Jackson Wang: The Rolling Stone Interview

Pinning Jackson Wang down in one place for an extended amount of time is an impossible task. Over the last couple of weeks, I found myself navigating through seven staff members spread across three different labels and two time zones, all for one man. I knew right off the bat that it wouldn’t be an easy process – in fact, the happenings around the September digital cover of Rolling Stone India were preceded by three years of a hilarious saga of almost-meetings with the Chinese megastar. We were one door away from each other while I was backstage at a GOT7 concert in 2019, we weathered the cancellation of a massive shoot in Seoul in 2020 thanks to the pandemic, missed each other by a day during trips to Thailand, and it was endlessly frustrating each time nothing worked out. Now, however, it’s clear that it was all part of something bigger. 

I realized we were all meant to be here at this moment in time, bending deadlines, scheduling multiple calls and staying up till dawn over several weeks to map out an era of Wang’s life that is led by hustle, teamwork and transformation. His schedule is jam-packed and he’s constantly on the move – from launching new projects with his own label Team Wang and jumping from city to city to do so, to preparing for the release of his sophomore album Magic Man, there isn’t a moment in his day to waste. As his team and I attempt to find a slot where he can sit down and discuss his own music, I’m overwhelmed by how much is on his plate. “He’s unstoppable,” is what a mutual colleague of ours had told me years ago, and that’s the only thing that rings in my head while trying to get an understanding of his world.  

The conversations I had with him during this period focused around the 28-year-old’s perspective on who he is and everything he’s achieved. It spanned two sessions – one before the release of Magic Man, and one right after over email. When we finally lock in a date for the first interview and sit down to talk, I can gather that this is not the Jackson Wang we had become used to seeing on our screens for the last eight years. Since his debut in 2014 with the immensely popular K-pop group GOT7, he’d cultivated a hyper and vibrant persona, full of laughter and ready to add a dash of humor to any variety show or event he made an appearance at. After GOT7 made their exit from their former label, JYP Entertainment, together in 2021 and decided to show us who they are outside of the glittering dome of the K-pop industry, every member went through a massive transformation as they released music they were 100 percent in control of. Wang’s own transformation is perhaps the most drastic. 

Today’s Jackson Wang is more subdued and contemplative on my Zoom screen. Dressed in his now-signature black tee and a beanie, he answers every question with patience and grace, but there’s an underlying doubt he keeps fighting. He’s still driven, passionate, tremendously sincere and dedicated to his craft, but impostor syndrome seems to have him in its grip. Because for Wang, it boils down to wanting to be worthy of his audience. His love for them is immeasurable, bursting through in every song, every Tweet and every single time he tells them to ‘get home safe.’ He wants to deserve his fans’ support, truly earn the love which washes over him every day, but he feels everything he’s done till this point isn’t enough. He doesn’t seem to believe me when I compliment his work on Magic Man and lets my words float past while he remains silent. He finally just says, “I wasn’t satisfied with anything that I did, I’ve always had a habit of that. But I think [that with] this album, I did okay, you know? I like it.”  

A few weeks before the release of Magic Man, he penned a letter to his fans in which he confessed he’d had an extremely hard time before making the album. “I got to a point where I was so lost and the further and longer I went, the more lost and the more negative and the lonelier I got,” he explained in the letter. “Everything felt like a cycle and a loop. I was lost, not connected with anyone, also believing that talking to anyone wouldn’t make any difference. And for the first time, I do not want to face them anymore. I tried avoiding them. Got to a point that I was lost without passion and I wasn’t inspired to think, to function, to have a healthy mindset, or to even breathe.” He confesses to me he’d had a breakdown at the time and it served as a wakeup call to grant himself the artistic freedom he needed, a space to create something without being distorted by the filters of his history thus far. Despite achieving this goal with Magic Man, the doubt still lingers. 

