What happened
The King of Mandopop is back. After six years, Jay Chou is finally dropping a new album on July 15. Ahead of the release, the Taiwanese singer-songwriter shared a music video for his latest single on July 6 titled “Greatest Works of Art,” which includes visual and lyrical references to famous artists such as Salvador Dalí, Monet, Matisse, Munch, and Van Gogh. Interestingly, the video opens and closes with a shot of the artist performing at La Samaritaine, an LVMH-owned department store in Paris that reopened last June after 16 years of renovations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1emA1EFsPMMamp;t=302s
The Jing Take
Living up to his moniker, the multi-hyphenated artist is famous for fusing Chinese and western music styles and has sold over 30 million records over the course of his career. In addition to gracing stages and music stations around Asia, he has also appeared in Hollywood movies such as The Green Hornet and Now You See Me 2, and served as the ambassador for Swiss luxury watchmaker Tudor. This new music video sees him back in the global spotlight, garnering over 109 million views on Weibo (plus 3 million on YouTube) within nine hours of being posted.
But Chou isn’t the only one who could receive a publicity boost. By highlighting La Samaritaine in the video and lyrics — “I’m playing a magical symphony, wandering in Samaritaine, renovated throughout the years” — the musician could bring greater brand awareness to the iconic Paris retail building. After all, this wouldn't be the first time Chou has called attention to a travel destination: his 2020 single “Mojito,” which was filmed in Cuba, spurred a flurry of memes, tribute videos, articles, and mojito promotional deals, and even got a shout out from the Cuban Embassy in China in hope of attracting more Chinese tourists to the island.
Of course, with borders back home still largely closed because of the pandemic, it could be a while before Paris sees an influx of holidaying mainlanders. However, with this group spending roughly 260 billion on travel in 2019, putting La Samaritaine in the front of their minds certainly doesn’t hurt. Featuring seven levels of luxury, beauty, and niche labels, the building is, as Chou’s video encapsulates, one of the greatest works of art — and the perfect place to splurge.
The Jing Take reports on a piece of the leading news and presents our editorial team’s analysis of the key implications for the luxury industry. In the recurring column, we analyze everything from product drops and mergers to heated debate sprouting on Chinese social media.