After more than a year of dormancy and a lawsuit with the former manager's company, Jolin regained her freedom in 2003 and released her first Chinese album "Look at Me 72 Changes" after she invested in the new owner Sony New Force. The title song of the eponymous album is the theme song of the video game Realm of the Gods.
Jolin has been portrayed as a pop idol in the music industry since his debut, so the level of attention paid by the media is also more visual image, so people ignore that Jolin is actually signed as a record singer because of the "MTV Newcomer Singing Competition Champion", which shows that Jolin has absolutely amazing singing strength. When he joined Xinli Music's debut album, the company believed that Jolin should not only be a pure idol, but become the "most powerful idol". Therefore, Xinli specially invited Huang Yi, Xue Zhongming, Jay Chou, Li Kaisong and Wang Zhiping producers to make the latest Chinese album in 2003 according to Jolin's sound quality and singing voice, singer positioning and potential play possibilities.
In the past, when making albums, songs were usually received in the so-called "casting net song collection method", that is, all creators were invited to sing songs, so they often listened to nearly 100 demo songs. However, in the face of Jolin's new album, Xinli believed that it was necessary to change the traditional production method in the past, to produce with a richer and more popular concept, and when the song was received in the first production stage, the composer was directly invited to design and write songs for Jolin's vocal characteristics, so this period spent several months in the selection of songs, carefully selecting a variety of musical styles that suit Jolin. It attempts to combine a wealth of musical elements such as HipHop, R & B, Retro Disco, Funk, Balle, and rock adaptations, and creates the most dazzling music album through an unimaginably rigorous and rigorous production process and method.
In this new album, Jolin also filled in two words for the first time, "Chivalry" and "Rope on the Vest", of which "Rope on the Vest" is a portrayal of Jolin's own mood when he rested for two years, and the philosophical lyrics also made Fang Wenshan, the best lyricist of the Golden Melody Award, praise "very poetic".
In 2003, Jolin Tsai not only won the fierce battle with Sun Yanzi, Xiao Yaxuan and other small divas, but also became the runner-up in record sales of the year after Jay Chou's album "Ye Huimei". On February 27, 2004, Jolin Tsai released the 2004 annual album "Castle", this small and delicate girl really answered the questions of fans and music critics about how she could change after "72 changes", of course, this album was not born out of nowhere, before the official publication, Sony Records and Jolin Tsai herself have done enough work to create enough momentum, together with Jay Chou of the door under the pseudonym "Yellow Man" to present Jolin Tsai with three new songs.
After the retro Disco popularity of "Look at Me 72 Changes" in 2003, many people said that they were curious about jolin Tsai's "72 changes" and how it could change. On February 11, 2004, "The Pirate" premiered simultaneously throughout Asia, and Jolin Tsai really "changed" a new trick. In the super luxurious MV of this single created by the record company for 3 million yuan, Jolin Tsai not only incarnated as a medieval pirate, with the new dance steps of "Flamenco & Hip Hop", but also debuted as a boy for the first time, playing the game of "changing men, changing women, changing changes", the male and female versions of Jolin Tsai dancing with each other are dazzling and eye-catching, and its degree of novelty is no less than that of the Japanese pop god Ayumi Hamasaki.
In order to fully present the magnificent scene of pirates competing for treasure in the Middle Ages, director Lai Weikang first invited professional art designers to compose all the set blueprints in the MV, and set up a sophisticated pirate cabin set; then, he specially found valuable antiques and gold jewelry as decorations on the pirate ship, so that the entire shape, art design and background layout are similar to the pirate ships in the Middle Ages. Due to the exquisite production, coupled with the male and female versions of Jolin Tsai's confrontation scenes are quite complicated, so the post-production of the MV alone took 10 days, which can be said to be quite large. In the MV, in order to match the "Flamenco" plus "hip hop" style dance music of "Pirates", even the Latin-style three-layer dress worn by Jolin Tsai when she incarnated as a "pirate princess" was specially tailored by the stylist, plus accessories and necklaces of copper products, and the whole costume actually weighed 6 kg. What's more dazzling is that Jolin Tsai, who has never shown herself as a boy, became "sexual" as a male pirate captain in the "Pirates" MV this time, leading her men to sail for treasure. Only to see that under the skillful hands of the stylist, Jolin Tsai put on the costume of the Middle Ages, tied a red turban, held a Western sword, and transformed into a handsome and handsome pirate captain. Of course, good looking, fun is also to pay the price, in the MV to play the "cross-dressing" game, but tired of the skinny Jolin Tsai, she pretended to be a pirate sword for a while, and then became a female princess to dance, plus the male and female double dance to repeat the shooting, almost got their own gender confusion. However, Jolin Tsai is quite proud of her first men's clothing style, and said that she can fight swords and play fiercely, feeling quite "manly".
