In 2006, Wu Zongxian, who had just lost Jay Chou, turned his mind to a junior who was only 19 years old.
Wu Zongxian said: "The goal I gave him was to surpass his senior brother Jay Chou within eight years. ”
Wu Zongxian made every effort to create the album "19" for him, which lived up to expectations and became famous.
The 19-year-old boy's name "Cai Minyou" hung high on the billboard and became the most powerful impactor of the "Heavenly King".
When the media handed him the microphone, he said: "Beyond Brother Jay, I only give myself four years." ”
is young and frivolous, and he is exactly the same age as Jay Chou when he debuted.
This year is the 18th year of his debut, and the dream of surpassing Jay Chou has become a bubble in the tempering of reality and the changes in the music scene.
Tsai Minyou was born in Taiwan in 1986, and his mother loved to sing and often used her singing voice to lull him to sleep.
The Disney cartoon "The Little Mermaid" was playing on TV, and he liked the theme song in it, mimicking the melody in the stairwell while putting on his shoes.
The echo of the stairwell seemed to reverberate naturally, and he experienced the charm of singing.
His mother sent him to learn violin and piano, and when he went to elementary school, he entered a music class and studied systematically.
In high school, Tsai Minyou entered the music class of the senior high school affiliated to National Taiwan Normal University.
He often plays and sings in the school's piano room, and his friends think he sings very well, so they secretly help him sign up for a singing competition held by Flying Saucer.
This is a large-scale online telephone singing competition, and in that era when everyone listened to the radio, many people listened to this program even if they didn't sleep in the middle of the night.
Cai Minyou first won the first place in the quarterly competition and then won the championship in the annual competition.
This series of victories attracted the attention of Wu Zongxian, who owed a huge debt at that time, sold his music company, and packaged and sold it to a new agency with Jay Chou, earning NT$300 million.
Cai Minyou has learned various musical instruments since he was a child, and his musical talent is extremely high, Wu Zongxian is very optimistic about him and wants to make him the next "Jay Chou".
Cai Minyou, who is not yet an adult, signed a contract with Wu Zongxian and stepped into the entertainment industry with one foot.
Academically, Cai Minyou did not fall behind, and in 2005, he was admitted to the music department of Taiwan Normal University with double results.
After signing the contract, the company gave him secret training for 5 years, and it was not until he was 19 years old that he released his first album.
In 2006, Cai Minyou released the album "19", and the efforts and waits made in the previous years were all preparations for this moment.
This album, which took five years, in addition to making various attempts in song production, Cai Minyou also incorporated his personal understanding of music.
For example, "Dream Never Falls Empire", "Superman is Not Home", and "8 Bit" are works inspired by the film and television dramas he has watched.
And "Outside the City" and "I Can" closely followed the millennial lyrical style that was popular in the music scene at that time.
When Cai Minyou debuted, he was catching the last train of the record industry boom.
He was shortlisted for the "Best Newcomer Award" at the 18th Taiwan Golden Melody Awards with "I Can" created at the age of 15, and Jay Chou's "Still Fantesi", Lin Junjie's "Cao Cao", Jolin Tsai's "Dancer", and Tao Zhe's "Too Beautiful" were competing that year......
Although he did not win the crown, for the fledgling Cai Minyou, his first album was among the Golden Melody Awards, which is undoubtedly a great affirmation and encouragement.
At that time, Cai Minyou had his own views on music.
"The process of creation is like walking a maze, you have to try many different paths to find an exit, just like life has many possibilities, the road you have traveled is a process, but one day you will find an exit."
He believes that it is more interesting to play and feel with a feeling of "the boat is naturally straight to the bridge".
In 2008, Cai Minyou released his second album "Searching for Cai Minyou".
On the album, he added a lot of elements of punk rock, American rock, lyrical rock, and electronic rock.
Wu Zongxian was only 20% satisfied with this innovative album, and even compared Jay Chou with Cai Minyou, wanting Cai Minyou to write a song like "Nunchucks".
Cai Minyou did not hesitate to go against Wu Zongxian's opinion and insisted on being himself.
During the rehearsal the night before the album was released, Cai Minyou had an emotional breakdown and cried bitterly.
He wanted to prove himself too much.
This painstaking work did not receive much attention, and Cai Minyou was very disappointed.
