Jay Chou is a Taiwanese singer, songwriter, record producer, rapper, actor, and television personality.
82 Facts About Jay Chou
2.
In 2000, Chou released his debut studio album, Jay, under the record company EMI.
3.
Jay Chou rose to fame with the release of his second studio album, Fantasy, which combined Western and Eastern music styles.
4.
Jay Chou has since further released twelve more studio albums, spawning a string of hit singles and gaining significant prominence in Asian communities such as Taiwan, Hong Kong SAR, China Mainland, Malaysia, and Singapore.
5.
Jay Chou has embarked on six world tours, performing in cities around the world to more than 10 million spectators as of 2019.
6.
In 2012, Jay Chou established his own record and management company Universal Music Group.
7.
Outside of music, Jay Chou has served as the President of his own fashion brand PHANTACi since 2006.
8.
Jay Chou has since starred in a number of movies, becoming known to Western audiences when he made his Hollywood debut in 2011 with The Green Hornet, starring alongside Seth Rogen and Christoph Waltz, followed by Now You See Me 2.
9.
Jay Chou's mother noticed his sensitivity to music and took him to piano lessons at the age of four.
10.
Jay Chou was an only child and loved to play piano, imitate TV actors, and perform magic tricks.
11.
Jay Chou's parents divorced when he was 14 and he was teased by his classmates, which caused him to become reclusive and introverted.
12.
Jay Chou had no friends and preferred to be alone, listening to music, contemplating and daydreaming.
13.
Jay Chou showed a talent for improvisation, became fond of pop music, and began to write songs.
14.
Jay Chou was conscripted for mandatory military service after graduating from high school with inadequate grades for university.
15.
Jay Chou played the piano accompaniment for his friend, whose singing was described as "lousy".
16.
Wu then asked who wrote it, discovered Jay Chou and hired him as a contract composer and paired him with the novice lyricist Vincent Fang.
17.
Jay Chou then spent most of his time in Wu's studio learning music producing, sound mixing, recording, and writing songs.
18.
Jay Chou's fame spread quickly in Chinese-speaking regions throughout Southeast Asia.
19.
In 2000, under the recommendation of JR Yang, Jay Chou began to sing his own songs.
20.
Jay Chou arranged the compilation, harmony, and production of all the songs.
21.
Jay Chou himself appeared on a few television programs to promote the album.
22.
Jay Chou was marketed as a talented singer-composer with a unique tune.
23.
Jay Chou's music has been a much-discussed topic across Chinese regions because it differed greatly from mainstream popular Chinese music released at that time.
24.
Jay Chou's pieces combine ancient themes with futuristic ones, including things like space ships, all while employing graphic storytelling skills to evoke vivid imagery to his audience.
25.
Jay Chou defended this as his signature style to infuse the vocals with the music and "make it blend" well together.
26.
Jay Chou stated that he wants the listeners to look at the lyrics stating the lyrics written by Vincent Fang are very deep.
27.
In 2003, Jay Chou released his fourth album Yeh Hui-mei named after his own mother.
28.
Jay Chou regretted that he didn't study well and couldn't enter the same university with her.
29.
Jay Chou just wanted to convey his mind to her, but he couldn't find the time and way.
30.
Jay Chou had to wait for the girl to finish class every day.
31.
Jay Chou recently made his chart comeback after a three-year hiatus with his long-awaited new single "Won't cry".
32.
Jay Chou is considered more of a singer-composer than a lyricist.
33.
Jay Chou himself has written lyrics for many ballads, but has discussed societal ills such as drug addiction in "Coward" and loss of the rural countryside to urbanization in "Terrace fields".
34.
Jay Chou describes the phenomenon of domestic violence in society, and wants to appeal the public pay more attention to domestic violence.
35.
Jay Chou leads a new trend of music which combines western musical elements and Chinese literature terms.
36.
Jay Chou has successfully generated airtime on CCTV by fitting in with the mainland's political and cultural agenda and celebrating traditional Chinese values.
37.
The traditional Chinese cultural elements involved in Jay Chou's music contribute to his status in Asian popular music culture.
38.
Jay Chou uses traditional musical instruments, combining traditional Chinese elements of music with Western pop.
39.
Jay Chou's career started as a songwriter for other singers, a practice he would continue even after starting his own successful singing career.
40.
Jay Chou started the band Nan Quan Mama in 2004, selecting band members and overseeing their album production.
41.
The group has been noted for sounding too similar to their mentor; as a result, Jay Chou has reduced his involvement in the band, though he continues to increase their exposure by inviting them as guests performers for his concerts and music videos.
42.
Jay Chou has performed live duets with Landy Wen, Jolin Tsai, and former girlfriend and news anchor Patty Hou, but only two studio recordings of duets have been officially placed in his albums: "Coral Sea" in 2005 with Lara Veronin and "Faraway" in 2006 featuring Fei Yu-ching.
43.
Jay Chou has featured in Cindy Yen's song "Sand Painting" released in October 2009.
44.
Jay Chou held his first series of five solo concerts, titled Fantasy Concert, with the first stop on 11 January 2001 at Taoyuan Arena, Taiwan.
45.