The success of a record is certainly gratifying, but it will also put more pressure on the singer in the days to come. In 2003, Jolin Tsai transformed into a fashionable and mature little woman, with a well-received "Look at My 72 Changes" to create a sales miracle of more than one million in Asia, standing firm in the position of a popular diva in the Chinese record industry. In 2004, Jolin Tsai released a new album under the expectations of thousands of fans, of course, she was even more sloppy, she went to New York at the beginning of the year to study acting and other related courses, and learned the "voice expression" course with the teacher who once taught Julia Roberts.
Due to the popularity of the first album "Look at Me 72 Changes" after joining Sony, the producer's contribution is indispensable, and the biggest interest in the media is that there is a new face called "Yellow People" in the lineup behind the scenes of her new album, this benevolent brother wrote three songs, and after many investigations, everyone knows that this "Yellow" brother is Jay Chou. In addition, in order to make Jolin Tsai visually show the momentum of the new diva, the record company invited Yuichi Miyashi, the "royal" record art director of the Japanese "pop god" Ayumi Hamasaki, and Yuyasu Watanabe, who had served as the styling director for Mika Nakajima and other Japanese diva-level figures, through Sony Records in Japan, vowing to make Jolin Tsai "beautiful".
Because the album "Castle" has attracted much attention, and the record company up and down is looking forward to Jolin Tsai's album to create good sales results, so the producer is like a big enemy, the nerves are also tense when recording, and almost every song requires her to repeat it many times. Especially in the fast song part of the album, each producer is eager to be kind, and each produces a different version, hoping to choose the best and most suitable arrangement for Jolin Tsai. It is said that Jolin Tsai was often "tortured" by producers in the studio until midnight, when he sang to the end and even lost confidence at one point, and doubted that he could not sing. The most tragic thing was that because of the excessive pressure, she once had insomnia and could not eat, and felt that she almost suffered from depression. Fortunately, the final results of many experiments have made these "perfect" producers and Jolin Tsai very satisfied, and they are very confident that this new album will create another sales miracle.
On February 11, 2004, as the outpost of the new album, 45 radio stations in Asia simultaneously premiered the first wave of the title song "Pirates" produced by "Yellow People". In order to create the momentum of Jolin Tsai's latest masterpiece, the record company can be said to have full strength, and more than 800 million people heard this new song at the same time on the 11th, and the momentum was unmatched. In addition, as the second round of shockwave of the promotion of "Castle", Jolin Tsai held a small concert in Taipei on the 22nd, appearing as a pirate princess, attracting the attention of countless music fans.
In order to present the concept of "New World of Music" of Jolin's album, in the process of creativity, the staff felt that Jolin's new world was like a "castle", and the castle hid all kinds of treasures, just like Jolin's diverse music style can always surprise the audience with different surprises! The company specially designed the concept of "sky, earth and sea", and showed the diverse genre content of the "Castle" album through "Birds in the Sky", "White Horses of the Forest" and "Blue Fish of the Deep Sea". ”
"Birds in the Sky" represents the album contains enthusiastic and energetic fast song and dance, lively and dynamic, and people can't help but want to dance with it. "The White Horse of the Forest" means that the album contains songs with exotic flavors or new and exotic styles, and makes people have a very large imagination space. "Bluefish of the Deep" symbolizes that the album contains moving and gripping lyrical songs. Therefore, I hope that through the image presentation of costumes and action expressions, we can fully convey the new world of music that the album wants to express exclusively to Jolin.
