Bii: I Have Never Disguised Myself (Part 2) (Part 1 here)
Source: 傑米鹿｜我從來沒有假裝過｜ Bii 畢書盡 專訪 English Translations: Zoe Pang (biibolicious | xzoep | YouTube)
Jamie Deer: You always appear as someone warm and happy in front of your fans, but as soon as you are off stage you tend to be more quiet, depressed and don’t have much to say. Would you say you feel like that there is a need to display a face of happiness when you are around your fans and people who love you, this way you can offer them happiness and encourage them to be happy themselves, or do you naturally feel happy as long as you get on stage to see your fans?
Bii: I have always had a thought and attitude of “treating my fans as my family members”. You said I am very warm to them, but actually I’m not always like this, sometimes when they give negative emotions, I will do the same back to them, but no matter what, in the end I will still offer them correct and positive thoughts. But after all, I’m just a normal human being, I cannot bear all their negative emotions, it could be when I’m waiting to perform on stage, or for the entire day, I will be affected by something that made me unhappy earlier. I’m sure my fans have seen me with an angry face before, maybe they didn’t know the reason behind my angry face at that moment, but I have always explained it back to them later, some of them even private messaged me on Facebook to apologise to me. These interactions are very much like a family, at least this is what it is like in my family.
When fans come to see me at events, it could be because they want a handshake from me, or maybe they want to have a photo taken with me, these I will try my best to accomplish as long as I am capable of doing so, until they are all satisfied. However sometimes the event venues have restrictions, the problem cannot be solved even if they start pushing. Many things have changed since the past, those fans that have followed me for around 3 or 4 years will understand, for example, they will say “There are a lot of people present now so Bii may not be able to do some of the things which he used to do to fans.” Some of them will even say that fans’ safety and Bii’s safety should be prioritised first and I’m very thankful for their words.
I have never tried to disguise myself on stage, I have never had bad thoughts about my fans either, it is just that I am someone who is very easily affected by emotions. For example, if my mum said she’s feeling unwell, I will worry over that for an entire day; my thoughts are always negative too. Actually I hate myself for having this personality, I guess I have to change this slowly, maybe time will teach me how to accept this side of myself and how to deal with it so that I can better myself.
Jamie Deer: “I’m Bii TO THE DOUBLE i” has a lot of fast-paced songs, for example, “Catch Your Double Eye”, “Funky Boy”, “Love Magic” and “Maybe Baby”, are these the music styles which you wanted to try out? Could you explain these further for us?
Bii: For this album, I have tried a lot more new music styles which I have never done for my previous albums. In the past I will lock myself up in my comfort zone because I wanted to sing more pop-rock songs, but now I have come to realise that I must try more different things since I am a singer, whether if I like it or not, I will only know after I have tried it, furthermore, it is only through this way that I will know whether the market can accept it or not, plus whether the audience and my fans like it or not.
“Funky Boy” is composed by Ian Chen. At first when my boss gave it to me to listen to, my first reaction was, “This song is so good, why not save it for yourself?”, but Ian told me he planned to write this song for me already, so I said OK, but I didn’t know if I could sing it well at that time. Later when I started to record for this song, Gyniuz went to ask Ian if he could help us out with production, but he was busy at the time, fortunately the recording still went smoothly. When I sang this song, I made reference to how Ian usually sings off stage as well as his playful personality and expressions.
I have new things to offer in every one of my albums, for example, “Catch Your Double Eye” is something which Gyniuz and I wanted to try out, there are auto-tune and EDM elements to it. He wrote this song while we were in the process of recording for my album, he later asked me to write the Korean rap section. The part that goes “dance-dance-dance~wow” near the start is designed to make the audience go hyper.
Jamie Deer: “I have electricity, I am very dangerous” Did you already understand what this line of lyrics meant when you sang it? This particular line left me with a deep impression when I first heard it, I reckon normal people will think this line is very fake, but you sang this line with such a serious tone, another factor is that I think you are suited to sing lyrics like these, so in the end I had this feeling of “OK, I will accept this”.
Bii: I understand the meaning of the lyrics, sometimes I have to accept information with a simple mind, this way… I am more comfortable (laughs).
Jamie Deer: Could you share with us the story behind your song “All You Did”? A lot of my friends like this song very much.
Bii: I wrote this song while I was thinking of my family, a specific family member since I was thinking of him while I wrote this song. At first I only wrote it so I could have images of him inside my head while I sang to myself, but later both Gyniuz and my boss said they really like this song, so after filling in the lyrics and altering the melody, this song was released. Many of my songs’ inspiration come from my family, or when I think of my past experiences, in particular this song was recorded using a “One Take” method, so my feelings have not been edited out.
Jamie Deer: What are your upcoming plans?
Bii: I will work towards the goal of holding a concert in Taipei Arena; I also hope to film a movie as I want to experience what it is like to film a movie.
Jamie Deer: What kind of movie would you like to be in and what kind of character would you like to portray?
Bii: Thriller movies. It could be a murderer or any other characters, as long as the genre is right for me then I’ll want to participate. I hope the end result will give everyone a feeling of “So it’s like this”, this feeling could be “So actually this place has a dangerous corner”, or “Such things could happen at a place which you least expect it to happen”, I want everyone to be more careful with their lives. If I get the chance to, I want to portray a character that is outside the typical image which everyone perceives me as having… it will be great if I could portray characters with split personalities.
Jamie Deer: What plans and anticipations do you have outside work?
Bii: I am 27 years old this year, it is only now that I want to set myself a target, that is to have my own house (free from loan) and to fetch my mum over to Taiwan before I reach 40 years old. My mum said to me earlier this year that she hopes to live with me in a few years time. (Jamie: Why are you so practical?!)
Jamie Deer: Lastly I want to ask, according to what you have said previously, you have doubts in yourself, whether it being work or personal matters, so what currently motivates you to continue to compose music, to perform and to work hard as an artiste?
Bii: A lot of time I will think to myself, do I actually like this career? Am I suited for this career? These are the doubts. What I think negatively about is: “If I don’t carry on with this career, then what else am I good at?”, whereas my positive thoughts will be: “Oh so you still like to sing?” My greatest motivation is the people who give me support, those who want to see me perform better, those who want to see me improve, my company colleagues, fans, family, family members, they are my greatest motivation.
