Five music videos by JJ Lin: The good, the bad and the heartwarming

Homegrown singer-songwriter JJ Lin finally snagged a Golden Melody award for Best Male Singer over the weekend. -- ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN
Homegrown singer-songwriter JJ Lin finally snagged a Golden Melody award for Best Male Singer over the weekend. -- ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN

It was fourth time lucky for Singaporean crooner JJ Lin, 33, who finally clinched the coveted Best Mandarin Male Singer prize at the recent Golden Melody Awards after four nominations. The Straits Times looks at five videos in Lin's past, from the bad to the heartwarming.

1. The Youth Olympic Games Cheer

The singer-songwriter got plenty of flak for the cringe-worthy moves and cheesy lyrics that accompanied the cheer for the Youth Olympic Games in 2010. In the music video for the cheer titled You Are The One Singapore, Lin is seen singing "oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, hey" while pulling a Street Fighter-like fist move in slow motion. Lin was later vindicated - somewhat - when the truth emerged that he had only composed the melody, not the lyrics, for the cheer, commissioned by the Singapore Sports Council (SSC).

2. His celebrity crush Hebe Tien

The bashful Lin has long professed his undying admiration for the Taiwanese singer Hebe Tien of top girl group SHE in many interviews. At Lin's concert at the Taipei Arena last July, he mustered his courage to ask the pretty Tien up onstage. He serenaded Tien with the breezy hit Soy Bean And Dough Fritters on a swing dangled high above the stage. Given Tien's lukewarm response, Lin is changing targets. He admitted to having his sights set on a girl, who is not in showbiz, at the after-party of the Golden Melody Awards last Sunday.

3. The Killa

Lin shed his wholesome image and turned into a psychotic killer in the music video for song The Killa (2007). The gory 21-minute-long video, which shows Lin dismembering the corpse of the girl, the object of his obsession, was banned by three TV stations in Taiwan and a censored version was shown in Singapore.

4. Fly Back In Time

Good vocals runs in the Lin family as one can hear on the duet Fly Back In Time (2013) that Lin sings with elder brother Eugene. The heartwarming music video shows the Lin brothers reminiscing about the past and having fun playing on a toy piano and guitar. In a Straits Times interview last year, Lin revealed that his elder brother, who is two years older and is in banking, also harboured musical ambitions. The brothers had signed up for music company Ocean Butterflies' Very Singers' Training Course in 1999. They performed the duet Fly Back In Time at Lin's concert here last year.

5. She Says

Lin plays up his boy-next-door appeal in his music video She Says, with music composed by Lin and lyrics written by Singapore songbird Stefanie Sun. He plays a caring store assistant at a convenience mart and even goes the extra mile in his duties. He restocks the drinks in the fridge, collects money at the cashier and at the end of the video offers a heartbroken girl a free cup of coffee. One netizen remarked: "Where's this convenience store? I need to go there."

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