It's His World

JJ Lin is at the top of his game. The pop star gets candid about Asian representation, pushing boundaries and his not-so-secret hope that his music will transcend dimensons

- Coco Marett.

JJ Lin is kind of a geek-and he'll be the first to tell you so. Growing up, the pop star immersed himself in the world of comic books and sci-fi novels by the genre's greats, including Isaac Asimov and Ernest Cline. "I've always imagined a world where we'd be living like they do in [Cline's 2011 novel] Ready Player One, where everything is seamless and connected," says Lin. "It's really coming to life now."

He's talking about the metaverse, of course. For Lin, the mainstream culture's growing affinity for virtual realms offers sweet vindication. "You feel liberated because it's something you've been passionate about for so long and now, everyone is paying attention," he says. "You feel happy for the community; they're finally being understood a little bit better."

Last November, Lin made headlines when it was revealed that he had bought $123,000 worth of virtual real estate in Decentraland-hot on the heels of buying a rare Cryptopunk non-fungible token (NFT) for 125 Ethereum, which at the time was worth the equivalent of $761,000, earlier that same month. In July this year, it was announced that he had teamed up with Singaporean entrepreneurs Kiat Lim and Elroy Cheo to found ARC, a private digital community powered by NFTs and blockchain technology. Lim says that ARC's ambition is "to be a bridge across the real and virtual worlds today, and, in the near future, the ARC metaverse". So far, its impressive rolodex of members includes venture capitalists, Web3 developers, and cryptocurrency experts.