(China Daily) British pop diva and star of the Singer reality show, Jessie J is preparing to embark on her 12-stop concert tour all across the nation, Zhang Kun and Chen Nan report.
Just two months after being crowned champion of Hunan TV's reality show, Singer, and hot on the heels of her first studio release in four years, British pop star Jessie J is all set to embark on a 12-city Chinese tour.
Running from August to September, the tour will see her deliver performances in Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin.
The 30-year-old singer-songwriter was the first foreign artist to win the annual reality show, which sees established singers' performances ranked and rated each week by audiences and judges until a winner is decided. The show is one of China's most popular.
"To be honest, I was the first international person ever to be asked," Jessie J told China Daily in an exclusive interview shortly after winning the competition.
"Everything happened so fast: the interviews, the meetings, the photo shoots, the rehearsals," she recalled. "All of a sudden there was the finale, and it was me, Huahua (nickname of Chinese singer Hua Chenyu), Wang Feng and Tengri."
Until then, she explained, she never expected to win because "from what I've been told, the audiences haven't experienced Western music that closely for such a long time".
Obviously Chinese audiences didn't－like she worried－see her as someone "with big hair, singing songs that no one had ever heard".
During the contest, she performed classic hits by Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston and Prince.
Music critics in China praised her singing as a "textbook interpretation" and "impeccable", while Chinese fans created jokes about her "teaching others to sing". Since appearing on the show, her Sina Weibo social media account has attracted 580,000 followers.
Jessie J toured China in 2014, and in the past few years has performed a series of gala shows and special events, but it was Singer that kept her in China the longest－three-and-a-half months in total.
"It really would be a waste of hard work－for myself and my team－if we didn't continue to be here," she said. "I feel like this is just the tip of the iceberg.
"I love being here. I love being around a new energy, a new culture and a completely different way of life to anything that I have ever seen before."
There are 1.4 billion people in China, and she was glad to learn that a great many Chinese viewers were said to have watched the show. The sheer amount of people, and just how much impact China has on the rest of the world, has brought "a whole new understanding of the world" to the star.
It was hard being up against some of the biggest singers in China, she says, but once she won it, it felt like the whole country was showing their appreciation and respect－and even welcoming for－international artists.
"We have so much hope now. …Chinese music can be heard by the rest of the world, and vice versa."
Jessie J built great relationships with her fellow contestants on Singer, but she didn't reveal whether any of them will be a guest performer at her concerts in China. She did promise to include some of the songs that she sang during the show in her performances, though.
"In my head, every time I am on the stage, I sing it like a proper performance. I care about the beginning, the middle and the end. I want to sing one song after another.… I can't wait."
Originally named Jessica Ellen Cornish, Jessie J rose to prominence in 2011 with songs such as Do It Like a Dude and Price Tag. In 2012 Jessie J performed at Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee Concert, as well as the closing ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
Jessie J's music style is a mixture of soulful vocals with contemporary R&B, pop and hip-hop beats.
Aside from winning various awards for her music in the United Kingdom, she has served as a coach and mentor on the TV shows The Voice UK and The Voice Australia.
The announcement of Jessie J's concert tour closely follows the release of her fourth studio album, helmed by American record producer, songwriter and two-time Grammy nominee DJ Camper.
Entitled R.O.S.E., the album was released via an epic four-part rollout: R.O.S.E. (Realizations) came out on May 22, R.O.S.E (Obsessions) on May 23, R.O.S.E. (Sex) on May 24, and R.O.S.E. (Empowerment) on May 25.
Jessie J wrote the entire album herself, making this her most personal statement ever.
"It's crazy that it's been four years since I released new music," Jessie J says about the new album. "I have done so much growing in the last few years. You can hear it in the music; the songs on R.O.S.E. are simply me singing my diary in a melody. I am so grateful and happy that anyone who has been waiting for this record in full will finally have it."
The title of the album, as the singer-songwriter says, is an acronym for realizations, obsessions, sex and empowerment－all topics that will be explored in song. But the meaning behind that title goes even deeper.
"It didn't come to me straight away. The more I started writing, the more I kept repeating the words, and then one day I realized those words spelt ROSE. My mum's name is Rose. They have always been my favorite flower, so beautiful but when handled badly, they can fall apart, so delicate but so very strong. I just started seeing roses everywhere; it was so weird but I knew it was for a reason.
"I was definitely paying attention to a deeper and higher energy," she concluded.
Contact the writers through chennan@chinadaily.com.cn
If you go
Jessie J's concerts will include: Aug 30, Optical Valley International Tennis Center in Wuhan; Sept 1, Zhengzhou International Convention& Exhibition Center; Sept 3, Cadillac Arena in Beijing; Sept 5, Wuliangye Chengdu Performing Arts Center; Sept 7, Hunan International Convention& Exhibition Center in Changsha; Sept 9, Wuxi Sports Center Gymnasium; Sept 12, Shenzhen Bay Sports Center Arena; Sept 16, Tianjin Gymnasium, and Sept 18, Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai. 380-1,280 yuan ($56-191). Ticketing hotline: 1010-3721
Source: By Zhang Kun/Chen Nan | China Daily