Speaker 1: This is Jackson Wang and you're checking out the Crucial podcast.
Speaker 1: Make sure to subscribe, like and share. Oh my god,
Speaker 1: is that Nico Bliss. I made a past again.
Speaker 2: I got the rosy.
Speaker 1: You cut the juice, playing time, never caring. I didn't
Speaker 1: even know what that means. I don't knife is great
Speaker 1: just sometimes you extra days trauma try got Okay, okay,
Speaker 1: that's fris Shore you roll dress now.
Speaker 3: Dress real Day two three, Jackson Wang back on the croch.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much?
Speaker 2: What what?
Speaker 1: How long has it been? It's like five years?
Speaker 2: Five years? Thanks for having me back, crazy man. Thank you.
Speaker 2: We're intro by Nico Blitz there what yees intro? Really
Speaker 2: together for you man.
Speaker 1: Crazy intro, the remix and the shirt. Thank you man,
Speaker 1: thank you you know what?
Speaker 2: Thank you?
Speaker 1: That's right?
Speaker 2: Oh, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, so much. Thanks for having me back.
Speaker 2: Love No, thanks for being here. We appreciate it always man.
Speaker 2: You know, our doors, our studio, the show is always
Speaker 2: open to you.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 1: And do you have like an Asian show here?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 1: No, right now. So if this ship doesn't work out,
Speaker 1: let's go like, please hire me. I think I'm good
Speaker 1: at it to replace us, No, no, like an Asian
Speaker 1: an Asian show. Yeah, probably.
Speaker 2: I think I'm the only Asian on the station in Filipino.
Speaker 1: We can do something together.
Speaker 2: Let's do it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, right the East the East show? Yeah, come on now,
Speaker 1: what they're.
Speaker 2: Saying, how high far east coast? Right? That'd be crazy? Man?
Speaker 2: Are your songs played on the radio back home?
Speaker 1: What songs?
Speaker 2: Your songs like the recent album? Yeah? Is it out?
Speaker 1: Is it recorded? Is this live?
Speaker 2: It's out by now right out Friday in Storts Friday? Okay,
Speaker 2: But it's your music played on the radio out there.
Speaker 1: And Asia sometimes sometimes not not that often.
Speaker 2: When it does or when it happens, is it like
Speaker 2: one of those moments, right, because when artists get their
Speaker 2: music played out here, it's a it's a movie. You
Speaker 2: got to put it on TikTok, you got to celebrate it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, man. Sometimes my a lot of times my music
Speaker 1: play in shopping malls, like in pet stores. Yeah, which
Speaker 1: is great. Hey, why are you laughing at? Why are
Speaker 1: you laughing? Guys?
Speaker 2: What you said? Come on now, it's why you said it.
Speaker 2: But hey, yode therapeutic you know for yeah? Yeah?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 1: And cats?
Speaker 4: Yeah, cats, it helps you know, I think The biggest
Speaker 4: flex is having your music played at like pet stores, malls, forever,
Speaker 4: twenty one.
Speaker 1: Universal, it's universe than blessed and blessed.
Speaker 2: No, yes you are man, magic Man too, magic Man to.
Speaker 2: The first one was in twenty twenty two, right, yes,
Speaker 2: so it's it's been some time, but there's been a
Speaker 2: lot of growth. You can tell in the music. The sound.
Speaker 2: It sounds really sound.
Speaker 1: You listen to the entire thing.
Speaker 2: We listen to a lot of it. Yeah, sank, thank you,
Speaker 2: thank you, appreciate it, thank you. Nico has the entire album.
Speaker 1: Only Nico Asians Asians.
Speaker 2: Man, it might be on a CD somewhere, but you
Speaker 2: know what I mean, Oh man, damn. But the evolution
Speaker 2: is there, right, there's growth there obviously, right, And it's
Speaker 2: very personal.
Speaker 1: How so one hundred percent because I took a year
Speaker 1: off last year because I just needed to stop, you know,
Speaker 1: after like just ten years, more than ten years, you know,
Speaker 1: I felt like I didn't even have time to think.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: It came down to a question where am I the
Speaker 1: Jackson Wang that people know of? Or am I who
Speaker 1: I think I am? You know, And I could even
Speaker 1: I couldn't even answer that, so I just needed to
Speaker 1: stop and start to give myself room, you know, give
Speaker 1: myself time to think, like what do I want to
Speaker 1: say as a person? And I realized a lot of
Speaker 1: the songs in the past that I released, what does
Speaker 1: that even mean to me as a person. For example,
Speaker 1: there's a song called one Hundred Ways. The first line
Speaker 1: is like you turn over the hour glass. When I
Speaker 1: was recording that, I didn't even know what's an hour glass,
Speaker 1: you know, so I don't even know. Like so I'm like, hey,
Speaker 1: I need to stop this. Maybe it's time for me
Speaker 1: as an artist, you know, as a person to put
Speaker 1: out something that, you know, writing songs for myself, creating
Speaker 1: for myself, what do I want to say as a
Speaker 1: as a human.
