Jack – J97

Trịnh Trần Phương Tuấn (born April 12, 1997), better known by his stage name Jack – J97 is a Vietnamese singer, songwriter, rapper, and actor.

He rose to fame during his time in the hip-hop group G5R.

Throughout his career, he has received many accolades: three awards at the Green Wave Awards and four awards at the Zing Music Awards.

Jack - J97 was born on April 12, 1997, in Ngai Dang Commune, Mo Cay Nam District, Ben Tre Province.

He graduated from the professional college in vocal major at the Department of Culture, Art and Tourism – Ben Tre College, and was a music teacher at Thanh Thoi A1 Primary School, Thanh Thoi A Commune, Mo Cay Nam.

In an interview with VnExpress, he said:

"I never thought I would enter the entertainment business because I lived a closed life. I started as a music teacher in a local elementary school, with a salary of 5,000,000₫-6,000,000₫ per month."

Jack - J97 used to be a member in the group G5R, an underground Vietnamese music group.

He debuted in several music videos with this group, such as "Giai Dieu Mien Tay".

He became popular within the underground Vietnamese music industry when he released the music video "Ve Ben Anh", however it was not as popular in V-pop.

In addition, he was named the Best New Asian Artist of Vietnam at the 2019 Mnet Asian Music Awards and Best Southeast Asian Act at the 2020 MTV Europe Music Awards, and received the 26th Golden Apricot Blossom Award (2020) for Best Light Music Male Singer.

He is also the first Vietnamese artist to win an Asian Television Award for Best Music Video Act with "Hoa hải đường".

On February 19, 2019, Jack - J97 released the song "Hồng nhan" with a music video on YouTube.

Within its first week of release, the song debuted at No. 2 on Zing MP3, eventually reaching No. 1. The song has more than 13 million streams on Zing MP3 and 10 million views on YouTube after one week.

Due to the popularity of this song, Jack - J97 was compared to Phan Mạnh Quỳnh and Đen Vâu.

From there, he emerged as a music phenomenon.

After "Sóng gió" became a hit, he departed from the group G5R.

After that, he collaborated with music producer K-ICM and released the song "Bạc Phận" in April 2019.

Together, they continued the story series of "Sóng gió" and it was widely received.

Later, Jack - J97 collaborated with producer Liam and performed the song "Sao em vô tình".

These ballad-oriented music products were well-received by the public.

Continuing his collaboration with K-ICM, Jack released the song "Sóng gió" and promoted it as the third part of "Hồng nhan".

After its release, the song gained massive viewership on YouTube.

He also released songs such as "Em gì ơi", "Việt Nam tôi" and "Hoa vô sắc".

Since then, his name has occupied a high position in the V-pop music scene.

However, by the end of 2019, there was a rumor circulating on Internet that he and K-ICM were at odds, and K-ICM exploiting Jack - J97's labor.

In response, he posted on his Facebook account that the release of "Hoa vô sắc" was only a demo version.

The song has just been recorded as a test without singing in parts.

However, K-ICM voluntarily posted this song on his YouTube channel.

After an interview with the content affirming "not exploiting Jack", K-ICM received many negative reactions from the audience.

After his controversy with K-ICM, he is said to have collaborated with ViruSs to release a demo of the song "Đom đóm" on December 29, 2019.

The demo reached No.1 of YouTube trending Vietnam within 4 hours.

On February 17, 2020, Jack - J97 officially announced his own YouTube channel called J97.

After joining Nomad MGMT Vietnam, he released the song "La 1 Thang Con Trai" on March 10, 2020, on J97's YouTube channel in association with music producer Hoaprox.

The song received positive reactions from artists and fans, with some saying that this is just the beginning of Jack's challenge with various types of music.

In addition, he received the YouTube Silver Play Button within a few hours after he created his channel.

Soon after, J97 quickly surpassed Bà Tân Vlog, becoming the fastest channel to receive the YouTube Gold Play Button in Vietnam within seven days of creating a channel.

On September 22, 2020, Jack - J97 officially released the music video of his first self-produced song "Hoa Hai Duong".

The video reached 1 million views in 20 minutes.

After 24 hours, "Hoa Hai Duong" became trending on YouTube in seven countries, including Taiwan, Canada, Australia, Germany, United States and South Korea, and it also led the sale of music on iTunes Vietnam.