When the media asked him again about his dream of surpassing Jay Chou in four years, he said: "That's just a goal for me, and I don't really want to compare with Jay Chou." In fact, I am honored to be compared to him, because because I have something, the media will put me and him together, and that is actually very happy. ”
In 2009, Wu Zongxian invested bankrupt, lost 800 million, and announced his retirement from the entertainment industry.
Cai Minyou regained his lyrical style that year, and devoted nearly a year of hard work to brewing his third solo album "Lonely, Okay".
He spends 12 hours a day writing songs before he walks out of the studio until dawn.
After Cai Minyou handed over 20 works to the company in one go, he told the producer that if his songs were not good enough, he should not make up for them, and he was willing to do it again.
The title song "Lonely, Okay" alone, Cai Minyou sang it more than a dozen times, and finally caused acute inflammation of the throat, he smiled bitterly and finally felt what it means to have a gold star in his eyes.
This album quickly became popular as soon as it was released, and more people heard Cai Minyou's voice.
This was probably the last thing he could do for Master.
At the height of his musical career, news of his enlistment soon spread.
A two-year blank time is enough for a singer who is on the rise.
The former audience is gradually lost, and the name "Cai Minyou" is also gently covered by the dust of time.
After retiring from the army, Cai Minyou signed a contract with a new economic company, Tianxi Entertainment, to prepare a new album.
Since its establishment, Tianxi Entertainment has been committed to exploring and cultivating the potential of artists, never sticking to one style of music, and has had artists such as Jolin Tsai, Rainie Yang, and Huang Lixing.
At that time, Cai Minyou wanted to get rid of the shackles of the business model, pursue higher artistry, and make some newer and cooler attempts.
In the eyes of outsiders, he is sunny and cheerful, but he is actually a "person in a suit", just like Wei Ruxuan wrote, he doesn't know much about humor and life interest.
For this album, he gained 4 kilograms of hard muscle and became a macho man with six-pack abs.
In 2012, Cai Minyou released his fourth album "Super Right Brain", which not only added dance music to it, but also played electronic music.
At that time, Taiwan's economic growth slowed, people's spending power declined, and the rise of music streaming platforms lowered the threshold for listeners to obtain music.
This album was not recognized by the market, and its sales and word-of-mouth were not as good as the previous three albums, which brought a lot of frustration to Cai Minyou.
"There will be some shadows later, whether I want to choose the market, or do what I want to do."
After this album, Cai Minyou did not work for half a year, and in the face of the gap between his ideals and reality, he once suffered from insomnia.
After being silent for a while, under the introduction of a friend, he began to get involved in the field of film and television, and successively participated in popular dramas such as "It Turned Out to Be a Beautiful Man" and "Mom, Kiss It", and had a certain income.
If Cai Minyou continues to cultivate the field of film and television, there will be better development, but he chooses to stick to his music dream.
He wants to work hard for a few more years and use the money he earns to make music, and if he can't do it, he will go behind the scenes and become a producer.
In the tenth year of his debut, Cai Minyou released his fifth album "Me and My Brahms", which incorporated a large number of elements of classical music, piano and string music that he was good at into his creation.
In this record, he once again tries to push the boundaries of music creation and cares for social minorities.
In the album, Chen Xinyan wrote the lyrics and Cai Minyou composed the music "The Worst of Us", which eloquently tells the dilemma of ordinary people struggling to survive in the torrent of the times.
The last song of this album is "I Think, I Can", on the basis of "I Can", there are two more words "I think", compared with the youth and ignorance at that time, there is more thinking and precipitation.
This is a cross-time and space dialogue between him and himself 10 years ago, and while remembering, he hopes to bring fans a new Cai Minyou.
When recording this song, Cai Minyou cried many times in the middle of singing.
The lyrics read: "Are you scared, why haven't you given up yet"
When his first album was released in 2006, he was still a 19-year-old young and innocent teenager who wrote love songs with a longing for love.
Ten years later, 29-year-old Cai Minyou responded to the "I Can" with a song "I Think I Can".
"I think, the rep started to think, I can, the rep is the story of my pursuit of my dreams," he said. Life has ups and downs, even if I know that the road ahead is difficult, I hope to tell myself that I can do it, I think I can. ”
The former teenager has grown up, but the love and exploration of music has never stopped.
After the age of 30, Cai Minyou's voice has become more mature and deep, but he always has a stubbornness and courage that does not admit defeat.
Now, he hasn't given up, just drowned out by the hustle and bustle of the market
And what was drowned out was his talent.