Speaker 2: As a creative. Was it tough to take a year off,
Speaker 2: did you? Yeah?
Speaker 1: A lot of people around it. Yeah, a lot of
Speaker 1: people around me told me, especially my team, they're trying
Speaker 1: to convince me not to do it. In industry people,
Speaker 1: business people, they're like, you can't, you know, you're just
Speaker 1: going You're just going to disappear. And you know, with
Speaker 1: so many information every day, with social media's and stuff,
Speaker 1: you just gonna be forgotten. Right, But wow, Yeah, but
Speaker 1: I just felt like I needed that break. I needed
Speaker 1: that break to realize what my visions are and who
Speaker 1: am I.
Speaker 2: You order to yourself, it's.
Speaker 5: Good that you stood on business with that. I was like, no,
Speaker 5: I need this time, yeah, to rediscover myself.
Speaker 1: It was hard. It was a hard conversation, and you know,
Speaker 1: a lot of partners kind of like, uh left, you
Speaker 1: know a lot of partners left because Yeah, but I
Speaker 1: think I had to go through this. That's why I
Speaker 1: took a year off, you know, started started writing journals,
Speaker 1: started writing things that, you know, just getting closer to myself,
Speaker 1: giving more time and effort to to my internal self,
Speaker 1: you know. So, and I think and this album is
Speaker 1: all about how I feel about humanity and reality. And
Speaker 1: this is one of those albums that I feel like
Speaker 1: as an as a as an artist, I just needed
Speaker 1: it out there. And and after that, I can make
Speaker 1: like ear candy stuff. I can talk about lollipops, I
Speaker 1: can talk about whatever you know about. I can talk
Speaker 1: about your shirt is corruption, right, I can talk about Yeah,
Speaker 1: I can talk about anything. So I just needed this
Speaker 1: album out there.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think you needed it out of your heart,
Speaker 2: and you needed it out of your you know.
Speaker 4: With taking like a year off and everything, is there
Speaker 4: something new that you discovered about yourself within the past year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, a lot, Like for example, my family. There's one
Speaker 1: song about my parents. How I feel like, you know,
Speaker 1: as as as a kid, we never think about like
Speaker 1: we always think like our parents will figure everything out,
Speaker 1: you know, They're always there. That's that's why a lot
Speaker 1: of my friends just visit their parents only on Christmas
Speaker 1: or in like New Year Chinese New Year, and and
Speaker 1: we tend to always think that they're always going to
Speaker 1: be there until it's too late. And also another thing
Speaker 1: where I feel like our parents and us, it feels
Speaker 1: like we're on the same street. They're just further up,
Speaker 1: you know. And you think when we were born, we
Speaker 1: always think like you think our parents they were ready
Speaker 1: to be mom and dad. They weren't ready. You know,
Speaker 1: they had dreams, they were no idea what they were
Speaker 1: doing exactly, and they probably was was like having parties,
Speaker 1: you know. They they they they played around, they flirted around,
Speaker 1: you know, but when when they had us, everything changed
Speaker 1: for them, you know. So we we tend to not
Speaker 1: think about that a lot of times. And even in
Speaker 1: that year, I spent a lot of decent moments. It's
Speaker 1: quality time with my parents. That's why I chose to
Speaker 1: also live with them in China. Now, whoa, whoa, whoa whoa. Good.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's connection right there.
Speaker 1: Man, it's important.
Speaker 2: I don't know if I could, I don't know if
Speaker 2: I could live with my parents, But.
Speaker 1: Your parents, I mean, it's it's good, uh honest, honestly,
Speaker 1: it's good. And and sometimes it's it's those moments that
Speaker 1: really triggers me when they slowly they start to behave
Speaker 1: like kids.
Speaker 2: When they when they parent, right yeah, yeah, I.
Speaker 5: Was just telling Crews that the other day, like we're
Speaker 5: raising our parents too now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And it feels it's super I feels super emotional.
Speaker 1: Like it's just the way that when they especially when
Speaker 1: my moms starts to be more and more like a princess,
Speaker 1: like you know, girly where because I always think of
Speaker 1: my mom like as a as a female warrior, you know.
