Last Thursday, reporters on the Jay Chou (
In any event, it would be the only scrap that Alfa Music was going to toss to the media in the runup to tomorrow's stop on the Jay Chou Incomparable Tour.
The drab warehouse where Jay and his band have been practicing was stacked floor-to-ceiling with scores of amplifiers the size of Volkswagen Beetles while piles of thick cable were coiled in the back, along with stacks of enormous klieg lights.
Upstairs, reporters jammed into a tiny antechamber, the shaggy cameramen and newspaper photographers chain-smoking and the lady reporters chattering nervously. The only quiet, smoke-free place to await Jay's arrival was outside in the rain. And keeping people waiting is part of what stardom is about, which is why he showed up over half an hour late without anyone seeming to mind.
When Jay arrived in the company of his entourage of managers and sound people it was difficult at first to pick him out, as he was the only one ducking his head and staring at his feet. The others strode with purpose, politely shoving reporters aside and radiating a confidence attributable perhaps to their close proximity to celebrity. The star, though, showed mild ennui and seemed unimpressed by reporters calling him by his nickname Chairman Chou (周董).
He returned the hellos in his awkward, camera-shy manner before being ushered by his manager into the session room. The reporters spilled in after him, elbowing their way to the best spots at the foot of the singer's keyboard while he warmed up for what would be a truncated and mumbled version of two songs, off his latest album Common Jasmine Orange (七里香). It's been at or near the top of the charts in Taiwan most of the summer.
With that part of the event taken care of, Jay got down to the real business of the day, which was having his photo taken at his piano, draped over bongos and standing next to a turntable that provides the scratching on hip-hop numbers.
He played along for the media, even smiled a bit and explained his mumbling as a precaution against straining his voice when a couple of concerned reporters asked whether he'd recovered from a cold picked up recently in China.
The question-and-answer period was cut short, though, thanks to a reporter asking whether Jay would sing at the National Day celebrations on Oct. 10, a topic that Alfa had said beforehand was off-limits. The reporters were then asked to please leave and Jay was off the hook.
So the reporters, including myself, dispersed feeling a mixture of elation at meeting with the top icon of Mandarin pop music and disappointment that the only quotes he offered were trite soundbites of the, "Lately I've just been resting and practicing so I can put on a great concert," variety.
But these stage-managed media moments are part of the game for a singer whose album sales bankroll an entire record label's operations and who's graced the cover of Time, as well as practically every other publication in Taiwan since his 2001 eoponymous debut album.
RSS