song called "Tears Know". This time, Wu Zongxian decided to recommend this song to Andy Lau, the then king-level singer. Unexpectedly, when the lyrics were transferred to Andy Lau's hand, he only glanced lightly, shook his head and said, "How can tears know? What do tears need to know?" In this way, Andy who didn't appreciate these lyrics immediately refused to sing. This song.
From: Club.ChinaRen.com
Later, Jay Chou wrote a song - "Nunchuck" for Zhang Huimei, who was popular in the Chinese music scene at that time. He thought that Zhang Huimei was more avant-garde and should be more receptive to the songs he composed. However, unexpectedly, his carefully created "Nunchaku" was rejected by Zhang Huimei without hesitation.
From: Club.ChinaRen.com
After repeated failures, Jay Chou, who had always longed to achieve success in song creation, was confused. He even doubted whether his music path was still possible. How far can you go...
3. Composing and singing by himself, the wage earner became a popular king
Just when Jay Chou's creative enthusiasm was hit hard, his boss Wu Zongxian gave him gave him great encouragement. Wu Zongxian, who has been engaged in music production for a long time, saw Jay Chou's unique understanding of music. So, he decided to give this talented young man another chance - let him go on stage by himself and sing the songs he wrote.
From: Club.ChinaRen.com
One day in December 1999, Wu Zongxian called Jay Chou to the office and said very solemnly: "Allen, I give you 10 days. , if you can write 50 songs and I can pick 10 from them, then I will help you release a record."
From: Club.ChinaRen.com
Jay Chou. When I heard that my boss was going to help me release a record, I was so excited that I couldn't speak. I just said "Yeah" and walked out with my head lowered.
Returning to the Alfa Music Room, Jay Chou was very excited, but he was not in a hurry to start writing songs. Instead, he ran to the street and bought back a large box of instant noodles. He thought, even if he fights for his name, he still has to make a final struggle. Because he knew that the opportunity his boss gave him might be this one. Next, Jay Chou stayed in the music room and started composing. During that time, he almost composed one song after another. Every time he finished writing a song, he was as happy as giving birth to a child. Whenever he was tired, he would take a nap in a corner of the room, and when he woke up, he would continue composing the next song.
From: Club.ChinaRen.com
Seeing that her son had not been home for several days, Jay Chou's mother rushed to the company to visit him. She felt heartbroken when she saw her son working all night long and eating instant noodles every day. So, she took her son to a restaurant near the company and ordered a table full of dishes. She didn't feel relieved until she watched her son eat them all. After that, Jay Chou dived into the Alfa music room again...
From: Club.ChinaRen.com
In this way, in just 10 days, Jay Chou really took out 50 There are several songs, and each one is beautifully written and composed neatly. Faced with this astonishing creation speed, Wu Zongxian was speechless. Then, he selected 10 songs from Jay Chou's songs and prepared them for release on records.
From: Club.ChinaRen.com
After more than half a year of careful production, Jay Chou's first album - "Jay" was produced. It wasn't until that that he truly breathed a sigh of relief. Because the music he has been pursuing for nearly 20 years has finally come to fruition, and it is performed by himself. This is really beyond his expectation. Although he still doesn't know whether his record will sell well in the market, he is still very excited about it. After all, this is his first album, and he bought it with his own blood and sweat!
From: Club.ChinaRen.com
In early 2001, what was unexpected was that this young man who could not speak two sentences a day actually became a blockbuster. His first album was sold out by fans as soon as it was released. During the National Pop Music Awards that year, "Jay" won three awards in the National Pop Music Golden Melody Awards: Best Pop Music Vocal Album, Best Producer and Best Composer.
In December 2001, Jay Chou's second album "Fantasy" was released and once again took the entire Chinese music scene by storm. In early 2002, during the selection process of the 8th Global Chinese Music Chart, Jay Chou won the 2001 "Most Popular Male Singer" award.
As if overnight, the Chinese pop music scene was almost dominated by Jay Chou’s voice alone. His pure music style, unruly appearance and his "unfounded" scandals have become the focus of the younger generation of fans. After each of his concerts, even teenage girls would touch the piano chair where he had just sat with a pilgrim-like mood... This young man who debuted for less than a year has become China's Even the super heavyweight little king in the entire Chinese music scene.
Having grown from a restaurant waiter to a household name, Jay Chou said in an exclusive interview with Time magazine: "The dream of stardom is not unattainable. In fact, anyone can do it. As long as you work hard.
The reason why I am where I am today is because I refuse to admit defeat. "Yes, if a person doesn't want to be a coward who retreats, he should climb up step by step like a snail.