2003–2006: Debut and career beginnings In addition to
Mandarin, Lin also sings in English,
Hokkien and
Cantonese using a romanized pronunciation system, and has released his songs in Cantonese. In Taiwan, he was awarded the Best New Artist award at the
Golden Melody Awards. After completing his NS, Lin signed with
Ocean Butterflies International, which launched the then 22-year-old Lin's debut album in 2003. He is well known for his songwriting and singing skills. He wrote songs for various musical artists while he was still a trainee under
Ocean Butterflies under his mentors, Billy Koh and Sunkist Ng. In total, he has written over a hundred songs for other artists. His notable compositions include "Remember" (記得) for Taiwanese singer
A-Mei,
A-Do's "Let Go" (放手),
Harlem Yu's "What's Wrong With You?" (乾嘛你看不爽我),
Cyndi Wang's "When You" (當你),
Vivian Hsu's "Smiling Eyes" (愛笑的眼睛), and
Comic Boyz's "Heart of Superman" (超人心). In Singapore, he was selected to perform the remixed version of "Home", the theme song of the
National Day Parade in 2004. Lin has sold 1 million copies in less than a week and is extremely successful throughout Asia.
2007–2009: Commercial success and recognition In July 2007, he broke a Guinness record by signing 3,052 CDs in 2 hours and 30 minutes. During the signing, he was not allowed to drink or eat. The average time for him to sign a CD was 2.7 seconds. In May 2008, he performed at the
CCTV charity event
The Giving of Love, dedicated to helping victims of the
2008 Sichuan earthquake. Lin also donated a large sum of money to the rescue efforts and composed a song "Love and Hope" () commemorating the tragedy. In February 2008, Lin released a compilation album entitled
Waiting for Love (). It has selected tracks from several of his albums spanning from his debut album to 2007's
West Side. Later in October of that year, his sixth album,
Sixology (), was released, and it sold 280,000 copies in a week. His own fashion line, SMUDGE, was opened in Singapore during 2008 Christmas with an unofficial launch. The store's official launch was on 13 March 2009. In May 2009, Lin won three awards at the 14th annual Composers and Authors Society of the UK (Compass) Awards Presentations, a ceremony that honors performers in the music scene. It was held at the
Royal Albert Hall,
Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace and
Raffles City Convention Centre, Singapore. He was honored with the Top Local Artiste of the Year award, which is given out to Singaporean artists who generated the highest royalty earnings for the year. In that same year, Lin won the Singapore Youth Award. In 2009, his singing career was put on hold due to his voice being damaged by
acid reflux and flu, as well as his hectic touring and recording schedules. His poor health forced him to return to Singapore to recover and receive treatments. On 18 December 2009, he released the seventh album,
Hundred Days. In May 2010, Lin performed in America for the first time at the
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Concert Tour (APAHM). In June 2010, Lin performed together with American singer
Sean Kingston at the opening concert of the
Marina Bay Sands to thousands of invited VIPs guests. But both were absent at the
inaugural YOG Opening Ceremony. Lin's eighth and last album with Ocean Butterflies,
She Says, was released on 8 December 2010.
2011–2013: New record label and continued success In 2011, Lin signed a new contract with the record label
Warner Music Taiwan. Lin's ninth studio album,
Lost N Found (學不會) was released on 31 December 2011. A preview of his 9th album was made available on 12 December 2011 on various Chinese internet radio channels. Lin's tenth anniversary album,
Stories Untold (因你而在) was released on 13 March 2013. A compilation of micro films were released in conjunction with the album, serving to expand the stories behind the songs. He worked with a few notable people on the album, including
Ashin, Harry Chang (張懷秋), and his older brother Eugene Lim (林俊峰). He also started his world tour "Timeline" in July 2013 in
Taipei, Taiwan.
2014–2019: Performances, songwriting and touring Lin co-wrote the song "Dreams" with Goh Kheng Long and
Corrinne May and performed the song live during the grand finale at the
Chingay Parade on 27 and 28 February 2015. One of his recent ventures in the world of music was a duet with
Ayumi Hamasaki, for the latter's music video, "The Gift" (and as of 27 April 2015, has about 1,882,459-page views). In 2015, he was selected to perform the
National Day Theme Song, "Our Singapore", which was composed by
Dick Lee. His experimental album
From M.E. to Myself was released on 25 December 2015. The track, "Twlight", is among the most-viewed Chinese music videos on YouTube at 162 million views. On 7 July 2016, Lin released "If Miracles had a Sound", a 96-minute music documentary created over the course of 455 days, taking place throughout studios in the U.S., Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The theme song of the documentary, "Infinity and Beyond" (超越无限) was released on 21 June 2016. On 19 December 2017, JJ Lin posted on his Instagram page that the past two years "had not been easy" and that he had been "searching constantly for a clear direction", needing a "shelter for the soul, a 'SANCTUARY'". He wrote songs and finished his
Message in a Bottle album, which was released on 29 December 2017. At the same time, he and his team and "shared a common vision, starting on project "SANCTUARY" and built the space from ground zero". In early 2018, he announced his "Sanctuary" concert tour began in Shanghai on 17 March. In 2019, he released
The Story of Us (), and actress
Wu Jinyan starred in the music video.
2020–present: Recent works In January 2020, Lin released a song "I'll Stay With You" dedicated to the medical staff in
Wuhan, China, who were working hard to save patients infected with
COVID-19. On 20 October 2021, Lin released his first album that contains songs in
English, titled "Like You Do". He also collaborated with English singer
Anne-Marie in producing the song "Bedroom". In April 2023, Lin released his fifteenth studio album,
Happily, Painfully After. In April 2025,
NetEase Cloud Music named Lin as the artist with the second-highest number of songs surpassing 100 million streams in the platform's 12-year history at 65 songs. == Other ventures ==