He looks like just a geeky Asian kid with a weird bowl-cut sporting a cool T. Only this is the one of the only artists in the world, right next to Jason Mraz, who composes music that somehow always whips a smile on my face.
His journey to music started when he was, I suppose, struck with an epiphany after getting run over by a bus during his early college years. He immediately switched his major from the boring technology field to studying the incredibly useful language of Spanish in the small tropical island off the coast of China. (Population of Mexicans: 0.0) His creative pursuit ended up being a great change considering he is now one of the biggest stars in Asia and one of the weirdest guys I’ve ever found myself crushing on.
I discovered him when my friend picked his song during our usual 6-hour karaoke sessions in Taiwan (night owl deal!) two years ago. Ever since, I’ve listened to him almost every morning to get myself pumped for the dreary winter days in Indiana. He is like a new Mayday (五月天), the only music that could ever make me to burst into tears of homesickness.
Below is my favorite song from him, “100 Ways of Living.” Everytime I watch this video, I am reminded of my old leisurely days of traveling to Kenting with my family, sitting in buses singing karaoke and soaking in the sun.
“Oh Yeah” is probably the song he is best known for. With it’s catchy tune and the awesome T-shirt he sports in the video, this one is priceless.
He actually first reached partially-international fame after a video of him imitating the freaky dolphin voice Russian singer dude (a.k.a. Vitas) went viral. Vitas, though relatively unknown in most of the world, was a huge deal in Taiwan when I was growing up after people put up hilarious Chinese blabbery subtitles to the Russian lyrics. Unfortunately the video is no longer available. I thank Crowd for reminding me that the crazy Russian exists.
Lena Morris 