Speaker 1: But then the more they age, you know, the way
Speaker 1: that they walk up the stairs, the way that they
Speaker 1: you know, like and I feel like, oh this is
Speaker 1: I gotta you know, protect and and and it's it's
Speaker 1: it's my turn to give back.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I see my parents now and they're very
Speaker 2: playful with my kids. Never playful with us really, but
Speaker 2: that's because there was no time to be they were
Speaker 2: raising us. Now they have time to be playful, so
Speaker 2: they're making up for lost time or just yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that that's on the family side. And also, like
Speaker 1: the song Gbad, it Got to be a Dick is
Speaker 1: also like you know, obviously throughout the ten years and
Speaker 1: eleven years in this career, there's very good moments also
Speaker 1: the bad moments. I wasn't ready. It felt like I
Speaker 1: was introduced to this jungle at an age of nineteen
Speaker 1: with I wasn't ready for it, you know, and after
Speaker 1: going through a lot of stuff, betrayal and this, and
Speaker 1: I just realized, you know, every single song has a
Speaker 1: message on hey, life is so great, so beautiful, but
Speaker 1: sometimes you really have to be a bad person, you know,
Speaker 1: to protect your.
Speaker 2: Own bright you have to be song with that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, So every single song is straight from
Speaker 1: my journal.
Speaker 2: That's crazy made me a man? Can you break that
Speaker 2: down for.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's the last song of the album where it's
Speaker 1: whatever that ha happened. It's the conclusion of the album
Speaker 1: whatever that Happened to good and the bad. What's good
Speaker 1: without the bad. You know, sometimes good doesn't mean good,
Speaker 1: bad doesn't mean bad. But whatever it was, it's meant
Speaker 1: to happen. And at the end we just accept it
Speaker 1: and move on and and and it made me who
Speaker 1: I am today. And that's the story of that the
Speaker 1: last song.
Speaker 2: Yeah, as man, I think there's several moments in life
Speaker 2: that make us men. Right. Of course, there's like the
Speaker 2: sexual component of it, but there's also definitely definitely right,
Speaker 2: but certainly certain levels.
Speaker 6: No, no, no, I'm sorry, stop it. You could have
Speaker 6: told me that, you asshole. I mean.
Speaker 2: No, no, no, no, no, no, no no.
Speaker 1: Delete that delete that delete. We good, it's fair, man,
Speaker 1: my album is ruined.
Speaker 2: He looks at Nico like you and me later on,
Speaker 2: we're gonna do it.
Speaker 1: No, you're totally sorry.
Speaker 2: We have a lot of fun on this show. It's uh.
Speaker 2: They fight all day on the air, they're on the
Speaker 2: same show, and they're they're engaged. They live together. You know,
Speaker 2: it's thank you an open book here.
Speaker 4: It's a different thing when you can work with your partner.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Amazing, man, I'm fucking amazing.
Speaker 2: I love it. I love it.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so the album, man, it was all so magic
Speaker 2: Man to man to the artwork. Yeah, but the artwork, No,
Speaker 2: the artwork. Honestly, you were saying this off the air
Speaker 2: and hope you don't mind, But no, I.
Speaker 1: Don't mind because a lot of people don't even understand.
Speaker 1: Your fans are not understanding a part of my UH
Speaker 1: supporters community, My fans do not understand this, Like why
Speaker 1: do you all always have to put like, since magic
Speaker 1: Man one, what what is the black makeup? With the
Speaker 1: dark makeup, the devil makeup? You know? And and this
Speaker 1: means magic Man means my internal self. The internal It's
Speaker 1: just a name for that. And it's like today I
Speaker 1: meet you, I'm I'm engaging with you, but I don't
Speaker 1: know who that person is in your heart, you know.
Speaker 1: So that represents magic Man, represents my internal emotions. And
Speaker 1: it's a it's it's it's a thing that I kept
Speaker 1: avoiding for you know, a long time, because I'm I
Speaker 1: just didn't have time to think.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 1: It's packed schedules, schedule after schedules. I didn't even have
Speaker 1: time for myself. That's why I always say I missed
Speaker 1: out a lot in my youth, you know. So, so
Speaker 1: I just had to you know, deal with it. And
Speaker 1: that's that's why I took a year off and and
Speaker 1: spend time and give love and and try to understand
Speaker 1: who who this person is?
Speaker 2: So does that reflect a breakthrough?
Speaker 1: It represents how I felt. I was all like, it's
Speaker 1: all wound, it's all like, yeah, I mean it's it's
Speaker 1: it's it's fucked up, you know. So that's who I
Speaker 1: felt inside, but I just didn't want to admit it.
