Jay Chou, who had just debuted, was shortlisted for four awards: Best Pop Vocal Album, Best Composer, Best Album Producer and Best Newcomer, and finally won the Best Pop Vocal Album.

On May 5, 2001, the 12th Taiwan Golden Melody Awards were held at the Zhongzheng Cultural Center in Kaohsiung City. Jay Chou , who just debuted, was shortlisted for four awards: Best Pop Vocal Album, Best Composer, Best Album Producer and Best Newcomer, and finally successfully won the Best Pop Vocal Album.

Cover of Jay Chou's first album "JAY"

Jay Chou, who was born out of nowhere, won the finale award for Best Album as soon as he debuted. This is unprecedented in the history of Taiwan Golden Melody Awards. After award presenters Luo Dayou and Wu Bai called out Jay Chou, Jay Chou jumped onto the stage excitedly. The moment he took the trophy from their hands was also the handover of the two greatest musicians in the two centuries of Chinese music.

Jay Chou won the Best Album Award at the 12th Taiwan Golden Melody Awards

We are now used to Jay Chou being talented and always radiating dazzling light, so we often feel that it is easy and natural for him to have all the glory. In fact, we tend to forget how difficult it was for Jay Chou along the way. In fact, everything was achieved through his own efforts.

Jay Chou’s growth and fame experience will not be repeated. Here we review Jay Chou’s speech at the Peking University Centennial Lecture Hall, and listen to the story about himself told by the king himself...

Jay Chou Peking University Centennial Lecture Hall Lecture Record

people You have to have a skill, which is more important than academic qualifications.

It is really not easy to stand in the Centennial Lecture Hall of Peking University and give a lecture. It can be regarded as a success. Everyone must have a dream. Like everyone else, I am very ordinary. It’s just that I have learned some music.

I didn’t go to college, but I gave a speech to the college students here. Do you think it’s a little strange?

Jay Chou told his story at the Centennial Lecture Hall of Peking University in 2017.

In fact, Fang Wenshan only attended elementary school, but what he wrote was selected into the textbook. Therefore, powerful people and extraordinary people do not need to be good at reading books, but they need to have a certain skill.

At that time, my mother also hoped that I could go to college and study music, but I was not good at studying, so I failed the exam twice. But what you like will eventually be cashed in for you in the future. Think about it, when I was young, if I was locked up there and didn't play basketball, how would I be able to film " Slam Dunk " now? If I hadn't learned piano at that time, how would I have filmed "'s Secret " now? If I didn't like watching these martial arts movies at that time, how could I make "The Green Hornet" now? These are not things your parents ask you to learn. You are spontaneous and you like such things.

Therefore, I think people should have a skill, which is more important than academic qualifications.

I am a very competitive and face-loving person.

In fact, I am a very face-loving and competitive person. I believe everyone can see that. Let me give you a very simple example: taking a bus. Everyone has this experience. There were a lot of people on the bus, and I was squeezed until the end and my hand was pinched by the bus door. Because there were several seniors sitting in front of me, I endured it because I was concerned about face, thinking that the bus door would open automatically at the next stop. As a result, the bus didn't stop at the next stop, so I had to silently say to my senior: I'm sorry, could you tell the bus driver that my hand was pinched... The bus driver and senior must be very confused. Why didn’t we talk about it at the first stop, and then we talked about it at the third stop? This means that I am a face-saving and competitive person. But I think this has helped me. In the current entertainment industry and current living environment, I tell myself that I can never lose and always be first.

Jay Chou, who loves face, is competitive, yet young and shy

Why does he work so hard to write songs

When I was a student, I started writing songs before I was admitted to college. At that time, it was considered an ant residence, and the ant residence was in the recording studio.Later, I was discovered by Wu Zongxian . He gave me three days and asked me to write a dozen songs, and then he selected songs from them to use. The songs you wrote at that time were for other singers to sing, so you would look forward to your songs being used. Only in this way can you make money and take it home to your parents. At that time, I expected to make money so that my family could live a better life. This was one of the reasons why I worked hard to write songs.

Another reason is that my parents spent too much money and energy on letting me learn piano when I was young, so I want to give back to my parents and not let them down.

The road to music is very difficult. Sometimes I can’t go on. I have no brothers or sisters. But luckily I met a good friend Liu Genghong . He was already a singer, and I was still living in his recording studio. He gave me clothes to wear, food to eat, drove me around, and introduced me to his friends.

Jay Chou and his friend Liu Genghong (right)

One day Wu Zongxian said, "Your songs seem to be good, but no one can sing them." When the company's music director Yang Junrong heard my songs, he said, "No one else can use your songs, so why not You can sing it yourself."

At that time, I had an idea: "Is it impossible to be a singer?" I didn't think much about it, so I just sang my own song.

