
In the 6th year since their debut, Magic Power (魔幻力量) is now heading towards the international stage, beyond Asia and its Mandopop listeners.
Risen to popularity with the OSTs they sang for various Taiwanese dramas, Magic Power’s popularity had increased by folds with the release of their third album, Marksmen (射手), back in 2012. Magic Power released their fourth album, Fighting for Love (戰神), in September 2014 and had successfully held their first ever Taipei Arena concert in December last year which was undoubtedly a significant milestone for every Taiwanese artiste. In less than half a year, they were back on the stage of Taipei Arena for a joint concert with Japanese band Orange Range. Speaking about going international, they will be performing at USC in Los Angeles later this month.

In an attempt to break into the international market beyond Chinese fans, Magic Power revealed that their new album, which is slated for release in end June, would include 2 new English songs. They are also looking into rewriting English versions for their various mandarin hit songs.
To aid their expansion into the English-speaking market, the boys from Magic Power have been taking classes and brushing up on their language skills. Drummer Ah Xiang (阿翔) shared, “Leibao (雷堡) often puts into good use whatever he learns! In our group chat, he likes to reply in English!”, drawing laughs from the other members as they quipped that his replies are simply ‘Okay!’ and ‘I got it!’

On top of learning the language, DJ GooGoo (鼓鼓) had even given himself an English name, ‘Grover’. He shared that the reason behind the name was that ‘Grover’ started with ‘G’, just like his name ‘Goo Goo’, and that it was related to nature and he was a big fan of nature.
With regards to their current language standards, the members unanimously agreed that lead vocalist TingTing (廷廷) had the best command of English and that the demo tracks he produced for them were often in English — although they usually made no sense said the members.
In their fourth album, Fighting for Love, there was an English track titled “Rock Zombie”, which was a collaboration with Yen-J (嚴爵). When discussing the lyrics of the song — which are rather explicit — TingTing immediately said that Yen-J was the one who wrote them. The boys joked, “There is another Yen-J which you all don’t know about – The Darker Yen-J.” Lyrics aside, Bassist and Leader KaiKai (凱開) shared that Rock Zombie was his favourite song as it was very close to the kind of music they had wanted to produce at the beginning — hip hop music.

With their career in track and taking flight, are they doing as well in their personal life and relationship?
Lead Vocalist GaGa (嘎嘎), who was recently embroiled in a scandal with an ex-girlfriend, shared that he was currently single and is enjoying his singlehood. When asked if the scandal had resulted in him being more cautious when making friends, he wittily said “陰影留在過去,眼睛打開走向光明.” When asked how long he took to come up with that phrase, he honestly said he thought of it just a second ago.
TingTing shared that just a while ago, he did hope to have a partner but he is currently not really wishing for anything. He said “對我來說,感情這個東西, 不一定是要在一起, 只要有一個人可以變成我音樂的靈感就 ok了.” In response, LeiBao said, “我也想交一個有靈感的人, 因為我平常沒什麼靈感,” drawing laughter from all the other members.

