Cao Zhen

    caozhen0806@126.com

    AFTER four gigs in Chengdu, Chongqing, Kunming and Guangzhou, U.S. country and pop singer Jackson Wells jammed at Nanshan Cultural and Sports Center on Sunday night and turned the place into a hot summer party with his Shenzhen fans.

    Wells, 22, from Nashville, Tennessee, was funny and upbeat at Sunday’s show. He sang a combination of his greatest hits, including “Stupid Boy,” “Lorene,” “Lovesick” and “Get Closer” and some songs from his first album, “Picture of Life.”

    The singer/songwriter is studying songwriting and Chinese language at Belmont University in Nashville. In 2011, he was asked by his friends to perform at Chengdu International Music Festival in Sichuan Province, afterward becoming a regular performer at the event every summer. With his fans in China growing rapidly and buzz about him spreading around the country, Wells launched his first China tour this summer and will sing in Suzhou, Shanghai, Nanjing, Changzhou and Beijing after the Shenzhen gig.

    “Music is a hard business and many musicians have spent a lot of effort and money on it. China has been an unbelievable part of my career so far. I’m grateful that my fan base in China grew so quickly in just four years, so now I’m doing this tour to see where it will lead us,” Wells told Shenzhen Daily before Sunday’s show.

    Wells’ style blurs the line between pop and country. He said he was influenced by Maroon 5, John Mayer and Taylor Swift, but he doesn’t want to limit his music to pop and country. What fans like is his main concern, so his Shenzhen show was full of emotion-driven energy. His dynamic band also helped him create a unique show.

    According to Wells’ profile, he has performed sold-out shows in Los Angeles and Nashville and has won awards at numerous music competitions around the United States.

    His first full-length album was a collaboration with Grammy-award winning producer Bill Cuomo and Beeb Birtles, a founding member of Little River Band, and was released in January 2014 on his own independent label.

    Wells is preparing his not-yet-named second album, from which some songs will have Chinese lyrics written by him. He said in some ways, writing Chinese lyrics is easier for him because he can just write simple Chinese lyrics to make the songs easy to sing, but when writing in English, he has to put great effort into his word choices. Photo by Cao Zhen