Yoga Lin

Yoga Lin
林宥嘉

Yoga Lin
Background information
Chinese name 林宥嘉
Pinyin Lín Yòujiā (Mandarin)
Origin Republic of China (Taiwan)
Born (1987-07-01) July 1, 1987
Chaojhou, Pingtung, Taiwan
Other name(s) James Lin
Occupation Singer-songwriter
Genre(s) Mandopop, Soft Rock, Jazz, Swing, Rock & Roll, R&B
Instrument(s) Vocals, guitar, piano
Label(s) HIM International Music (2007–Present)
Years active 2007–present (singing)
Associated acts Million Star Gang
Website www.him.com.tw

Yoga Lin (Chinese: 林宥嘉; pinyin: Lín Yòujiā) was born on 1 July 1987. He is a Taiwanese Mandopop singer and the winner of One Million Star, Season 1 (第一季超級星光大道), a reality TV singing competition in Taiwan. During the competition, he once contemplated quitting due to the elimination of his good friend, Eddie Tsai (蔡政霖). However, show producers persuaded him to maintain his composure and regain his determination, attaining five rounds of perfect scores (20 & above) continuously after that — an unbeatable record up to now. After winning the first place in Season One, he was signed by HIM International Music along with three fellow contestants, Judy Chou (周定緯), Peter Pan (潘裕文) and Stanly Hsu (許仁杰). They were dubbed the "Four Princes of Superstar Avenue" (星光四少).

Lin was placed fourth on Yahoo! Taiwan 2007 Top Ten Newsworthy Personalities.[1] On a special episode of One Million Star during the end of Season two, he gave a diversified and theatrical performance of A Little Older (年紀大了一點) originally recorded and composed by Matilda Tao (陶晶瑩). This performance impressed one of the judges on the show, Yun-Ling Huang (黃韻玲) so much that she dubbed Lin as the Magician of Music.[2] At the same time, other fellow judges on the same episode heaped praises on him, exclaiming that he has improved tremendously since his winning of the Season 1 title.

Before the release of his debut album titled Mystery Guest (神秘嘉賓) in Taiwan on June 3, 2009, Lin has released two compilation albums and an Idol Drama soundtrack. In May–June 2008, Lin set another record in Taiwan for being the youngest singer, with a yet-to-be released debut album to hold a solo concert tour in three major cities of Taiwan.[3]

He ended his Yoga's Trick Concert Tour in Hong Kong and Singapore in early 2009 and released his second album, Senses Around on October 30, 2009. His third studio album, Perfect Life, was released on May 6, 2011. His fourth studio album, fiction, was released on June 22, 2012. After beginning his 2012 to 2013 concert tour, "FUGUE", his latest Jazz inspired live performance compilation album JAZZ CHANNEL, was released on February 5, 2013.

Music career

High school and university (2003 to 2006)

During high school, Lin was the lead singer of a rock band, and was trained under a renowned Taiwanese rock singer, Pei-An Yang (楊培安). He then joined another rock band in his university and continued to perfect his singing techniques and, experimented various music genres. Having never participated in any formal singing contest before, Lin attended the Kaohsiung audition for the first season of a famous TV singing contest in Taiwan, One Million Star.

One Million Star (2007)

In the competition, Lin impressed the judges with his vivid interpretation of Steel Rope Walker (走鋼索的人, originally by James Li or Quan Li, 李泉). His performance was then described as “enchanting”(迷幻) by the hostess of One Million Star, Matilda Tao (陶晶瑩), for both his distinctive, dreamy vocals and his facial expressions. He was also complimented for the consistently good performances. Lin earned "perfect scores" (scoring 20 and above) cumulatively for over five weeks and a grand total of nine "perfect scores" on different occasions. His last five performances, which would count as a final result in the final match, accumulated, 17, 23, 23, 23, 25 points, which adds up to 111. This record would hold until 張心傑， in the fourth season (from 2009/03/06 to 2009/03/20) scored 24, 22, 23, 23, 22, totaling up 114. Lin also earned great recognition for his abilities to perform a wide range of music genres, being able to infuse his own touch into songs as well as his unique taste in song selections.

In the first season finale (broadcast live and nationwide) of One Million Star on July 6, 2007, Lin performed a bold and challenging rendition of Radiohead's classic hit, Creep and he used the opportunity to declare his attitude towards music. A perfect score of 25 was unanimously given by all five professional judges to acknowledge his sincere and stylish interpretation of the song. Along with that, another perfect-scored performance of Eason Chan's Last Order determined him as the winner in the first season of One Million Star.

