[Exclusive] James Lee Opens Up About What Keeps Him Moving Forward
James Lee came back to Malaysia and we could not be more excited! We have met him few times before as a Royal Pirates member, but this time he came back as a solo artist. He was here for his solo album promotion in early May and K-popped! was so lucky to get a chance to chat with this inspiring artist.
Feeling blessed, happy and lucky to be back here in Kuala Lumpur, James expressed how he missed Malaysia so much and he always wanted to come back here. He had a great time in Malaysia during the last two times he was here, so being able to come back to Malaysia was something he looked forward to.
For this EP, James talked about his collaboration with Amber and Sooyoung and that he is lucky to have such sincere friends like both of them. It all started after his unfortunate accident, as Amber and Sooyoung visited him regularly in the hospital. Despite their busy schedules, both of them agreed to be part of the album free of charge.
“I specifically want Sooyoung’s voice for Let’s Get Away because the melody is a little complicated but the song itself is very pure and she has very pure voice and it matches my own.”
“A lof of people don’t know but Amber paid half of the cost of Perfect music video. She didn’t make anything out of this. She said let’s do this and make something cool! She’s a gangster! (laugh). She even brought me Red Velvet’s signed CD when I was in the hospital. I felt like an old man but I was so happy! Haha”
When asked about his feeling about his solo debut, James humbly said he doesn’t see himself as a solo singer but just a guy with a bunch of songs in his hard drive. Lucky enough, he was able to share his music with other people.
“Sometimes when people put a camera in front of me, I tried to act cool. Sometimes it looked cool but another time it looked super dorky. That’s just who I am. Nevertheless I feel great that I got to share whats on my mind, not like before, I have to get approve through a system. Plus, there aren’t a lot of people depending on me, I am on my own. If I fail, I fail alone. If I succeed, I have so many people to share my success with.”
In 2015, James sustained a severe injury to his wrist and shoulder in a freak accident where a restaurant’s door frame fell upon him. The severe injuries left him unable to play the bass guitar anymore and the climax of it all was when he had to leave the band in January 2017 due to increasing health complications.
Not one to give up, James still want to pursue his singing career. He wrote his own songs and sang his heart out even though he can’t use his left hand properly and had to put aside his favourite bass guitar. He didn’t want his mind, music skills and his songs to rot away. In order to do that, he had to fight it even though it was hard. He could not just sit still and lose it all.
Describing his music styles, James said lately he’s into EDM. “I’ve said so many times that I am a terrible dancer, horrible in dancing. Have you seen me trying to dance? It’s like watching a car in slow motion. (haha) You’ll be like..”No~ Stop!” So dancing is a NO for me, rapping is a NO for me but I love hip hop. I naturally just love listening to it, makes me feel good, feel tough. But I incorporated elements of hip hop in the EDM and pop music, so I kinda made that into my own colour with my voice.”
About his next project, James revealed that he is planning to release a lot of music. He has more than 10 songs that have already been mastered and just waiting for the right time to be released. Hopefully people will get to listen to more of his songs next time. We can’t wait to see what he has in store for us!
And yes, James left a message to all of you. Check out his video below :
https://youtu.be/VsiQxH4a9gM
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