Hanjin Tan: the musician, the generalist
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Jack-of-all-trades. That is an accurate description of Hanjin Tan, the Singapore-born songwriter, composer, record producer, audio arranger, singer and actor.
Hanjin made his first splash in 1998 by writing the song "No Regrets" for Hong Kong pop king Jacky Cheung. With admirable talent and diligence, the young man who was then in his early 20s quickly put his name in the songwriting/producing slots for many more Cantopop stars, among them Eason Chan, Leon Lai, Joey Yung and Sammi Cheng.
Hanjin writes both lyrics and scores, and he writes them quickly. He once completed 20 songs in one month. Talking about his songwriting speed, he told CRI, "Being fast is not necessarily a good thing, but being slow can be very painful... If you can do it quickly, just do it as quickly as possible without thinking."
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Hanjin Tan (left) with rapper MC Jin. The two musicians have worked together on the album "Buy One Get One Free". [courtesy of buy1get13.com] |
Songwriting comes easily for Hanjin because he deems it a natural way of documenting life.
"You are basically documenting that moment in time," he said about his songwriting moments. "If we think about work that way, it just turns out better. Most of the things I write about are things that affect me and things I feel."
Besides songwriting, Hanjin also produces records and singles. In 2007, he got a chance to work with Christina Aguilera and South Korean pop sensation Rain on a Pepsi ad campaign song.
"That was a humbling experience, because I've never worked with international artists of that magnitude before," Hanjin recalled. "At the same time, I also learned a lot, because I got to work with their production teams, and I got to understand how they work, and how elaborate they can be."
In 2009, with established fame as a songwriter and producer, Hanjin strode into the field of singing, releasing an English-language album entitled "Raw Jazz". All 11 songs were recorded in one take, making the album sound raw.
Hanjin describes the album as a daring CD.
"I had no experience in creating a jazz sound," Hanjin said. "So number one, that was brave; and number two, it was a fresh take on traditional jazz. Because I'm a pop producer, and my sound is pop, I was using my approach of pop production to make traditional jazz music."
"Raw Jazz" received rave reviews. "Time" magazine called it a "low-frills, high-moxie album".
Following its success a year later, Hanjin released "Buy One Get One Free", a collaboration with Chinese-American rapper MC Jin. This time, Hanjin demonstrated his songwriting speed again.
"Ten days, 10 songs, and I spent another 10 days to mix it," Hanjin said. "It was a shotgun album."
Hanjin is now working on a new album in Mandarin that he hopes will be released around July. The album will be a musical biopic of him as a musician. With his personal history being told through music, Hanjin hopes his experiences can inspire audiences.
Although Hanjin prefers people to think of him as a musician, he also has achieved major success as a newcomer in film. His first screen role as a friend of Bruce Lee in the film "Bruce Lee, My Brother" earned him a Best New Performer award at the 2011 Hong Kong Film Awards.
When we talked to Hanjin days before the awards ceremony, he showed little confidence that he would win.
"Just getting nominated was a big surprise," he said. "On the other hand, I really hope I can get this award for the 'Bruce Lee' team, just to say thank-you, because it was such a wonderful team."
When Hanjin stood onstage to accept the award on April 17, he said, "I felt honored to be involved in this film. I want to thank all of you on the team, and Bruce Lee's family."
Now that Hanjin has tried his hand at music and film, what's next for him? The answer is a musical.
"A Mandarin musical," Hanjin said. "I want to write the songs and perform in it. Probably a simple story, a touching one. I want to do both for film and for stage."
Singing and acting at the same time. That sounds perfect for Hanjin Tan.
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