JAMES LEE returns with a summer bop about heartbreak, but a hook that’ll make you fall in love again. Teaming up with multi-talented Kevin Woo, their new single ‘Falling’, is the collab you’ve been waiting for!

“FALLING” is about that feeling of helplessness when you try to forget someone you’re in love with. Even though it’s a love song and the lyrics might sound a little sad, JAMES wanted it to feel good and fell in love with this one snare he had that helped the track really groove. Because of his hand injury, he couldn’t play the guitar himself but he had his friend David Dag Lee from college lay down some ideas. 

“I had been talking to Kevin about collaborating on a track for a while, but when I came up with this hook I thought the contrast in our voices would make this song really strong. I flew to Korea on my birthday and recorded him a couple days after. He’s definitely a professional and stayed open minded to all the suggestions I had while directing his vocals.”

Check out the track: https://JAMES.lnk.to/FALLING

The showcase started with our local celebrity, Alvin Chong 'Tajam' performance. James showed up right after the opening act and played the acoustic love track "Let's Get Away" (a collaboration track with Girls Generation's Soo Young) and "Perfect" (a collaboration track featured f(x)'s Amber).

Riding on the collaboration tracks, James performed the title song "The Light" and wrapped the showcase with "Up". During the talk session, James expressed his wish to visit Malaysia more often to meet the fans. Fans who purchased 'The Light' EP were given a chance to meet James up close during the fan signing and meet and greet session. 

Fans get to meet James up close during the fan signing session

Thanks to Universal Music Malaysia, we get to sit down with James to talk about his music and collaboration with Soo Young and Amber.

We met James one day earlier before the showcase to have a group interview

Q: How do you feel returning to Malaysia?

James: I really want to come back to Malaysia specifically because I had such a great time last two times when I was here. So, it was part of the deal. (haha) When they said "let's promote this in Malaysia" and I said "Just do it!" 

Q: Amber and Soo Young are featured in this EP, how did the collaboration come about? 

James: After my accident, Amber and Soo Young came to visit me quite often in the hospital. They are just very beautiful people from inside and out, like I am really lucky to have such sincere friends. Because is hard to allocate your time, you know people are busy. Like today, my media schedule is morning til night and they are doing that (as well). They are superstars. They have no time but they make the time (for me), so I feel very blessed by them. They both didn't ask for any pay and they just literally want to be part of this. 

I specifically want her (Soo Young) voice in "Let's Get Away" because I felt the melody is a little complicated but the song itself is very pure and she has a very pure voice so I thought it will match well with the song. For Amber, a lot of people know that she paid for half of the "Perfect" music video. She didn't get anything, she's just like 'Let's do this!'. She fights for what she believes in. It was a pleasure, absolute pleasure. She even brought me a Red Velvet signed album CD. I was like I was such a odd guy cause I was so happy. It's stated "James" and I was like "OMG they know me~" (haha) but I am BLACKPINK fan (hahaha) I just turned into their fans 2 days ago.

Q: What's your favourite verse in "The Light"?
James: The first line of The Light is so emotional but I think it describes how I feel so precisely at that time. Now I look back at it, I feel so cringy...(haha) You know how it feels when you looked back...Actually, I had like an online diary...like a long time ago and I wrote it when I was 13 years old...Is horrifying! Is like "my emotions today", so is kinda like that. But The Light, I was totally honest when I wrote it. I am not trying to trick anybody..not that I was before, but my intention is just to write how I felt and I think is very pure. "I am on the edge of clarity / It's the same fight everyday. / Chasing demons and ghosts away" that's how I felt honestly during that time.

Q: Tell us more about your music style.
James: It's been trending towards like EDM. I said like so many times I am a terrible dancer, horrible in dancing. Have you seen me trying to dance? It's like watching a car in slow motion. (haha) You'll be like.."No~ Stop!" So dancing is a no for me, rapping is a no for me but I love hip hop. I naturally just love listening to it, makes me feel good, feel tough. But I incorporated elements of hip hop in the EDM and pop music, so I kinda made that into my own colour with my voice.

Q: What songs do you listening to right now? Did you get any inspiration from there? 

Other Media: Other than BLACKPINK, Red Velvet..?

