Ahead of the release of his second solo studio album and most anticipated work yet MAGIC MAN, we’re taking a deep dive into Jackson Wang‘s story and rise to fame. His name has become a recurring appearance in charts and the entertainment industry at large in both the East and the West ever since he debuted as a member of K-Pop group GOT7. Now, as his solo career takes off, he’s only bound to become more famous.
Wang is backed by a dedicated fan base, both from his days in GOT7 and his individual ventures, reaching a 30 million followers milestone on Instagram just recently. He’s popular for his work ethic and true dedication to his craft, his easy going and extroverted personality and, of course, the good looks don’t hurt.
In his new music from MAGIC MAN, Wang has gone for an edgier, more sensual, and more mature aesthetic to match what he called “the new me” in an interview with Entertainment Tonight. From the release of his first solo single “Papillon” in 2017, his roots in hip-hop and trap have evolved as he’s experimented with his sound, from R&B in “Oxygen,” dance pop in “100 Ways” and now, finally, pop-rock in “Cruel” and “Blow.”
“I’ve never been this raw, ever, in my life,” he said of “Blow.”
Despite his pop sound, Wang’s versatility shouldn’t be understated. The fact that the majority of his solo work has been released in English has made him a true global star after establishing his place in both the Korean and the Chinese music and entertainment scenes. But let’s go back to the start.
Wang’s early life and breaking into the K-Pop world
The K-pop idol was born Jackson Wang Ka-yee on March 28, 1994, in Kowloon Tong, in British Hong Kong. His education took place primarily at the American International School in Hong Kong. His mom and dad were both Olympic athletes in gymnastics and fencing, respectively. At 10 years old, Wang followed his father’s footsteps and joined a fencing team. His merits, including winning gold at the 2011 Asian Junior and Cadet Fencing Championship, led to Stanford University in California offering him a scholarship for fencing. Wang even considered trying out for the 2012 London Olympics. However, his heart lay elsewhere.
In 2010, while playing basketball in his high school’s courtyard, Wang was scouted by a representative of one of South Korea’s biggest entertainment companies, JYP Entertainment. This is common practice in the industry, which is constantly looking for young talents who look the part. Jin from BTS, for example, was famously scouted as he got off the bus.
Wang was invited to try out for the company at Kowloon’s global auditions and reportedly placed first among some 2,000 candidates. His dream of performing started to take shape and he had a choice to make between pursuing his already concrete fencing career, or leaving it all to join the glitz and glam of the K-Pop world. Wang moved to Seoul in South Korea in July of 2011 and started his journey as a trainee.
Making it big in GOT7
It’s a well-known fact the trainee process in K-Pop is rough. It’s essentially a succession of long years of classes in singing and dancing, and there are always groups getting formed, whose members will get picked from the company’s roaster of trainees. If you’re not performing, you’ll probably get sent home. It’s like American Idol, but you’re there for much longer.
Wang was a trainee for two and a half years before he finally debuted in 2014 as one of seven members in GOT7’s final line-up. He is the group’s main rapper and a lead dancer.
GOT7’s impressive discography includes four Korean studio albums, one Japanese studio album, 12 Korean EPs and three Japanese EPs. Most of their releases scored number one in South Korea’s music charts, with their debut EP Got It?, as well as 2015’s Mad, 2016’s Flight Log: Turbulence and 2017’s Flight Log: Arrival all making it to the top of Billboard’s World Albums chart. The fandom name for GOT7 is particularly clever, drawing the nickname “Ahgases” from its official title of “I GOT7s”, which also means baby bird in Korean.
During the first few years in GOT7, Wang started taking part in different variety shows, where he made quite the impact thanks to his quick wit and sarcastic humor. Eventually he was invited to host a Chinese variety show, which helped him build a larger following in his home country. He won the Newcomer Award at the 2014 SBS Entertainment Awards, as well as Variety Star of the Year at the 2016 Chinese Tencent Star Awards. He became a well-known and beloved television star in both South Korea and China.
Team Wang, Panthepack and leaving JYP
Not one to wait for things to fall from trees, Wang took control of his own future and in 2017 created his own record label in China called Team Wang, through which he began releasing all of his solo work, from his debut single “Papillon” to his debut solo album Mirrors in 2019, and now the upcoming MAGIC MAN.
