For years, Jackson Wang has been many things to many people: an idol, performer, fencer, heartthrob, entrepreneur and international artist. 

But behind the brilliant lights and larger-than-life set, there's a guy who is wrestling with one of life's toughest questions, “Am I the Jackson Wang that people know? Or am I who I think I am?”

It's a question that shaped Magic Man, his most daring and honest effort yet — an album born not from image or expectation, but from reality.“I’ve never really shown my honest side,” Jackson confessed to in an exclusive interview with DAILY TRIBUNE. “Because just growing up in the commercial world, right? Debuting in the commercial world, there are some sort of appropriate and inappropriate things that the label restricts. So, I don’t know. And also because of some of the songs that when I sang in the past, I didn’t even know what it meant. I just received a song and I just sang it.”

He pauses, remembering the mechanical rhythm of those early days — “Okay, I wake up. This is the dance. Okay, go.”

But at some point, the artist inside him began to ache for something real. “I just felt like I needed this as an artist in my life at least once — to talk about how I feel about everything, how I feel about life. That’s why every single song in the album, there’s a message.”

That honesty, that fortitude to reject perfection, became the very core of Magic Man. “Even understanding that I might lose everything,” he admitted. “I would rather die as me. And I think that’s the basic respect I feel as a human to my fans and community — to show and to share: this is who I am. I’ve made a lot of mistakes. I have a lot of shorts, but at least I’m honest.”

Jackson has been chasing that independence for the past years. He is no longer hiding behind an image, whether he is drinking with friends, holding parties, or performing in front of thousands of people. “I just want to be able to be me,” he said to DAILY TRIBUNE.

When asked about his songwriting, his voice softens. “Every single song in my album is straight from my personal journals. There wasn’t any song that was hard to write. There’s no inspiration — it was literally from my journal. Every single song.”

One song, however, hit differently — the one for his parents. “Maybe that was the hardest one… I start to think, is this good enough? And I changed a lot of different versions. But then I went back to the first version because it was the first instinct.”

He credits his parents as his true idols. “It’s hard raising me and my brother,” he said with deep affection. “They were teenagers as well. They went to parties, they had dreams. But once they had kids like us, there’s so much that they sacrificed. Growing up as a kid, you won’t understand that until down the road when you age.”

Jackson's journey has been long, from Hong Kong's fencing mats to the sparkling stages of K-pop, and now to the lyrical reflection of Magic Man. When asked about the most defining moment of his career, he responded simply yet strongly, “I think now. Because maybe I don’t have a global hit song, but I feel like at least in Magic Man 2, I’m being me. And I think I’m very happy that it is who I am.”

But it’s not always easy. 

The weight of being Jackson Wang — artist, founder, visionary — can be heavy. “It sucks,” he admitted. “I want to give up. Honestly, I’m so helpless every single day, but it is what it is, reality. So you just have to accept it and move on and just work hard. If everything is easy, then everybody succeeds, right?”

Still, he finds joy in creation. “When you’re doing stuff that you love to do, you don’t think it’s work.”

For Jackson, Magic Man mirrors life — complex, imperfect, yet beautiful. “Life is so hard. But it could be very negative if you think it’s negative, but it could also be very beautiful. It depends on your decisions, and it’s also your mindset. Whatever happens in your life, it’s all meant to happen — all the mistakes, all the downs, the highs and lows. The most important part is about accepting everything and moving on with it.”

His message to his fans, the ones who’ve followed him through every chapter, is one of compassion and self-love. “Whatever that’s happening with your life, good and bad, it’s all meant to happen. Sometimes don’t be too harsh to yourself. It’s okay not to be okay. And sometimes just love yourself. Selfishness is not a bad thing. Why are we alive? No one knows why we’re alive, honestly speaking. So live for yourself. Protect your people, protect your family. Love your kids, love your partner. That’s it. Don’t stress yourself too much.”

So, who is Jackson Wang now?

His answer comes without hesitation, “Free. This is me. Whatever you’re looking at, wherever I am. If you see me in this video, you see me on stage, you see me in one of the clubs, in the parties — I am who I am. I don’t have that off camera. I don’t have that. I’m just who I am. I’m this. And I think that’s why I’m happy.”

In the end, Jackson doesn’t chase perfection anymore. 

He chases honesty — in his art, his words, his being. “I want to make sure that whatever that I release right now, it’s 100 percent me. And it’s something that’s true to myself. And it’s honest.”

Maybe that’s what makes Jackson Wang magic — not the fame, not the music, but the man who finally learned to be himself.