Jackson Wang (GOT7) - The incredible journey from sports prodigy to Kpop's closest idol

Jackson Wang, from a student with ADHD, overcame family pressure to become a K-pop star with the group GOT7.

At the age of 27, K-pop star Jackson Wang (Vuong Gia Nhi) has achieved countless successes that many others dream of. Famous as a member of the group GOT7, but owning a solo career is equally shining. Become the face of big brands like Fendi, Cartier. Launched its own streetwear fashion brand that is highly appreciated by the fans.

However, instead of focusing on his music career, he took action to hit the national pride of loyal fans when it came to politics.

Sports prodigy

Before coming to music, Jackson Wang had a very different orientation: professional sports.

The boy was born on March 28, 1994, into a family of sports background in Kowloon district, Hong Kong. His father, Mr. Wang Ruiji, is a fencing athlete who represented China at the 1984 and 1988 World Olympics. His mother, Sophia Chow, was a former gymnast. gymnastics. She is also the daughter of a very famous doctor in Shanghai.

There would be no artist Jackson Wang today, if the boy was dedicated to following in the footsteps of his parents. As a child, the boy did gymnastics like his mother. But because he was afraid that this sport would affect his child's height, his family oriented him to study fencing at the age of 10. In 2010, at the age of 16, the boy ranked 11th in the ranking of the Summer Youth Olympics.

Then suddenly one day, a representative of JYP visited American International School. They were impressed by Jackson Wang's appearance. The JYP representative asked him to join their trainee program in Hong Kong.

At first, Jackson Wang was extremely interested in JYP's offer. He was a fan of Big Bang at that time. And he mistook JYP for the group's management company (Big Bang is under YG)!

At first, his parents disagreed with the idea. Jackson Wang's mother gave him an ultimatum: To become a music star, one must first become the best fencing player.

Many people will be discouraged by this "threat", but Jackson Wang does not. The young man practiced day and night. As a result, he won two gold awards in fencing at the Asian Junior and Cadet Fencing Championship 2011.

He was also invited by Stanford University to study in the US, with a sports scholarship for a semi-professional fencing team. At the same time, have the opportunity to become a player representing Hong Kong at the 2012 Olympics in London.

But, Jackson Wang turned down all those offers, to pursue the path of an artist.

Starting a music career from scratch

Coming to Korea, Jackson Wang began to practice. Taking advantage of the strength of endurance from his sports days, he increased his training time compared to other trainees. Sometimes, he would stay in the gym for up to 6 hours a day.

JYP recognized Jackson Wang's efforts. After more than two short years of training, he was chosen as a member of GOT7, which debuted in January 2014. When asked about the difference between the sports industry and the music industry, Jackson Wang shared,

"These two disciplines are completely different, they are similar in philosophy. Coming to them, I used to think, I can succeed, I can also fail, but at least I'm trying."

By now, you must have realized that Jackson Wang is extremely forward-thinking. Becoming a rapper of the group GOT7 is not his stop.

After officially debuting, Jackson Wang actively participated in variety shows. And as a Hong Kong citizen, he not only stopped in Korea, but also entered the large Chinese market in 2015.

In 2017, the male rapper officially pursued a solo career in China. He set up his own management company, called Team Wang. Under the label Team Wang, he released a series of songs in English and Chinese, exclusively for this market.

Talking about his personal career, Jackson Wang likens himself to an individual divided into two halves.

"Extremely busy. When Team Wang stopped working, I was a member of GOT7. When GOT7 rested, I returned to my own projects."

In 2021, group GOT7 left JYP. Each member moved to a different management company.

Despite disbanding, the GOT7 group is still expected to carry out joint projects together. "It's just that now [in 2021] people will focus on solo careers first," Jackson Wang said in an interview on the GET REAL Podcast.

Personally, Jackson Wang will focus on promoting his solo career in Korea. He revealed that when he was under JYP's management, he was not allowed to promote any solo songs in Korea. Even though songs like 100 Ways or Fendiman were hits in other markets, it was banned from performing and streaming in Korea. "You know, since that contract ended, now I'm working hard to bring [the songs] back to Korea," he shared.

'Saint of entertainment', must immediately mention Jackson Wang

With a cheerful, sociable personality and innate improvisation, Jackson was born as a stage person. Receiving many invitations to participate in reality shows such as Weekly Idol, Roommate, Hitmaker, Star King, Radio Star, Go Fridge season 2 (China),... he never disappoints the audience with his skills. his entertainment.

