To Be Loved by Jane Zhang

[read italian version]

The year was 2006, Jane Zhang had recently become famous for having participated in the 2005 TV show “Super Girl“, where she finished in third place by gaining, right away, the still widely used today nickname of “Dolphin Princess“.

Jane Zhang Super Girl

Super Girl represented at the time, for the Chinese mainland, the “unofficial” version of the British television format, which became global, “Pop Idol” and was broadcast by the “Hunan Satellite Television“.

In that edition they took part in auditions for participation on the show more than 120,000 competitors of all ages (of course only female competitors because it provided for the Regulation).

The last episode of the season, broadcast on 2005 August 26, became the most watched show in the history of TV in China, attracting more than 400 million viewers in the evening.

Just a few months after the Super Girl airing, we are at the beginning of 2006, unlike the other competitors, Jane was already an acclaimed super star in China and, on the 9th of January of that year, she released, with Huayi Brothers Music label, her first mini-album titled “Jane.Love” (Jane · 爱), which, among other songs, included “To Be Loved“.

Toby Gad

The song was written for her by Denis Rich (lyrics) and by Toby Gad (music) and was produced by Toby Gad himself.

But who is Toby Gad?
The answer is: Toby is an author and producer of songs of Danish origin.
Well … I realize that as a business card is a bit ‘thin.

So let’s see … “If I Were A Boy” by Beyoncé, “Big Girls Don’t Cry” by Fergie, “Skyscraper” by Demi Lovato, “Untouched” by The Veronicas, … well, if you know even just one of these songs then you’ve already heard something written by Toby Gad.

But there’s more ! That wonderful song that everyone, absolutely everyone, Jane fans know and which is called “All Of Me“ was written by John Legend to duet with guess who? But always him: Toby Gad !

The ones I have quoted are just a few examples of what Toby wrote once he moved to the USA, after many works in Europe, because the hits composed from that moment on were so many. In addition to the artists already mentioned, Toby wrote for One Direction, Jessie J, Kelly Clarkson, Alicia Keys, Selena Gomez, Ricky Martin, Miley Cyrus, Leona Lewis, Madonna and many others. He’s several times nominated for Grammy Awards and has even won 3.

Jane’s choice turned out to be a winner and in fact “To Be Loved” also became a hit in the Chinese music charts. Later, in the wake of the success of this song, Toby wrote for her 2 other equally beautiful songs: “Can not Take It Back” and “Take It Like A Man” which were released in the next album “The One“.

To Be Loved by Jane Zhang

The text of “To Be Loved” is entirely in English and in this full-HD video we can admire Jane throughout its splendor while singing during a live broadcast of Shenzhen TV.

Jane Zhang: a super girl who pursues her dreams

Returning to the show that brought Jane to the limelight, the 2005 edition of Super Girl and also the subsequent ones, were criticized for many reasons. One of the main pillars of this criticism was the belief that the competition offered an easy short cut to stardom and didn’t require either talent or hard work. But we all know that it wasn’t so, at least not for all competitors.

As proof of this just look at the Jane’s story: her in these years has shown us that she’s very talented, and that, yes, she has reached a stratospheric success, but to achieve it she has worked and she still works tirelessly.

Talking about Jane I’ve always enjoyed providing this definition: with Zhang Liangying’s talent you must be born, but to become Jane Zhang is necessary to undertake an arduous journey during which must never be lost sight of own goals and own deep convictions.

To whoever then asks me which, in my opinion, is Jane’s goal, I always answer the same way: having fun traveling toward the horizon of her dreams !

Lyrics

To Be Loved

I can see your face everywhere I look
But everywhere is nowhere without you
What seemed to be like days was just a moment in time
But it meant the world to me, cuz I knew

What I’ve been searching for all of my life
I had it right here – in front of my eyes
And what I’ve wished for was nothing compared to what I received
When you were here with me

And if you’ll never come back
And today was all that we had
And if I won’t see tomorrow with you in my arms
It won’t matter because
Now I know what it’s like to be loved… My…

You’re so far away but I feel you so near
It’s like you never left me – never said good bye
I can hear your voice in the crowd
I can feel you touch me right now
I can see you smile when I close my eyes

And I hold on to that every night
To help me understand – when I ask myself why
Of all the people out there – you chose to be with me
To share a love so rare

And if you’ll never come back
And today was all that we had
And if I won’t see tomorrow with you in my arms
It won’t matter because
Now I know what it’s like to be loved

What a beautiful thing – to feel your love within
Like a child that sees the sunshine on the first day of spring
Just to know it’s true – there is someone like you
Who can make me believe there is nothing I can’t do

If you’ll never come back
And today was all that we had
And if I won’t see tomorrow with you in my arms
It won’t matter because
Now I know what it’s like to be loved… My…
To be loved…

(C) Denis Rich, Toby Gad e Jane Zhang

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