Wang Leehom
Refusing Singularity
Source: you magazine (issue 203)
Author: Chen Tong Ling
Wang Leehom is a typical music fanatic. He will speak freely as long as the questions are musically related. This is his punctilious nature. Doesn't matter whether you approve of it, he will insist on defending this piece of music sacred ground.
Not everyone can be a musician with such principles, neither will his popularity poll be high everywhere. When it comes to the gossipy requirements of the media, he totally failed in that aspect. When he appears before the media, he hates to talk about topics outside of music, so no matter what the reporters ask him, it will have to be musically related before it will ignite his interest. That is why, during the overtime cross-nation telephone interview, one would find that most of the content is on music. If you say his good friend David Tao shows his concern over social issues through his music, then he, is a musician, who refuse to be just another singer of sentimental songs.
His musical aspiration: Look into the future, create a new Chinese musical brand, searching for the musical heaven that is truly his.
01 To be Different?Putting aside the increasing relationship between Hip-Hop music and the Eastern instruments, as well as whom first started singing popular Chinese Hip-Hop music (it's only a title after all), this is the first time a musician has used the musical term "Chinked-Out".
But even so, we can still hear the words like "Unconventional" and "the same old stuff, just changing a label".
"This is not just an attention grabber or a publicity slogan, I invented the name because I believe it can continue to evolve." ("Chink" is a derogatory word used by the Americans on Chinese, just like the word "Nigger" which the Caucasians used to degrade the African-Americans).
Leehom’s purpose of inventing the name was to repossess the word.
"Just like in the beginning when the African-Americans persistently used Nigger in their rap lyrics, I hope that we can repossess this negative word, and give it a more positive meaning."
More importantly, "Chinked-Out" represents a new style of Hip-Hop which he hope to let the world know that only the Chinese can fully annotate the flavour of "Chinked-Out".
"I feel that this is a musical motion that other musicians can follow-up on, thus allowing the status of Chinese music to rise in the international arena, we cannot continue to hype on refurbishing or copying other people’s music."
But while listening to his musical ambition, one may start to worry if its end would be that of the movie <<Total Ambush>>, whereby the general sentiments of Asia: Made for the Westerners.
"Actually, this is not a question of Chinese and Westerners; it is more of a question of how the Chinese regard their own. Popular music is made for all to hear, it is not made for a specific market. The more important objective is to be able to communicate certain messages."
Because he believes in his music, he is not overly concerned over the future of "Chinked-Out".
"We must have a more international outlook as Hip-Hop is already the popular music of the world."
02 Thinking Highly of OneselfOn a certain level, this is also a new attempt for someone who feels he could do it.
"I didn’t create this style of music just to let the Westerners listen to it. I chose to incorporate the music of the ethnic minorities into Hip-Hop, so that other then giving listeners something new, it also allows us to renew our knowledge of our culture."
As more often then not, the runway for such music has been restricted to the less popular world music and in documentaries, almost forgotten by the masses.
"Asia is a very international area, our music should be different from theirs (America and European countries), it should consist of our cultural characteristics."
"The nature of popular music is that it has the chance to change the present, breaking the inflexible image of stereotypes."
Of course, it is not easy to harmoniously combine two distinctly different style of music together, nor is it easy to explain it all in a few words.
"How to grasp it?….. There is actually no hard and fast rule nor is it that easy to accomplish. The important factor is that the whole essence and what you hear are one. Like the song <<Deep within the bamboo grove>>, it has rap (after saying that, Leehom began to rap…), but the topic talked about is chinked-out, and the MV of the song was filmed in a bamboo grove, just because it is already a representative of the Chinese."
03 Musical IdealismFrom the start, Leehom has straight-forwardly communicated that the new album <<Shangri-La>> is an album which allows him to see his future path to strive for the next 10 years to come.
In 1995, when he first began (first album <<Love Rival Beethoven>>), the Leehom, at the time, was a typical adorable boy image, singing the love songs that young boys and girls like.
One could imagine the image of him then, to him now, must have been unbearable. That is why he strived to improve and finally he successfully became an album producer and music creator highly recognized by the industry.
