Jackson Wang gets candid about loneliness, grief and finding himself in ‘Magic Man II’

JoySauce recently caught up with Wang. We discussed Magic Man II, creative control, loneliness, and confronting the version of himself the world expects. From his surprise collaboration with Diljit Dosanjh to processing grief, identity, and taking charge of his own visuals, Wang opened up about everything that’s been weighing on his heart.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Monica Yadav: Your collaboration with Diljit Dosanjh on “Buck” brought together such distinct musical backgrounds. Can you walk us through the genesis of that link-up?
Jackson Wang: This collaboration came on because obviously Diljit Dosanjh and I were performing at Coachella three years ago. I was watching his show too, and I was just thinking, (it was) such a great performance, and what a legend, and icon he is. And then, after two and a half years, last year, I was taking a break to create my own album. When I was creating the song “Buck,” I thought, “Wow! He would sound really, really fire on this track.” And then I just took the chance. I just DM him, and I invited him, “Hey, this is the song, and if you like it, you vibe with it, let me know. If not, much love, respect.” And he got back to me, saying, “Give me two weeks.” And I was very surprised, and blessed, and feeling very grateful to have him be a part of the song. And then we just started shooting, we started talking, we started messaging. There's been a lot of back and forth.

MY: You’ve lived 11 years in the spotlight, experiencing highs most people can only dream of. When the noise fades and you’re left alone with those rare silences, how do you sit with them?
JW: I have never been in the spotlight [he says with a straight face]. I'm pretty much just like this. I don't know a lot of people. It's very interesting when people ask me, “How do you feel? What are you on and off camera?” What am I? Do I turn into a whale? I am pretty much the same person, off camera. I curse a lot, but it's with my homies, right? But certain stuff, because a large age range of people are watching, I would just have to calm that down a little bit. The more you try to be something else other than yourself, one day it will be revealed. I can't do that. You cannot hold too many masks. Imagine how stressful it would be just hiding behind a mask. That's also a responsibility, for my audience and fans or supporters that, “Hey, this is me,” and making sure that whoever that you guys are following and believing or supporting, it is me inside out.

MY: In your solo work, there's been a noticeable embrace of a more vulnerable, raw, and authentic image. For example, “High Alone” from your upcoming album Magic Man II focuses on loneliness. But, it also reminded me of your 2021 single “Alone.” You reflect so much on the weight of loneliness and the need to be understood. Does it reflect how certain feelings never fully leave?
JW: The point of the entire album is very personal to me, converting my personal diaries based on experience, with no inspiration. It is completely authentic and honest. My goal and the intention behind that is just trying to share my story and what I experienced. We all go through this. I am not saying, “Hey, I went through this and feel bad for myself.” Everyone's going through their own version of hell. Everyone is stressed. Who's not stressed? And it's hard to achieve goals. If it was easy, then everyone would be successful and everyone would accomplish everything. But everyone goes through things, and I'm just sharing my part of the story.

MY: Fans love the fact that you are raw and embrace your vulnerability in front of them, and they accept who you are that way.
JW: I want to make sure that whoever they're seeing is me. Over 10 years, I've been just running. I have not been stopping. I didn't even have room and space to think. I just react and I go on stage. But it got to a point, that year of reflection, I was just questioning. In any industry, we put a smile on our face every single day—even if we don't want to smile, even if we want to cry. But a lot of times, that's you. That's why, in the industry, we call it perfectionism, right? But how does everyone individually feel inside? We never know until you're probably friends with this person for 10 years or 20 years.

MY: One of the quotes on your merch reads, “We all have that deeper side in us, but a lot of times, I hide it. We hide it.” What was that moment or experience that made you realize hiding these feelings wasn't an option anymore?
JW: What I'm trying to say is, often, even for myself as Jackson Wang, I'm trying to escape from this person for so long—sometimes coming back to him and sometimes leaving him. So that year for me was so important that I did that, and I felt like I needed that. If I didn't have that, I felt like I wanted to die, not because of entertainment and all these performances. It was just internally. I stacked so much. I piled everything up to a certain level. I couldn't handle it anymore. It's nothing to do with being famous. It was an internal struggle.

MY: In your solo journey, you are not going by what industry wants sonically or visually from you. Is that right?
JW: I did before, actually. For example, there are two things. When people ask if you know music or not, as an audience, music is music. But music videos are very subjective. And for me, my entire career—since my first single “Papillon,” till now—that’s when I first started learning how to direct. That’s why you see my visuals getting more and more complicated over time. I think they’ve matured too, because from having nothing, I had to figure it out.

I didn’t have a budget for my solo stuff back then. I didn’t have the money to pay for it, so I had to learn. I’d go assist in my free time while still actively promoting with GOT7. When I was 21, 22, 23, I thought, “If I don’t have it, then f*ck it, I’ll learn it.” That’s when I went to my friend Ojun Kwon, who’s a really famous film director now. He took me in and let me learn everything. I was an assistant on set in my free time, and honestly, it’s nothing to complain about—it was a blessing.

Because if you don’t go through that, you won’t know how difficult things really are. You won’t know how everything works behind the scenes—how each button gets pressed, how the ecosystem of production functions. I had to experience it firsthand so that no one could cheat me on my own music videos. I’d know exactly what I need, how things move, and how to run it. From there, I just kept evolving with directing. I’ve never acted in my life, but I’ve been preparing. I’ve been observing, learning, taking acting classes in Korean, English, Chinese—for four, five years now. And I use everything I’ve learned, everything I absorbed, and slowly started applying it in my music videos, just testing it out bit by bit. It’s been a journey, and honestly, I’m blessed. I’m grateful I went through that because without it, I wouldn’t be where I am now.

MY: Ultimately, would you consider Magic Man II a form of therapy for yourself—a way to process your own experiences and emotions?
JW: The personal diaries are the reason why all the music exists for me on this album. It’s not filtered. Everything, all the marks, all the scratches, whatever it was, it’s printed right there in the album and what I released now. I had a hard time too when Magic Man came out. I was trying to figure out this and that. But Magic Man II is where I conclude everything. The idea isn’t just what I mentioned earlier, it’s also about what Magic Man even means. Why the makeup? What happened?

Magic Man, like I’ve always said, is anyone’s internal ego or emotions. But then, why does he look like that? Because inside me, I felt like that for a long, long time. I felt like sh*t, you know? That’s the story I’m trying to share. There’s no hidden intention behind it. If there’s any intention, it’s probably just to say we all go through sh*t. You have your own version of Magic Man, your own version of whatever lives inside you. And it’s okay. Accept it, move on. It’s not good, it’s not bad. It’s just facts. That’s the only thing I want to share with my audience.