Speaker 5: Since you've come to that realization of like, Okay, I've
Speaker 5: been avoiding you know who I truly am, And like
Speaker 5: because you've had this life of just schedule after schedule,
Speaker 5: what do you do now that is for you that just.
Speaker 1: Makes you happy? Now it's more like I think back
Speaker 1: then it was just like rapid fire and like it
Speaker 1: felt like machine gun, you know, But now it's more
Speaker 1: like simplicity. But like this direction that I'm going at,
Speaker 1: I go all the way I can focus and go
Speaker 1: all the.
Speaker 2: Way I have.
Speaker 1: It's about decisions, right It's it's I have choice choices
Speaker 1: right now. And I think the next route that I'm
Speaker 1: going I'm focusing on is just being a creative. You know,
Speaker 1: even a lot of partners and brands that I'm working with.
Speaker 1: It's not just as an ambassador where hey, this is
Speaker 1: the product, look at this product, look at this guess
Speaker 1: eight Like it's not It's not just that, it's like
Speaker 1: we have like deep relationship where I create the creatives
Speaker 1: and I help them to shoot videos. I direct videos
Speaker 1: for brands, and also recently I just joined Nike Inc.
Speaker 1: Becoming one of their creatives for Nike and Jordan. So
Speaker 1: I'm also like getting ready prepping for the nixt ip
Speaker 1: that I'm going to do for them. It's immersive experience
Speaker 1: because I think like just globally, yeah, and I think
Speaker 1: I think it's to me, you know, this generation. I
Speaker 1: think people consume and buy stuff not because it's like
Speaker 1: you buy this shirt or buy this product, not because
Speaker 1: of the fabric. It's you're buying a feeling, you know.
Speaker 1: And I think, yeah, yeah, it's like for example, the
Speaker 1: shirt or a Supreme shirt or a off white shirt.
Speaker 1: It's the feeling that you're buying, you know. And I
Speaker 1: think that comes with experience, the immersive experience, and that's
Speaker 1: what I'm focusing on. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. L V.
Speaker 1: Cardier Hennessy that we all have deep relationship, right, now
Speaker 1: where whereas I at least, you know, the headquarters feels like, oh,
Speaker 1: we can maximize Jackson not just for photo shoots, but
Speaker 1: also be a part of the creative on some other projects.
Speaker 1: And that's what I'm working on, and I feel like
Speaker 1: that's my next next chapter for for me to really
Speaker 1: dig deep in and and focus on.
Speaker 2: Yeah. No, it's great that they see not just as
Speaker 2: a face and a body, they see the creator.
Speaker 1: That's nice too, But like what's next, what's more? Yeah,
Speaker 1: one hundred percent the genius for real? Big fan. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so this is brain works differently. There's a difference between
Speaker 1: an artist and a superstar and like a super brain.
Speaker 1: I feel like he's a super brain.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's like for real, you know, like everything that
Speaker 1: you touch, whether it's fashion, whether it's music, whether it's
Speaker 1: just you know, any product or even human race. You know,
Speaker 1: like everything that they touch, it's just there's something, there's
Speaker 1: a there's there's stepth in it.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Crazy is that like when people question those kind
Speaker 2: of brains, right, and it's like we don't understand. We
Speaker 2: we have to trust their process and allow them to
Speaker 2: take us wherever they want to go.
Speaker 1: Yeah, a big fan.
Speaker 2: We shouldn't question it.
Speaker 1: Next time if they visit, please tell them there's an
Speaker 1: Asian kid named Jackson wayang right there, Like, please teach
Speaker 1: me and let me be inspired, let me absorb.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 5: Yeah, man, I want to talk about I didn't get
Speaker 5: the chance to hear not for me, but I do
Speaker 5: did get the chance to read the lyrics. How what's
Speaker 5: that sound like? What is the story behind that one?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think like I was saying, you know, I was,
Speaker 1: I was avoiding whoever that was inside me for a
Speaker 1: long time. And you know, during the process of that,
Speaker 1: I was just like I try to avoid with alcohol,
Speaker 1: you know, I try to avoid with just like putting
Speaker 1: more people around me, just living that lifestyle of like
Speaker 1: very corrupted, you know. And and and during that one
Speaker 1: year off, I realized, you know, I don't think this
Speaker 1: this this is for me. I don't feel like this
Speaker 1: life lifestyle is for me anymore.
