48 hours of “Lay observation”, I have forgotten about “the little sheep”
Last night, topics about the discussion of “Lay’s body figure” almost took over every entry about Lay’s concert in Bangkok.
In the “After Party” stop of his 2019 Grand Line Solo Tour in Bangkok, Lay redefines the old image that has left a strong impression in the audience heart since Go Fighting, a “well-behave little sheep”.
In his original song Lay U Down, he danced on the bow of his “ship”, putting on the best “physique show”.
— Along the tone and defined chest and abs, a dragon looms up in his waist with the movement his muscle along music
Amazing stage performance, splendid lights, as if he has switched to using his body as the expression carrier, “human-metronome” Lay Zhang expressed the story through a music and dance.
From Beijing to Bangkok, we had a chance to exclusively document 48 hours of Lay’s Grand Line concert tour: With extreme self-discipline comes extremely stunning results. The fission of growing up and maturing. About Lay Zhang, we trust what we see rather than what he hear.
People are eager for others to be perfect. People only treat themselves gently.
Lay, however, is the other side of the “rules”
2 days before the concert, we arrived in Bangkok, Thailand
Around 5pm local time, we arrived in Suvarnabhumi International Airport reporting about Thai fans who were there to welcome Lay.
We arrived one hour earlier than the estimated landing time of Lay’s flight but Thai fans has already gathered in order at the arrival gate.
Time passes, and there were fans looking like they just got out from class, school, or work joining the lines.
Some of them were still carrying backpacks; some were wearing purple support color shirt, tip-toeing from the bridge afar; some were passing around compact mirror to touch up make-up; some were holding the banner, or cameras waiting patiently.
The crossing between expectation and passion created a strong atmosphere that influence everyone nearby: concert organizer, airport staff, even the camera crew from Bazaar. Everyone unexplanably fell into a state of excitement. For one second, seems like everyone started to countdown.
Lay arrived at 6pm local time
He walked out with the accompany of his staff wearing his blond locks. Fan rushed over the moment he stepped out, but the interesting thing was eventhough they seemed to be rushing in group, all they wanted to do was handing over the letters but nobody crossed the unmarked acquiescented “warning line”. They were in line the whole time, keeping the order throughout.
It was indeed noisy there, but the relationship between the fans and the idol can be read with a most gentle way:. We acknowledge each other and treat each other gently.
There was quite a distance going from the airport to the hotel.
About 50 minutes later, Lay received a second round of “attack” in this Thailand trip from his own staffs. An absolutely “childish” welcome
Lay “fled away” in respond to the hilarious “Boss is the coolest, hottest, and cutest” chant. He was so shocked it brought out his Changsha accent. He is that superstar who walked out of the airport with cheers and spotlight surrounded; he is also this shy young boss who shouted “What are you doing?” in front of us.
Contradicting yet real, one can’t help but to think, this is also Lay Zhang. This is Lay Zhang.
From Chengdu to Bangkok, arriving at the hotel after such long distance travel, Lay started his training routine right after freshened up and a simple meal. From Shanghai to Bangkok, he has been keeping his own tempo. No matter how many places he went, how much he’s done, he never miss out on his own business. No matter if the time is 3am after a rehearsal, or after a long distance travel.
Warming up with a 40 minutes swimming, continue with running, boxing and then stretching. He didn’t skip anything. Lay holds an almost stubborn preserverance toward his performing condition. As a singer and dancer, he requires his stage as well as his condition onstage to be at their best at all time.
Even after watching his boxing videos on Instagram countless time, it still shocked me when I saw that with my own eyes. Who would have thought this soft gently “little sheep” would pick, like, and stick to such an intense sport.
With every punch he threw, his’ arm muscles can be seen clearly.
The sound when those gloves hit the headgear echoed non-stop. After just three minutes, you could see clearly how his sweat was pouring like water and then evaporated.
It’s really hard to link the Lay you see in the boxing gym with the attractive and well-dressed superstar Lay you see on stage. Most of the time, what you see is him exhausted and begging the trainer to stop, but still managed to hold it in and continue with the training.
“Begging for mercy” but was actually adding more training time
—With extreme self-discipline comes extremely stunning results. Lay’s defined muscles make his body a great canvas. His body brings out a healthy, beautiful rhythm whether he’s dancing or exercising.
A day before the concert, Lay arrived at the venue at noon and started the concert rehearsal.
Arriving at 1pm local time, leaving at 9pm when the sky is getting dark. With each concert from Shanghai to Bangkok, he has been adjusting everything by himself: the stage, the lighting, the choreograph, and the switching of cameras. Dancing while monitoring through the large screens, he would point out anything that needs adjustment to staff from each department.
Serious, tension and meticulous
Lay Zhang rehearsal is always the highest warning zone for his staffs. “Everything is negotiable but the stage. Anything can be overlooked but music.” This was what his staffs talked about Lay’s 8-hour rehearsal routines.
