JRod Twins: Interview

JRODTWINS

By Haythi Ei

FROM MEETING THE WONG FU BROTHERS FOR THE FIRST TIME AT THE AFTER- PARTY of The Maze Runner actor Ki-Hong Lee’s wedding to dealing with strangers who have called them monkeys in front of their face, Justin and Jason Rodjanapanyakul, or the JRod Twins, have had a lot of experience being outsiders and Vietnamese-Thai-American alongside being growing sensational YouTubers. On Asian Night 2017 the JRod Twins performed their million-view hit cover acoustics and popular songs. Just the day before, they were running across the state, playing in different schools in Long Island and New York City. They never would have imagined that they would be doing this if you had asked them six years ago. For starters, they had not started music at the same time. “So I actually did music all throughout my life basically since elementary school all the way through college,” Justin recalled deeply. “Jason didn’t end up picking up music at all. He actually used to make fun of me for doing music.” His brother intercepted with a mischievous grin, “I used to call him choir nerd.” Justin continued nonchalantly, “After graduating from high school, he got a guitar for Christmas… and why did you want a guitar?”

“I know a lot of guys learned to play the guitar because they want to get the ladies.” Jason replied. “But I was like, okay you know, I want to be Jason Mraz, Jack Johnson. When I was in my freshman year of college, my dad got me a guitar for Christmas. That’s when I started really taking music a little more seriously.”

Long story short, they began performing at charity and student organization events where Jason, the late bloomer in music, became Justin’s accompanist. Inspired by Jayesslee, female Korean- Australian twins who were famous on YouTube for their cover songs at the time, Justin and Jason began a YouTube channel under the label JRod twins. Now, what started as a hobby in 2012 has blown into a full-time career. It’s been six years since then and the rest is history.

What was it like collaborating with Wong Fu? How did you guys get in touch with the Asian Bachelor?

Justin: Basically, we know Wong Fu through our exmanager. We met them at a party and we were having a fun time and they were probably like who the hell are these guys? That was basically two years ago.

Jason: It was actually at Ki-Hong Lee’s after-party of his wedding.

Justin: We didn’t even know anybody. We only knew like two people there. Our ex-manager kind of just threw us in there.

Jason: We were like his plus two. When people saw twins, they were like who are these guys? Of course, everybody at the LA scene knows everyone. We haven’t even moved down from Seattle then. But now it’s been two years. Our relationship with the YouTube community has been gradually developing.

Jason: The video was more than we could ask for seriously.

Justin: We were just happy to be able to be part of the Asian Bachelor video. That was awesome.

So you guys are both Thai and your mother is Chinese-Vietnamese, and you were raised in America. What was your childhood like being raised in both cultures? Or were you raised in one predominant one? What languages do you speak?

Jason: So we speak Vietnamese and English. Our dad is Thai and Chinese and my mom is Vietnamese and Chinese. The Vietnamese culture is more dominant because my mom and dad divorced when we were 4 years old, so the Thai didn’t really stick around too long. But then we had a white step-father since we were 5 years old. There has been clashing between white-American and Asian culture since then.

Justin: We spoke Vietnamese growing up because we live with our Mom. We lived in several different houses actually growing up. It’s a long story, I’ll just summarize it. My brother lived with my step-dad (Caucasian) and then I lived with my Mom. So I kind of know better Vietnamese than him.

At some point in our lives, we struggle with finding our identity, and that is what tonight’s theme is about: bridging the identity between Asian- and Asian-American. So I am sure you guys also have a personal experience with it. How did you come to terms with your identity as an Asian and also being Asian-American at the same time? Is there a specific point in your life?

Jason: I feel like we definitely had extreme difficulties, because of the fact that I had a white step-dad and my mom is super Asian too. Punishment styles would be different. You know, every little thing. There would be a bamboo stick here, there would be a time-out here. So, you’re like you want to get it over with a bamboo stick or be grounded for a week? I guess long story short, or long answer short, we found it through music actually.

We were able to identify ourselves by connecting more with our Asian audience. They really inspired us to cover in foreign languages songs. We were able to identify ourselves with Wong Fu, Ryan Higa, and I’m like “yeah, I want to be just like them.” I think that’s what sparked and planted the seed for YouTube.

Justin: I mean, we’re still going through an identity crisis. You know, we’re constantly learning new things about ourselves all the time… . we just started doing University shows this past year. So even coming up to these events, you guys are very pro-Asian, love yourself kind of thing. Even being surrounded by this all the time, it is very inspiring too.

One thing we’re trying to do on YouTube too is we’re trying to make more Vietnamese music. There’re not a lot of Asians, Vietnamese-Americans like us. I think a lot of Vietnamese people stray away from it because they’re like “oh, it kind of sounds funny.” That’s another motivation too. Because we see K-pop idols making it globally, why not any other Asian countries? You know? It’s like come on. When I say music, everyone listens to music and connect through music. It’s such a universal language and… . we definitely found ourselves through music a lot.

Do you guys have any special twin speaking or twin special ability?

Justin: We have our own language, we didn’t make this up, but we learned it from someone. We have a special language; of course we can’t share it with you. But we can do it.

So, last question, do you guys have any plan in the future for the JRod Twins? Hollywood?

Jason: We never have a figurative goal. We always just have “hey, let’s try to take it to the next level from where we are now.” Whatever that is, we’re not too sure what that is. We always spin out naturally. It just happened. We never knew we would be in California. We never knew we would be performing in schools and stuff. But, I think our solid no.1 goal is to…

Justin: We want to come up with original music. Even start up with one original song. Like a single… . we’ve been doing covers for a long time now. It’s a lot of cool songs and stuff but it gets very repetitive. We want to write something with emotion, original, with our own story.

Bonus Story

Justin: When we went to Vietnam, you just never know who is listening or who knows what to speak what. We were at a gas station, these people didn’t know that we were Vietnamese so when we walked in, they made a little… . not-so-nice remark about us. Our ears are kind of big so they when they we walked in, they were like ayy look, two monkeys… in Vietnamese.

We were like, “oh, he just called us monkeys.” He thought we were either Koreans or Chinese tourists because we’re dressed as touristy and they can see that. You know we all like talk bad about people sometimes. So I like get it. They were having a good time. He was just saying to his girlfriend or something. But we were like what can we do, just kind of tease him a little. They looked over and they were just kind of giggling you know. And I look over and be like (moneky-face picture) And how did they react? Justin: They were definitely startled. They were just like “oh fuck”. Jason: Kill them with kindness. Or kill them with humor.

Justin: It’s like how anytime how someone has a road rage or something, we just smile at them. They cut you off, good job, I’ll see you at the light.

FUN FACTS

Secret Talent: Can flap feet because of their wide feet (Jason: I am above average at everything)

Favorite Food: PhoFavorite Movie: Elf

Favorite Colors: Rainbow & gray (according to the colors they have in their closet)

Favorite Place in NYC: Biking everywhere; places that are not touristy

Favorite Place to Visit: Thailand

Sources: https://www.tenstickers-ireland.com/wall-stickers/img/preview/water-colour-koi-fish-wall-sticker-6071.png http://m.tiin.vn/chuyen-muc/song/me-man-giong-hat-ngot-ngaocua-cap-anh-em-sinh-doi-khi-cover-em-gai-mua.html https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYCaGJK7ukIfi0CrS0RXv8g