Although "Look at Me 72 Changes" and "Castle" have achieved amazing results in the market and music reputation for two consecutive albums, Jolin and the record company are not complacent because of this, constantly thinking about how to break through innovation and create a new musical style, so when preparing the next album "Savage Game", they all racked their brains and spent effort, so they specially invited Wang Lihong and Wesley to create new songs for Jolin, and at the same time, They were jointly produced by Xue Zhongming, Wang Zhiping, Adi Zai, and Zhou Jiayou. Looking forward to breaking through the old music style through new collaborations, Jolin will upgrade and evolve, bringing unprecedented auditory and visual enjoyment.
With more determined confidence and creativity, the project combined musical and visual concepts with three games named after the self-created English characters "Jisco Game", "Jissing Game" and "Jancy Game" to present three distinct styles on the album.
"Jisco Game" represents the fast and dynamic fast song and dance, especially combining the spirit of hip hop, electronics, Old School and retro Disco, innovating the unique Jisco, from the unpredictable arrangement of the first title single "Savage Game", you can strongly feel the wonderful rhythm change, "OHOH" and "Turn a Blind Eye" Jolin stirs every restless nerve with a playful voice.
"Jissing Game" is taken from the meaning of Missing's miss, and slowly sings out various thoughts such as missing, sadness, and self-growth in love. "Sky", composed by Wesley himself, is deduced into a surging movement with a slow and progressive piano sound, as if a rainbow appears in the clear sky after the rain, and with Jolin's calm and rich voice emotions, it is bound to touch people's hearts and become a classic love song.
"Jancy Game" unleashes Fancy's multi-fantasy imagination, outlining a fresh musical expression with its unique arrangement and playful rhythm. Among them, such as "The Greek Girl of the Trevi Fountain", in addition to continuing Jolin's sweet music with exotic flavor, "Hunting down Cupid" shows a gentle and strong tone of voice, full of strength.
The "Monopoly Myth" produced by the talent Wang Lihong for Jolin for jolin for the first time is a masterpiece that cannot be missed, skillfully blending Chinese classical tunes and modern beat notes, as if traveling through the ancient and modern, fluttering out the melodious movement of Chinese and Western, while Jolin interprets the love myth of the new century with a soft and anticipatory delicate voice.
Taking the concept of "Game" as the starting point, the album "Savage Game" hopes to spread the "creative adventure" and "courage to taste" attitude of life from Jolin's music, and the diversified style of music includes the whimsical world, the Chinese version of love songs, dynamic dance music, etc., creating a Jolin's music game kingdom, which has adventure, excitement, joy, sadness and growth, symbolizing the spirit of perseverance and courage in life, friendship, love and even the journey of life.
The first song "Savage Game" integrates various musical elements such as hip hop, rap, Old School, retro Disco, etc., plus the rhythm of a video game shuttles through the varied style, making this song full of lively and joyful musical experience, which is both cute and interesting; and in order to accurately interpret the spirit and style of the whole song, in addition to Jolin's playful voice line in the sound, in the MV, in order to show the contrast between reality and fantasy in the game world, the record company spent 1.5 million, So that the entire MV scene is almost presented in a colorful animation, director Lai Wai Kang and Jaber carefully designed a surreal scene with a computer simulation of flowers, the atmosphere set off Jolin's fashionable and popular appearance posture, and the helicopter as the only tool to lead Jolin through the virtual and real game world, and in the world of "savage game", the flowers will surround Jolin, kick the splash will become a mouse, tiger and other fun techniques. Cross-stitching Jolin's fiery dance performance standing at the water's edge presents an imaginary space of a dreamlike and colorful world, ending with Jolin piloting a helicopter and continuing on his next adventure.
In terms of MV styling, stylist Chen Sunhua specially went to Japan for Jolin to select the latest spring and summer 2005 works presented by Japanese designer Kawakubo Ling with ballet as the design inspiration, which combines Kawakubo Ling's unique line cut and imaginative creativity of pink dress, with handmade necklaces and earrings personally compiled, to create a multi-level overall shape, and give popular elements without losing the sweet personality proposition, which happens to have a perfect echo with "Savage Game" and also announces the arrival of spring.