When it comes to music, he never forgoed his strict standards, neither is he willing to compromise.
"Like the time when I produced << The One and Only>>, the record company will say to write another <<The One and Only>>, just because it sells. This is just giving the consumer what they want. But this is not my original intention."
His original intention: Believing that his music can give the consumer something different.
"I believe my world is What I make of it, not the other way around."
"Anyone can determine his/her own way of living, the more important thing is to believe in yourself, believing in yourself can change the present situation."
Moreover he strongly believes that the fans can hear his passion, ideals and dreams of life in his music.
He also wished that his fans will hear the inspiration of hope. He simply refused to use a signature love song to strengthen his industrial worthiness.
"This is the saddest part of an artist. Among the many artists I know, there is one who uses elephant defecate to produce works of art and he became famous for it. But after that, that is all he can work with. Everyone will only come to know him because of this signature work."
"But I am not willing to do that. Because of the diversity of my musical foundation and my background, I can't lock in on only one channel."
04 Adaptability and SacrificeEven though he has been in the business for 10 years, Leehom confessed that it was only during the last 2 or 3 years that he finally got used to the gypsy way of living of an artiste.
"When I first started out I was still a student, I only returned to Taiwan during the summer and winter holidays. At that time, I could commute between countries and when school starts in the US, I will be an ordinary student again, in a way there is a sense of balance."
But after graduation, when he became completely immersed in the industry, he lost the so called ordinary life, and for the past 5 years, he has been a frequent flyer.
"I can say that I've learnt to love this way of living, without helplessness or regret. There will always be situations when you either win or lose. It's not so bad to leave a little regret behind."
05 Family vs IndependenceTowards his family, he has the utmost gratitude and regret.
"This should be the most regretful thing these 10 years of my life (on not being with his family), even talking about it now, my heart can't help but sting a little. You can't imagine how much I have sacrificed."
One can deeply feel the helplessness and regret in his tone.
"I came to Asia alone at 18 to pursue a dream and because of that I missed many memorable family moments, like my younger brother's graduation. But last year, my elder brother gave me a webcam as a Christmas present which I could mount on my computer, that way I can watch his baby grow up."
He firmly believes that because of the existence of his family and their encouragement, he is not alone on his music path.
Strong regards of family values is his most traditional side.
Alternatively, his independence and self-confidence shows strong western influences.
"I feel that a healthy mind is essential. In Western culture, everyone is more self-confident but in Asia people generally have inferior complexes, like when we mimic the West or the Japanese. We must not overlook the value of our existence."
This should be considered a kind of racial consciousness, strongly hoping that his cultural existence can be recognizes and acknowledged on the musical stage of the world.
06 Soul Acknowledgement?With Leehom's physical attributes, there should not be any problem on companionship, but a while ago when he was on Xiao Yan Jie's program, he admitted to suffering from social phobia.
"I'm also not sure why this is so, it's what the experts in the program said, but I have always been a hermit."
Isn't he decadent and unsociable only during his new album's production period?
"No, I'm like that most of the time, I like to watch movies and eat alone… I don't like to go out and make friends just for the sake of making friends. I'm not proficient in that."
"My music can overcome any superficial contact in ordinary life… Everyone has a soul. We should acknowledge the existence of these souls."
So, for those who want to know Leehom, you will first have to acknowledge his musical soul.
If not, he will not let you achieve anything.
AfterwordHaving done 2 interviews with Leehom previously, my impression both times were he was very boring, because he only love to talk about music.
Not that he doesn't have a life, or other thoughts, it is just that when he meets the media, it is to promote his album. Therefore he chose to focus adamantly on musical topics only.
This time round, even though we only talked about music (we did not go deeper on the other topics), but the feeling was more comfortable, probably because when the conversation veered towards other topics, I no longer sense the unhappiness in his tone.
Hope this musician who possesses a traditional musical background can understand: The one who understands you as a person can better understand your music.
For a musician and his music are inseparable and unified as one.
translated by: yours truly