Jay Chou’s “Mojito” is China’s Most Viral Song of 2020 So Far
Taiwanese Mandopop legend Jay Chou‘s new single, “Mojito” dropped on Tencent Music at midnight on June 12. The Chinese internet promptly went nuts.
Based in Havana in Cuba, the song comes on the back of the singer’s Netflix series J-Style Trip, which is part travelogue and part magic show.
Lyrically, the track (written by Chou’s long-time collaborator Alang Huang) uses the titular Cuban cocktail as its central image, as the singer serves up lines such as, “Could I have a Mojito for my lover? I like the look on her eyes when she is a little bit drunk.”
The release of “Mojito” has been accompanied by a plethora of articles in Chinese explaining about the culture behind the famous drink, while bars around the country took advantage of the social media storm to promote their own mojito drinks deals.
According to Channel News Asia, the Mandopop star wanted to go to Cuba to film the music video, partly because of the country’s variety of antique cars, which Chou is known for collecting.
Payment for the track on Tencent Music, which hosted the song, crashed as huge numbers of people went to the music streaming site to buy it. As of publication time, over 4 million people have paid 3RMB (around 0.40USD) to buy the song. Chou’s previous single — “Won’t Cry” — had a similar effect, also crashing a streaming platform.
“Mojito” has also resulted in more than a few memes.
“I forgot the lyrics” “You forgot the lyrics, didn’t you?” “I forgot the lyrics” (Image: Weibo)
People have also been paying “tribute” to the catchy track and its colorful accompanying video:
Elsewhere, drug police in Hainan, an island province in the south of China, used the music video and song as inspiration for an anti-drug video.
As can be seen by the enormous success of "Mojito", Chou’s appeal continues to be strong in China, two decades on from the release of his debut album.
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