News Articles From Malaysia 

Note: The following article is originally in Mandarin. If there are any grammer mistakes, errors or misinterpretation (I try not to), please bear with me. Thanks. 

Newtide Mag
Love and Hate Wang Lee Hom

Ask him to remove his jacket, he says it is not a good idea. Ask him to talk about his music, he goes on forever. Ask him to pose on the bed for photos, his PR forbids.Ask him for an autograph, he signs, two. Ask him to smile more 'brightly' for the camera, he shows a small smile. This is Wang Lee Hom : you have your requests, i have my principles, not meeting with or trying to meet with all requests. Today's solo meeting with him seems different from past experiences. No more 7-eleven, 24 hours service bright smiles, no more two way English-Mandarin channel conversation. Siting in front of me is a real, no pretendence, some one whom you can love and hate---Wang Lee Hom. However love covers more hate in this round.

Lee Hom at first Glance

He came out of his room, with a protective guard of meeting a stranger for the first time. No American 'Yo! What's up?' and also no friendly big hug, only a stuck out for a handshake. Dressed in his album promotional clothes, together with strange stern expression, it suddenly hit me that this is going to be a very formal interview.

That face, which is adored by many boys and girls, was only 30 cm awat from me. It did really seem handsome and that smooth face is enough to make any girl jealous. If you really want to pick a flaw, the nose can be a bit smaller! But his presence of 'YOU ZHI' (good quality?) is something that could not be not felt. Learning the violin at 6, the drums in Primary 4, the guitar in secondary school (junior high?), the bass in high school and studying the piano in college (university). On top of that, dabbling in Broadway musicals at 13!

Recalling his first kiss

Usually students have extra-curricular activities like basketball, scouting, drawing, etc. But Lee Hom's was performing Broadways. The most unforgetable one was when he played the main lead at 14.

"Because it was the first time i had such an important role, also i was very young then, and that it was not in an asian place. That was when i gave my first kiss, the memory was very deep."

Lee Hom has a special feeling towards Broadways because he can sing, act, dance in it, plus it was a live performance, fully testing his potential. Lee Hom has a very rich performance background, including acting as the good, the evil, a guy, a girl. A girl? Actually it happened in New York when he participated in a Shakespearen play. The director had a very unique view and changed the sex of all the characters.

"It was quite interesting" Lee Hom told himself that if he could capture the character he was portraying, does that mean that he has a place in his heart for these feelings? A food for thought.

The 'oily oily' nickname

From the start of his career to this day, Lee Hom has been given many nicknames. The first was 'Xin Hao Nan Ren (The new good guy or snag), then came 'You Zhi Ou Xiang' (Good quality idol), 'Nai You Xiao Nan Sheng' (Cream boy), 'Jin Qiu Jiang Tian Wang' (King of Golden Melody hits awards), etc. How does Lee Hom feel about these nicknames?

"Cream boy? This is the first time i have ever heard of it."

I continued to explain that it was reported by a Taiwanese magazine recently, that a group of Mainland Chinese gave him this nickname because of his clear, white and smooth face. I noted that i had brought the report along, but Lee Hom said, "It' okay, it's okay, i believe you. Cream boy.....oily one." He proceeded to read out very single word of that news article.

His reading is not so bad afterall, only a few errors around. He joked that the nickname was quite interesting, like some sort of biscuit, or like the time he did promotions for a brand of butter.

"Basically, i do not really like these nicknames to be put on me. I don't care what people say, i would not put myself in a specfic image. I am happier recently with the golden melody something nickname. Compared to "Good Quality Idol", i prefer the former. The latter is more in the Idol sense."

But come to think of it, having "You Zhi" (Good Quality) in front of "Ou Xiang" (Idol) proves that Lee Hom is standing on the verge of being a idol or a singer with "Shi Li" (talent). Better than some "Qing Chun Ou Xiang" (youthful idol) or "Ren Qi Ou Xiang" (people's idol)!

Music Is Like Bodybuilding

Initially Lee Hom came into the music industry with feelings of part-timing in the summer holidays, till now firm in hopes of contributing his effort into the indusrty. What compromise or sacrifice must he do in the midst?

