Three years since his appearance in Project Superstar (PSS), Derrick Hoh Wei Jian, finally released his debut album, Unclassified (Wu Fa Gui Lei).

Within the first day of its release on D-Day (also known as Derrick’s Day on 30 July), fans snatched up the first batch of all 2000 albums off the shelves. Currently Unclassified is ranked the highest-selling album on the sales chart in various CD outlets, including HMV, CD Rama and Sembawang.

On D-Day, more than 4000 online users visited Derrick’s YouTube’s account, which resulted in his account being ranked the 35th most viewed musicians worldwide on that day. Other artistes who are on the chart include Grammy’s award-winner Whitney Houston and The Veronicas.

Worried he may not get to release his album
At the press conference held at Fashion Bar on 1 August, Derrick talked how long he had waited for this album release.

After winning PSS as second male runner-up, Derrick signed a contract with MediaCorp Singapore, and was enlisted for National Service (NS) for two years.

Derrick has since waited for three years and he admitted it has been a long torturous wait. He said, “Previously I wasn’t this busy, and I was clueless when will the recording of the songs commence and what to shoot for the MVs. So under such circumstances when I was unclear of so many issues I began imagining things and started worrying that I may not get the chance to release my album.”

No complaints of tedious training, just afraid of waiting
Earlier this year in late May, he underwent dance training in Taiwan and also to film his MVs there. Despite such packed schedules and tedious trainings, Derrick hasn’t complained at all. He admitted, “It was the waiting period for the release of my album that’s tough. It was torturous, really torturous.”

During that period, Derrick often felt upset. Fortunately, he has the firm support from his friends. His family also showed their support by asking him to drink more water and to take care of his health.

It was only when his contract with MediaCorp ended did record label Warner Music Singapore signed him up, putting a stop to his worries.

He recorded his album songs during his free time while serving NS. He revealed that recording just one song could take up to seven months.

After his NS enlistment, he finished recording the remaining of his songs and immediately flew to Taiwan for training. “So in the album you can actually hear the difference in my voice and use of vocal techniques,” Derrick explains.

Afraid of comparison with Show Luo
The company has invested a large sum of money in Unclassified. Besides collaborating with renowned music director Kuang Sheng, who shot MVs for Jay Chou & Jolin Tsai, there’s also stylist Takahashi Masato (previously the stylist for Show Luo and Nicholas Zhang Dong Liang), who created Derrick’s own style – D-style.

The company has also invited Taiwanese hip-hop and street dance choreographer D.Kon, the man behind the cool dance moves in the album’s MVs.

Many have found that the style and music production of this album invariably familiar to what was previously available in the market. Derrick laughs and says, “Many people have feed backed that this album reminds them of Show Luo, Kenji Wu, and even Aaron Kwok and Jimmy Lin. I feel that it’s a mix of everyone.”

When asked which artiste is he most afraid of being compared to, he said, “Of course it’d be our dance king Show Luo!”

He added, “However I feel that style and looks are just packaging. The most important thing is still music, and the fact that I love singing.”

“Pronunciation” inspired by Quan Yifeng
The first impression that Unclassified gives to one is that it is truly unclassifiable.

Derrick explains, “One of the reasons this album is titled Unclassified is because of the diverse music genres present in it – there’s Hip Hop, J Pop, Rock, R&B, love ballads, etc.”

“Even though some may say that I lack a personal style in this album, I’m actually simply trying out new music styles and new things. This is a good opportunity to develop and discover what suits me best.”

Out of 10 tracks in the album, 2 are composed by Derrick – “Pronunciation” is one of them.

“When I was participating in PSS, many mocked at my pronunciation. Once Yifeng wanted me to recite a tongue twister, but I couldn’t do it. I went home and painstakingly practiced it and that was where I got my inspiration from. I thought; why not write a song out of how I’ve been feeling about this?” He said, referring to the feeling of being mocked at for his pronunciation.

Derrick was also involved in other aspects in this album – the videos shown at the conference were self-edited and his websites (Derrick’s blog, Derrick’s Fan Club) were also designed by him.

Daring moves in the MVs
Although Derrick has always portrayed a very “safe” and obedient image, he has tried experimenting with daring moves in Unclassified.

He tried challenging his own limits by engaging in intimate behaviour, such as having a threesome in a car with two hot babes, in the MV for his second title track “Knock-Out Love”.

However, the music company decided that the MV has content that weren’t suitable for Derrick’s image that they’ve decided to remove those scenes.

Derrick said, “Those female dancers are good in leading me. They know I’m shy so they’ll suggest for me to put my hands on their shoulders, have some eye contact and so on.”

He added, “I’m really looking forward to seeing this MV because Kuang Sheng director is so seasoned. Previously after working with him for the MV for “Unclassified”, the MV looks astonishing and I really liked it!”

Reunion of the Project Superstars
As a “starry” surprise for Derrick, 10 contestants from the first season of PSS took time off to attend the press conference to show their support for his album release.

Chanel Pang said, “Derrick would often call me up at 3am to complain and find someone to talk to.”

Chew Sin Huey said, “He broke the longest-waiting record for album release. I hope he can break a record again – for being the quickest one among us to release his second album.” She added, “I hope he releases more albums, because all of us are waiting to release ours after his.”

Winner of the first season of PSS Kelvin Chen Wei Lian said, “Everyone has waited for so long. My friends who were supportive of him since PSS waited for this album too. I believe now that it’s finally released many people would be glad.”

Wei Lian jests, “Derrick has to teach me how to dance; and after I’ve mastered it decade later, I’ll release an album titled “Classified Again” to copy this song.”

Unclassified is now available in all leading CD outlets.