New York, NY (Top40 Charts) With over 2.2 million Instagram followers, 17 million Sina Weibo admirers, 2.6 million Facebook fans, and legions of screaming devotees, Chinese pop singer G.E.M. (an acronym for "Get Everybody Moving") has spent the past few years surrounded by those who adore her and her music. In the time since she released her self-titled 2008 debut album, she has released several LPs and concert tour DVDs, and has been deemed the "Taylor Swift of China." But, alas, with fame comes its fair share of naysayers. After enduring cynical commentary, the Hong Kong-born singer-songwriter decided to pen the song "
Heartbeat" about rising above all the negativity. And it seems like her efforts have come just in time. See select quotes from G.E.M. below and see the full interview and see the exclusive photoshoot now on NYLON.com.
On breaking into the US market:
Music is a language. I don't feel like it's different in different places, so I don't actually think about how to get attention in different areas. I'm definitely going to explore myself and the English-speaking market more. I'm doing my first-ever English song—a track for the animation movie Charming with Demi Lovato, Avril Lavigne, Ashley Tisdale, and a lot of different great artists. The song is written by Fall Out Boy. It's my first time working with a lot of different great artists. I think this is the way for me to grow, because through different collaborations, I learn a lot and grow into a more mature musician.
When she decided that music was going to be her career: I think when I was 15. I won a competition and I met my manager, and that is [when I decided on] music as my career. Becoming a singer actually feels like, "Oh, it's getting real here," because I started to sing when I was like three or four years old, but I never imagined that one day I would be on TV. To me, being on TV is like being a cartoon character—it's so surreal; like it doesn't exist in reality.
Describing her sound to someone unfamiliar with her music: I would say it's a mixture of a lot of different cultures. I actually grew up with a lot of Western music. I'm Chinese and my producer is actually an Austrian man who lived in L.A. for 15 years, so every record essentially has a lot of different influences.
She's going to be the first Chinese performer to travel and perform in space: We actually trained in Amsterdam and in the U.S. a little bit, having different holds of your weight and zero gravity and such. It's another really special experience for me. I am really looking forward to it.