Hopefully, that doubt can be assuaged by the reception Magic Man is receiving so far; critics are voicing their admiration of Wang’s range as a musician and fans are stunned by the introduction to a side of him that they’d never imagined they’d see. Wang is a glorious chameleon on the 10-track record, cruising through multiple genres including desert rock on the glimmering “Champagne Cool” (the hero of this album), Eighties synth-pop on “Go Ghost,” a dash of slow pop punk on “All The Way,” dramatic alternative production on “Just Like Magic” and tons more. He plays with layered vocals, hazy electric guitar riffs, and unleashes the full potential of his raspy vocals on the sound, while delivering an intricately designed visual universe that maps the record via the music videos for the singles, “Blow,” “Cruel” and “Blue.” He doesn’t believe in half-assing things, and it’s massively clear in every single track that he’s determined to build something that will resonate across generations. “I hope I can leave something behind for my culture, for my people; and I might fail, but I will die trying.” 

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How’s your week going and how are you feeling right now? Because now leading up to Magic Man, it’s getting crazy. Your schedule is always packed, but how are your emotions around the release of the album? 

I mean a week later, the album is dropping. And honestly, everything is there. It’s like the final steps. We’re in the middle of the final prep, you know, and I’m also writing treatments for setting everything up for the last video, the music video visuals for the album. Yeah, it’s stressful. It’s so messy because the shoot is in like, four or five days, but we’re just fitting everything through. I just came back from rehearsal tonight. I think that another reason why it is what it is, why I feel that way is because I’m… just a guy that’s always insecure. And I have anxiety when I’m not comfortable. 

Are you feeling like you’re in a good place right now with how the album is panning out? 

I’m never satisfied with my work. But I will say [that with] this album, I took my time and I really felt it and the whole album… I think it’s really like a new me. It’s the Jackson that I’ve always wanted to be. [That’s] the reason why it’s Magic Man too, like Magic Man the name itself is more of a feeling and more like an abstract adjective of me not caring about who I was, what I was, and just moving forward with the current me and being honest with myself, being honest with my audience, my supporters, my fans, and whoever comes across my album. I’m just being very honest about it and raw about it. So, I will say this album I am… I am okay with it. And I think it’s real. It’s not just about the music and the lyrics, but also the way I deliver, and the attitude of it, the color and the tone of it. I just feel like this is the current me and it’s like another step. That’s another step deeper in knowing about myself. 

You mentioned that the reason you titled it Magic Man was because you ‘felt like magic in the studio’ while making this album. Tell me a little bit about that moment, when you knew that this would be the title.  

Magic Man… I would always also say that it’s, everybody could be a magic man, you know? And everybody could be magic. And what’s magic about it is I went through all these moments and downsides in my life, my personal life, everything around me, I was just a mess, you know, and I was very lonely. I could be surrounded with a lot of people, a lot of friends, but I would still be lonely inside. I felt empty, I was lost, being in this industry for eight, nine years. It’s a time [period] that is not short, it’s not long, but it’s just… it’s just awkward, you know? I wasn’t inspired, I was lost. I felt like I wasn’t being me enough. Although a lot of the things that I did in the past were me, I felt like there’s another side of me that has never even been realized by my audience. I felt like I was living in a box because I was trying to please a lot of different elements around me; I have to please this, I had to do this, I had to do this. Because of this, I had to do that. I just felt like, you know what? You can’t have everything in life. You can’t have everybody just love you, like you – there are people who are going to hate, and I still feel appreciated and blessed. Even though I have the hate, you know? So, I just want to be real to myself, [tell myself] that it’s okay. I want to be honest to my audience, making sure that if you support me, you support the real me. I might not be perfect, you might not relate to my stuff, but I assure you that this is the real me, not like who you think I am. I just want to be honest with them, my audience, and I love them a lot. They’ve been with me since day one. And looking back on my music or even whatever the stuff that I did in the past was, it might be wack, it might be bad, but… they still supported me even knowing it was bad. So, really, a lot of the times… I feel bad for my supporters and my fans and my audience. What’s always in my head, the vision, is just that I always want to get better and better and better to first of all make them proud, and also to prove that it’s worth their support. 