HIM International Music (2007 to present)

After the show, One Million Star, Lin signed a six-year contract with HIM International Music, and released two compilation albums and the soundtrack of TV series Bull Fighting (鬥牛,要不要). In the meanwhile, he participated in many live performances as well as TV commercial shootings. Some of his many endorsements includes the SYM MIO Scooters[4] and a Science Fair held by National Science Council in Taiwan. Recently, he endorsed the Hi-Chew Candy[5] and the HeySong FIN Sports Drink[6] in Taiwan.

In September 2007, Lin performed in Hong Kong with label mate, Tank for several live performances. Later that year, in November and December, he went again to Hong Kong and, Singapore and Malaysia for a promotional tour. On December 29, 2007 Lin, together with other fellow contestants from One Million Star as Judy Chou (周定緯), Peter Pan (潘裕文), Stanly Hsu (許仁杰), and Aska Yang (楊宗緯) performed in their first concert “Superstar Avenue Reunion” in the Sports Center of National Taiwan University. This concert also sets the record in Taiwan for being the shortest amount of time newcomers in the local mandopop scene to hold a concert. This sold-out concert successfully attracted over 4000 audiences. On March 15, 2008, Lin together with fellow record label singers held their first official overseas concert[7] in Genting, Malaysia. On August 3, 2008, Lin and fellow record label singers held two consecutive concerts in Hong Kong, with all 6,000 tickets sold out within 2 days.[8][9] On October 3, Lin was invited to perform in the 5th Asia Song Festival in Seoul, Korea, and was awarded the Best Taiwan Newcomer Award.[10] On October 25, 2008, Lin won the Annual Popularity Artist and Best Newcomer in Singapore Hit Award. Moreover, his album Mystery Guest won the prestigious Best Producer Award.

Lin’s debut album titled Mystery Guest (神秘嘉賓) was released on June 3, 2008 in Taiwan.[11] This album won rave reviews from critics as well as the fans. It was also a commercial success, with more than 40,000 copies sold in the first week, and topped all the major musical and radio charts in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and China.[12] Mystery Guest and Lin are nominated in 6 different categories in the 2008 Singapore Hit Award, including best album, best producer, best male singer, best newcomer, most popular singer, and most popular newcomer, and won the best producer and newcomer awards.

To coincide with his album release, he also held his three nationwide concert tour titled Yoga’s Trick Concert Tour (林宥嘉2008迷宮巡迴演唱會) in Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung respectively. He now holds the record of being the youngest recording artist to tour in Taiwan.[13] In this concert tour, he won critical acclaims for his high-caliber repertoire and outstanding stage performance.[14][15][16]

Lin held his Yoga's Trick Concert in Hong Kong on January 23 and 24 and both nights' tickets were sold-out.[17] There were four encores on the second night, stretching the concert to over 3 hours. For the sixth and final stop of the concert tour, it was held in Singapore on February 20 with 7000 fans at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.[18] He released his second album, Senses Around on October 30, 2009. His latest and third album, Perfect Life, was released on May 6, 2011 in Taiwan, China and other parts of Asia and he is currently promoting the album. His record company, HIM International Music has also announced that he will be going on concert tour starting August 2011, in cities such as Taipei, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, etc.

Vocal skills and musical talent

Lin has highly distinctive vocals, wide vocal range and outstanding singing techniques. His versatility, musical style and huge repertoire differentiate him from his contemporary counterparts. This is most evident in his various renditions of Mandarin, English, Taiwanese songs, as well as other Alternative rock songs. His interpretations of initially less-recognized songs such as Steel Rope Walker (走鋼索的人 by Quan Li—李泉) and You Are My Guiding Eyes (你是我的眼 by Hsiao Huang-Chi—蕭煌奇), became instant hits, giving these well-written songs their long overdue and well-deserved recognition. Additionally, his rendition of You Are My Guiding Eyes in the competition has received more than 5 million hits on YouTube. Among Taiwanese viewers, that music video currently sits in the top 20 Most Viewed videos of all time.[19]

Lin has attracted a legion of fans, ranging from high school and college students to white collar professionals. Most importantly, he received critical acclaim from many professionals in the mandopop music industry. Veteran singer/composer Yun-Ling Huang (黃韻玲) thought highly of him and dubbed him "the Magician of Music" due to the brilliant and splendid vibes Lin infuses his music with. Leehom Wang (王力宏) and Cheer Chen (陳綺貞) are the two of the many Mandopop singers that Lin admires the most. His favorite genre of music is 70'-80's Western Rock. His acoustic performance of John Lennon's Love won him rave reviews among listeners.

