Although Ji Jia-song (nicknamed Blue J, 紀佳松) did not release his first album until he was 30 years old, the acclaimed singer/songwriter is making up for lost time and enjoying the success of his second album.
The rising pop star, who turned 32 yesterday and will perform for his fans live for the first time tomorrow night, saw his second album, Fish Man, peak at No. 2 last week on the G-Music Mandarin album chart. For the concert, Ji will perform songs from his two elegantly crafted albums, which merge pop and R ’n’ B with beatboxing.
In the new album’s lead single, Tears of Goldfish (金魚的眼淚), Ji croons about the need to remember all the good aspects of a relationship.
Photo Courtesy of Universal Music
“I saw a show on the Discovery Channel that said a goldfish only has a memory of between three to seven seconds,” Ji told the Taipei Times in an interview on Monday. “It made me wonder if human beings would be better off having a shorter memory so that we wouldn’t hold sadness for long.”
Despite his musical abilities, Ji’s waifish look made it challenging for his record company to market him as a pop star.
“A lot of the songs I wrote were rejected because my label wants me to sing and play piano at the same time. They want to highlight my role as a singer/songwriter,” he said.
After his first album, Ji took a break for inspiration, visiting Hong Kong, Beijing, Bali, Tokyo, Vancouver, New York and Toronto.
“I went traveling around the globe for a whole year and then wrote this album in three months,” he said.
In contrast to the soul-searching of his second album, Ji’s debut, 2009’s Blue J, paid homage to his father, Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) pop legend Ji Ming-yang (紀明陽). In the opening track, Spilt Water Can’t Be Retrieved (水潑落地難收回) — originally a 1989 hit written by Ji Ming-Yang and performed by Hoklo pop queen Huang Yi-ling (黃乙玲) — Blue J updated the classic into a groovy salute to his father in four languages (Mandarin, English, Hoklo and Cantonese).
“When my parents got married in Taipei, my grandparents didn’t give their blessing because my father was a struggling musician,” the singer said. “Thirty years later, my dad emigrated to Canada to give me a music education he could only dream of.”
Ji moved to Vancouver when he was 16, majored in music theory in college and returned to Taiwan in 2001. He started by writing for heavyweights including Andy Lau (劉德華), Taiwan super group F4, and Elva Hsiao (蕭亞軒). In 2005, he moved up the ladder by producing albums for pop idol Wilber Pan (潘瑋柏), as well as coaching Pan on piano.
“I want to chat candidly with my fans and tell them about the stories behind these songs,” Ji said about tomorrow’s concert.
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