News Articles from Singapore

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.

As easy as ABC

8 Days mag 7/9/00-13/9/00

Meet singer-songwriter WANG LEE HOM --proudly Chinese, self-declared Asian-American and a Dead-Serious Musician.

There are songs about relationships. And then there are songs about relationships. You know, stuff that's personal, honest, and 'hey-it-happened-to-me?' angsty. It's this second category that Wang Lee Hom says the title track of his latest Mandarin album, "Forever's First Day" falls into.

"It's the day when one person decides to fly to where the other is, and maybe give up his or her life for the other," shares the singer-songwriter over the phone from HongKong, where he's just performed in a Kelly Chen's concert. "It's about the day she arrived at the airport and I went to pick her up, after maybe years of separation. And I knew it was the first day forever."

Wow, Lee Hom, that's like, so beautiful. I mean, I can recognise a poetic soul when i see one, and you....

"But that didn't happen. That's why I'm saying it's a fantasy that I have." Oh.

Fortunately, the rest of this 24-year-old New York native is as firmly real as his Music and Asian Studies degree from Williams College. As a classically-trained musician and a honest-to-goodness American-born Chinese, belting out pop ditties with the aid of hanyu pinyin couln't have been easy. People wondered if he's copped out... and what on earth he's singing some of the time.

But when music's in your blood like it is an entire symphony with this guy, you endeavour. You don't do commercials. You arrange and produce your own albums. You choose to work with the folks behind Janet and Michael Jackson. You sadly give up a long-distance relationship with your Taiwanese girlfriend. And then you make that into a song.

8 Days: We don't know who she is but, gee, Lee Hom, why don't you just do what you sing, and chuck the career for the girl?

Lee Hom: I like to think I would do that, but that's the fantasy part. I haven't done that, and I haven't had a happy ending. I mean, it's a lot to ask. There's nothing more important that doing what you believe in. And i believe in love and having a happy personal life. But at this point, while we're still young, working hard [laughs a little cynically], and having fun, you have to make sacrifices.

So describe the kind of girl you'd make sacrifics for.

Well, it's very tough to have a relationship in this business, living this lifestyle, and being in a different country every week. So I have to look for someone who's probably independant and mature. Someone who can kind of, like, be cool with me being gone all the time. Unless she just wants to (follow me and) hang out with me everyday, which is kind of sad for her, you know.

It could work out.

You think so? Most of my friends right now are really ambitious, and they're really into doing their own thing. I wouldn't think of asking a woman, let alone my girlfriend, to give up that. Most people who've been in this business for a long time have gotten married really late or something, which is kind of a bummer.

And i thought girls would be the least of your problems.

When I first came up five years ago, people were saying I was the next so-and-so. You know how they have those terms like 'Heavenly King'?

Having a what?

Heavenly King. Yeah, well, I'm not trying to be the next Heavenly King. I'm not trying to be the next anybody. It's a real pain in the ass to be categorised like that. But since i have a musical background, I was able to tell my record company that, whoever you think I am, just hold that thought because I'm going to spend all my time working on my album myself. You guys can't give me songs that sound like The Next Somebody.

And they were fine with that?

They had no choice -- I put it in my contract.

Are you always this... cool?

A lot of people were not able to accept the song, "Descendants of the Dragon", in my new album (because i was born in the States). But this song was sung by my uncle (Li Jian Fu) and i wanted to do a cover years ago. Also, it's a very important song for me because it's about being proud of who I am as a Chinese.

So music figures in everything you do?

I'm not exactly one of those actor-singer types, but after five years (in the music business), I've decided it'll be a cool time to try out a movie. It's called "China's Strike Force", directed by Stanely Tong, together with Aaron Kwok, Noriko Fujiwara and Coolio. Coolio's a Grammy-award winner, you know. It's really fun filming so far, everybody's just kicking each other's butt.