Jay Chou has kicked off his World Tour, "Opus Jay World Tour" starting with Shanghai as its first stop from 17 to 19 May 2013.
46.
Jay Chou has since acted in three other movies, directed one film and more than a dozen music videos.
47.
Jay Chou portrayed Prince Jai, the ambitious second eldest prince and general of the Imperial army whose personality epitomizes Xiao, the Chinese virtue of filial piety.
48.
In May 2011, Jay Chou started filming for a new movie, The Viral Factor directed by Dante Lam and starred various well known artistes such as Nicholas Tse.
49.
Jay Chou co-starred with Daniel Radcliffe in Now You See Me 2, which was released in June 2016.
50.
In 2021, Jay Chou was briefly starred in Nezha, where he was the executive producer for the film.
51.
Jay Chou acquired his first directing experience in 2004 through music videos.
52.
Jay Chou initially experimented with a song by the group Nan Quan Mama titled "Home" where he was involved throughout the entire process from research to editing.
53.
In February 2007, Jay Chou began directing his first film Secret.
54.
The script written by Jay Chou was inspired by his relationship with a high school girlfriend, with a plot focused on music, love, and family.
55.
Jay Chou published his first book titled Grandeur de D Major on 25 November 2004.
56.
Jay Chou demonstrated a strong appreciation of family values with an especially deep connection with his mother and maternal grandmother.
57.
Jay Chou acted as the tourism ambassador for Malaysia in 2003.
58.
Jay Chou has been the spokesperson for "Angel Heart Foundation" since 2012, a non-profit charity for children with intellectual disability.
59.
In 2014, Jay Chou accepted the Ice Bucket Challenge from Andy Lau, and donated NT$100,000 to Taiwanese ALS Foundation, and donated NT$2 million in the aftermath of 2014 Kaohsiung gas explosions.
60.
Jay Chou attended the charity event from Fubon Charity Foundation, and has been the ambassador for the charity, which helps school children with disabilities, hardship or giving children living in poverty a scholarship for their education.
61.
Jay Chou had already donated NT$970 million in the last 5 years, sponsoring over 300 of the thousand benefactors, and would extend the offer by 5 years, and opened 300 more scholarships, and donated a lump sum of NT$10.8 million in the next 5 years worth NT$2.16 million each year.
62.
In 2016, Jay Chou bought the eSports team Taipei Assassins and renamed it J Gaming.
63.
Outside of music, Jay Chou is reported as shy, quiet, modest, and views filial piety as "the most important thing".
64.
In November 2007, Jay Chou was criticized by some for attending the funeral of Taiwanese gang leader Chen Chi-li to console Chen's son Baron Chen, whom Jay Chou met while filming Kung Fu Dunk.
65.
In 2011 Jay Chou performed on the New Year's Gala program on China's Central Television.
66.
Jay Chou openly calls the paparazzi "dogs" and tabloids "dog magazines", as shown in his lyrics for Besieged From All Sides.
67.
The media have accused Jay Chou of evading compulsory military service by feigning to suffer from ankylosing spondylitis.
68.
Jay Chou's fanbase originated from Taiwan and grew extensively to other Mandarin-speaking regions.
69.
Currently, Jay Chou remains largely unknown outside of Asia, except in cities with large Chinese speaking immigrant populations such as Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver, Toronto, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane.
70.
Jay Chou has held concerts in major venues such as the Acer Arena, HP Pavilion at San Jose, Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, MGM Grand, Rogers Arena, Shrine Auditorium, Galen Center, the Air Canada Centre, and Wembley Arena.
71.
In 2006, Jay Chou composed and sang the theme song for Fearless, a movie released in major theatres in most English-speaking countries, though the impact to his fame has been minimal.
72.
Jay Chou gained further exposure to western audiences in his starring role as crimefighter Kato in January 2011's The Green Hornet.
73.
Jay Chou was rumored to have a relationship with Taiwanese singer Jolin Tsai with the former being featured on Tsai's song "Can't Speak Clearly", which appeared on her fourth studio album Lucky Number.
74.
In December 2001, Tsai and Jay Chou were first spotted dining at an izakaya in Shinjuku, Japan.
75.
In February 2005, Jay Chou was spotted shopping intimately with Taiwanese news presenter Patty Hou in Shibuya, Japan.
76.
In June 2010, Tsai and Jay Chou finally made amends, and Tsai appeared as a special guest at Jay Chou's concert in Taipei, which shocked the public.
77.
In November 2014, Jay Chou confirmed his relationship with model Hannah Quinlivan.
78.
Jay Chou became an Evangelical Protestant Christian as his wife, his mother and some of his friends, including Will Liu and Vanness Wu, are Protestants.
79.
Jay Chou scored strong radio and video airplay in Italy with his track "Nunchucks", in 2002.
80.
Jay Chou dominated the 12th annual Channel V Music Awards ceremony, which was held 11 January 2006 at Queen Elizabeth Stadium in Hong Kong.
81.
Jay Chou won the Favorite Male Artist of the 20th Golden Melody Awards in Taiwan.
82.
Jay Chou did not attend the event to collect the award as he was on tour in China at the time.