As if it wasn't enough for Jay Chou (
He's been able to break through thanks to some clever marketing by his European distributor BMG, which transformed Jay into a nun-chuck-swinging kung-fu master. Propelling this son-of-Bruce Lee (
The hip-hop song mixes in an erhu with electric guitar and aggressive beats. It's not an entirely original format, but Shuang Jie Gun pulls it off without losing a trace of pop appeal. The song was a hit in Taiwan last year, which is to be expected since everything Jay releases is practically guaranteed to become a hit. But Alfa Music, Jay's label in Taiwan, won't dare to guess why Jay could become so big in Europe.
PHOTO COURTESY OF BMG
"The bosses at BMG in Europe saw the video and were like, `whoa, what's this? This is amazing.' So, I think it's the curiosity factor for them and for the audience," said Ethan Ko (
The image makeover suggests BMG opted for the retro kung-fu B-movie angle popularized by Wu Tang Clan's 36 Chambers album. In Taiwan, the cover of the Fantasy album containing Shuang Jie Gun is simply a picture of Jay's shadowed face looking pensive. The European cover, however, features someone in a ninja outfit twirling nun-chucks, which is more in line with the Jay that Europeans know from the Shuang Jie Gun video. The name of the album was also changed to the title of the hit single. What fans will make of the more syrupy ballads that make up most of the rest of the album is anyone's guess.
Shuang Jie Gun has been moving thousands of copies across Europe, but solid sales figures are still not available.
Jay came onto the Taiwan pop scene two years ago with an eponymous album that launched him almost overnight to superstar status. He was then able to follow up with Fantasy, which did just as well as his first album, selling 400,000 copies in Taiwan alone and about 700,000 in Asia.
Fantasy earned Jay the best album award at the Golden Melody Awards on May 4 and while he was at it, Jay also picked up the best producer and best songwriter awards. Shuang Jie Gun, meanwhile, picked up the award for best arrangement.
That US assistance was a model for Taiwan’s spectacular development success was early recognized by policymakers and analysts. In a report to the US Congress for the fiscal year 1962, former President John F. Kennedy noted Taiwan’s “rapid economic growth,” was “producing a substantial net gain in living.” Kennedy had a stake in Taiwan’s achievements and the US’ official development assistance (ODA) in general: In September 1961, his entreaty to make the 1960s a “decade of development,” and an accompanying proposal for dedicated legislation to this end, had been formalized by congressional passage of the Foreign Assistance Act. Two
March 31 to April 6 On May 13, 1950, National Taiwan University Hospital otolaryngologist Su You-peng (蘇友鵬) was summoned to the director’s office. He thought someone had complained about him practicing the violin at night, but when he entered the room, he knew something was terribly wrong. He saw several burly men who appeared to be government secret agents, and three other resident doctors: internist Hsu Chiang (許強), dermatologist Hu Pao-chen (胡寶珍) and ophthalmologist Hu Hsin-lin (胡鑫麟). They were handcuffed, herded onto two jeeps and taken to the Secrecy Bureau (保密局) for questioning. Su was still in his doctor’s robes at
Last week the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said that the budget cuts voted for by the China-aligned parties in the legislature, are intended to force the DPP to hike electricity rates. The public would then blame it for the rate hike. It’s fairly clear that the first part of that is correct. Slashing the budget of state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) is a move intended to cause discontent with the DPP when electricity rates go up. Taipower’s debt, NT$422.9 billion (US$12.78 billion), is one of the numerous permanent crises created by the nation’s construction-industrial state and the developmentalist mentality it
Experts say that the devastating earthquake in Myanmar on Friday was likely the strongest to hit the country in decades, with disaster modeling suggesting thousands could be dead. Automatic assessments from the US Geological Survey (USGS) said the shallow 7.7-magnitude quake northwest of the central Myanmar city of Sagaing triggered a red alert for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses. “High casualties and extensive damage are probable and the disaster is likely widespread,” it said, locating the epicentre near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay, home to more than a million people. Myanmar’s ruling junta said on Saturday morning that the number killed had
RSS