romantic crusader

Kenji Wu’s new album sees him on a special quest to bring more love into the world

By Becky Li

While former Us vice-president al Gore journeys the world on his one-man crusade to save the planet from the devastating effects of climate change, Taiwanese musician Kenji Wu has a similar quest albeit with a much smaller demographic. “i want to rescue the romantics from extinction,” he says.

Wu’s tongue is firmly in his cheek, but whereas most asian pop singers would simply dole out a string of bland quotes when asked about climate change, it appears the likeable 28-year-old actually has something worth saying about the issue.

“Everyone talks about global warming, but the indifference among people is increasing,” he says. “Everyone would rather stay at home in front of the computer instead of going to the movies or a karaoke bar. Their interaction with the outside world is becoming less and less.”

Wu makes a refreshing change from the usual manufactured pop stars. Despite coming to the public’s attention through the tried-and-tested talent show route – he signed to Virgin Records after appearing in an MTV competition – success didn’t come overnight for Wu.

His debut album All Alone for Tomorrow performed poorly, leading him to try his hand at acting and there followed parts in teen dramas Peach Girl and Moonlit Forest. The roles helped him establish a loyal fan base and on the strength of this he released his self-titled second album in 2004. in an effort to shake off his lightweight pop persona, Wu wrote all ten songs on the album and the risk proved worthwhile as Kenji Wu proved a critical and commercial success.

The positive momentum continued with follow-up albums, The Kenji Show and A General Order, and Wu received consecutive nominations at Taiwan’s Golden Melody award for best Chinese singer – a 2007 nomination in the ‘Best songwriter’ category also confirming his increased maturity as a writer.

However, despite the recognition, Wu still recalls the time when, unable to pay the rent, he had to take a part-time summer job wearing a furry animal costume. it’s a memory that leads him to cite Jolin Tsai, herself someone who’s had to struggle during her career, as his favourite asian artist. “i really admire Jolin for her commitment to work as she knows exactly what she wants to express through performing. When she won the Golden Melody award, she said in her acceptance speech that she’d ‘like to thank to those who looked down on me’. i can relate to what she said, and i’d also like to thank those who despised me.”

When it came to penning his latest album, Writing the Poems For You, Wu shunned the playfulness that characterised his previous offerings, instead focusing on his romantic side. “i want to make all the listeners relate and resonate to these songs. Hopefully, they’ll feel like falling in love after listening to this album,” he says.

To Wu, romance is not about spending large amounts of money or great shows of affection but in the small detail. “i once hid in the closet holding a bouquet of flowers to surprise my girlfriend,” he says. He also mentions how he texts his girlfriend when she’s in a bad mood and he’s not around.

Wu goes on to list legendary Hong Kong star Leslie Cheung as the ultimate romantic, “He seemed like someone who valued love very much,” before moving on to his choice of most romantic city.

“in my opinion, the most romantic place in the world is Manchester, for it’s where Britpop originated from,” says Wu, who admits that he’s never actually visited the English city. “i always feel that British people and i have one thing in common: we look indifferent but have great passion inside.”

When asked whether Manchester would be the ideal place for a honeymoon, Wu quickly revises his choice. “i haven’t thought about that actually, but Hawaii would be great as well. Belgium seems a great place, too,” he adds. “any country in northern Europe country would be fine.” The vagueness suggests Wu is no rush to get to the altar soon, which is sure to please his army of female fans.

Like most creative artists, Wu admits he sometimes suffers from writer’s block. “if i ever run out of ideas, i don’t spend too much time worrying about it. i just empty my mind and go out have some fun.”

With his new album taking a year-and-a-half to complete, Wu clearly enjoyed his fair share. His label, seed Music, spent a million dollars allowing him to do the post-production in La, but the most difficult aspect of the creative process wasn’t the music but the lyrics. “The hardest part is to put what i really want to say into the songs,” he says.

The video accompanying the title track of the album, Writing the Poems For You, features Wu playing the piano with his hands behind his back. a feat all the more impressive considering Wu has only recently learned to play the piano following an ill-advised comment to a fan. “in an autograph session, one of my fans told me that a lot of my works include piano in the instrumental arrangement and said that she wanted to see me play it. i promised her at the time, but i kind of regretted it afterwards,” he jokes.

Wu’s success at learning the piano is testament to his strong will – the mocking he suffered at the hands of kids in his tutor group, who were initially better than him, making him even more determined to master the skill. The process was later used as the storyline for the video. “Playing the piano with my hands behind my back was really difficult, but thanks to the director’s skill, he made me look awesome,” he says. so when can we finally see him playing in public? “in the very near future,” he adds with a wry smile.

Thanks to Wu’s talent for writing, singing and performing, he’s never going to be short of money, but after a recent performance in Macau he couldn’t resist trying his luck at the casino tables. “i was pretty lucky and won about HK$4,000,” he says. “an old couple followed my betting and they won as well.”

Whether his crusade to save the world’s romantics proves equally successful remains to be seen, but having made the leap from furry animal to fully-fledged pop star, there won’t be many people betting against him.