JJ Lin brings a new level of exuberance and flamboyance to his show on home turf.
Contributed By Delvina Su
Lin delivers his third performance in Singapore.
Having toured various cities in China, Singaporean superstar JJ Lin finally made it back home for his JJ I AM World Tour concert on Mar. 5 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. And boy, has he has brought his game to a whole new level.
Appearing on stage at the sound of the Chinese zither and clad in a shining jacket that revealed his well-toned abs, Lin opened the show on a high note with the song “Sha Shou” (“Killer”). As he worked the crowd, it was obvious that he was in good form, despite having battled many bouts of illness over the past few months.
Throughout the two-and-a-half-hour performance, fans were treated to 31 song items as Lin hip-hopped his way through fast numbers like “Zhu Jiao” (“Main Character”), “Jie Dao” (“Street”) and “Qi Dai Ai” (“Expecting Love”). The crowd cheered wildly and sang along to melodious ballads when Lin took on a duet with special guest Zhang Jing, singing “Zhi Dui Ni Shuo” (“Only Telling You”), “Bei Dui Bei Yong Bao” (“Hugging Back To Back”) and others. For the first half of the show, it was all flamboyance—the star even donned a suit lined with light bulbs that lit up as he performed “Hei Wu Si” (“Black Warrior”), accompanied by a dance crew wielding luminous sabers.
After a costume change, Lin reappeared in a bright red suit, mesmerizing the crowd as he played on a classical piano and sang a medley of songs which included the Roberta Flack classic “Killing Me Softly” and his latest song, “Ta Shuo” (“She Said”). Despite the glitz of the earlier fanfare, it was obvious that Lin’s strength remains in the slower, heartfelt numbers.
He then surprised the audience by breaking out into the familiar tune, “Home,” with good friend and local songstress Kit Chan captured on screen singing along. Lin quipped that his debut performance on stage was for Chan’s concert as a backup vocalist, and Chan would always single him out for singing out of tune.
Elaborate costumes featured prominently throughout the concert. CN PHOTO: Daniel poh
Lin also performed Michael Jackson’s classic hit “Thriller” before inviting on stage another special guest, his good friend and Taiwan’s king of rock, Jam Hsiao. Together, the duo brought the roof down as they grooved to Jackson’s “Black and White.” Cheekily, Hsiao commented that he had never seen Lin “this high” before sending the crowd into another frenzy with the song “Huang Fei” (“Queen”).
What was supposed to be the evening’s closing item, “Jiang Nan” (“Southern River”), the song that made him famous, only left the crowd wanting more as chants of “Encore” reverberated through the hall. As he took to the stage again, belting out his final song, “Yi Qian Nian Yi Hou” (“One Thousand Years Later”), a thankful Lin expressed his gratitude to all as he shared, not without emotion, that his path had been filled with many challenges and each time when he was at his lowest point, his only yearning would be to “come back home.” He then sealed the evening with the declaration, “I am your JJ Lin!”
It was with a deep sense of pride as thousands of fans witnessed how a former 17-year-old St. Andrew’s Junior College student has today transformed into one of Asia’s most popular Mandarin pop singers with eight albums under his belt. Even more heartening is the knowledge that that no matter how far his career takes him, Singapore will always be JJ Lin’s home.
