Top 10 Interesting Facts about Jay Chou

Top 10 Interesting Facts about Jay Chou

Jay Chou is a Taiwanese singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, and television personality best known for fusing traditional Chinese instruments and styles with R&B or rock to form a new genre called “Zhongguo feng”, which literally means “Chinese Style Music”.

He was born on January 18, 1979, in Taipei, Taiwan to Yeh Hui-Mei, an art teacher who taught fine arts and Chou Yao-Chung, a biomedical researcher.

Chou raised to fame in 2001 with the release of his second studio album, Fantasy, which combined Western and Eastern music styles. He is regarded as one of the best-selling artists in the Greater China area, having sold over 30 million records.

Below, we discuss the top 10 interesting facts about Jay Chou;

1. Chou’s parents divorced when he was young

Image depicting divorce scrabble word – Flickr

Jay Chou’s parents divorced in 1993 when he was 14 years old. After the divorce, he grew up under the support of his mother.

This resulted in him being bullied and teased by his classmates, which caused him to become reclusive and introverted.

As he had no friends and preferred to be alone, listening to music, contemplating and daydreaming.

 Many years later, he used songs to write his heart’s love and gratitude for his mother into the songs and named the album after his mother, Ye Huimei. This album also became the number one selling album in Jay Chou’s music career.

2. Jay showed talent from an early age

Jay Chou – Wikimedia Commons

During his childhood, Jay was fascinated with capturing sounds and songs with his tape recorder, which he carried everywhere with him.

His mother was keen enough to notice her son’s fondness towards music, which led her to spent all her savings to buy Jay a piano and hired the best piano teacher for him.

Later, Jay Chou said frankly that he did not have a strong interest in piano from the beginning, but he practiced the piano for two hours a day from the age of 4 years under the strict supervision of his mother.

This childhood experience was later written into the song “Listen to Mother’s Words” by him

3. Jay Chou did not go for mandatory military service

A group of Taiwanese recruits – Wikipedia

Jay Chou completed his higher secondary education at Tamkang Senior High School, where he majored in piano and minored in cello. However, he graduated with inadequate grades for joining university.

This resulted in him being called up for enlistment, the Republic of Taiwan has maintained a policy of conscription for all qualified males of military age since 1951.

However, Jay was conscripted for mandatory military service because he experienced severe back pain triggered by sports. This eventually led to the diagnosis of ankylosing spondylitis. Unfortunately, many doubted this truth in his early years until he went for a diagnosis again.

4. Jay was a waiter/pianist at a restaurant

After being exempted from military service, jay found it was difficult to find a job, so he could only work in the restaurant temporarily and be a waiter.

He did not like the job because of his introverted persona, he was often scolded by customers. However, through his monthly salary he was able to make a living, buy tapes and study. He later describes himself as being in a state of working part-time and fighting for the dream of music.

Later on, the owner of the restaurant brought a piano to improve the restaurant. Jay Chou used this piano to play a song, he composed himself, which shocked everyone at once. From then on, Chou didn’t need to serve, instead he played the piano at the restaurant every day.

5. Chou was once detained

Handcuffs – Flick

Chou is unlike some rock stars; he has never had a run-in with the authorities. He is the rare cool boy who is clean and good.

However, when he worked as a waiter, he once spilled the food on another staff member of the restaurant while serving the food and burned this person.

Resulting in him being detained and half of his month’s salary being deducted. The loss of half a month’s salary also made him very heartbroken, because his salary was originally not high, and it was not easy to feed himself with it.

6. A well-deserved honorific title

Jay Chou, Singapore 2010 concert – Flickr

It is not an exaggeration to call Jay Chou the King of Mandopop – a title the Taiwanese sensation has earned over a two-decade career. He has gained significant prominence in Asian communities such as Taiwan, Hong Kong SAR, China, Malaysia, and Singapore.

Since 2000, Chou has been the top-selling singer for eight consecutive years, with record sales of more than 30 million copies to date and music downloads exceeding those of his counterparts.

In 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2008, he won the acknowledgment of Best-Selling Chinese Artist at the World Music Awards in Las Vegas, for the albums Common Jasmin Orange, Still Fantasy, and On the Run.

7. Jay Chou’s unique singing style

Jay Chuo – Wikipedia

The term “Chou Style” has been popularized to describe his trademark cross-cultural music and insistence on singing with slurred enunciation.

By using a wide spectrum of musical styles, from rock to folk, from bossa nova to country, these tracks cannot be compared to an authentic country and western ditty or a Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) court aria.

Taipei Times once described the meaning of “Chou Style”: “In what has become the archetypal Chou style, Taiwan’s favorite son blends pop, rap, blues and a smorgasbord of esthetic elements of world music to create his dream-like never-never land…”

8. Jay Chou is often criticized for his blurry diction

Jay Chou – Flickr

Critics referred to his singing as “mumbling”. This is because listeners often found that they could not decipher the words sung until they looked up the lyrics. Part of the reason is the density of words in a single minute, such that they essentially become tongue twisters.

Chou defended this as his signature style to infuse the vocals with the music and “make it blend” well together. Chou also stated that he wants the listeners to look at the lyrics, stating the lyrics written by Vincent Fang are very deep.

9. Released an album every year

Fantasy (Jay Chou album) – Wikipedia

 The reigning king of Chinese pop does not have a beautiful voice or a wide vocal range, but his musicianship dedication is exceptional, realizing one album per year except in 2009.

He was unable to produce any album is 2009 because he starred in two big-budget movies and directed a television series.

10. He learnt to speak English in a month

The Green Hornet, 2011 – Poster

Prior to Chou portraying Kato in The Green Hornet in 2011 Jay had barely spoken a word of English. He studied his script for 3 hours every single day religiously for one whole month.

The film grossed over $228 million worldwide. MTV Networks’ NextMovie.com named him one of the “Breakout Stars to Watch for in 2011”.