“This time he re-arranged many songs including “Sheep”. Choreography also had new changes.” The concert arriving in Thailand but Lay still insisited on switching up the details everytime.
“How do you say ‘I miss you’ in Thai?”
“Pom kidteung kun’
“How about ‘I love you’ ?”
“Pom lak kun”
“What about “giant ship”? I recently built a giant ship.”
From the rehearsal up until 40 minutes before the concert started, Lay kept coming back and forth to the Thai translator whenever he thought of any little phrases he wanted to express in Thai and then childishly writing cheat sheet, and adding pronunciation on the the screen.
An adorkably contrasting point was how we saw this “dragon” was stuck onto Lay’s abs just a few mintutes ago. A dragon cool enough to hype up the whole venue.
Six packs with a dragon tattoo, greyish blue short hair with sharp look in this eyes, the bee has tranformed into a dragon. Who would have thought just in a blink of an eye he has turned back into our gentle Mr Zhang that kept on asking about those Thai phrases. Phrases that give people headaches just by hearing them.
Like what he told his fans at the concert: “I think sometimes, chasing one’s dreams is just like being a fan of a celebrity. We will be judged and laughed at. But I don’t think we need to explain to others what we are doing, why we are doing this, what kind of people we are, or what exactly we are working on. Time will give the answers.”
From the gentle-looking young boy with sweet dimples 7 years ago, to the skinny newbie, who, with teary red eyes and trophy in hand, exclaimed at an award’s backstage that he will “lead Chinese music to the world”, and thus inviting himself years of ridicule;
From a celebrity with vast popularity but being labeled as “dramatic”, because of his widely debated action of kissing the stage after getting his first music award, to someone who sparked vast dispute within the netizens not too long ago;
Lay Zhang started his concert last night with “Assembly Call”. As the note strike, he stood at the peak of the stage in Thailand, with short blue-gray hair, sharp eyes, and sculpture like facial features.
Having known him for many years, and being a part of the 48-hour long close up reporting on his Grand Line concert in Thailand, I was lost in reverie witnessing the reality in front of me.
In the beginning, I thought the things happening during the rehearse were funny and unnecessary. However, during last night’s concert, when Yixing was playing the guitar and singing “I miss you” in Thai , I was deeply moved as all the fans were- it was a two-way relationship between the idol and his fans: I really appreciate what you have done, can you see my respond?
During the concert, I hearing the screams from Thai fans and seeing the “screams” through social media platforms from the Chinese fans. From this 48-hour news tracking of Lay’s concert in Thailand, we have had some really intuitive thoughts about this guy. Beside the humble, hard-working, persistant “well-behaved kid” image, he has shown us how the 27-year-old Lay has explored a new mature way to express himself.
It has been seven years since his debut and a decade since him leaving home to chase his dream at the age of 17. It seems that no one can give a specific definition to “Lay Zhang” anymore.
Just like his own body’s musle lines, those stubbornness and wildness hidden deep inside him, have surfaced and became more and more clear with the accumulation of time and experience. Compare to the early years when he particulary cared about what is right or wrong, and whether he can get approval, the soon turning 28 Lay Zhang, have started to pay more attention to his current choices and whether he can be responsible for his own decisions. His stage proves itself, and time can give answers. In the meantime, Lay Zhang has his own answers for his past, present and future.
Looking back on his career in the past 7 years, he has been holding on to things he deemed worth holding on to, even though ambitions like “Leading Chinese music to the world” has become a source of mockery for him for a long time.
At the age of 27, he chooses his own battlefield to make breakthroughs. From strengths to body figure, from popularity to competency, he has been getting what he wants through his own hardwork, step by step, slow and steady.
What Lay didn’t know, is that before the ending of the final song in the Thailand concert, many staff and I have witnessed how all the dancers wept together at the backstage.
The world is complicated, people can’t be honest with each other, and gossip is difficult to foreseen. However, both time and people around you, we all have faith in what kind of person you are, and what kind of path you are striving forward.
Sticking to his little stubborness, the thing Lay wants to do the least both on stage and in life, is to blindly follow what others say.
Living by the rule of “Be true to oneself”, holding on to the faith of stage and music, soon turning 28 Lay Zhang is growing and flourishing in his paradoxical state between maturity and childishness.
Those days of music writing without one day of slacking off, those days and nights of sweat-dripping practice, even though the room’s AC was always set to 19℃, those nights of running and boxing in the wee hours at hotels, after ending a whole day of work, and all those years of self-discipline to the point akin to self-abuse, all their worth have gotten a proof and response on the stage.
Popularity brought him fame, and he lived up to it by proving himself with perseverance and competence.
Lay Zhang has convinced us that those who shine in this era through hard-works will eventually be treasured by this era as well.
After the 48-hour exclusive recording observation, I’ve forgotten ‘Little Sheep’ Lay, and started to respect Captain Lay.
