Known as Harlem Yu, under the spotlight on stage, he appears to have limitless energy, and he pulls off some really unexpected changes in his career. As soon as you think he will always be a deviant musician roaring out songs like “Let Me Love Enough,” he transforms himself into the next generation’s variety show king. And then as soon as you classify him as a variety show host, he wins an award at Taiwan’s Golden Melody Awards for the album Tidal Wave. And most recently, he added the role of talent show host to his roster of achievements, showing off his capabilities. These sudden career shifts are actually all intimately related to Harlem Yu’s music career. Lately, he has even unveiled a whole new range of musical works…
Bringing together points of musical enlightenment
Harlem Yu attributes the source of his musical interest to his older sister. When his older sister was in high school, she would often bring her little brother, who was still in elementary school, to parties with her classmates where they would listen to the latest pop music. Those melodies and rhythms got into his brain and never left. Another important moment came when his father bought him a guitar as a gift. “When I was about 10 years old, I had no interest in music. I don’t know why he bought me a guitar.” He put the guitar aside, and it wasn’t until junior high, when he began learning English and met friends who were interested in music that “lighting finally struck.” He started listening to ICRT, which used to be the US Armed Forces Radio, especially the Top 40. Without a word, a spirit of strong musical interest was unleashed in Harlem Yu. He began taking notes of the names of all the musicians in the Top 40; of course he misspelt a lot of their names. But this list was enough for him to go to a record store to test the resolve of the store clerks. So, by simply listening to music, he set off on the his musical career… playing guitar, forming a band, entering art troupes and negotiating with the bosses of record labels.
Harlem Yu defines “good pop music” as having both pop elements and individual style. Without both, it is not good pop music. He says the music he first started making was quite far from what most people wanted to hear. “According to the audience, my pop music did not sound very ‘pop.’ There were all kinds of reasons why people just didn’t understand my music. But it’s no big deal. The entire process involves continuous adjustments.” Without expectations, Harlem Yu hired the then-unknown Li Zheng-fan to write the song “Missing You,” and was amazed by the end product. Not only was Harlem Yu impressed, but the fan reaction also went far beyond their support for the title song of the album. Because of the success of this song, his desire to write more songs of the heart that his audience would love was ignited. This also caused him to rethink his earlier decision to avoid romantic songs. “These things can be done in a good way. Why do they need to be avoided?”
The coming summer and a new album
Besides 45 singles, which is a combination of his singles and the album Eighteen Until I Die, Harlem Yu has produced three all new works. “Finishing a song or albums stirs up some complicated emotions. For example, you thing that you’ve been doing this for many years, but all you have to show for it is three CDs. ‘Should I write more songs?’ It’s finished, why should I complicate the situation?” Last year when driving his bicycle out to a place where he could ride it, he played a CD in his car that he hadn’t listened to in years. When he listened to it in the past, he didn’t have much of a reaction, but when he listened to it in his car, he suddenly felt like it was an excellent album. As he drove, he felt very cheerful. “That music spilled over me with the sunshine. You really have to go do something, and only then will the music have a connection.” With such a cheerful feeling, Harlem Yu smiled as he thought, he hadn’t even written any new music, but he already had the name of his next album, and he would put it out in the summer.
Different from the past, on this album, Harlem Yu concentrated on having fun when writing the title song, including the feeling of cheerfulness he had when driving his car, and he wanted a strong feeling of personal energy from each song. He wanted to get past the irritable feeling a constant revision of the first song on the album. After writing the song, he asked Ma Nianxian and Felix from WonFu to have a listen and contribute their talents. “Felix and Ma Nianxian are obviously the next generation of musicians for me. Speaking even more frankly, I need this kind of stimulation. I need that kind of different musical element. And therefore in the process, I must find out how to bring the music elements from different eras together. My earlier music was really personal, and I was completely in control. Sometimes it was a bit too subjective. This is OK in the beginning, but gradually you come to need other people to help bring out that spark.” With no time pressure from record labels, the three musicians have continually edited their music, but they say they are happy with the process. Joking, they say they don’t need to worry about the record market. “Because there’s no use in worrying about it!” The new album, Unending Moonlight, got its start from having fun. “When we listen to it now, we are still really happy. This is a very good thing.” This summer, Harlem Yu went back to his happy roots with this album, and it shows.
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