Writing

Often blending figurative speech with sprinkles of humor, Lin's blog entries have won praises from ordinary blog readers and entertainment industry professionals alike. Yo-Ning Chu (瞿友寧), director of several popular TV drama series in East Asia, expressed fondness for his writing style.[20] Like his varied taste in music, Lin is known to expose himself to a variety of literature and film genres. Apart from his adoration for Taiwan lyricist Vincent Fang (方文山), he also expressed on several occasions, his admiration for novelist and essayist, Eileen Chang (張愛玲).[21]

Musical Styles

Despite being only in his early twenties, Lin has proven his ability to deliver a wide variety of musical performances, and he continues to experiment with new music genres and vocal styles. The below are representative songs performed by Lin:

Soft Rock

Cliff (懸崖), The One I Love (我愛的人), You Are My Guiding Eyes (你是我的眼), Honesty, If You're Not With Me (如果沒有你), Ten Years (十年), and Oh My Love

Jazz and Swing

Steel Rope Walker (走鋼索的人), Can't Take My Eyes Off You, If You're Happy, I'm Happy (你快樂所以我快樂), Those Days (那些日子), Last Order, I Want Us To Be Together (我要我們在一起), A Little Older (年紀大了一點).

Rock & Roll

You Make Me Drunk (你把我灌醉), Creep, Look What You've Done, Black Tangerine (黑色柳丁).

R&B

The Life Envied by Angels (天使忌妒的生活), and Desiring the Spring Breeze (望春風).

Discography

Albums

# Release date Title Label
1st 3 June 2008 Mystery Guest (神秘嘉賓) HIM International Music
2nd 30 October 2009 Senses Around (感官/世界) HIM International Music
3rd 6 May 2011 Perfect Life (美妙生活) HIM International Music
4th 22 June 2012 fiction (大/小說家) HIM International Music
5th 5 February 2013 JAZZ CHANNEL HIM International Music

Singles

Listed in the album Love Star’s Reunion - Yesterday, Now and Tomorrow [22] (愛星光精選˙昨天今天明天). It is Lin’s first single. This single was one of the 2007 Top 13 Love Songs[23] co-organized by KISS Radio and Apple Daily.

Listed in the soundtrack of Taiwan drama’s Bull Fighting (鬥牛˙要不要),[24] it is one of the theme songs in the drama. This melodic and romantic song tells the story about a guy who secretly loved a girl for a long time, but eventually chose to stay in the shadows of the girl because she did not reciprocate his love.

A duet between Lin and Li Yang Liu (劉力揚), the latter shot to fame in the first season (2006) of the singing contest Super Girls (超級女聲) in China. Legend is the sub-theme of a Korean drama First King Four Gods (太王四神記) broadcast in Taiwan, starring the famous Korean TV and movie star, Bae Yong-joon (裴勇俊). This single has been digitally released.[25]

A musical-inspired song composed and written by Chinese singer-songwriter, Li Quan. This is also the opening song of Yoga's Trick Concert Tour and has been digitally released before the official release of Lin's Mystery Guest album.[26]

The theme song for an online game endorsed by Lin in China. It is also featured as a bonus track in Lin's third album, Perfect Life.

Award and nominations

Year Award Category Nomination Result Ref
2008 IFPI Hong Kong Album Sales Awards Top 10 Selling Mandarin Albums of the Year Mystery Guest Won [27]
2009 IFPI Hong Kong Album Sales Awards Top 10 Selling Mandarin Albums of the Year Senses Around Won [28]
HITO Radio Music Awards
HITO流行音樂獎 		Top 10 Songs of the Year "神秘嘉賓" (Mystery Guest) Won [29]
20th Golden Melody Awards Best New Artist Yoga Lin Nominated [30]
2010 Metro Radio Mandarin Music Awards Songs of the Year "說謊" (Fairy Tale) Won [31]

