Coming back to Singapore for the second time, we sat down with Jason Chen and Clara C for a short group interview held at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel on the 26th July 2013
Among others, they spoke about first impressions, inspirations and their thoughts on music.
Seeing a bowl of Mentos placed before them, Clara casually asked if it was for them and the overly excited Jason went on to say ‘oh my goodness Mentos!’ It got everyone in the room laughing, lightening the mood.
Starting off with the first question, they were asked how they met and what their first impressions were of each other. Jason was quick to say that Clara appeared scary. She agreed saying, “Yea he was scared of me. He kept coming up to me and like Clara, here’s the t-shirt. Clara, do you wanna sign this?“, saying all that in an awkward, almost stiff tone.
With the showcase happening on the 27th of July, they revealed what fans can expect from the showcase. Clara would be performing songs from her second album live for the first time for fans in Singapore while Jason would be performing a few of his own English & Chinese songs. He also prepared a new song that has never been performed before.
They were then asked if they grew up wanting to do music. Clara, who started to play the piano at a young age of 6, replied that she has always wanted to do music but never thought it would be possible. Jason injected some humor by saying that he wanted to be a president at first and later a truck driver, professional basketball player followed by becoming an investment banker before he finally decided that music was his calling.
Jason was then asked who he would like to collaborate with and he picked the late King of Pop, Michael Jackson. Clara added that Michael Jackson would really be an interesting person to work with given the amount of dedication he put into his work. She then went on to name John Mayer, Fiest & Kings Of Convenience as her inspirations to do music stating her love for complex and pretty music.
Being YouTube artists, they dealt directly with harsh comments left by viewers and low view counts which initially affected them. This however did not stop them from uploading more videos for their fans.
Being Asians, they both frequently became victims of mismatched identities. “Jason Chen is Vietnamese!” said one. “No! He’s Japanese!” said the other. Clara too was often mistaken as a race she isn’t.
As an avid fan of largely popular movie “Sound of Music“, Clara learned to play every single song from the movie on the piano and till today, she is still very much in love the songs. Jason left us in awe when he revealed that he learned to play the violin by ear at the age of 5 as he doesn’t read musical notes.
Having broken up with her previous boyfriend who was against her doing music, Clara became even more determined to pursuit a career in music. Jason on the other hand will continue to do music as it makes him happy.
When asked if there was anything about themselves that they would change, Jason jokingly said that he would like to be taller but he will never go to the extent of going under the knife to change himself.
The interview continued and they were asked where they see themselves in 5 years. Clara, who is happily engaged, made an announcement that she’s tying the knot this September. Members of the media then congratulated her and she carried on to say that she would probably be pregnant or already have kids by then.
Jason who covered and wrote the English version of BoA‘s “Only One” in 2012 was then asked if he would be covering more K-Pop songs in time to come. To that he replied saying that he hasn’t been listening to K-Pop songs lately and there wouldn’t be any covers coming up soon. With that, the interview came to an end with a photo-call.
Lastly we would like to thank JNation for extending this opportunity us.
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Source: Kmusic
Article by: Suraya
Photographer: Claudia
Edited by: Alona
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