Summing up the past 6 years, KaiKai said that as more people got to know them and their music, they feel a greater sense of responsibility and influence. As for their hopes for the future, they hope they would be able to convey more positive energy through their music, and that they would be able to reach out to more people from around the world, regardless of the language they spoke.
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【中文版】
出道6年, 發了4張專輯, 現在的MP魔幻力量正在努力邁向更大更國際的舞台. 他們在去年的12月終於踏上了台北小巨蛋的舞台, 舉辦了一場專屬於他們的演唱會. 不到半年的時間, 他們再次回到了小巨蛋的舞台, 和日本的橘子新樂園一起舉辦了一場跨越國際的演唱會. 在四月底, 他們還會到美國L.A. 表演, 在七月會再一次攻蛋,將在高雄巨蛋舉行”我們的主場” 演唱會.
對於接下來將挑戰前進歐美市場的MP來說, 現階段最重要的除了把音樂做好之外, 就是把英文學好. 談及到現在的英文程度, 廷廷是他們當中公認英文最強的, 而嘎嘎也分享了之前和任賢齊一起巡演時, 在語言不通的異地也只能通過肢體語言來點Subway和麥當勞來吃. 不過他們表示現在點餐應該會比較容易了.
被問到在第4張專輯裡收錄的全英文歌”Rock Zombie”稍微露骨的歌詞, 廷廷坦承歌詞大多數是嚴爵寫的, 而他只寫了副歌的部分. 廷廷表示嚴爵其實內心也很狂野,只是不太適合在自己的專輯裡表現出來, 所以就藉由MP的專輯展現出他的這一面.
MP透露現在正在籌備下一張專輯. 新專輯會是張精選輯, 預計在六月底發行. 除了以往的歌曲之外, 還會收錄2首全新的英文歌曲和2首全新的中文歌曲. 他們也正在考慮把之前的歌曲改編成英文版本.
不 管是發行英文歌曲或者是把歌曲改編成英文版本, MP 最終的目標都只有一個. 那就是希望會友更多人認識他們, 認識他們的音樂. DJ鼓鼓說: “如果我們的專輯和音樂可以再跟國際結軌一點, 可能下次來到新加坡, 會有更多人願意聽我們的音樂, 不是只有能聽中文的朋友.”
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Q: 錄”戰神”這張專輯的時候有沒有發生什麼是有趣的事情?
Share with us something interesting that happened during the production of the “Fighting for Love” album.
凱: 拍戰神MV的時候有蛇跟我們一起互動, 那其實我跟嘎嘎都很怕蛇, 尤其是嘎嘎. 他完全是沒辦法靠近它.
嘎: 我討厭蛇. 與其說怕, 我是討厭.
翔: 它也許也不喜歡你啊
嘎: 對, 它也許也不喜歡我, 所以我也不敢靠近它, 當作沒看見. 但我覺得這次戰神專輯裡面有一首歌非常特別的是MP我們有突破以往中文歌詞的模式, 就是有一首歌是英文詞的. 就是Rock Zombie 這首歌, 是跟嚴爵一起合作的. 我們在這首歌也找到了另外一個嚴爵. 這首歌本來廷廷寫的時候是有中文詞的. 後來因為這首歌的曲風比較hip-hop, 我們決定把這首歌直接寫成英文詞試試看, 所以就找嚴爵來合作, 然後就發現嚴爵其實有私底下內心很狂野的那一面.
鼓: 壞嚴爵!
嘎: 這首歌其實蠻直接, 希望大家可以再去聽一下這首歌. 我們也發明了一個機車舞. YouTube上面也有教學,希望大家可以趕快去搜尋一下這首歌.
鼓: 我算了一下, 我發現這次我們拍的MV其實蠻多的. 比起以往一般都是4支, 這次除了’戰神’,’ 吼’, ‘我還是愛著你’, ‘偷偷的’, 還有一支跟國內的電影合作的叫’空中飛人’. 還有我們自己的團歌’我們的主場’. 所以還蠻開心的. 大家如果沒有看過可以上YouTube去看一下.
嘎: 其實’Rock Zombie’ 之後可能也會在YouTube 跟大家見面. 因為我們在去年12月20號我們在小巨蛋有現場表演的版本, 然後我已經把它剪完了, 所以大家可以期待一下, 有我們完整的跟嚴爵的合作.
Kai: When we filmed the MV for “Fighting for Love”, we had to interact with a snake. Actually GaGa and I are both really scared of snakes, especially GaGa. He really couldn’t get near it.
Ga: I hate snakes. Rather than being afraid, I hate it.
Xiang: Maybe it hates you too.
Ga: Yeah, maybe it hates me too, so I don’t dare to go near it. I pretended I didn’t see it. But I feel that what’s really special in this album is that we broke free of the usual Chinese song style, and there was one song that had English lyrics. That song is Rock Zombie and it was a collaboration with Yen-J. We found another Yen-J through this song. At first, when TingTing wrote this song, there were Chinese lyrics, but because the song style was more towards hip hop, we thought it would be nice trying to see how it would be if it was in English, so we looked for Yen-J for a collaboration. And we saw a really wild side of Yen-J.
Goo: Bad Yen-J!
Ga: Actually this song is rather straightforward. I hope everyone can go and listen to it. And we invented a motorbike dance. There’s the tutorial on YouTube and everyone can go search it up.
Goo: I just counted. We actually have quite a bit of MVs for this album. In the past it was an average of about 4 MVs per album. This time, apart from ‘Fighting for Love’, ‘Rocking Gorilla’, ‘I’m Still Loving You’ and ‘Secretly’, we still have ‘Trapeze’ which was a collaboration with a Taiwanese movie. We also have our theme song ‘Our Place’. I’m actually quite glad. If you haven’t seen it, you can find it on YouTube!
Ga: ‘Rock Zombie’ might be on YouTube as well. Because during our Taipei Arena concert last December, there was a live version, and I already finished editing it, so everyone can anticipate it. There’s the collaboration between us and Yen-J.

