On April 29, American rapper Jay Park expanded his influence in the Chinese entertainment industry by dropping his first-ever Chinese single titled ‘Thoughts of You.’ The singer-songwriter even proudly proclaimed, “We got hits in all languages!!” underneath the song’s music video on YouTube.
Featuring Chinese rapper Li Daben and Korean American rapper pH-1, ‘Thoughts of You’ describes the infatuation stage of a relationship, that oh-so-sweet time when it’s impossible to get a person off your mind:
“One, two glasses down, and I thought of you. Lost in your thoughts all the time. I wanna hear your voice.”
In the track’s music video, Park proves himself a virtuoso with more than just songwriting and rapping skills. Flanked by a dance crew, the 35-year-old flawlessly nails move after move.
To say that the song has grabbed the attention of Chinese netizens would be putting it lightly. Not only has its related hashtag on the microblogging platform Weibo accumulated more than 140 million views at the time of writing, but many have also posted appreciative comments about the single.
“Although this Chinese song is not as sophisticated as his Korean ones, it still has me hooked! I’m going to play it on repeat,” posted a netizen.
Many of Park’s fans in China seem to be thinking of the Mandarin single as a well-meaning present. “Thank you for your gift, Jay!! On the days when you are not on Weibo, we are all having ‘thoughts of you,’” reads one punny comment on Park’s Weibo.
This isn’t the rapper’s first time reaching out to Chinese audiences. Park has made surprise appearances on the hit Chinese variety show The Rap of China and even played the role of guest mentor in 2020.
Park got his start back in 2008 as the leader of K-pop group 2PM, but has since repositioned his musical offerings to fall more within the genres of hip hop and rap.
Cover image: screengrab via YouTube
