Justin Gray is a Canadian born, Los Angeles based songwriter, producer and tech entrepreneur.  Over the years, Gray's projects have sold in excess of 40 million copies, and he's collaborated with artists including Avril Lavigne, Mariah Carey, John Legend, David Bisbal. He also has collaborated with many Chinese artists such as Roy Wang (Wang Yuan) and Chris Lee.

During this year's 7th China International Music Industry Conference, Gray spoke to CGTN about his experience in the music industry, his collaborations with Roy Wang and Chris Lee, as well as his thoughts on the future of the music industry in China. Below is a transcript of the interview, edited for clarity.

What was your first impression of China's music scene?

I love Chinese music. I think there is… we are in a very interesting point, where in the next five years I really feel like Chinese singer and artist can come out of China, and become very successful globally.

What was it like to collaborate with Roy Wang (Wang Yuan) from the TFBoys?

I got a lot of Weibo followers because of it. So there was a lot of people that came to find me on Weibo, and I realize really how big of a star he was, and it's crazy — there was one video that I posted on Weibo, that said: "I'm so excited to work with Roy Wang," and it has been seen over 1 million times. That's a lot for me. But hearing him sing the song "The Wrong Things" in English was amazing to me. And in fact, I was so excited, because I was in Beijing when that song became a number one song. So it's amazing, I mean he is just very very popular.

For a young pop singer like him, do you think a solo EP or an album with his group would be more beneficial?

I think that if he made a solo record and he made a group record, I think they're both very beneficial to him. We live in a world, where he can make both at the same time. You know, their fans are so dedicated to them that I think the more music that they get, from Roy, or from people in the group, the better is for Roy, and for the group, and for the fans.

This year, Roy went to Berklee to study music composition. Do you think studying music abroad will benefit young Chinese singers/songwriters?

Last year, I went to Berklee and I spoke at the Chinese and American music conference there. I think it is only a benefit for Chinese artists and songwriters to be exposed to studying abroad, and it's not just Berklee — it's in London wherever they may go, or Los Angeles — because I think those influences are very important, and they're not going to lose their Chinese influences. They are just going to expand how they listen to music. So I actually think it's a very good idea for, if they can, for Chinese musicians and songwriters and singers to study abroad.

You wrote 'Liu Xing' for Chinese singer Chris Lee. What was that process like?

Well, it's funny, because I didn't realize how successful she was. So we started working on this song, and she came into the studio, and she had all of her people, her team, that support her. And she was very quiet, and the next thing I knew, they were like "Oh she loves the song!" It was like, "She did? She loved it?" We didn't know. And within maybe one month, that song became a very very popular song for her. And the video was amazing, I saw clips of her performing it live and it looked incredible. So she is an amazing artist.

Chris Lee is from the talent show, 'Super Girl,' which is similar to 'American Idol.' What do you think of these kinds of shows? Do you think they're a benefit to the music industry?

I can only give you my perspective as an American, Canadian, as an American coming to see how it affects China. So in America, those shows like American Idol, they are very very popular, but the artists and singers that come from the shows are not successful, they are not often successful. Here in China, it seems like this is a part of the strategy to how an artist become successful. So it's a different perspective. I also think that in China, there is a different mentality around how artists become successful. So if it works here, that's amazing. And I think if you are an artist and you get an opportunity to be a part of something like that and you can become successful from it — I was also on a show called "Rap of China," I was also on a show called "The Force 101" — and I've seen the power of television, and how it affects artists and their success here, and it's impressive.

In your opinion, what can Chinese music do to become more popular internationally?

I love this question because I get this question a lot. The Chinese music industry to me from an outsider's perspective, is half the industry wants to remain very traditional, and half the industry wants to be very like future-thinking and try to have success globally. I think in order to have success globally, and this is why I am here — we have an arrangement with our partners Z Global and my company Anti-Gravity — and the idea is that we bring successful hit music creators from West, working and collaborating with very successful Chinese artists, and elevating the quality of, creating an international world class quality of music that we can then export out of China. And I think that it's a matter of time. I think in the next three to five years, we are gonna see a superstar that's going to come out of China, that's going to have a global impact. And maybe it's TFBoys, maybe it's Li Yuchun, and maybe it's Kris Wu, we don't know yet, but somebody will do it. I think it's a matter of time and I'm looking forward to working with whoever that artist is.