Since 24 hours before the concert, anxiety, excitement, happiness, nervousness, expectation, fear, all different kinds of emotions mixed together in my mind. Grey has been my idol for the past eight and half years and is my initial motivation to study abroad here. I was worried for myself that at the moment of meeting him, I might lose my destination for the future and not know where to go, since I would complete a goal I’ve had for a long time.
However, I found my new hope today.
I used to think, today is the time to say goodbye to “the old me,” and let him only belong to the past; nevertheless, I found a new destination and goal from him. Besides the tears that dropped at the moment I saw him, after the whole concert, I felt from a strong and peaceful belief and power. There’s no “foreignness” that I used to worry about. He is really like a real old friend. He’s always on his way to becoming an excellent, comprehensive and special musician, and I’ll be as good as him, and sing together with him on the same stage. I’m also on my way.
His serious attitude and hard work for music, and all the efforts behind the stage, were all shown in this one hour of performance.
His “silence” for these years finally turned into his powerful songs, which became the steps of his great return today. The concert exceeded my expectation, powerful and impressive. His confident demeanor and dances, skillful and mature way of singing, meaningful lyrics, the “just right” melodies, with his special high and low voices. All the moments of this concert were painted with his own color. He has already polished himself to a pure jade, not too dazzling as other diamonds, but the shine only belongs to him. Tender and peaceful, but strong and undaunted.
I can see something pure and clean inside of him, no matter how time passes.
As for his kindness and honesty, I think it’s from his humble hometown, and education and love from his family.
He knows what is right.
His lyrics are from the heart. He writes the conversation with his favorite person, he writes to encourage his friend who’s feeling low, he writes his thoughts about everyday life.
He said he experienced “love” for the first time last year. He has never had those kinds of feelings before, and he wanted to get married and raise kids. But when the guy said he didn’t want to stay with him anymore, he was heartbroken. So he turned this desperation into power, and wrote this new album called Portraits, which is going to be released on March 15.
One of his new songs is about how his mom used to tell him she hoped that if she left someday, he would rather be a good man. Once when he was young, he was saying bad words in public, and was criticized seriously by his mom. She said only boys do that, and she wanted to raise a man.
He said one of the best things about growing up is developing the perspective of how life works. It’s constantly up and down.
He said f–- your Instagram. This society only judges people’s success by the numbers next to their name (followers and likes), and that’s nonsense. The value of self should not be defined by these numbers. Don’t be drawn into the world inside of the screen; love yourself, your friends, family, and enjoy the sunshine every day, because life is so short.
He, who said these words above, finally became a glass of wine that was distilled and fermented by time. Discarding the unkindness of society, he smiles as peaceful as a breeze, and sings his own stories without inhibitions.
He was betrayed and discarded, but he finally got back on his feet. When he was questioned and doubted, he proved himself.
Suddenly, a sentence written to me by one of my friends came up to my mind: “Being aware of pretentiousness but not being pretentious is the kindest way of growing up.”
I’m so proud of you from the bottom of my heart, and very honored to have you as my idol for my entire youth.
He didn’t sing any songs from his early period – maybe he thinks that belongs to his past, and he wants to convince audience by his new works. Just like he wrote in his lyrics, “I’m not looking back, to rewrite my f–-ing past.” He has already chosen to walk forward; why am I still entangled in the past?
Since today, he is the new Greyson Chance. As for me, I like this new him. After I saw him work so hard and serious, I’m more sure than before that he will continue to be better and better by his own efforts. And I’ll also work hard and try to be closer to him step by step.
After meeting with him, I suddenly felt that there’s nothing hard that I couldn’t endure. I’ve already met with the person that I want to meet so eagerly. For things and other people that I used to have hard time with and thought that I couldn’t handle, they are not big problems anymore and are all gone with the wind. All by myself, I’ve made my childhood dream come true that used to be most impossible, and now I know that by keeping faith and moving forward in one direction, someday I will reach the destination. It’s just a matter of time.
You move forward like the seasons,
I move forward like Greyson Chance.
Our story goes on.
2010.10~2019.2.22~future
BY YUWAN ZHANG