JJ Lin - The Singapore Singer Is Ready To Live Out His Own Unvarnished Truth

No more experimenting with sound, keeping emotional secrets, or living life around other people’s expectations. JJ Lin isn’t hiding from himself anymore.

- Patrick Chew

In the early ’90S, a young JJ Lin would sit at home, listening to cassette tapes. “Compilations of number one hits of pop artists at the time,” Lin says. He remembers New Kids On The Block, Janet Jackson and Michael Jackson. “Especially Michael Jackson,” Lin continues. “Listening to ‘Bad’, ‘Thriller’, ‘Dangerous’ was how I got in touch with pop music.”

It was an “Eh?” moment, and that was it — Lin knew it was more than an inclination toward rhythm and melody; it was a means to express himself. “That’s when I started to write songs.” At the time, Lin’s brother was already playing in a rock band with his schoolmates, and, naturally, Lin became the band’s newest member. That was JJ Lin’s first steps into the world of writing and performing music — an act that would set in motion a series of events that has since catapulted him into the upper echelons of the Chinese pop industry with record deals, countless awards, and hordes of adoring fans.

But Lin couldn’t have known it back then. A full-time career doing music? Not even in his wildest dreams. Instead, he had opted for a conventional educational route — he was enrolled in Saint Andrew’s Junior College as an arts student, and was preparing for the GCE A-Level examinations that would determine his entry into university.

“A friend signed me up for a singing course organized by independent music company Ocean Butterflies Music.” That was a turning point. Lin, who had previously thought it impossible to pursue music on a full-time basis, started to dream.

“It was a period of time where I was pretty lost about what to do after junior college,” Lin says. “I started to think, ‘This could be a really good opportunity to work with a record company professionally’.”