Impressoul 01 - An Interview with Cheryl Lee x Wu Jiahui

Jiahui & Cheryl at the press conference in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

Recently Malaysian celebrities Cheryl Lee and Wu Jiahui were in KK to promote their new album, The Impressoul 01, and guess who not only got to meet them, but to also interview them? =D

Members of the press were presented with an autographed copy of their collaboration album, The Impressoul 01

The interview was for local lifestyle magazine Breeze, and as it's only available in Sabah, here's the interview for those of you who dont have access to the hard copy! =)

Dinoza from Breeze, Cheryl Lee, Wu Jiahui and I outside Chocolate Factory in KK Times Square, where they were performing that night.

Interview featured in Breeze Magazine:

What do you take away from a song that you listen to for the first time? The impression the melody leaves on you? Or do you hear the soul of the song - the message only the lyrics can tell? Wu Jiahui and Cheryl Lee show Breeze what happens when the two emotions collide with their debut collaboration album, The Impressoul 01. 

Fans of the Malaysian Chinese scene will know Cheryl first and foremost as a radio DJ for 988FM, and a TV host for 8TV. Starting out at the tender age of 20, Cheryl is a household name in the entertainment industry, but few realise her main passion is writing. Having released 3 books, being a columnist for fashion magazines such as Nu You and Jmen, Cheryl loves penning lyrics the most.  She has written lyrics for other artistes such as Nicholas Teo and Jessie Lee, but debuted her singing career when she launched a soundtrack album for popular TV series The Age Of Glory in which she wrote and sang the main & end theme song. 

Jiahui however is no stranger to the music scene, having already carved a name for himself as a multiple award winning composer since 2003. His impressive list of published work includes songs popularized by big international names such as Karen Mok, Nicholas Tse, Jacky Cheung, Andy Lau and many more. He released his own debut album in 2008 and immediately rose to fame in Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. 

Most people know the duo for their previous romance – they were a couple for almost 2 years before coming up with this collaboration idea in August 2012. After realising that they just weren’t compatible as lovers, but have amazing chemistry as musicians, they decided to pour all their emotions into the 6 songs that are totally composed, written and produced by the two. 

Admittedly, it wasn’t an easy road to completing the album as there were many disagreements along the way, but Cheryl says that this helped them understand themselves and each other better. When asked if there was any chance they’d get back together though, the unanimously answered that it would be impossible as they already experienced that they cannot live together other than through music. 

Both Cheryl and Jiahui share a mutual favourite on the album, which is the song “Chan”, which means “Tangled”. Jiahui says he likes it because the melody is quite complicated, and although it was originally written for Cheryl, they decided it suited his voice better. As for Cheryl, she explains the reason behind the quite repetitive lyrics: During a breakup, everything you do will somehow be about that one person, even a glass of water can stir up memories of your time together.

When asked to describe each other, Jiahui reveals that Cheryl is an ambitious woman, and sometimes finds it hard to choose which path she would like to go down first. She’s also extremely independent, but revels in the support from those close to her. Cheryl jokes that Jiahui likes to “cover macho” when he’s scared, meaning that he likes to talk a lot to hide his fears. She also let us in on a little secret that even Jiahui didn’t know until now: The song “Be Yours Be Mine” is actually about Jiahui himself! 

So what’s next for the duo, seeing as they have very different personal projects? Cheryl starts shooting for a Malaysian – Singaporean Chinese New Year movie next week, and Jiahui is focusing on song production for other local artists, while running his newly set up company: Dreammy Studio. 

The Impressoul 01 is already available in Malaysia, and has launched digitally in Hong Kong. It will also be launched in Singapore and Taiwan. You can find out more about Cheryl at www.facebook.com/CherylLeeXinYi and Jiahui at www.facebook.com/im.WuJiaHui

A photo of the actual article in Breeze. Mom helped me snap a photo as I'm not in Sabah at the moment to see it myself!

Are you a fan of Cheryl or Jiahui? Drop me a comment and tell me what you thought of their album! =)

 

Til next time,

Calista xx