What did you feel was bad? Why does that weigh on your mind so much? 

Just… it wasn’t good. It’s a bit of everything. Some could be all because of the skill set. You know, I could have done this better, even like the video visually, you know, or even the packaging or even like the physical form that I’m in or the way I could engage with my audience more – just a bit of everything. A lot of them I felt like… I could have done better – when you know something is bad because you can’t relate to it. So, I knew it myself. I know when I look back on my previous work, I just felt like, ‘Damn. That’s real love.’ If you know it’s bad and you still support it, you still love it… I just feel bad. 

Do you have any fears around your audience’s reaction to who you truly are as an artist?  

I’m not afraid because this is me being myself, me being the most raw. I hope everyone can relate to what I’m expressing through this album. 

How do you work your way to making something that you are finally happy with, because Jackson, it is a beautiful album. I had it on loop as soon as I got it, there were so many points where I was pleasantly surprised. How did you feel once it was done? How did you get to that point where you’re like, ‘Okay, this is something that I can finally be happy with and put out into the world’? 

I think, like I said, I wasn’t satisfied with anything that I do –  I always have a habit of that. But I think [that with] this album, I did okay, you know? I like it. I feel like it’s the album [with which] I’m the most free, I’m the most raw, I’m the most happy. I really took my time to understand who I am and how to use myself as a weapon, as a brush to paint this picture. I just have so many filters on me, you get me? Like, ‘Oh, he did this, I know Jackson from this show, I know Jackson from that’ – which I’m so happy about and really appreciate, because it’s such a blessing to even be recognized by anybody in any way. But at the same time, underneath that, I wish I could present more of the artistic side of me, being a musician, being an artist, being a creative. That’s all I’m doing every day now. I just hope more and more people can feel it. Also, my audience, no matter how you know me, I am who I am now and this is my album and this is the current me, so I really want my audience, my crowd, my supporters, my fans to know that. 

Is Magic Man how you see yourself? Is that what we are seeing, how Jackson Wang sees himself? 

I think it’s the ultimate form. Because I went through all this stuff around me, in every way possible… I’ve been through so much that people know about and some people don’t know about. It’s like fighting through but it’s the different stages of fighting through and ultimately, I became this adjective of a feeling, this abstract image of ‘Magic Man.’ So, I want people to think of Magic Man, like anybody can be the Magic Man. I think a Magic Man to everybody is the ultimate form of yourself, of fighting through everything. Your loneliness, your sadness, your obstacles. You’ve just got to fight through that and be you. And then you’re the Magic Man. 

I really want to commend you for the soundscape on this album because like I said, there were so many moments that completely surprised me. I was really reminded of old-school Arctic Monkeys, there’s a bit of Arcade Fire, Queens of the Stone Age, a sort of desert rock, alt-rock vibe to it, which I completely fell in love with. Especially “Champagne Cool” – what a song! How were you inspired to explore these sounds? Why did you want to take a bit of a deeper dive into rock and this nostalgic feeling? 

I don’t think it’s complete rock, because I feel like this generation we’re in, a lot of music, you don’t really have a specific thing of, ‘Oh, this is rock, this is hip-hop.’ I feel like music in this generation is just music. It’s a combination, it’s inspired by everything. For the sound and everything, before my breakdown, I would always try so hard and I would try my best to care about everything. After [my] breakdown, I realized music itself is a form of art and you can’t force that. Art is based on a personal feeling. It’s not something that you can calculate; it’s not a formula, it’s not a mission, it’s not math. You have to really feel it and be you. Every single artist, they’re unique in their own ways. So, I just took that step up, not really caring about it, and I was just being me. Before I would tend to think about the melody, the vocal skills, the vocal technique, the this and that, which is right in some way, but I just felt like letting me be me and not caring about any of those for once. I might fail but I felt like I really wanted to try it.   

As a perfectionist, how do you put that aside, all the technicalities, and maybe even criticism? How do you go into the studio and tell yourself, ‘It doesn’t matter, I’m just going to do what I want to do.’ What was that journey like? 