"A big sacrifice is to do promotions. Signature meetings, interviews, photo shoots, MTV shoots, commercial shoots etc, have taken up a lot of time, it may result in no time available to practise the piano or my vocals. It is harder to keep a constant pace of improvement."

Constant pace of improvement?

"I feel that music is like bodybuilding, a form of muscle. When entering into a of , you must put your whole heart into it in order to see it shine. If there are distractions present, it becomes difficult to improve.

Still remember when Lee Hom first started, i often see him attending variety shows on televison, imitating well know actor with character, Robert De Niro. It seemed to be quite good to me then.

Lee Hom explains, "I was very playful then, besides i was a newcomer. There were too many variety shows, almost playing games everyday. But now i prefer everyone to focus on my music. I do less variety shows now but will still attend a few now and then, because i cannot be too serious!"

Thank goodness that he is doing less of these shows because the games featured in the shows are getting weirder and more psycho by day......drinking urine....catching worms with bare hands....etc, scaring away a few artists.

There's something about Mary

Lee Hom's new album "Impossible To Miss You" was said to be recorded in a very ideal working surrounding.  At the beginning of the year, Lee Hom rented an apartment near his school, Berklee music college. and built a recording studio in that apartment. Boston is a place that Lee Hom has never visited before, he did not have any friends and hence there were no distractions.

"I could invite a lot of classmates and lecturers to join in the production of the album. It is a very ideal process of production. I believe that many producers would envy this type of surroundings, able to really focus on the case and no time limitation of using the recording studio."

In this album, Lee Hom produced 5 songs. "It is quite difficult to look for inspiration. In order to seek the real, true feeling, sometimes i have to torture myself, dig out my inner feelings and refreshing my ideas again."

The most talk-about question of the album had to be who the female lead of the songs "Julia" and "Mary says" were. Whenever this question is thrown at him, he would always reply, " Let everyone make a guess!" But in the end he confessed that Julia is just a name that he feels very comfortable with and easy on the tongue. Then who is Mary? No one knows.....

Lee Hom's defrozen dreams

One of Lee Hom's biggest dreams is to have the company of an orchestra when he sings. This dream of his was finally realised in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). "Impossible to Miss Lee Hom and KL Symphony Orchestra Live Concert" not only realised Lee Hom's dreams, it also fulfilled many wishes of the local fans wanting to have more contact with Lee Hom in person.

Initially afraid that the fans would come because of their love for Lee Hom and neglect the KLSO, however the over-whelming response from the audience showed the KLSO their high-welcomed status, but one cannot deny that some may like it because Lee Hom likes it (ai wu ji wu).
 
In the "Impossible to Miss You" concert, Lee Hom was so high that he even shook his butt! After singing Harlem Yu's "Wo Hui Yao Bai", he did a Ricky Martin impersonation. Perhaps because of this impersonation, Lee Hom was reminded by his fans of his "cute" butt when he was invited to judge the "Astro New Talent Contest".

Besides "Beethoven", "Crying Palms", "Love you = Love Myself", "Julia", "Revolution", "Frozen Dreams" .... etc, Lee Hom also belted out a Broadway rendition of "New York New York" and "When You Wish Upon a Star".
The high point was when Lee Hom delivered a song, together with a local soparno, from one scene of his college thesis. "Days Like This" was a part about a new actor finally getting recognition.  When he told the news to his wife at home, his wife had another news to tell him........she was pregnant.  "Days Like This" can be compared to those famous Broadway musicals, thus showing Lee Hom's strength in music.

On the stage was the soprano teasing Lee Hom, down stage was his fans shouting words of love and support for him. The shouts were so over-whelming that Lee Hom seemed fazed by them, almost losing control of the stage, but he did respond to all shouts. The shouts of "Lee Hom, i love you" or "Lee Hom, i will always support you" came unmistakenably from groups of girls, when suddenly came a male voice shouting "Lee Hom". Lee Hom immediately turned around, firmly asking, "Hey Mister, is there any problem?" Although amusing, it was also a little extreme.