Three bites of the cherry
7/23/2010 11:26:00 AM
kenmouse
, Posted in
Jay Chou wants to be a vampire. True story.When asked what he hoped to achieve over the next decade of his career, the Taiwanese superstar, who was at a press conference on Wednesday at Swissotel The Stamford, pointed to a huge publicity poster of him dressed as a vampire prince - complete with white contact lenses and Edwardian-style duds.
"I hope I can be like a vampire, and not age forever," said the 31-year-old entertainer, smiling. "I hope my music won't die, and that it'll continue to be played."
As things stand right now, Chou's decade-long dominance of the Chinese music scene certainly shows no sign of diminishing anytime soon.
He marked his 10th year in the business in May, with the launch of his 10th album, "The Era", which has sold an impressive 30,000 copies here and spawned three No 1 singles. Worldwide, his albums have gone 27 times platinum (that's showbiz talk for 27 million copies sold).
In April, tickets for his three Singapore shows this weekend sold out in a matter of hours. As was widely reported, two out of the three shows were added when irate fans were unable to secure tickets quickly enough.
Jay supporters who have miraculously managed to snag tickets to all three gigs will not find themselves watching a play-by-play repeat of the first evening - although one suspects they would be too busy swooning in their seats to notice.
"There will be some variations in the songs I sing," promised Chou, adding cheekily: "I'll say different things, too."
And while a special guest will be in attendance, do not hold your breath for a repeat appearance of the singer's former girlfriend, pop princess Jolin Tsai. Their steamy dance number at his Taiwanese gig last month sent the media into a speculative frenzy over the nature of their relationship.
"We're just friends," said Chou, predictably, adding with a laugh: "There was a feeling of competition while we were practising the dance. She can dance better than me because she's been dancing for so long! But I thought: 'No, this is my turf. I can't lose to her.'"
Dancing, of course, proved to be a walk in the park compared to the biggest challenge he faced during his first Hollywood shoot: Speaking English.
Chou stars alongside Seth Rogen and Cameron Diaz in the upcoming film "Green Hornet", playing sidekick Kato - a character made famous by his idol Bruce Lee.
Fortunately, recalled Jay, his co-stars were more than willing to help him out linguistically during the three-month shoot. "They would correct me, or we would tweak the script on the spot and shorten the sentences," he said in Mandarin.
So what of his next decade in the spotlight? Rabid fans might want to sit down.
The singer plans to devote more of his energies to making films and producing music (he has several proteges, such as Taiwanese duo The Drifters).
After all, unlike the lifespan of a vampire, the shelf life of a pop idol has an expiry date.
Referring to a hip-hop-meets-kung-fu hit from his second album, "Fantasy", Chou said, laughing: "I can't be singing Shuang Jie Gun (Nunchucks) when I'm 40!"
Ending on a sanguine note, he philosophised: "It's hard to say if the next 10 years will still be an era of Jay Chou. But I think that it's not too bad to have had one era."
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