Kwok Kar Peng
| Project SuperStar male runner-up Hong Junyang has released his debut album! The third of the ‘SuperStars’ after Tan Wei Lian and Kelly Poon to cut an album, this Prince Charming of clean-cut boyish looks has decided to dump his squeaky clean image and go ‘horny’ instead. The man, who used to be part of a five-member boy band Jusdifive (see his thank-you message to them in the CD sleeve!) where the surviving three now battles as J3 via SuperBand, officially launched his album Unicorn (Du Jiao Shou) last Friday May 26 with a media conference at Sheraton Towers. Prior publicity gimmicks included a one-week pre-order sale of the album that came free with the limited-edition single ‘Sha Sha De Shei’ and a dog-tag, making it all the more easier for doggedly loyal Junyang fans to spot their own kind I presume. His parents and younger sister also attended the press conference where the heart-warming familiar exchanges blessed the conference with a strong emotional touch. Sis wept copiously as a roomful of photographers clamoured to snap a shot of big bro, while mom and pop dabbed at moistened eyes while on stage with their son. Junyang, who now goes by the moniker JY, in return, choked and his eyes reddened at the brimming love and support. Mentor and the Music Director of the album Billy Koh and buddy JJ Lin, although in Singapore, were busy with JJ’s upcoming concert here and sent their congratulatory wishes over the phone instead. |  |
Video: JJ's heartfelt words... The Unicorn manifests… The upbeat song with the same album name is composed by JY himself one and half years ago. “I had always been writing music before ‘Unicorn’ but I wasn’t satisfied with any of them. When I wrote this song, I was motivated to write a song that reflects my true character. ‘I like what I do, I do what I like’: this is my attitude towards life and when it comes to something that I love, I go all out to perform my best. It also speaks of my passion towards music. “Legend has it that the unicorn will emerge once again to save humankind when the world is facing dark and powerful threats. It looks aloof but is in fact gentle and passionate. I see myself a lot like this animal!” the 24 –year-old said enthused. Video: JY tells the legend of the unicorn... Although containing mostly ballad-sy pop tunes to hum along to in the bathroom and KTV room, there is one out-of-place rap song ‘Gu Jun Zuo Zhan’ in the album. Formerly titled ‘Yi Sheng Jue Wang’, it is the theme song from the local movie I Not Stupid 2. Not surprisingly, the angst-y lyrics about the social abandonment and dejection of not-so-book-smart kids are written by the movie’s director Jack Neo.
| Dipping their fingers in the album production are acclaimed music producer and the witty judge of Project SuperStar and SuperBand Billy Koh; legendary local songwriter Liang Wenfu, Taiwanese lyric virtuoso Fang Wenshan and JY’s junior college ‘brudder’ singer-songwriter JJ Lin. JJ, apart from composing two songs ‘LOVE’ and ‘Dou Dou Nü Hai’, also lent his vocals to the former, a breezy R&B-ish ditty of how JJ helps JY to chat up (or serenade, rather) a girl. The song cuts in a boyish conversation between the two – imagine the cheeky JJ teasing a red-faced JY who in turned squirmed and squalled “Mei you lah… ni bu yao luan jiang lah” and “I’m too shy!” JY himself composed another two tracks in the album – ‘Hua Yi Ge Meng’, a song he wrote especially for his fans; and ‘Nao Dao’, an extremely hummable collaboration with Liang Wenfu that should hit the KTV charts and ringtone downloads in no time soon. Special significance is attached to the song: “I wrote Nan Dao with a heavy heart after a chain of unhappy events – a friend’s mum was ill and two friends who had been together for a long time broke up. In the song, I told myself to keep looking forward,” JY recalled. |  |
 | ‘Sha Sha De Shei’ is easily the crown jewel in this collection with leading lyricist Fang Wenshan lending his poetic linguistic skills to the song. The melodic love song is currently on the ‘933 Hot Stuff’ in the Y.E.S 93.3FM radio station music charts. Clarifying the misunderstanding that ‘Sha Sha’ refers to a girl, JY explained it is in fact the rustling sound of leaves that beckons the recollection of that special someone. Yes, very cheem and that’s before you checked out the rest of the lyrics! Video: What JY says about Sha Sha De Shei Video: How JY's parents feel... Video: Are JY's parents worried about him going astray in the complicated entertainment industry? Unicorn (Du Jiao Shou) is now on sale at all good music stores. Catch Junyang, Dasmond Koh, Sugianto and Campus SuperStar contestants Ng Chee Yang, Teresa Tseng, Geraldine See, Adriano Huang, Chen Yi Yuan, Clara Tan, Hong Yuyang and Ng Imm Khim in the final episode of Glamourlicous 2! |
| | Video Interviews with Hong Junyang (Click on the links to view!) 1) Learn how Lord of the Rings' Gandalf influenced this album! 2) How has JY changed since Project SuperStar? 6) How did JY feel meeting the famous lyricist Fang Wenshan? 7) Mandarin singers all over clamour for Fang Wenshan's magic touch. How did JY manage to get his help? 8) How did JY find filming Sha Sha De Shei music video with SuperHost contestant Zhong Xinyu? First Kelly Poon, now Xinyu... is JY destined to piggyback women? 9) What criteria must his song meet before it passes JY's expectations? 10) What does JY do when he's stuck during composing a song? Find out where his money goes to! 11) JY's lasting memories of his trip to Taiwan 12) Was there a time when JY felt there were too many obstacles to overcome? 13) Looking back on all that has happened in the past one year, what comes first to JY's mind? |
| Track Listing: 1) Hua Yi Ge Meng |    |
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