Lay Zhang - The Good Man
An interview with News China
He is aware of his imperfection. The only thing he can do is to work hard toward perfection and reach his life’s goals.
Reason for winning
He is an artist that excels in both singing and dancing. He’s also an actor with both good looks and great acting skills. He is dedicated to his work and prolific. He is laser focused, but is also passionate about cross discipline collaborations. In addition to devoting himself to his artistry, he’s been contributing to charity in low key manners all this time. He broke many boundaries and created many new possibilities, connecting himself with the audience with his continuous harding work and great works one piece after another.
2021 Artist of the Year: Lay Zhang — The Good Man
On the day of the photo shoot, crowds waiting to see Lay Zhang surrounded the shooting studio. Lay broke the awkwardness after rushing into the elevator. ‘It’s ok, it’s ok. I was like that when I was a kid. Whenever I saw celebrities I would rush over to see them. Hey, that’s so and so!’. Whatever situation occurred during the photo shoot, his first line would always be, ‘It’s ok, it’s ok.’
As a celebrity who has spotlight and special attention following wherever he goes, Lay is surprisingly sensitive and considerate to others’ feelings. It seems that Lay has demanded himself to ensure that people interacting with him can feel comfortable, no matter who they are. People online joked about Lay having the super power to comfort people when socializing. To put it more accurately, he feels that sense of responsibility, to make sure people can feel positive from what he says and does.
He respects every elderly guest in variety shows. After every TV/movie shooting, he wouldn’t leave until bidding all staff goodbye. In talent shows, he urges young contestants to be responsible idols. He knew that some people would mock him and say that he’s ‘faking it’. But no matter what others say, he couldn’t care less. “This is who I am. I can ‘fake it’ for my entire life.”
‘The messy world laugh and think that I’m drunk’
He wrote all those mockings in his song. There is a new song called ‘Ascetic Monk’ that was released on 15 October 2021 in his new EP. ‘He’s such a faker’, ‘Is he dating with that somebody?’, ‘Work hard, harder and gain nothing’, ‘he’s eating grass like a sheep’…, many criticisms appeared as the background lyrics of the song. He sang the song just like how he’s looking at these criticisms, ‘The messy world laugh and think that I’m drunk’.
There’s nothing you can do, being famous is the root of all problems. Whatever we do is being magnified and examined. He laughed and said: ‘I really have to be impervious with my words nowadays, or else people will talk.’ He’s not afraid of being attacked, but he is worried that gossips will attack people around him.
His new album still follows M-Pop, the genre that he upholds. This was first proposed by Lay in 2018 when he produced his third solo album NAMANANA: using Chinese as the foundation language of singing, adding one or more languages on top of that in the songs. New album is called EAST, and it bears the same implication. It is the symbol that signigies one side of the world, it also repredent the spirit of Lay’s personal growth story.
The four songs in this album are like chapters in a story of a magical Eastern journey. The story starts with “Flying Apsaras’, where the dreams of many people in this Eastern world have been achieved together, back to the trial of ‘Samadhi Real Fire’, experiencing the epiphany of ‘Ascetic Monk’, and finally back to the pure and naive ‘Shepherd Boy’. Lay loves Chinese traditional culture, and has endless inspiration from that. He wants to promote the culture of the East, he said when he first debut his dream is to step on the Grammy’s stage as a Chinese person. The dream remains the same today. Some laugh that his dream is too grand, but his family has taught him since his childhood that, even if ‘the road ahead is tough and challenging’, we must believe ‘we can achieve our goals with continuous effort’.
Lay Zhang was born in 1991, in Changsha city, Hunan Province. His great grandfather was Xingling Cheng, a member of the first National Committee of CPC, was refered to as ‘Bolsheviks outside of the Party’ by Mao Zedong. When Lay was young, his parents were busy with work, so he was taken care of by his grandparents. His grandmother (on mother’s side) was Xingling Cheng’s daughter and she would tell him many stories of those who fought for their countries and how tough life was for them.
These stories grew inside of him, he’s always thought that talking about patriotism is dutiful and ordinary because that’s how he grew up. These historical figures has also made him understanding one thing, when you’ve made the right choice, then continue on that track and stick with it. This is what he sees as the code of success.