Q: 你們在專輯裡最喜歡哪一首歌?
What is your favourite song in the album?
雷: 維納斯.
嘎: 我喜歡戰神. 這首歌很man,也是第一次用這麼嘶吼的唱腔去唱, 非常的特別. 這首歌把我跟廷廷的歌聲還有個性完全的呈現給大家, 讓大家知道我們是雙主唱這件事情.
廷: 我還是愛著你.
鼓: Miss Incredible.
翔: 這張專輯最搖滾的歌, 我們的主場.
凱: Rock Zombie, 因為我還蠻偷懶的, 這首歌我沒有彈. 但是也對於我們來說這是我們玩團一開始最想要組成的樣子. 我們一開始很像組成一個嘻哈團體
Leibao: Venus.
Ga: I like ‘Fighting for Love’. This song is very manly and it’s the first time I’m singing like that. It’s really special and this song really shows TingTing and my characters and voices, and it makes it clear that we are a dual-vocalist band.
Ting: I’m Still Loving you.
Goo: Miss Incredible.
Xiang: The most rock song in this album, Our Homeground.
Kai: Rock Zombie, because in this song I didn’t have to play the bass. But also because this song is really like the style we wanted when we first formed the band. At the start we wanted to become a Hiphop group.
Q: 最近跟日本的橘子新樂園一起表演. 有發生什麼好玩的事情嗎?
You recently performed with Orange Range. Were there anything interesting encounters?
鼓: 我覺得是在慶功宴上比較好玩. 因為在演唱會前沒有太多的接觸機會. 就是看到偶像大家都覺得很驚訝, 很緊張 沒想到他們在私底下就像我們一樣. 雖然說他已經是一個很有地位的一個前輩, 可是他在聊天還有音樂還有生活基本上就跟我們一模一樣.
翔: 然後凱開也詢問了一下日本文化上面的一些東西.
鼓: 有共鳴啦!
翔: 我們有一起開了一個群組. 因為我們今年之後還會去日本Summer Sonic演出, 然後11月好像也會在日本有live house, 然後希望到時候Orange Range前輩能夠可以一起, 可能可以同台或者是來看我們在日本的演出.
鼓: 真的很開心, 因為他們其實在沖繩常常會辦音樂季, 然後他們說如果有機會會邀請我們去. 太開心了.
Goo: It was a lot more fun during the celebratory dinner. Because we didn’t have much time to interact before the concert. It’s just when we saw our idols, we were all very shocked and nervous, and we didn’t think that they were actually just like us. Although they are already a senior with very high status, but their conversations and lifestyle is really like ours.
Xiang: And Kaikai had consulted them about some cultural stuff about Japan.
Goo: There wa s a common topic!
Xiang: We actually created a group chat. Because we will be going to Japan for Summer Sonic later this year, and in November it seems like we will be going to have a live house in Japan as well. Hopefully Orange Range can join us then, either a performance together or if they come to watch us perform.
Goo: It’s really a very happy thing. Because they are from Okinawa, and they always have music festivals at Okinawa, they said that if there was a chance and we had the time, they would invite us over.

Q: 你們分享了宇宙人的喜馬拉雅山全紀錄. 有沒有也想挑戰自己做一些什麼狂野的事情?
You guys shared the documentary of Cosmospeople on the Himalayas. Is there anything crazy you guys would want to try?
嘎: 其實我覺得宇宙人根本不是宇宙最天的樂團, 他們根本是一個非常有衝勁的一個樂團. 而且很佩服他們的勇氣. 我記得他們在這個影片裏面有講一句話就是 “當我們目標確定之後就只能一直往前走”. 我覺得這句話深深地打動我們六個. 我覺得玩團的宗旨應該也是這樣. 我們都會有一個目標, 希望MP就是先以我們自己接下來的專輯還有未來的巡迴跟演唱會為目標. 之後呢, 如果有機會的話….
翔: 在山上辦演唱會.
Ga: I feel like Cosmospeople is really a band that has a lot of drive, and I really admire their courage. I remember they had this line in the documentary that goes “Once we have decided on the goal we can only keep going forward.” This line really struck a chord with us. I feel like that is really how it is like in a band. We all have a goal. For now, MP’s goal is with our upcoming album and performance tours. After that, if we have a chance….
Xiang: Hold a concert on the mountains.
Q: 嘎嘎在Instagram上上傳了一張照片然後寫了美容師說你皮膚很好. 有沒有什麼保養的秘訣?
GaGa recently posted a picture on Instagram and said that your beautician priasesd you for your good complexion and you felt good about this compliment. What’s your secret to it?
嘎: 臉要洗乾淨, 這很重要. 然後要運動. 我覺得要按照自己的體質, 因為有些人是油性有些人是干性. 干性你就得保濕跟擦乳液. 如果是油的你就要想辦法不讓臉出油, 就是水要控制好. 這方面鼓鼓應該蠻在行的.
Ga: You have to wash your face, that’s very important. I think it depends on your skin type. If your skin is dry then you would have to moisturize it and if it’s oily then you have to try not to let it become oily. GooGoo is pretty good in this aspect.