Endorsements

Other Media

On 10 June 2011, HIM International Music released an iPhone application which features Yoga's third album, Perfect Life. The app can be downloaded for free on iTunes.[32]

References

  1. ↑ 2007年度十大新聞人物 第四名林宥嘉 (News article) (in Chinese). 2007-11-22.
  2. ↑ 星光大道首屆冠軍，迷幻宥嘉 (又名音樂魔術師)，首度展開個人巡迴演唱會 (News article) (in Chinese). 2008-03-05.
  3. ↑ 林宥嘉2008迷宮巡迴演唱會 (Website) (in Chinese). 2008-03-05.
  4. ↑ "SYM Taiwan" (Website) (in Chinese). 2007.
  5. ↑ "HI-CHEW開心堂" (Website) (in Chinese). 2008-04-01.
  6. ↑ "暢飲FIN-送林宥嘉演唱會雙人套票" (Website) (in Chinese). 2008-04-11.
  7. ↑ 林宥嘉大馬動心 情牽鴨子手 (News article) (in Chinese). 2008-03-18.
  8. ↑ "星光幫開騷 唱天王名曲". 2008-08-04.
  9. ↑ "「星光幫香港同學會」兩場爆滿 一票難求". 2008-08-04.
  10. ↑ "林宥嘉帥臉驚豔韓國 挺鼻尖下巴 被當整過形". 2008-10-05.
  11. ↑ 林宥嘉專輯預購 2小時賣3千張 (News article) (in Chinese). 2008-05-10.
  12. ↑ "全台四萬「伯樂」賞識 林宥嘉「神秘嘉賓」專輯銷售破四萬". 2008-06-09.
  13. ↑ 開售票演唱會 林宥嘉挑戰星光一哥寶座！ (News article) (in Chinese). 2008-02-20.
  14. ↑ "15米高懸空開唱「眼色」 林宥嘉帶5000觀眾走進四度空間音樂「迷宮」". 2008-05-25.
  15. ↑ "失控繞場三次 全場觀眾起立共舞 林宥嘉台中演唱會HIGH到爆". 2008-06-01.
  16. ↑ "「迷宮小魔王」林宥嘉+星光三少將「迷宮」變成大型電音派對". 2008-06-08.
  17. ↑ "HK Ticketing" (Website). 2008-12-27.
  18. ↑ "林宥嘉狮城'处男'唱 S.H.E来抢歌迷" (Website). 2009-02-21.
  19. ↑ "All - Most Viewed (All Time)" (Youtube video) (in Chinese). 2008-03-24.
  20. ↑ 導演瞿友寧相中 星光幫便宜有人氣 偶像劇挖角林宥嘉 (News article) (in Chinese). 2008-02-22.
  21. ↑ 決賽強碰轉學考 林宥嘉兩頭燒 看書沉澱心情 報考8校勢在必上 (News article) (in Chinese). 2007-07-04.
  22. ↑ 愛星光精選˙昨天今天明天 (Web article) (in Chinese). 2007-10-05.
  23. ↑ "::第一屆KISS APPLE 親蘋果情歌榜::" (Web article) (in Chinese). 2008.
  24. ↑ 鬥牛要不要 電視原聲帶 (in Chinese). 2007-12-07. Archived from the original (Web article) on 2008-01-16.
  25. ↑ 傳說 - 數位影音單曲 (Web article) (in Chinese).
  26. ↑ 眼色 - 數位影音單曲 (Web article) (in Chinese).
  27. ↑ "2008 IFPI Hong Kong Album Sales Awards winners list" Archived July 22, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. IFPI Hong Kong. Retrieved 2011-04-19
  28. ↑ "2009 IFPI Hong Kong Album Sales Awards winners list" Archived July 22, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. IFPI Hong Kong. Retrieved 2011-04-19
  29. ↑ (Chinese) "2009 HITO Radio Music Awards winners list" HITO Radio. 15 June 2009. Retrieved 2011-04-25
  30. ↑ (Chinese) "20th Golden Melody Awards nomination list" Archived November 25, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. GIO, Taiwan. 18 May 2009. Retrieved 2011-04-25
  31. ↑ (Chinese) "Metro Radio Mandarin Music Awards 2010 winners list" Metro Info. Retrieved 2011-04-14.
  32. ↑ Yoga Lin Lite iTunes preview of Yoga Lin- Perfect Life app
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