At the age of 6, Lay was selected to participate in the contemporary rural TV series “We People” because of his cute appearance. His mother thought he had artisic talents; therefore, he spent his childhood in endless talent classes, including piano, guitar, gourd silk, drum playing, and even crosstalk. At the age of 8, he participated in “Music Friends Association” hosted by Wang Han. At the age of 13, he participated in the TV talent show “Star Academy” of Hunan Economic TV in which he won third place and Internet Popularity Award in the finale. He could be regarded as a little local celebrity in Hunan. Until now, he still has those “old fans” from the period of “Star Academy”.
Lay Zhang has always known what he wanted to do since childhood. When he was a kid, he didn’t want to play music according to the sheets given by the teacher but always tried new chords by himself instead. At first, the teacher praised him for having his own ideas, but as time went on, the teacher left with anger. In 2008, the SM Company in Korea were recruiting trainees in China. Lay, 17 at that time, attended the audition in school uniform and was the only one who got the contract on the spot.
From the moment you stepped in the doorway the cruel arena called showbiz, it implies you would be chosen and criticized. SM Company has a strict rating system that goes from A to D. Before training, trainees are rated according to comprehensive factors of height, appearance, singing, and dancing; and Lay was rated with a C.
Many years later, he has become an idol who stands under the spotlight and lives in the heart of many young girls.However, he still evaluates himself like this: ‘I am not tall or good-looking’. He once said in a talk show: ‘I also want to be born tall, rich and handsome. If that’s the case, why would I need to work hard at all?’
Work hard, harder, and harder
Practice hard was his only way out. During the days at the foreign land, he was called ‘God-like trainee’, there was a famous story about how he he used to work and that he only gave himself 5 minutes to eat. Lay explained to News China it was a bit exaggerated. The food was too hot when it was served, so in order to arrange time more efficiently, he would continue practicing while waiting for the food to cool down. He said those who have great achievements alwasy have their time scheduled to the minutes.
In 2012, Lay Zhang debut as the main dancer of EXO without being trained as dancer professional previously. Before his debut, the back injury accumulated from practice over the year had recurred, he couldn’t walk because of the pain and had to take the cortisone injection to get on stage. Many years later, the host Sida Jiang asked him in an interview ‘What would you sacrafice for your stage?’ ‘My life’, he answered.
Until today, “work harder, harder, and harder” is still his life motto, as well as his Weibo name. His experience has toldhim that hard working is useful, and everything he gets today is inseprable from these two words.
In April 2015, Lay returned to China and started his own studio, which was also the first that SM Company agreed tosince its establishment for many years. The variety show “Go Fighting!” in June of the same year had also helped boosted his popularity, from someone who was only popular among young people, to quickly gain popularity among audiences of all ages. Because of his amiability, polite personality, and zodiac sign of the sheep, the audience has given him a friendly nickname of ‘national little sheep’.
Good-tempered, he accepted this title. He felt that he has similar characters with the sheep, ‘Although sheeps look silly and don’t have much temper, they’re actually very stubborn. If you make them angry, they can get very fierce’, Lay told News China.
The seven seasons of “Go Fighting!” has let the audience witnessed the stage of his rapid growth. His fans said that Lay really did lived up to the trust of his supporters and ‘has grown up well’. This variety show has not only made him famous, but has also given him a group of good brothers. All these artists have been tumbling through rough challenges in the entertainment industry, only a truly sincere person like Lay could be worthy for them to say so many good things about him in public as well as treat him well in private.
In 2016, through Honglei Sun’s recommendation, Lay appeared in the city romance series “To Be A Better Man”. In the TV series, the kitchen rookie Xiaocai, who is persistent in chasing his dreams, has made the audience discoveredthat beside singing, dancing and variety shows, Lay also has talents for acting. Lay was nominated for the Best New Actor with this TV show in the 22nd Huading Awards.
As an actor, Lay began rising steadily as an actor. In 2017, “The Founding of an Army” was released. He played the role of Deming Lu, the commander in chief of the Autumn Harvest Uprising, and was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Award of the 9th Macao International Film Festival. In 2018, Lay starred in Huang Bo’s first directorial debut work “The Island”. His role as the young employee, was silly and cute in the early stage and took a darker turn in the later stage, was able to get his own spotlight even when playing alongside other giant actors such as Huang Bo and Wang Baoqiang. In the summer of 2021, ‘police officer Xiaolin’ dominated the screen; and Lay was praised by other co-actors and actresses like Liu Zhibing and Wu Yue for his hard working, acting skills, and having his own ideas.