Speaker 5: That's definitely growth, though, because I feel like everybody goes
Speaker 5: through that at some point. Whether it's just like realizing
Speaker 5: that if you surround yourself with the right people, nothing
Speaker 5: else matters. If you sound surround yourself with the wrong people,
Speaker 5: nothing else matters.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's just super crazy during that experience where you know, verbally,
Speaker 1: you know, it wasn't even I felt like I wasn't
Speaker 1: even me and I was saying things. I was hurting
Speaker 1: people too verbally and I didn't even I forgot. I
Speaker 1: forgot what I said, you know was just uh bro
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah and uh a time that I don't want
Speaker 1: to revisit.
Speaker 2: There is your buck is a vibe?
Speaker 1: Man, Thanks man, nobody noticed. Nobody noticed, Like nobody noticed
Speaker 1: because like, yeah, it's just it, that's what it didn't hit. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but I loved it. I love it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, that's a dope song, man.
Speaker 5: Thank you for when you like have you know, your
Speaker 5: team obviously having their input into the songs that you're.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. That's my new song, right, that's
Speaker 1: my new song featuring featuring Nico.
Speaker 2: In the interview.
Speaker 5: When you have like your team also putting their input
Speaker 5: on like such an emotional album like this too, how
Speaker 5: hard are you finding to make sure that songs that
Speaker 5: you want.
Speaker 2: Are on there?
Speaker 1: I mean I'm the a n R. Like my team,
Speaker 1: I don't even have a manager. Yeah, it's only me
Speaker 1: and Troy.
Speaker 2: This is team Wang.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is team Wang.
Speaker 2: This is it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I feel like that's why. You know, when you
Speaker 1: work with a lot of artists, right, it's always like
Speaker 1: there's like millions of filters in the middle, like the
Speaker 1: management and who else, random people just coming in and
Speaker 1: like you can never reach the artist. But for my deals,
Speaker 1: like any collaborations, partnerships, you talk to me. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: I feel like, yeah, I feel like that's more. It's
Speaker 1: super tiring, but it is what it is because that's
Speaker 1: how much I care.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, control, But at the same time, like it's just
Speaker 1: more work I'm doing. I'm my own manager, you know,
Speaker 1: Like it feels like us too, we're just like taking
Speaker 1: on like what a company needs to do.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: But also one other thing is we don't know who
Speaker 1: to hire, so yeah, like we don't know, like and
Speaker 1: the thing is, it's been like five six years already,
Speaker 1: and I feel like I maybe I need a label now,
Speaker 1: I need a label. I'm i'm I'm, I'm open for
Speaker 1: the market. I'm on sale, free agent, I'm on sale.
Speaker 2: Guys, so bidding more starts now?
Speaker 1: Yes, please please please? I need help now.
Speaker 2: So you would you would like to sign to a major?
Speaker 1: Yeah, well I am with eighty Rising, but eightie rising.
Speaker 1: It's more like it's more deep now because like I'm
Speaker 1: also one of the creators, you know, like and and
Speaker 1: we're doing other projects. Definitely not that shirt anymore, but yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, like just a lot of stuff that we're doing,
Speaker 1: and it's it's also tied in with the Nike and
Speaker 1: Jordan stuff.
Speaker 2: Is there a la that you have in mind?
Speaker 1: I don't know, like whoever that's willing to accept me.
Speaker 1: It's just a it's just a deal, right, It's just
Speaker 1: a give and take and this is what I want.
Speaker 1: I just need to I just need arms and lakes
Speaker 1: and that's it, you know. The I feel like I'm
Speaker 1: confident in being a brain.
Speaker 2: Let's get it, yo. Introverts get on your nerves.
Speaker 1: Oh I love your research, bro. Thanks. They don't get
Speaker 1: on my nerves. But it's just I can't crazy.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 1: I'm an extrovert. Obviously, if I talked to an an introvert,
Speaker 1: the entire conversation feels like I'm trying to like, yeah,
Speaker 1: come on, come on, come on. At the end of
Speaker 1: the day, I I'm just like, yeah, I don't enjoy
Speaker 1: as much, but I'm okay with it. I'm neutral. I'm neutral.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm an introvert.
Speaker 1: No, I don't think so. Yeah really yeah, deally what
Speaker 1: I said, just take it all. Fu man. Now I
Speaker 1: had this moment and I have fucked. My album is fucked.
Speaker 2: No, no, it's not Magic Man too our Friday Jackson Wang.
Speaker 2: Appreciate you, dog all the time. Man, thank you for
Speaker 2: the time. We appreciate it. Let's get it. The Cruise Show,
Speaker 2: Real ninety two three.
Speaker 1: The Cruise Show on Real ninety two three,