In an interview with the DIVE Studios podcast Get Real, Wang explained the deal he had hatched with JYP Entertainment whereby he could not release or promote any of his solo music in Korea. Despite his solo goals, Jackson was and is still very much dedicated to GOT7, splitting his schedule between China and Korea in order to make the two work.
“I mean, it’s hard at the end of the day, ’cause when [GOT7] rests, I have to go to do my Team Wang stuff. When Team Wang rests, I go back [to GOT7],” he told Teen Vogue in 2019. “I produce a two-year schedule in one.”
This was likely one of the first seeds that eventually led to GOT7 deciding not to renew their contract with JYP in January of 2021, due to creative differences regarding solo work. The Korean entertainment giant allowed the band to retain the name GOT7, however, and in 2022 they came back with a self-titled EP released under Warner Music Korea.
It’s clear that Wang is very passionate about growing his own label, though, and he intends on using his platform to sign and launch new artists. “There are too many talented people out there, and nobody can see them. They don’t have the chance. If I have that resource, why don’t [I] give the spotlight to the people that don’t have the opportunity to show their work, but they’re ready?” he told Teen Vogue.
That’s exactly what he did in August 2021 when he created the hip-hop group Panthepack featuring himself along with Chinese rappers Ice, J.Sheon, and Karencic. They released a 10-track album called The Pack the following month.
Through Team Wang, Jackson has also created a fashion brand in 2020 called Team Wang Design for which he contributes as the creative director and designer. He’s also collaborated with Fendi China, producing and performing a song called “Fendiman” for the global fashion brand. A man of many hats who, by the way, also speaks five languages, including his native Mandarin, English and Korean.
Finding his footing
Wang has probably never been more famous than he is right now. After ending his contractual obligations to JYP, the singer has been focusing on reconnecting with his Korean audience, and he’s been making quite the splash in the US too. But right before he dove into his latest project, Wang was feeling especially lost.
“For the past eight years, I’d been living a commercial life,” Jackson shared with Entertainment Tonight. “You know, schedules, shows, after shows. It’s like a loop, and that’s why I got to a point where, mentally, I lost everything. I didn’t know what to do.”
The 28-year-old artist has never held back on sharing both his highest and lowest moments with the public, admitting to suffering from anxiety, depression, and excessive drinking in a 2022 Variety piece, and is a strong advocate for speaking freely about these issues.
His background in athletics instilled a hustle type of mentality in him that has been hard to shake off. “I always said that if I had obstacles in my life or stress, the way that I deal with it is I’ll just overcome it. I’ll find a solution, or I’ll always tell myself that I have to work harder,” he said, adding that he very rarely relied on friends or family to help him get through hard times, instead always taking matters into his own hands.
Creating MAGIC MAN was a cathartic experience for the artist who also plans to release a full Chinese-language album in the future. Being “a bridge” between East and West through his music is what he says he’s all about as an artist.
He’s not only vocal about mental health, but has also taken political and controversial stands in the past. In the aftermath of the Hong Kong protests in 2019, where a Chinese flag was tossed into Victoria Harbor, Wang posted a Chinese flag on the country’s biggest social media platform Weibo, and declared himself “one of 1.4 billion guardians of the Chinese flag.” Two years later, the artist decided to end his deal with Adidas after the sports brand vowed to stop using cotton from Xinjiang over human rights concerns. In a statement, Team Wang said that the artist “strongly [objects] to all deplorable behavior that smears and spreads rumors about China.”
Earlier this year, Wang made history as the first solo Chinese act to perform at Coachella’s main stage as a part of 88Rising’s set. In 2019, his debut album Mirrors broke the record for highest debut on Billboard 200 for a solo Chinese artist, a feat which MAGIC MAN might exceed. But when asked about how he felt about being a “figurehead” for the global expansion of Chinese music, Wang brushes it off.
“I don’t think I’m this icon. I don’t think I’m anything. I’m just this Chinese kid, Asian kid, just going after my dream. I’m just trying to make history for me and my people,” he told Vogue.
Wang describes MAGIC MAN as an album about “mystery, temptation, and confusion.” It comes out on Sept. 9.
