[TRANS] 180702 Kris Wu for GQ: “The First Person to Eat Crab”

Source: GQ WeChat

Moments



When Kris Wu found out that the first single from his new album, “Like That”, entered into the Billboard Hot 100, it was on the morning of May 30th. Originally, this was going to be just another regular Wednesday, but this news that came from overseas immediately whisked away any intentions of Kris Wu’s to sleep.

“It’s a really important chart to any singer. To be able to enter into this chart is a great form of assurance. After working so hard, to be able to enter into the chart was not an easy feat.” When saying this, Kris Wu used his right hand to pat his own left shoulder, seemingly giving himself affirmation and encouragement.

In the past half year, this is one of two moments that left the deepest impression on Kris Wu. The second moment takes us back to one night in the spring. Around 1 o’clock in the morning, Kris Wu finally completed all the tracks on his first album. With a big stretch, there is a feeling of relief. To him, in the moment that the songs were completed they already have their own fate.

When describing these moments, Kris Wu had a calm expression on his face. However, the Kris Wu during the photoshoot displays something totally different. He wore clean jeans, a white t-shirt, and layers of gold chains. He has a habit in which he “must listen to music during photoshoots.” Within the couple hours of the photoshoot, an assistant was holding a bluetooth speaker around him, filling each minute of work with different types of rap music. After finishing a set of photos, Kris Wu instinctively moved his body along with the music as if the young man who would play basketball along to the beat of music on a basketball court in him was released.

In Kris Wu’s youth, he was migrating nonstop. From his maternal grandparents’ home in Gansu Baiyin, to Guangzhou, and later Vancouver, he continuously moved around and transferred to different schools. The love for basketball allowed Kris Wu, who was not good at communicating with others, to find a different form of communication. He began playing basketball day and night, at least six hours a day. Other than going to class and sleeping, he spent the rest of his time on the basketball court, unable to get away from wanting to hang on to a basketball. More than once, he has expressed in interviews that playing basketball was the first time he felt free.

Like many other young people who fell in love with basketball, Kris Wu once had a life goal of entering the NBA. At 15 years old, Kris Wu followed his mother and returned to Guangzhou for a year. He attended 9th grade at Guangzhou No.7 High School and became the captain of the school’s basketball team. That year, the most important thing in his life was still basketball. He lead his team to the Youth NBA China Competition and received first place in the Southern China region. The coach praised that he “is the best point guard”, becoming a professional basketball player did not seem to be an unrealistic goal.

In his mother’s eyes, playing basketball was “easy to become injured” and was “rather short-termed.” The moment his dream of becoming a professional basketball player completely shattered was when he requested his bone age to be determined and found he would not grow to 190cm. In addition, his injured ankle caused him to be unable to continue playing basketball. That was the first setback in his life. Ten years later, Kris Wu looked back on this basketball dream that he said goodbye to a long time ago and realized that other than this hope that basketball gave him in his youth, it also opened up a door to music and culture.

The basketball court is when Kris Wu first fell in love with hip hop music. Borrowing something Kris has said many times, “basketball is like a fifth element of hip hop.” Back then, he liked Allen Iverson whom was also involved in hip hop. Kris Wu then began listening to hip hop. “Since I was really young, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I just wanted to become a basketball player, but I thought that if I ever had a chance to make music in the future, I hoped I could make this genre of music.”

The first time he realized he had some musical talent was when he was around 16 or 17 years old. He tried composing and realized he was “pretty good at creating melodies.” “It’s like I had unlimited different melodies in my head. Just give me a random beat and I can give you many different melodies (to go with it).” It was then that Kris Wu realized he may have some talent in this area.

Now, when talking about his own musical capabilities, Kris Wu believes he has been gifted and has some natural talent. He writes songs quickly, taking about one hour to compose a melody and create a structure for the song. He then takes about one day to write the lyrics, without the need to find inspiration. “To me, composing a melody is very simple. I’ve always considered this as one of my skills. To me, it’s a very natural process. Plus, I know what kind of melody I want myself.”

He is also thankful that he was born with very good ears. “A pair of good ears is very important to a musician. Your feeling toward the music and whether you are able to distinguish between music that sounds good or bad is very important. After completing a song, you may think it sounds really good in the moment, but will other people think it sounds good? You may think it sounds good now, but will you think it still sounds just as good tomorrow? After listening to it ten times, will you still think it sounds good? This needs to be determined by a pair of good ears. When it comes to this, I believe I have a unique sense.”

When talking about his talents, Kris Wu’s confidence shined on his face. He didn’t pretend to be modest or cover up his satisfaction toward himself. As a celebrity, this kind of honestly may rub people the wrong way, but in the words of hip hop, this is “keeping it real.”

Self

In regards to reality and self, Kris Wu has his own views.

In 2014, he returned to China to expand his career, facing a completely different entertainment industry and culture compared to overseas. Fan culture was rising; liking an idol was no longer limited to buying albums and attending concerts. The standards were also starting to get more complicated.

