Q&a / How Jackson Wang scored a Cartier campaign with Blackpink’s Jisoo and Paul Mescal: Hong Kong’s Got7 K-pop star is in his own lane with a new solo album and fashion brand Team Wang Design

Mar 8 , 2024

Jackson Wang at the Cartier Trinity Celebration in Paris, in February. Photos: Handout

Son of 2 professional athletes, rapper Jackson Wang followed his parents into sports, competing for Hong Kong’s fencing team before switching to music and finding fame with K-pop boy group Got7

Solo since 2019, the rapper is carving his own way with Team Wang, and notching endorsements from luxury brands – including the Cartier Trinity campaign alongside Jisoo, Mescal and actress Yara Shahidi

Jackson Wang doesn’t like labels. Best known as a member of K-pop band Got7, the Hong Kong-born rapper, designer and entrepreneur is now firmly focusing on his solo career. And his record label, Team Wang, and its subsidiary fashion brand, Team Wang Design. All while notching up endorsements from top luxury houses, such as Cartier, for whom he serves as a global ambassador.

The 30-year-old multi-hyphenate hails from a family of athletes – his Shanghai-born mother was a gymnast and Guangzhou-born father a fencer – and he was also part of the Hong Kong national fencing team before switching stages and getting into music.

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A true citizen of the world, Wang spent his early childhood in Hong Kong before moving to China and South Korea. “I don’t feel like I have a home,” says the peripatetic Wang. “Home is wherever my parents are.”

Jackson Wang as a young fencer. Photo: Kevin Kung

Fast-talking, friendly and humble, Wang sat down for an exclusive interview with Style before a party in Paris to launch a campaign marking the centenary of Cartier’s Trinity collection, in which he stars with fellow ambassadors Paul Mescal, Jisoo of Blackpink and Yara Shahidi.

You come from a family of athletes and were one yourself. How has that affected your upbringing and career?

It’s the mentality because growing up in a family of athletes [instils] discipline, motivation, passion. For athletes the key, I would say, is to keep moving and realising that having some good days doesn’t really mean it’s always going to be good. And bad days don’t really mean bad. You just keep doing it. If you carry on, I guarantee you will surprise yourself in a lot of ways.

When did you realise you wanted to be a performer?

Honestly, when I was a fencer, I thought I was performing. Then I was like, “You know what? Maybe I enjoy performing and entertaining people and this idea of a stage.” So I just took the risk.

Jackson Wang at the 2023 Met Gala in New York. Photo: Reuters

Which artists did you admire back then?