Lay explained that he still feels nervous working with these experienced actors and actresses, even with artists such as Sun Honglei and Huang Bo who he is very familiar with. Whenever they arrive on set and got into the state of their characters, they will have totally different vibes. He admires that and it is also the goal he’s working hard toward.
Days as an actor are totally different with making music. The latter is when he express himself whereas for the former, he needs to live in the stories of others, experience their emotions, and lives. This gives Lay the newexperiences and emotions. It is as if he has lived another life, and such experience deeply inspires his music creation.
These two identities, musician and actorm, are complementary of each other and have became a part of himself. He thinks the perfect arrangement of 24 hours in a day is 6 hours for sleeping, 10 hours of experiencing different worlds as an actor, and the rest for his favourite music-loving self.
Boss Lay Zhang
On his 29th birthday last October, Lay announced that he had established his own company, a company that aims to train young artists. Stepping into his 30, he’s got a bigger ambition — he wants to ‘change the current situation of entertainment industry’. He wants to ensure all the young artists from his company can be the best in this industry.
Being a good boss is not simply leading as a role model. One also neeeds to expand their own knowledge in the field of business. On the day of News China 2021 Influential Figures of The Year Awards photoshoot, Lay instantly recognized economist Li Shi at the first glance. Li Shi was surprised: ‘How do you know me?’. Not too many people knows that Lay has always been interested in economics. Since 2019, he has been using his spare time during workouts, meal time and commuting to listen to the online courses by Xue Zhaofeng and Liu Run (famous economists in China)
This past October, some netizens met Lay in the class of Harvard Shanghai Centre. It’s the Senior Excutive Leadership programme of Harvard Business School. Although there is no requirement of education background for admissions, offers are considered based on applicant’s achievements in their field of professions and related duties. This is not the first time that Lay attend a business course. Few months ago, someone met him in Tsinghua University Wudaokou Business School. He studied and got a certificate there as an entrepreneur.
After Spring Festival Gala this year, Lay had said in a backstage interview that he planned to obtain a degree in Business Administration. Always keeping his words and do it to perfection is the rule that he always stands for since debut. In order to present life at the countryside more realisticly in the variety show, he got the driving license for tractor and combined harvester. Since some of his company’s trainees are a bit young, he has read many parenting books in order to know more about these kids, to interact with them, and to communicate with them more efficiently.
One of Lay’s fans left him a message on his 30th birthday, ‘I like him, not only because he is an idol in the entertainment industry, but also because he can be my role model. When I want to stay in my comfort zone and choose the second best, he gives me the courage to move forward.’
Lay said frankly, all the attention that he received has given him more responsibilities and things to consider about. He gave himself many restraints, he wants to ensure every step that he takes can be the good example for others. ‘There’s no other way, I have to discipline myself strictly.’ This makes him feel that he’s one with very boring personalities. He couldn’t even stand himself sometimes, ‘How can I be this boring?’.
The process of hard working might be boring, but when the right time has come, you will get what you want. The nomination of Asia Pop Music Awards just has been revealed at the end of November. Lay’s new album has been nominated for 3 awards: Album of The Year, Male Singer of The Year, and Dance Performance of The Year. On November 24th, Lay was the only artist that was being invited to China Internet Media Forum. He was appointed as 2022 Internet Integrity Promoting Ambassador and gave a speech on the forum. He proposed that all artists should put their works and good reputation at the top priorities and always remember to reflect on themselves.
Even with the achievements he has today, he still feels that he hasn’t achieved his goals yet. His family education has been teaching him to be a man of the country. He thinks a man of the country means one who has big contribution to the country and society; and he’s not there yet. He wants to contribute more; he want to use time to tell everyone what kind of person Lay Zhang is.
About his dreams — be a good actor, create good music, he said, ‘I made such a big boasting’, the only thing he can do is to work harder and harder. He knows that he is not perfect enough, the only thing that he can do is work hard to perfect himself, in order to achive the goals of his life.