In a generation chasing after box office and online view numbers, the data created by fans quickly allowed Kris Wu to become the actor that all different genres of movies wanted to invite to their project. When presented with so many opportunities, Kris Wu began to feel overwhelmed.

“The Chinese movie industry is developing extremely well. It was booming during that time, everyone was making movies and there were many, many opportunities. Each one seemed really good, so it was difficult to reject them.”

From 2014 to 2016, he filmed 11 movies nonstop. Whether satisfying or regretful movie projects, Kris Wu has encountered both. The media and fans were able to get a taste of the characteristics that compliment Kris Wu through the different roles he has played. Although he always appeared before everyone as an “actor,” Kris knew that he would eventually return to the music that he wanted to make. “I always knew that there would be the day that I make the music I want to make; that I would spend time on it. I was always waiting for that opportunity.”

In 2016, he went to Los Angeles to organize a “Writing Camp.” He invited producers and went into “brainstorming” style songwriting, practically creating new works daily. This style of songwriting seems to have not been attempted by a musician from China before. Both “July” and the later released “Deserve” were works from that writing camp.

Talking about this “impulsiveness” from two years ago, Kris Wu is completely unable to remember this turning point. “Basically I just always wanted to go make music in Los Angeles. I also always wanted to spend time making music. At the time, I was just naively thinking it is time to let our friends in China and my fans listen to the music that I want to make, not just music made for movie soundtracks or other promotional music. I guess I just so happened to have time then and decided to go for it.”

November 2016, his single “July” was released. Music critic Zou Xiaoying thought that the song gave her a pleasant surprise: “Pure future bass, typical drop set up. Kris Wu exhibits the attentive and gentle side of himself wrapped in Kawai instrumentals, like the smile of a young female killer.” A few months later, he released another single “Juice.” Music critics often talked about this song that includes ambient music, R&B and trap, in conjunction with the works of Drake.

To Kris, no matter if it’s July or Juice’s style/composition, they’re very trendy in the west. However, it is not very popular within China. He did not put in too much consideration at the time on whether releasing such a song with such a new trending sound would be getting too ahead of himself. “Those who understand it will definitely understand, but there are a lot of people who don’t, and that’s a fact. Hip hop music was never mainstream in China. Melodic rap is actually very similar to pop music so I wanted to introduce this new style to everyone as I felt that this genre of music had a lot of potential and was suitable for the lifestyles of the younger generation (of China), like myself. It’s got a bit more attitude.”

Other than “making his own music,” going to Los Angeles gave him a chance to take a break from life. In China, all his schedules are packed by the hour and his time is taken up by different events. When asked “how does it feel to be busy?” he once gave quite a philosophical answer. “Numb. I feel numb to time.” In 2016 during an interview for a movie promotion, someone asked him whether he would still play basketball with friends. He gave a definite answer without hesitation. “The reason I insist on going out to play basketball is because I’m afraid I will lose the sense of having a normal life. If a person lives every day in a world as a celebrity under flashing lights they will eventually faint. So, I must find a sense of real life.”

During the time when he was producing in Los Angeles, Kris Wu found the sense of time again, as well as the feeling of real life.

“I’m able to hang out with friends, go out together, walk on the streets, drive around, do whatever.” Thinking back on it now, he feels that his “escape” was full of bravery. “Because at the time, when you are already in that position, you will feel like it is difficult to leave. It’s like a spell. A lot of people are unable to leave and many will just continue to work like robots nonstop, eventually withering away.” (T/N: He’s talking about leaving China to go work in Los Angeles during the peak of his career)

Kris obviously wasn’t willing to accept “withering away.” Other than music, he is unable to hide his passions for other things in life: like cars and fashion.

He has liked cars since he was young, this love did not fade even until this day. Amongst his peers, he was one of the first to be able to drive.

Compared to his passion for cars, his love for fashion is even more obvious. Fashion is a field that Kris Wu finds great importance in. Other than starting trends, for a long period of time, fashion, like basketball, was a form of expression for him. Every night before he had a flight, no matter how tired he was, Kris would carefully choose his outfit. Not every look was cool, but it was definitely something he liked. Kris is happy when he sees fans comment, “Kris Wu will only be handsome when he wants to be handsome.” It meant that he had a say when it came to this.

Yet, in most areas, having a say was not something easy to achieve. In the first two years after returning to China, he was always busy and you couldn’t really say he was happy. “I guess everyone likes to see the world through colored lenses.” One example is something Gao Xiaosong once expressed: many people would jump to conclusions solely based on Kris Wu’s appearance. They thought of him as a superficial idol — including Gao Xiaosong himself. Up until now, Kris is naturally still sensitive toward the talks about “appearance.” For example, when talking about the North American auditions for The Rap of China, he immediately denied that he would look at their appearance. “I don’t look at appearance. Appearances have nothing to do with this program. This program is completely based on talent. I want to find a contestant that can create new things.”

For a long period of time, Kris didn’t receive acknowledgment for his own talents. “I used to think that as long as you work hard, you could gain respect from others and they won’t doubt you. But in the end, I found that that no matter how hard you work, people will still doubt you.” When evaluating himself, Kris believes there are a few times where he changed. “At first, I had to make everyone like me or something like that. And later, it was like, no. I may not be able to make everyone like me, but I had to prove myself to you all through my hard work and make you see how great I am. It was really naive.”

He found differences from the Western artists he liked. Drake, a hip hop artist whom the media often compares Kris to, was born in 1986, only a few years older than Kris. The artist whom Kris collaborated with for Deserve, Travis Scott, was born in 1992 and just turned 26 this year. These two have been big names in the music industry for a while now. Looking back at China, Kris Wu feels that no matter how hard he works, he cannot become a “legend” like them (in China).

“It’s not an issue with age nor is it a personal issue. Everyone is just busy doing their own things. Every day, there’s a new artist and there will always be newcomers entering the industry. It’s easy to get popular and there are different ways to become popular. This seems like a situation that is difficult to change. I’m not saying this is anyone’s fault, it’s definitely not anyone’s fault.”

In the recent two years, he feels that he has finally thought it through. He will no longer get distressed or angry because of someone else’s opinion. “I know that no matter how I do it, there will always be doubts. So in this case, you must do what you want to do. I live for myself. As long as I’m living happily, it’s enough. I take responsibility for my own work. I take responsibility for the people who like me. My work is centered on this point. Besides, my work isn’t made for everyone. If you like this music, listen to it; if you don’t like it, then this song wasn’t written for you.”

Collaboration

As if it was an echo from certain thoughts, in April of this year, Kris Wu and Universal Music signed a global exclusive record deal. To put it simply, this contract means that Universal Music will try to promote a Chinese artist’s hip hop music to the world.

Before signing the contract, Kris already got the best achievement a Chinese artist could get on the iTunes charts. His English single from January 2017 “Juice” reached #28 on the US iTunes Chart; October’s “Deserve” reached #1 on both the US iTunes Chart and US iTunes Hip-Hop/Rap Chart within 2 hours.

His single “Deserve” was a collaboration with Travis Scott. The collaboration happened by chance. A friend of his knew Travis Scott and knew Kris really admired him, so he mentioned Kris Wu’s “writing camp” and asked if Scott was interested in meeting “the Chinese version of you.”

Scott, who was in New York, flew to Los Angeles the next day. The studio they used was one that Michael Jackson once recorded in. The friends whom Kris collaborated with for the writing camp were also there, making Kris feel a sense of holiness. Everyone was chatting and listening to music when they mentioned that they did not finish “Deserve” yet. “When Travis came, I let him listen to my song. After he heard it, he said ‘I want to collaborate with you for this song.’” Then, the two of them quickly penned the chorus together, spending only one day to complete it.

He and Pharrell Williams also came very natural. Pharrell needed to go to Shanghai for the “Tmall Double 11” Concert and wanted to find a Chinese artist to collaborate with. He wanted to to add a part in Chinese to his song, so he found Kris. “I went to the studio to help him with that part and finished it in 20 minutes. After recording, I let him listen to it and he liked it so that was it. At that time, he asked me if I wanted him to help me with another song and I said of course.”

It is not until the collaborations are complete that Kris Wu believes he himself is lucky. It was only when he sent out a message to Scott to thank him that he realized he never discussed money with Travis Scott. Even Travis Scott’s flight ticket was purchased by himself. Facing a legend like Pharrell, he also never felt like there was a difference in “level.” He feels that this partially has to do with his luck and partially to do with his own communication skills. “Everything depends on communication. Since I don’t have a problem with the English language, I am able to directly communicate with them. If there was a translator between us, it would be a big barrier. So I’m actually rather lucky that I am able to directly communicate with them.”

Although it seems to be successful collaborations, there are areas that Kris is regretful for. No matter if it was Travis Scott or Pharrell Williams, they know close to nothing about the Chinese music market. “Honestly speaking, they don’t really know any Chinese singers. They aren’t even able to say one name.”

After signing with Universal Music, Kris Wu accepted many English interviews with the media. In these interviews, Kris Wu repeatedly says: “I make hip hop. I’m a composer as well as a producer. I’m from China and I want to become a bridge between the East and West through music.”

Facing Chinese media, he repeatedly emphasizes that he is “the first person to eat crab.” He ambitiously looks forward to what the future holds. “If I can be successful in this, it will definitely bring in a chain and make more companies want to sign Chinese artists.”

Just like how he understands he should not try and make everyone happy, he also understands “the first person to eat crab” means there is possible failure. “I want to do something meaningful. No matter how hard you try, there will always be doubts, so just do it. Perhaps many years later, or when I’m already gone, people will realize what this person did was meaningful at the time.”