As I mentioned, it’s art, right? Art is based on the person and feeling. If you have 10 people looking at it, listening to it, feeling it, 10 people have different feelings and different interpretations. So, it’s just art. I would just take it as there’s no such thing as ‘wrong’ in art to me, because there’s no answer. The only thing that matters is how many people can relate to that. Anything could be art, you know? Like a dust [particle] could be a piece of art; with nothing on the ground, the ground itself could be art. It depends on how many people can relate to your content, your delivery, your art. I just focus on doing what I do and try to make that the best. That’s it. 

What do you think are the best songs you’ve ever written?  

I don’t know about ‘best songs’… I had never really been happy with what I put out before, but with this album, I really hope that the audience will check it out, especially the track called “Blue.” It’s very special to me because it came from a period of time when I felt at my lowest, and my pain informed this song which expressed it in a very raw way. 

I particularly fell in love with “Blue” because it took me back to the early 2000s, the late Nineties. There’s a pop-rock vibe to it and I loved the feeling that the acoustic instrumentals and your vocals evoke. What is your favorite song on the record or do you have certain favorite sonic moments – stuff that you liked trying, stuff that you liked experimenting with? 

I didn’t really experiment… I was just in a studio and then we were just knocking things out and we weren’t going into a certain genre. I think everything started with “Blow” and everything just continued in that direction. We were just trying out a lot of different sounds, different things and just feeling it. We were just waiting for that moment – if there’s one moment we were hooked on, and we got into the vibe, everything just followed, you know? That’s what we did.  

What goes into deciding how a playlist on an album works out? How do you decide, ‘This song’s going to be first, this one’s going to be last…’ 

I wasn’t calculating it, it’s just my preference – what I want to hear first, and what I want to hear after that song. I just did it based on my feelings. 

Tell me a little bit about the visual universe of Magic Man. How did you come up with the concepts? What were the stories that you were trying to tell with each music video? 

Every music video and every visual you see, it’s a different theme, different concept, but when you really look at it, putting it together, there’s something that’s consistently going on. What’s the same about it is I’m still that character that just solves everything and I’m the ringleader. I made this world. There are a couple more visuals coming out for “Champagne Cool,” for “Come Alive,” for I think every song, we have some sort of videos to present. Every video is like in a different spot, but in one universe. You have different islands, you have different regions, but it’s still one. 

So it’s the same character in different situations. 

It’s the same character but it’s like a different story. Like it’s a different theme. “Blow” is kind of like the Renaissance. You have a core set, you have a whole Renaissance age concept. And then you have “Cruel,” which is the Devil and the Queen, but it’s still the character itself, just in a different plot. These days I’m actually working on “Come Alive” and we’re shooting it in four or five days, everyone’s working so hard on it. And again, you know, I’m just an insecure guy with anxiety. So, I’m pretty stressed because of that. But anyway, going back to the album, the whole thing, you see the album art, it’s something that I’m going through, what I went through. I just portrayed it and showcased that on my album cover. You have different sides of me, the whole, the whole breakdown of the whole journey of me from almost going crazy, to being the ultimate version of me. How I beat crazy. I took that crazy to be one of my energies, trying to break through, destroy obstacles. It’s like a whole journey of what I’ve been through, but I sum it up in a few different categories. One’s like, very, very lonely and very sad. And because of this, what I’m going through, so much stuff is going around my head, that it just made me mentally and physically not healthy. I’m trying to take that and showcase it through this album. And the message is that everyone goes through stuff, everyone has their own problems. Sometimes it’s okay to say you’re not okay. And you can solve it, you can conquer it, you can be the Magic Man, you will be that ultimate form of yourself. 

What was that point for you, where you felt that you had somewhat conquered your demons – because demons never really go away? At what point did you feel like, ‘Okay, I’ve got a bit of a handle on this and this energy is going to go into the album,’ this energy of victory and transformation? 

