[article] Jay Chou has west dreams

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Sun, July 31, 2005
Jay Chou has west dreams

By AP

HONG KONG -- Asian pop sensation Jay Chou admires Eminem, Jay-Z and Usher and hopes to break into western markets. His strategy: "I want to become the Jet Li of music."

He's branching out into acting, too, making his feature film debut in Initial D, a Hong Kong production based on a Japanese cartoon series about street car racing.

He says that action film star Li is his model because he used a Chinese art to attain success in the West.

"Jet Li used kung fu to break into foreign markets, Hollywood. I hope my music can do the same thing," Chou said in an interview.

The 26-year-old singer became a star five years ago with a unique, rhythmic sound that broke the monotony of sappy, artificial sounding ballads. Chou's own ballads are soulful, unplugged fare with a lone piano accompaniment.

Chou has since become one of the Chinese-speaking world's biggest acts.

He's also a rarity: He writes songs and produces. The Chinese music industry is known for its well-packaged pop idols who can carry a tune and look attractive - but that's about it.

Chou speaks with a bright-eyed idealism - not like a superstar with a sense of entitlement - expressing hope that he can help lift Taiwan's film industry to greater heights as he delves deeper into moviemaking.

Chou keeps his black hair longish, with some strands touching his right eyebrow. He spoke to the AP in blue jeans and a pink shirt with a flower pattern. And he's tempered his youthful look with a goatee.

Now that he's conquered his home audience, Chou wants to compose for western artists and collaborate with them.

Language is the biggest obstacle - Chou doesn't speak English. But the Taiwanese native believes music is universal.

"I don't necessarily have to speak English for people to listen to my songs. I think music is a good bridge. If the music is good, people around the world will listen to it," he said.

Chou said he has injected Chinese elements into his music to distinguish it from western pop, using, for instance, the Chinese string instrument called the erhu.

But his musical influences are broad. Chou said he listens to Chopin and Liszt, as well as Boyz II Men, Destiny's Child, Eminem, Jay-Z and Usher.

While he also aspires to compose musical scores for movies, Chou said he threw himself into his role in Initial D as the introverted son of a car racer-turned-tofu-shop owner. The son inherits his father's driving talent and makes a name for himself as a street car racing hotshot.

Initial D has outpaced both Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith and Mr. & Mrs. Smith at the Hong Kong box office.

Chou's performance won over director Alan Mak of Infernal Affairs, an acclaimed Hong Kong police thriller that's inspired an upcoming Martin Scorsese film. Titled The Departed, it'll star Leonardo Di-Caprio, Matt Damon and Jack Nicholson.

Mak was initially worried about Chou's reticence at their first meeting, but Chou erased his doubts with his ability to handle scenes without dialogue.

"Some new actors are focused on whether they do a good job delivering their lines when they're acting, but scenes without dialogue are harder because you have no lines to portray that you're doing something," Mak explained.

"Jay Chou didn't have this problem. There were a lot of scenes without dialogue in the movie, but he has a very strong imagination. He would try to figure out, what's the situation now."

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