No artificial flowers but a little "colorful" cuteness, there is always a rare sincerity in Jackson. He confided, "When I go to reality shows, I don't come to show anything. I just try to show the real Jackson. I always believe that the most important thing is that you do your best."

Typically at Roommate, when Lee Guk Joo and Seo Kang Joon came to congratulate GOT7's latest comeback, joking that Jackson's mother might also come. At that moment, with his astonishment but then a splash of cold water, Jackson was more frustrated than ever.

He also confided, "Honestly, I believed that my mother would come. Maybe she wanted to surprise me? What if she really came to Korea? I almost cried... ".

Another example, at KBS's famous Vitamin program, Jackson once again affirms his unique and gifted personality that shines on his shows. In particular, through just two questions when he was forced to choose between Suzy or Hara, SM or YG, Jackson showed everyone how easily he gets stressed out. It can be concluded that Jackson is a guy who has always been honest with his feelings through this show.

Every time he appeared, Jackson did not leave any space for the program to have a "dead" moment, Jackson could bring laughter wherever he was. Thanks to the Wild and Free style and the inherent sense of humor, he attracted quite a lot of attention. The directors of Weekly Idol all agreed to invite Jackson to join the next project called Hitmaker while watching GOT7's segment, and also thanked him for always creating a happy atmosphere at the set.

Jackson knows he has a bit of a sense of humour, but he simply always says what he thinks. Sometimes other people keep their image when going on shows, but for Jackson, he always wants to be himself, always happy and funny.

If you've watched any show with Jackson participating, you can't help but recognize that he always tries and is serious to achieve what he wants, not just doing it casually. Even in the way Jackson communicates with those around him, it can be felt that he has always put a lot of his love into relationships (whether in front of or behind the camera).

In the list of the 10 most fluent idols in Korean newspapers, Jackson can speak many languages such as English, Korean, Chinese (Cantonese and Mandarin), Japanese, etc.

Thanks to his ability to speak Chinese fluently, Jackson was invited to be the MC for the show Go Fridge season 2 Chinese version along with MC Ha Canh, dubbed the Yoo Jae Suk of China, the program received immense support. warm.

In particular, in addition to taking on the position of main dancer, lead rapper and vocalist in GOT7, Jackson and Mark also took on the part of Martial Arts Tricking (acrobatics combined with martial arts) that always makes viewers' eyes A-shaped and O-mouth.

Heavily criticized for posting photos in support of 'Cow's tongue line'

The nine-dash line (also known as the nine-dash line, the U-shaped line, the nine-dash line) is the name used to refer to the national border line of the East Sea that China advocates and unilaterally claims. On July 12, 2016, the U-shaped line claim was rejected by the International Court of Arbitration on the grounds that "there is no legal basis for China's claim of historic rights to resources located in the sea area within the line". Nine Paragraphs".

Soon after, almost the entire Chinese-language entertainment industry simultaneously posted a picture of the cow's tongue map on social networks with the caption: "China, an inch of land will not yield", implying disagreement with the judgment. arbitrator's decision. This event caused a stir for a while and could not help but make Vietnamese fans stir because Vietnam has always protected its sovereignty over the sea and islands in the East Sea and disagreed with the policy of the cow's tongue line. After that, a series of famous Chinese-language characters were "blacklisted" by Vietnamese fans.

Surely many people still remember 2 years ago, singers Lay (EXO) and Victoria (F(x)) - two popular Chinese idols in Korea - caused a stir when sharing photos of the cow's tongue line on instagram. individual.

In this comeback of the cow's tongue line, the Kpop fan community in Vietnam was even more surprised when the person who posted the photo was a member of the famous Kpop group Jackson (GOT7). Jackson is from Hong Kong, a country that has similar political conflicts with China as Taiwan. Jackson's actions made many Vietnamese fans angry. Many people believe that Jackson is active in China, so he must respect and even "flatter" the government of this country so as not to affect his career.

And it seems that not only Vietnamese or Taiwanese fans, but currently, Korean netizens have also voiced their displeasure when many famous idols, even though they are active in Korea, blatantly post photos of themselves. beef tongue.

The reason is because the area that China claims (cow's tongue line) includes Leodo Island, also known as Socotra Rock of Korea. For that reason, names like Victoria, Lay, Cao Lu, Jackson Wang... so far have received a lot of criticism from Knet for this issue.

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