James: Actually, I didn't listen to BLACKPINK that much, I watch BLACKPINK (haha). I have been listening to more like Blackbear, Loud... like Western pop. And there's a Chinese artist called Lin You Jia (Yoga Lin) that I really like, his music is more like old school radio head, oasis..kinda like alternative pop rock.

Q: So, any upcoming songs with similar music genre?
James: You know people get influenced by what they see. But Indie rock is how I started, like metal indie rock/ R&B. But I don't think is special, my songs are more like emo/ EDM/ elements of hip hop.

Q: What's your upcoming plan this year?
James: This year, I'll be releasing a lot of music. I wrote..I have like 10 new songs that already mastered and just waiting for the right time to release. Cause the thing with The Light EP is I feel like a lot of people didn't get to listen to some of the tracks on the EP other than the ones...Like the one that Soo Young did was great cause she's the senior. But others didn't get much attraction, like the original version of "Let's Get away", that's my favourite track. So, I want to release new singles and I also wrote some songs with my friend, Erik Lidbom. If you know K-POP, you definitely heard his songs, just that you don't know is he who did it. He also did pretty much of J-POP. He wrote songs for EXO, TWICE, CN BLUE. He's out there, he's one of the creators of the K-POP sound and he wrote BOA's "Hurricane Venus". He's a genius, we wrote 4-5 songs together.

May 10, there's a song called "Mad" will be coming out. Technically, that is the most positive song since "The Light". "Automatic" is a fun, dancey song. When I try to perform, that is so different but I think I am gonna get use to it. But "Mad" is something closer to "The Light" and I think it's a powerful track. I am very happy with this one. Yes, a lot of music and hopefully more to come.

Check out what happen during James Lee: The Light Live in KL:

The talented singer-songwriter, JAMES Lee will make his return to Malaysia to promote his new EP 'The Light'. James is set to hold his 1st showcase titled "James Lee: The Light Live in KL" on 1 May at Berjaya Times Square and ahead of the showcase, James will also speaking at UCSI University and share his experience on 29 April!

First 200 pax to purchase JAMES 'The Light EP' will be entitled to:

• One (1) meet & greet photo pass
• One (1) VIP Zone entry pass

JAMES is a talented and passionate musician, singer-songwriter and producer who played bass for 13 years as a member of bands across several genres like metal, indie rock and K-pop, including rock band Royal Pirates.

Having toured worldwide and performed on stages of various international festivals and concerts including Van’s Warped Tour, Supersonic Festival, Hyundai Card City Break amongst others alongside bands including Maroon 5, Earth Wind & Fire and the Pet Shop Boys, JAMES makes his return to Malaysia in 3 years to promote his new EP 'The Light'.

THE LIGHT EP, is James's first solo single where he wrote the track after his tragic accident. It’s an electronic mid-tempo song describing his journey from the darkness of depression to accepting God as his savior. It is an emotional cry for help and conversation with hope through the darkest time in his life.

Check out Universal Music Malaysia Regional Facebook Page for more information. 

For this collaboration, JAMES explained that he is a fan and a friend of SOOYOUNG. He’s been wanting to work with her as she has a beautiful voice tone. “She has a purity and loveliness I thought would work well with my voice and the energy of this track. I sent her the acoustic track and she agreed right away to give it a try and we tracked her vocals very quickly. I found a talented acoustic guitarist on Instagram named Pat Falgate who played the guitar part beautifully. SOOYOUNG showed her professionalism when recording the vocals and the video.”

JAMES was a Bassist for the Korean-American rock band by the name of Royal Pirates debuted into the world of K-pop. Sadly a devastating freak accident in 2015, changed everything for JAMES forcing him to go on hiatus. A debilitating accident resulted in his left hand being almost chopped off and reattached with minimal function, ending his career as a worldwide touring bassist. After 5 surgeries, JAMES moved back to LA and started a kick-starter project called ‘The LIGHT EP’ including music written post-accident detailing his journey since then. He considers music his rehabilitation and continues writing and creating as his passion.

JAMES previously released his first solo single entitled “The Light” where he wrote the track after his tragic accident. It’s an electronic mid-tempo song describing his journey from the darkness of depression to accepting God as his savior. It is an emotional cry for help and conversation with hope through the darkest time in his life.