Will Jay is a singer songwriter from Los Angeles, of Chinese and German descent. Coming from a musical family (including two generations of piano teachers) it’s not surprising that he started playing piano at the age of 4, and is classically trained. Will has also sung backing vocals for such diverse artists as Linkin Park, and Josh Grogan.
Will was a member of boyband, IM5, performing with them for over 200 shows around the North America, including the Kids’ Choice Awards in Mexico. Leaving the band in 2014, Will has embarked on a solo career, releasing his first single, ‘Gentleman’, in April last year.
Will told Huffington Post:
“I want to write the soundtrack for people’s lives, whether it’s a song that reminds them of a great time in their life or a song that simply gives them a good cry.”
Will’s new single, ‘Leading Man’, comes with a music video directed by Sunny Beatz, who was also responsible for the ‘Gentleman’ video. Produced by Edgar Olazaba at Redwall Studio, the video is about the “whitewashing” of Asians in Hollywood – where Asian characters are often portrayed by white actors. The video shows a casting director and his assistant talking about an “all-white kung fu movie”, commenting, “People don’t want to see Asians in the films.”
Will auditions to be the leading man, only to have the director toss his resume aside. He leaves the theatre, dancing past movie posters for the likes of ‘Ghost In The Spell’, ‘Doctor Estranged’ and ‘The Great Fall’ – all are parodies of movies associated with whitewashing. Will has a lightbulb moment – he bleaches his hair, and changes his eye colour to blue, and returns to audition a second time, with the director loving him – he’s got the part. When he’s changing into costume however, he sees his true self in the mirror and realises nothing is worth changing who he really is.
You can find out more about Will Jay online on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and his official website.