One day the record company performed, many artists performed on the stage, and many big bosses came to watch. I was very nervous at that time and didn't know what song to sing. Liu Genghong recommended me to sing " black humor ". He said, "If you sing this song, it will be very unique to you. You can see that the previous love songs were very serious and rarely had such strange lyrics." "I said, "But the record company here is a foreigner, can he understand it?" Liu Genghong said, "You don't know what you sing anyway, and they don't know what you sing. It's good if the melody is good." After singing the first time, there was no reaction at all from the audience. I asked Liu Genghong, what's going on? He said I sang too quietly. Liu Genghong quietly went to the staff and asked them to give me another chance. I sang well the second time, so I had the opportunity to release a record, and the first title song " lovely woman " came out.

My senior sister in the same company, Vivian Hsu, helped me shoot the MV for "Lovely Woman". At that time, I was really flattered when the goddess filmed the MV for me, and it felt incredible. Later she actually said, "Can you teach me how to play the piano?" I realized that learning the piano was the right thing to do.

Jay Chou and Vivian Hsu (left)

Almost all the songs on my first album were written for other singers who didn’t want them, so I sang them again. So I’m also very grateful to the singers who didn’t use my songs at that time. I don’t know where they are now (laughs). No kidding.

So I can’t stop, I have to keep going forward, for the sake of my fans and friends, you read me right.

Find your own style

I released several records at that time and participated in several award ceremonies. At that time, awards were very important. In particular, I took my grandma to attend the award ceremony. She was shortlisted for many awards. I thought I would win at least one award and have the opportunity to speak on stage to thank my grandma. The result is nothing. I was very disappointed and unhappy. But in front of the camera, you still have to applaud everyone happily and generously. I feel like the entertainment industry is so fake. So I wrote it into a song called "Grandma" and used it to vent my inner dissatisfaction.

Jay Chou and His Grandma

At that time, most of the lyrics he wrote were about his inner feelings and had nothing to do with feelings. Later, I also wrote the song "Besieged on All Sides", which was about beating and scolding paparazzi. These songs may not resonate with too many people, because many people have never met paparazzi and don’t know that paparazzi are so annoying. Slowly, I wanted to return and write some songs with positive energy, so I stopped writing these songs that were not available, so I wrote "Dream Start", " Daoxiang " and so on.

I am also thinking about how I can be different from so many singers? European and American rap singers, their lyrics are full of violence and their music is very heavy. I like things with great contrast, that is Chinese style. Chinese style is actually particularly difficult to write because it only has a pentatonic scale, so it is difficult to be different from others. I was wondering if it would be possible for me to have a Chinese style if my voice is unclear and I can't enunciate. So I wrote " Dongfeng Breaks ", and the response was pretty good, so it became my own style.

"Dongfeng Po" has become the authentic originator of Chinese-style songs.

When filming " Full City with Golden Armor", director Zhang Yimou said: "I have listened to your "Dongfeng Po", otherwise you can follow this one" What do you think about "Golden Armor"? "So I wrote two songs, one is "Golden Armor" and the other is "Chrysanthemum Terrace". In the end, director Zhang Yimou used "Chrysanthemum Terrace" as the ending song of the film, so everyone has heard of "Chrysanthemum Terrace", but few people have heard of "The Golden Armor". Because of the song "Chrysanthemum Terrace", many parents of my fans and friends got to know me. I also met some old ladies who said they liked listening to my "Chrysanthemum Terrace", and I realized how wide the age range of my songs is.

So the songs I wrote finally found their own characteristics, that is, every album should have a Chinese style.

Turn experience into experience, from singer to director

As a singer, it is very tiring because you have to think a lot. You wrote ten songs and shot ten MVs. Why? Because when I write each song, I already have the picture in my mind, so I have to shoot it and let others take the shot. So I shot the first MV, then the second MV, ten MVs, twenty MVs... and now I have a total of seventy or eighty MVs. These MVs are actually an accumulation of experience. Why? Because I want to be a director. Directing is a different path from music. I have never studied film, why should I be a director? As a director, I want to capture the images in my heart.

Jay Chou directed and starred in his debut film "The Secret That Cannot Be Tellable"

In terms of movies, I made "The Secret That Cannot Be Telled". Have you seen it? I have been thinking, what kind of love can be different? Traveling through time and space, this movie plot feels very special to me, so I imagined the speed of the piano as a time machine. So I think people need to be imaginative and come up with something that is wildly imaginative and will definitely amaze everyone.

I also hope that everyone can find what makes them unique and amplify it.

This concludes today’s speech. Thank you!

Many people say that in the youth of those born in the 80s and 90s, there is a song by Jay Chou. After all, who can live without him in their youth? But time flies by so fast, like a tornado. This once cool boy is now a husband and a father. Although he has reached middle age, no one can deny that the boy who once wore a peaked cap and sang with "articulateness" in the eyes of his parents is still a beautiful memory of youthful arrogance in each of our hearts. As an old music fan, I really miss the days of releasing an album every year❥(^_-)