Van Ness Wu on how new album Take a Ride marks his US homecoming and why the time is right as Asian representation in the US hits new heights
- His first English-language album, Take a Ride comes 20 years after Wu moved to Asia to pursue a music career having found the US unreceptive to Asian singers
- He says Asian stars have never had more representation in the US and it felt like the right time for the album, even with rising anti-Asian sentiment
Van Ness Wu has been waiting a long time for his latest project.
The singer-songwriter and actor came to prominence in the early 2000s after starring in the Taiwanese drama series Meteor Garden and being part of the tie-in boy band F4. Now he’s returning to his roots with the release of his first English-language album, Take a Ride.
Wu’s albums have sold millions of copies in Asia, where he’s best known for songs sung in Mandarin but has also had his share of Japanese- and Korea-focused releases.
The new album, on which Wu covers subjects like love and insecurity, marks a homecoming for the American, who was born to Taiwanese parents and grew up in California before heading to Asia to pursue a career in entertainment, after finding the US market to be less than receptive to Asian singers.
“It really feels full circle,” Wu tells the Post over a video call ahead of the release of Take a Ride. “My first goal moving to Asia, when I was 22, was to do music. It wasn’t to be in a boy band or in a teenybop TV show. I’m very grateful, of course, but [the reason I went] was to do music.”
Released on July 22, the album evokes sounds and memories of Wu’s adolescence in the 1980s and ’90s in Orange County, California, incorporating pop punk, R&B, hip-hop and rock. In the works for years, it features collaborations with producer David Lucius King and songwriter Brian Lee.