A lot of things, you know? It’s not one specific thing. It’s very important to be surrounded with positive people around you. And it’s okay to say you’re not okay. When you have a problem, solve it, and don’t go against it. How I interpret demons is that, whatever you’re doing, there’s always going to be noise, noise, noise – pointing fingers or it could be stuff within the industry. It could be the media, it can be people with different opinions – even within the company, the system, the team working together. It could be our friends or family issues; it could be anything. Don’t let that disturb you. Don’t let that disturb you, and focus. Trust your gut feeling. 

I was watching the episode of the Kinjaz podcast that you were on and something that you mentioned is that the reason why you started directing your own music videos and your own visual projects is because another director wasn’t the right fit for the vision that you wanted. What are some of the biggest challenges of executing a visual project, directing it on your own? And what are some of the biggest rewards? 

Because there are so many different divisions involved, the hardest part is making sure that all divisions, at the end, are in one channel, on the same page. I feel like every division could do a good job individually, but when you just put everything together, it just doesn’t make sense. They are never balanced out, they’re not connected, they’re not on the same page. So, I think that’s the hardest part. The second thing is you can’t expect people to understand your world, because everyone is different. Everyone has a different personality, different vision, different thoughts. So, you’ve just got to do it yourself. You’ve just got to be very precise. I spend the majority of my income on my music because I love it. I couldn’t do that before, which means I had a limited budget. Also, other directors or even other crews, other teams that work with me, I have a specific way that I want my videos to be. It has to have a great connection with the beat and the music itself. That camera framing and the rhythm, the music – the camera and what appears in the frame has everything to do with the music. I tend to like my stuff in a more musical way, so it’s really hard. I have come across a lot of people who just say, ‘Oh, music video, a few shots of lip sync, a few shots of insert cuts, a few shots of moving [images], a few shots of like this and that, dancing in front of the camera and it’s done. That’s a music video!’ But that’s not what I’m looking for and I don’t have the time to risk that, so I would just rather do it myself. And that’s how I started everything. 

It’s definitely paying off because every time I share your music videos with people, everyone has pointed out what a good storyteller you are and it’s exactly what you said – it’s not about a couple of shots of someone just dancing or lip syncing along to the music. There’s a universe in all of your music videos. Tell me a bit about your process of coming up with the stories that you want to explore. How do you decide on the storylines that you want to do in each music video? 

The inspiration… a lot of people have asked me and I just have to mention this again. It’s my gut feeling. It’s just what’s in my brain. I wouldn’t try hard to think about it, and I would come up with something. Then I would think more like, ‘Oh, are there any better ideas out there?’ And the moment when I start to think that, I want to think more, that’s when I screw up, so I always trust the first idea that I have. The whole process got inspired by a lot of different great artists. Even the Kinjaz crew, all the other directors that I’ve worked with, they’re very great people and friends at the same time – they really inspired me a lot. Being friends with them, not just talking about dance or just talking about videos, but the fact that just through normal conversations, the way that they think, how they envision things, how they would view everything, how they would view visuals, view music… that really inspired me a lot.  

Your historic performance at Coachella and your recent performance at 88rising’s Head In The Clouds were unforgettable. The concept, the choreography, your dynamic with your team and the Kinjaz, all of it came together phenomenally. Can you walk me through the preparation process for such big performances? How does the entire plan begin and then become what we as an audience finally see?  

The concept of the performances, including the look, the choreography and the stage design, etc, they are all one with the album. It was a concept that got developed as we were working through the sound and the visual of the album and the tracks. Every department can do great work, but if they don’t work together consistently to tell the same story that I’m trying to express through the album, then it doesn’t make sense. I’m very fortunate to have worked closely with an amazing team to put together these stages that convey the vision of the album. 

I am someone who can’t stop fiddling. Like even when I write an article, I know when I write this piece, I’m going to like go back 100 times and tweak it and make sure that it’s as perfect as it can be, as good as I can make it. Do you have a similar experience when it comes to finishing an album? How do you know when it’s done? 

