We have covered Kpop group GOT7 not too long ago, but let’s look at each individual members work as of late. BamBam and Yugyeom recorded a few songs but also another member is branching out his traits. From Korean tv shows to Chinese even releasing his first solo album. Though born in Hong Kong, his mother and grandfather are 100% Mainland Chinese. We’re talking about Jackson Wang!
Jackson
Born on March 28, 1994 in Hong Kong in the loving arms of his father, Chinese national fencer, Wang Ruiji, Shanghai born gymnast Sophia Chow and big brother. Jackson grew up with dreams of becoming a famous fencer like his father, even becoming a top ranking fence champion in Hong Kong but his feelings towards music grew rapidly and he auditioned for JYP entertainment in 2010, turning down a fencing scholarship from Stanford University when he made it through auditions.
In 2011 Jackson moved to Seoul to begin his trainee days with JYP. Two years later he joined a survival tv program which showed the battle between YG entertainment and JYP entertainment. Both of which companies released big artists following the end of this show. They grew big from 2014 with their debut song Girls Girls Girls and finally in 2016 Jackson performed his self composed song I love it.
However in these years he’s been on many tv programs as a host or as a guest, Star King, Law of the Jungle, Happy Together, Radio Star, Problematic Men, Our Neighborhood Arts and Physical Education, SNL Korea, A Look At Myself, and others. On May 12, 2015, Jackson was appointed as a new MC for SBS’s music show Inkigayo, following the departure of ZE:A’s Kwanghee.
In December 2015, Jackson made his Chinese television debut as one of the presenters (alongside He Jiong) on the Chinese version of the show Please Take Care of My Refrigerator, called Go Fridge, which was well received. He also wrote the lyrics, composed and arranged the theme song for the show in seasons 2 and 3. In March 2016, Jackson was appointed as MC for Fresh Sunday, a show on Hunan TV. Later in 2016, he starred in the show Fighting Man alongside Jam Hsiao, Wang Kai, Jing Boran, Bai Jingting, and Yang Shuo.
On June 26, 2017, JYP Entertainment announced the upcoming release of Jackson’s first solo album in China, as long as the establishment of a dedicated management team named Team Wang for his activities in the country. His first single, an English track titled “Papillon”, was released on August 26; moreover, on August 30, he released “Novoland: The Castle in the Sky” (Chinese: 九州天空城), the theme song for iOS game Novoland: The Castle in the Sky 3D, breaking away from hip-hop and making a first try with melodious and classical music. After establishing his own studio in China, Jackson began endorsing beverages, clothing brands and electronics. On November 30, he released its second solo single, “Okay”: similar to “Papillon”, he wrote the lyrics, and composed and arranged the song together with BOYTOY. On April 20, 2018, he released his third self-written single, “Dawn of Us”, an English song once again composed and arranged in collaboration with BOYTOY.
His music
Of course for a lot of us he began as this dorky, excited master rapper and acrobatic dance skills from GOT7 but he has since truly grown and shown himself as a great artist besides his group. I personally enjoy his music though I’m not a big fan of the genre of music. I like how raw his voice sounds in OKAY and how sweet he can sing as well.
However as of late he has been cancelling a lot of the shows and other scheduling due to health problems and overlapping schedules, I hope that he will be around with the Europe tour however, it wouldn’t be the same without him. Other than GOT7 I wish him all the best in his future endeavors and I hope the GOT7 community has his back in this. Jackson Wang is one of those artists that will kick it far in life.
