Fantasy (Chinese: 范特西) is the second studio album by Taiwanese singer Jay Chou, released on September 14, 2001, by BMG Taiwan.[1] Akin to his debut record, Fantasy was entirely composed and produced by Chou himself while the lyrics were penned by him along with Vincent Fang and Vivian Hsu. Fantasy not only breaks new ground in Chou's production standards, but also matures in its creation. The album not only includes lyrical R&B songs, but also expands his imagination to include hip hop, rock, rap, and traditional Japanese music into the record.
Commercially, Fantasy was a massive success throughout Greater China. The album shifted over 460,000 copies in Taiwan,[2] making it the country's best selling album of 2001,[3] and the fourth best-selling album in Taiwan of the 21st century.[4]Fantasy is also credited for helping Chou expand his popularity across the mainland[5] and has since sold 1.7 million copies in Asia overall.[6]
Background and development
On November 7, 2000, Chou released his debut album, Jay, which sold more than 250,000 copies in Taiwan.[7] The album was a groundbreaking release, combining R&B, Hip-Hop, classical and Chinese style;[8] which established Jay Chou's image as a "Chou-esque" singer.[8] In addition to producing and editing music albums for himself, Chou had also started composing music for other well-known singers such as S.H.E, Jordan Chan, Landy Wen, Jolin Tsai, Andy Lau, etc.
The album Fantasy is produced by Chou, with all the 10 songs composed by him. For lyrics, Chou is responsible for 2 of the songs, while the rest of the lyrics are written by Vincent Fang and Vivian Hsu respectively.[9] During the production of the album, Chou changed the title of the song "I Find It Hard To Say" without telling Hsu in advance.[10] During the creative process of Fantasy, Chou put various creative ideas such as nostalgia, love, domestic violence, and martial arts into the songs.[11] "Dad, I'm Home" is a song about domestic violence penned solely by Chou after hearing about his friend's experience.[12]
"Love Before BC" is an R&B-esque song written by Chou after a trip to a museum; and was based on the story of Nebuchadnezzar II, the king of Babylon, and his wife Amytis. "Simple Love" is a representation of rhythmic love songs, showing Chou's naive and innocent side. The simple arrangement, featuring plucking and percussion, creates a relaxing and pleasant picture of puppy love. "Ninja" is sung in Chou's typical style - not emphasizing on the words, but focusing on the music, and the mysterious oriental music, portraying the image of a ninja. This is another one of Chou's songs that incorporates oriental music after the song "Wife" on his debut album.[13] When Chou first debuted, he wrote "Ninja" for A-Mei, but she rejected it because of his "rapid" rap.[14] Some of the simple Japanese words in the song were learned by Chou after watching Japanese television dramas without asking a teacher to teach him.[15]
Chou vividly integrated his unique fantasy and personal characteristics into the song "Shanghai 1943". The year 1943 (the 32nd year of the Republic of China) was a tumultuous period between the Second World War and the Second Sino-Japanese War. The song is based on the story of a Taiwanese veteran who misses his parents.[16] The song "Sorry" describes Chou's saudades, his deep feelings for the past, and his apologies, which indicates his cherishing of his previous relationships, and therefore wants to say "sorry". The song "William Castle" is a British style song that adds classical baroque string accompaniment and a band into the creation.
When Chou was working on the demo of "William Castle", he had already thought of using vampires as the theme of the song. Chou then told the story to Fang, who then searched for information and discussed it with Chou, eventually forming the lyrics of the song. In terms of composition, Chou came up with the idea of using MIDI to make a pipe organ when he was working on the demo of the song, and added sound effects such as the sound of horses' hooves to the intro. The rap at the end of the song comes from the lyrics of the song "Basketball Match", which was added live by Chou during his final recording.[17][18] The style of the track "Nunchucks" is a mix of rock and roll with a rapid-fire rap.[19] Chou created the song "Silence" based on his own experiences growing up. He learned to play the piano at a young age, playing quietly in a secluded corner, surrounded by silence, with only the piano to keep him company. Chou skillfully blended his growing up experience with his first love experience to create the song.[20]
Title and artwork
The title of the album comes from the transliteration of the English word "Fantasy".[21] The reason why the album is titled "Fantasy" is because Chou wanted to use music to bring people a whimsical imagination, and the name "Fantasy" also reflected Chou's consistent music philosophy - music is fantasy, fantasy is happy.[22] The album cover is a close up of Chou's face while he's wearing a red hoodie.[23]
Promotion
To promote Fantasy, Chou embarked on his first every concert tour titled Fantasy Tour, which had five stops in total. The first stop was at Taoyuan where he performed at the Taoyuan Arena. At the Taoyuan Arena show, Coco Lee performed as his special guest. The second and third shows were played at the Hong Kong Coliseum in Hong Kong. The fourth show was played in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at the Axiata Arena on February 8, 2002. The final stop of the show was played in Singapore at Suntec City on February 10, 2002.
The music video for "Love Before BC" depicts scenes of ancient ruins in sepia filter; giving the audience a sense of eternal love.[24] The music video for "Dad, I'm Home" was shot in an abandoned house, with the opening scene showing Chou playing the cello.[25] The music video for "Simple Love" tells a pure and shy love story. The hero and heroine in the video are very shy when facing each other. They watch the sunset together, watch the sea together, and play baseball together.[26] The heroine in the music video of "Simple Love" is Miyu Furukawa, a model for Japan's Non-no magazine. She was only 13 or 14 years old at the time, and her unique innocence and shyness matched the simple love in the lyrics. The music video for "Ninja" features Chou in his iconic red hoodie rapping in a traditional Japanese garden with scenes of ninjas acrobatically jumping around.[27] The music video for "I Find It Hard To Say", which is inspired by the movie Ghost, features Chou crashing from a spacecraft, reincarnating as another person whilst pondering upon his love interest who didn't seem to recognize him.[28]
The music video for "Shanghai 1943" shows scenes of Chou singing against the backdrop of the bustling Shanghai streets during the 1940s.[29] The video for "Sorry" used edited concert footage instead of actually having a storyline.[30] The music video for "William Castle" also contains footage of Chou's concert as well as him singing casually.[31] The music video of the song "Nunchucks" tells the story of a man who is strong in martial arts, who fights for justice and teaches people not to use force, and that force is not the only way to solve things. The hero is targeted by the gangs in the beginning, and in this moment of opportunity, the hero decides to take the initiative himself and defeats the gangs with his nunchucks, defeating the evil.[32] When filming the music video for "Silence", Chou quietly played the piano, sometimes pacing quietly, from early morning to sunset. The piano accompanied him through the night. At times, he closed his eyes with deep emotion and walked with bare feet, his past love just like the scenery outside his window. At the end of the "Silence" video, Chou puts on his suit and runs out of the door, drenched in the rain, seemingly telling himself to get out of the love that is hard to part with.[33]
The tracks, "Simple Love" and "I Find It Hard to Say", are listed at number 2 and number 17 respectively on the Hit FM Top 100 Singles of the Year chart for 2001.[34]
Accolades
The album was nominated for ten Golden Melody Awards and won five awards, including Best Pop Vocal Album, Best Album Producer, and Best Composer.[35][36] The album also won for an IFPI Hong Kong Top Sales Music Award for Top 10 Best Selling Mandarin Albums of the Year.[37]
