Chenhaosen: The Lion of the Sun 4

Cover story of A Day Magazine (Dec. issue)

Cover Character

Reset to be a singer! Edward Chen (Chenhaosen) said: “For either music or drama, the most precious thing is your sincerity all in all.” 

In 2017, Edward starred in the soap opera Red Balloon, and debuted as an actor. In 2020 he starred in the movie Your Name Engraved Herein, which led to the result he was nominated as the best new actor/actress in the 57th  Golden Horse Awards.

The Singer Edward Chen

Before the album Almost Human was released, he told us he was extremely anxious, laughing. A lot of thoughts in his mind: “Would it happen that only my family supported the album?” Fortunately, the album has become popular and received lots of positive feedback, which made Edward grateful and relieved. (At the same time, he let go of his anxiety.)

From his identity of actor to turning to that of singer, Edward continuously looked into his inner world, facing one’s self. He tried to find the harmony of acting and music in his works. He interprets the most clarified profile of human being with the nine songs, and he opened his mind to welcome everyone to listen to his stories.

“The album Almost Human conveys the message as the title shows: everyone tries hard to make everything and persona perfect. There are two facets of this title: one is to make every effort to maintain perfection, and the other is to keep a comfortable space between people, a way of almost human, as a matter of fact, reminding ourselves of the fact that we are just near humanity.”

Listening to the album with the order of the nine songs, the listeners seemingly finish watching a movie of a person’s life. Edward chose “Closer” to show what he is right now. “‘Closer’ sounds like a whisper beside you. Right now I’m keeping a wonderful distance between my emotions and targets of life. I’m not afraid of exposing my fragility; on the contrary, I’m willing to show everything hidden in the depth of my heart. For me, no matter whether in music, cinema, and drama, I take sincerity and honesty to be  the most precious.”

To Edward music is like a shelter, which helps incarnate his thoughts as notes. Just let the fans interpret his songs themselves, finding out what he wanted to share. In terms of this point, he said, “I’m searching for the way of maintaining myself in any condition, so I breathed in an alternative way, hoping my fans can see what I really am by my music. I would like there to be no distance between my fans and me.”

 Flipping over his interviews in the past, he mentioned that under the star sign Leo, he always tried his best to behave confidently; in fact, internally he had low self-esteem.” Hence, the more confidence he showed, the less self-esteem he had. However, with this acknowledgment in mind, he kept picking himself up, magnifying his imperfection which was impossible to accomplish in reality; ultimately, the result of over abusing himself was consuming his mental energy and endangering his psychology. 

Now, Edward gradually changes his mindset, molding an attitude of seizing the day.

“Music makes me understand I should let go sometimes. After the album was released, my fans and friends reminded me that I should trust myself and enjoy the moment from time to time by giving their feedback. Gradually I’m adjusting myself, not to be so self-demanding only if I’ve tried all my best.” 

At the end of the year, we tend to have flashbacks of what has happened this year. We entitled the issue of December Reset to Zero: Starting from the scratch. With the hope that in the last month of the year, all ups and downs fade with the time, and we refresh ourselves, in the condition of “zero.”  With the original self, Edward can move to 2024 with a big stride. 

“I’m starting from the scratch; that’s what I am now. In the past when I prepared for a new character, I would always reset myself, and now I turn to be a singer; I’ve reset.”

With the initial motive of changing the world by himself, Edward became part of show business even though he knew it was not an easy job. He continuously and consistently expects to infuse the world with more kindness and warmth through words, eyesights of a character, or a line of lyrics of a song. Edward is like the sun in winter, hoping everyone can feel a slice of warmth when everyone is working hard to live in the cold winter.