Jay Chou's latest music video is his most expensive ever at RM2mil

Jay Chou's music video, 'Greatest Works Of Art', reportedly cost TW$13,500,000. Photo: Jay Chou/Weibo

King of Mandopop Jay Chou's latest music video, Greatest Works Of Art, is reportedly the most expensive in his two-decade career.

The lavish video, which was released last Wednesday (July 6), cost 13,500,000 TWD (RM2mil), according to a report from Yahoo Taiwan.

Greatest Works Of Art is a song from his upcoming album, due out on Friday (July 15).

Three special effects companies worked on the music video, including American company Digital Domain, which has won Oscars for its digital wizardry.

Within nine hours of its release on Weibo, the video broke 100 million views. On YouTube, it crossed the mark for 10 million views after three days, while more than 2.7 million copies of the album were snapped up in pre-sales within 60 hours.

The highly anticipated release is Chou's first studio album in six years, since 2016's Jay Chou's Bedtime Stories.

In the music video, Chou, 43, plays a magician in Paris who is transported to the 1920s with a friend after playing a piano.

They meet several artists such as Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali, French Impressionist painter Claude Monet, Chinese-French painter Sanyu and Chinese poet Xu Zhimo.

Chou also faces off with renowned Chinese pianist Lang Lang in a guest appearance.

A number of Parisian landmarks feature in the music video, including opulent restaurant Le Train Bleu, the famed Cafe de la Rotonde and luxury department store La Samaritaine.

Chou told Yahoo Taiwan: "I realised that the architectural style of this legendary department store is a fusion of present and past, classic and trendy, and I thought to myself, if this MV was shot in this new landmark of Paris, it would be so cool."

He added he was inspired by old photos of the space, which showed that people used to gather around the stairs to watch performances.

This was the first time a music video had been shot in the store. Filming took place over two nights after closing time.

Chou added: "I thought, 'If I put an old piano on the top floor of La Samaritaine and I played it and travelled back in time, wouldn't it be cool?'" – The Straits Times/Asia News Network