Q: 凱開, 你的粉絲每次都抗議你在晚上上傳美食的照片. 身為美食愛好者的你, 覺得世界上最好吃的一道菜是什麼?
KaiKai has a hobby of posting photos of food at night despite the fans’ protest. As a foodie, what is the one dish you will crown as the most delicious in the world?
鼓: 胡椒蟹!
雷: 鳳梨蝦球!
凱: 因為蠻喜歡吃美食的. 如果美式的話, 是海鮮披薩. 因為我喜歡吃海鮮, 然後又喜歡吃披薩.
鼓: 推薦一個你覺得台灣最猛的. 到那一定要吃的.
凱: 台灣最猛的那就是鹽酥雞. 太厲害了. 有機會新加坡的朋友到台灣一定要來吃一下鹽酥雞.
鼓: 他(凱開)請客!
翔: 鹽酥雞配海鮮披薩.
鼓: 好肥喔!
Goo: Black pepper crab!
Leibao: Pineapple shrimp balls!
Kai: I’m really a foodie. If it’s Western food, then it has to be seafood pizza. Because I really like seafood and I really like pizza.
Goo: Recommend one dish in Taiwan which people must definitely try.
Kai: That’ll have to be salted pepper chicken. That’s really good. If you have a chance to go to Taiwan you definitely have to try it.
Goo: He’ll (Kai Kai) treat!
Xiang: Salted pepper chicken with seafood pizza.
Goo: That’s really fattening!
Q: 鼓鼓生日快到了, 有什麼願望?
GooGoo’s birthday is almost here. What are your birthday wishes?
鼓: 現在我的願望只有一個, 就是希望新的專輯可以順順利利的完成然後最後的成品也是我們六個最想要的樣子.
Goo: Right now, I only have one wish, which is for our new album to be successfully completed and that the final product is the way we want it to be like.

Q: 談一下接下來的專輯.
Talk about your next album.
翔: 最近開始錄製第一首歌, 希望可以在六月底的時候跟大家見面. 這張專輯會有兩首英文的新歌, 還有兩首中文的新歌, 也會把一些旧歌改編成英文版, 所以希望大家可以期待新專輯. 籌備這張專輯其實是為了MP在下半年會有很多不同國家的音樂季, 像在泰國, 法國, 美國還有加拿大. 當然也希望可以趕快把演唱會帶到新加坡跟大家見面.
Xiang: We recently started recording the first song and the album is expected to be released in end June. This upcoming album will have 2 new English songs and 2 new Chinese songs, and we would also make an English version of some of our old songs, so we hope everyone can look forward to it. This album is also in preparation for the many international music festivals which MP would be attending in the second half of the year. We would be performing in various countries like in Thailand, France, America and Canada. We also hope we can quickly bring our concert over to Singapore’s Sports Hub and Indoors Stadium.
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Be Updated!
~ MP魔幻力量 Official Facebook
~ MP魔幻力量 Official Twitter
~ MP魔幻力量 Official Instagram
Instagram: Lead Singer Ga Ga, DJ Goo Goo, Leader Kai Kai, Drummer Ah Xiang, Guitarist Lei Bao. (* Ting Ting does not have an Instagram account)
Facebook: Lead Singer Ting Ting, Lead Singer Ga Ga, DJ Goo Goo, Leader Kai Kai, Drummer Ah Xiang, Guitarist Lei Bao.
KAvenyou would like to thank Rock Records (Singapore) for the interview opportunity with the lively and talented Magic Power. ‘Like’ Rock Record’s Facebook page for the latest updates!
Article and Photography by Xuan Lin & Lauren @ KAvenyou.
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* [EVENT[ Magic Power to hold 2nd SOLD OUT arena tour in Kaohsiung Arena on 18th July 2015 MP魔幻力量今年七月再度以《我們的主場》进攻高雄巨蛋
* [COVERAGE] Gems of B’in Music – Magic Power (魔幻力量), Della (丁噹) and Jia Jia (家家) wows crowd at Ngee Ann City