So I think a lot of it has to do with like… it’s a feeling, you know? Once you have that feeling, it’s right. It’s not because, ‘Oh, how well did I sing on this track? How well did I perform on this track?’ I used to think it was that, but now I just feel like you know it is the one when it’s a certain moment, when you’re just like engaging with the music. You’re just trying to like dance with it, you try to know it. It’s like meeting a person, like, ‘Ay, we’re in the same channel, we’re vibing it out.’ I think it’s more about that. 

What will you consider as the ultimate point of success for Magic Man?  

I hope everyone around the world can listen to it and relate. And I hope one day to perform it everywhere, to every audience. 

Two songs of yours are super important to me personally – “Alone” and “Jackson Wang.” In both of them you outlined your journey and your path as an artist, but with different perspectives. “Alone” was further back and more harrowing while “Jackson Wang” almost exactly a year later is more heartwarming. How does your path ahead look today?   

You never know what lies ahead, so I think what we can do is just try to be the best version of ourselves and keep chasing the dream.  

Your schedule has been absolutely insane for years. I’ve met many different people from the industry who have worked with you and all of them have told me about your packed schedule and your incredible drive and how much they admire your dedication. The common impression seems to be that you are unstoppable. Do you ever think about taking a break? Or is it impossible to fathom stepping away?  

Yeah, my schedule can be a little crazy but I think it’s important to keep going, to keep chasing that goal or dream that you have. And that’s not just for me, it’s for anyone who wants to excel in their own field. Because you never rely on anyone else. You just have to try your best to be someone you are proud of. 

So, what’s next for you? Where are you headed to and what do you want to work on?  

Maybe a world tour? Hey, when can I visit India do you think? 

Anytime. I mean, I think it’s just about setting it up, right? Do you have any questions about India?  I usually ask all of my artists this at the end of an interview – do you have anything you’re curious about? 

First of all, I really, really love India. Even since I’ve been an athlete, till now a performer, a singer, entertainer, I’ve traveled a lot around the world but I’ve never been to India and it’s always been on my bucket list. I just really love India and I really want to go. We were talking just now about when the album drops, a lot of people are asking me like, ‘Are we going to have a tour? Are we going to do concerts around the world?’ I always answer that if I want to do a tour, I can do it, but people still need to come watch it, or else I could just do it in my living room by myself. You still need people who can relate to your music and who would love to watch you perform. So, I don’t know… it’s not something that I can decide, it’s like the industry thing – the label, the promoter, whatever it is, you know, in their region. It’s like, ‘Oh, I don’t think he can sell,’ you know, stuff like that. I’m not saying that they said it, but it’s more like what they wouldn’t say.  

The usual.  

Yes. It’s not up to me. I think if my audience, my crowd, if they really want me to, maybe… I don’t know. We’ve got to make sure, the label or whoever the promoter is, from anywhere, you know, it could be from Korea, from our team or whatever it is, they just need to make sure that the people really want to watch the show, watch my show. So, it’s not up to me, but I would love to have a tour. I’m even prepping my show, my tour, or I’m starting to prep it. I’m prepping my tour without knowing if I can go on a tour or not. So, for me, I just want to be pre-prepped, so that in case I can actually go on tour, I’ll be ready. If I can’t, then, you know… it is what it is. 

Jackson, India is very, very doable.  

I love India and I’ve always wanted to go and visit. Hey, I would love to visit Bollywood! 

Yeah, you need to do that! It’s totally your energy. 

If I can just visit Bollywood sets, or even like see how they film and just, you know, experience the vibe of it…  it’s on my bucket list. 

Finally, you often talk about the importance of the legacy you want to leave behind. What do you hope the world will think of when they remember Jackson Wang?  

It’s like what I said at HITC: I hope I can leave something behind for my culture, for my people; and I might fail, but I will die trying.

All photographs courtesy of Team Wang
Art Director: Tanvi Shah
Associate Art Director: Hemali Limbachiya

Stream Jackson Wang’s ‘Magic Man’: