Pop Star Jackson Wang Talks About His Music, Designs And Future
China’s Jackson Wang isn’t a household name worldwide, but he’s working at it. He has tens of millions of followers on global sites such as Instagram. His concerts sell out worldwide. He's a singer, writer, designer and philanthropist, who started out as a professional athlete. His dance moves on stage remind of a U.S. star he says was an early inspiration for his own career– Michael Jackson.
Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/russellflannery/2024/08/15/do-what-you-love-china-pop-star-jackson-wang-talks-about-his-music-designs-and-future/
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Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/russellflannery/2024/08/15/do-what-you-love-china-pop-star-jackson-wang-talks-about-his-music-designs-and-future/
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Transcript
00:00Hello, everyone. I'm Russell Flannery, editor at large at Forbes. He's got tens of millions
00:08of followers worldwide. His concerts sell out worldwide. He's a performer, writer and
00:15philanthropist. We're thrilled today to welcome Jackson Wong to Forbes. Jackson, welcome.
00:24Hi, everyone. Yeah, this is Jackson. And it's an honor to be able to be here to discuss
00:29and to share.
00:32So you've had many, many different accomplishments in your young career. Let's talk about entertainment
00:39and plunge in there. How'd you get into entertaining?
00:44I was a former Olympian fencer athlete, and I think I grew up in this family of sports.
00:54My parents both were national team athletes. My brother was an athlete, too, and naturally
01:04introduced to sport. And but as a kid, I've always had that interest and love towards
01:13music and performing. So I had a seven years career of a pro fencer. And while I was prepping
01:23for the London Olympic Games, I just pivoted my way, shifted my direction, navigation to
01:34the music side.
01:38It was just, yeah, it was just I didn't want to regret. I didn't want to regret. And I
01:44feel like, yes, a lot of things that I needed to give up, a lot of things that I needed
01:51to take risk, you know, but I just went for whatever I believed in and I went for what
01:59I love, like truly, truly love.
02:03So your music does resonate globally. How do you go about writing your songs? And are
02:10there any writers that have inspired you over the years and and why?
02:17As a kid, you know, I, I built my interest in music and performing because of several
02:24legends. Definitely Prince, Michael Jackson, James Brown has always been I still remember
02:31that day, I was really sick back home and my mom bought me this concert DVD of Michael
02:40Jackson. And so I was sick. I was at home for around four to five days. So every single
02:46day, I would just watch it over and over again. And I started to fall in love with it.
02:51That and along my journey, you know, writing music, I think it's the process. It's a journey
02:55of of me evolving at every stage.
03:03I think the ultimate answer for now where I'm at this moment would be honesty, would
03:10be honesty, writing the music for myself, writing the music that's that's honest and
03:15authentic to my to me. And I think if I am able to accomplish that, I would I would imagine
03:22a lot of people could resonate to it.
03:27Can you tell us a little bit about Team Wang and what you want to accomplish with that?
03:33Yeah, I think Team Wang, I have two different company. One is called Team Wang Records.
03:40It's more like a label music side, artist side, heavily on that performing side. And
03:50the other side is Team Wang Design. It's a it's a fashion brand, but not really heavily
03:56only depending on apparel or clothing, but more about experience and lifestyle and any
04:05sorts of product is a product to us. And the logic behind creating these two company
04:11at first, and honestly, even now, is has never been based on business that, oh, I wanted
04:21to make a fortune or I want it has never really been depending on the numbers. So it has always
04:29been based off of what we believe having the team that shares with the same that shares
04:38the same value of life, what kind of experience or what kind of output and delivery that we
04:45can share with the youth, the young community in every aspect.
04:52You just at Team Team Wang partnered with Cartier. Can you tell us a little bit about
04:59that?
05:00Yes. Yeah, I think a lot. Of course, you know, it's a very honored. It's an honor to collaborate
05:08with very dominant brands like Cartier. We have done a lot in the past. And what's coming
05:19up in this November and October would be Universal Studios Singapore that we're creating this
05:26experience for Halloween. So I think all these opportunity didn't come to us first.
05:34It took a lot of time. It took a lot of time that we the time, a long time for us to insist
05:42on a certain direction that we believe in. So even the accomplishments that you you've
05:51mentioned, the 30 under 30 Forbes or this and that, I think to me internally, I feel
05:58the same. I feel the same now and I feel the same the first day I made the company, I built
06:04the company. So and I'm sure that I will feel the same after 10 years, 15 years. Of course,
06:13very happy to to to and grateful to to accomplish these accomplishments. But at the same time,
06:22what never changed is that we always believe in the same thing. And we will believe in
06:27the same thing and what we love. It won't be affected by any other factors.
06:37Mm hmm. Yeah. Another famous partner recently is Mario Ho, son of Stanley Ho. When most of us think
06:48about Macau and the whole family, we're thinking about casinos and gaming. The company that Mario
06:57is involved with that you're also partnering with is NIP. How'd that come about? Yes. Where do you
07:04see that going? Yeah, you know, a lot of the times your Mario has always been a good, good
07:10brother, you know, since childhood, almost like a university college era. And we we both came from
07:20Hong Kong, China, like at that time when we're in school. And then, you know, as we age, we
07:27always come back and talk about one thing very frequently is is that people will only judge you
07:34from your past. They don't know what's in your head right now. They don't know what you're going
07:38to do. So and people are always reacting. So if we want to share, if we want to do anything, do it,
07:51then they'll know. So this is like a phrase for me and him. Whenever we met, we always talk about
07:58that. And, and at that time, you know, when he was building NIP, building this, this group, this,
08:07this structure, and everything, I think he he it wasn't always smooth. It wasn't always smooth. And
08:14me just as a friend, as a brother. All I believed, I believed and I support it. And I will always
08:23support no matter, no matter what, what field that he tapped into. And because I know, when he say
08:32he's going to make something happen, it's just a matter of time.
08:35Mm hmm. Yeah, I mean, you're, you're so busy. You also were just auctioning some collection on Pharaoh
08:47Williams, Jupiter site. How'd you get involved in that?
08:54I mean, yeah, it was very organic. I think, you know, me being the ambassador of Louis Vuitton, a
09:02member of the of the Maison at the moment, there were a lot of times that we see each other, but it
09:11was back then it was more of commercial meetings, you know, hey, you're the, the creative director,
09:21the designer of the Maison, and I'm the ambassador. And there are a lot of ambassadors. So we just, we
09:29just said hi, we didn't really, we didn't really have any human connection at that time. And but the
09:37more frequent we see each other, and our team, my team, and his team, just became closer and closer as
09:47humans as people as they started to build a bond. And then it just happened very organically and
09:55naturally.
09:57Anything else planned with Jupiter or Pharaoh?
10:02Oh, definitely. We're thinking because he has always been, you know, my one of one of my idols, one of my
10:11mentors, one of my inspiration. He's inspired me a lot, not just on the music side, but just the mindset of
10:22thinking outside the box and doing something differently. And what's important is doing something that's
10:31that represents ourselves. I think moving forward, we'll be, we collaborate on the fashion side, moving
10:39forward, maybe tapping, thinking about possibility potentially tapping into the music scene.
10:45Yeah, we'll all be looking forward to that. So thanks again for joining the Under 30 Summit and Beijing. Thanks
10:53again for the time today. And we'll be keeping track of you, keeping track of your progress in the future.
11:00Thank you so much. It's a pleasure talking to you. Thank you.