News Articles from Singapore

Hom is where the heart is

Multi-talented Wong Lee Hom is finally back on our shores. Here to promote his latest Mandarin album Yong Yuan De Di Yi Tian (Forever's First Day), and to help raise funds in Affairs of the Heart, we asked Lee Hom about his music, his diaries and life.

By Kwok Kar Peng

[eastciti.com, October 4] He's a songwriter, singer and actor. He plays the violin and the piano, speaks English and Mandarin fluently, attended Berkeley School of Music and packs a mean punch with his tall lean physique and clean-cut looks. As Lee Hom sits patiently, speaking earnestly about his music, inspirations and thoughts, one cannot but concede this young 24-year-old is truly amazing.

Lee Hom began his foray into movie acting recently and we asked if he prefers making music or acting. He replied, "Definitely singing! I find my latest album very meaningful and I'm very confident about it. It contains my own compositions and one year was spent preparing and recording. It's not like I'm very satisfied with the album, but rather, I'm satisfied with the process and what I've learnt. I'm very happy that the recording company gave me so much freedom, respect and time to finish this album. Right after I finished it, I was offered the chance to act in the movies. The timing was excellent; that my preparation for and recording of the album was not affected, though because of filming, there were fewer promotions for the album. For example, my trip to Singapore was delayed for 3 months. I haven't been to Mainland China yet and I was just in Malaysia. Even in Taiwan, I only had ten days of promotional work. Thus, I decided to post letters every week to my fans at the Sony Web page. I'd tell them about the finer details of the album and my love of acting. I've been in stage plays for many years. The two movies I'm in are good productions and the characters I play are great. By writing these letters, I hope they'll understand my tight schedule and be happy for me. "

How did you feel when you were writing the letters?

"In the beginning, for the first five weeks, I talked about the new album, each song in detail, the recording, the philosophy and the deeper aspects of it. Things that you can't read about anywhere else. Of course, not everybody will want to know, but those who do, they can find out there. Later, after these album discussions, my letters became my diary. No matter where I am, whether I'm filming in Shanghai or Hong Kong, I can talk to my fans all over the world. I'd write stories of (times) when I was a child and how I've been feeling lately. I'm quite honest in them. I like it and I will continue writing. It has already been sixteen weeks of great communication. Naturally I don't write everything I feel in them, because some would be really weird and unsuitable."

How do you feel about working with Karen Mok in your new movie? And the bed scene?

"I was very happy working with Karen Mok, Anita Mui and Leslie Cheung. The bed scene with Karen was very short, probably only thirty seconds. It was simple; a bit of dialogue, no kissing. Nothing much for people to speculate about."

Are you worried about the rumours that may turn up about you and Karen?

"No, I'm not worried at all. In the movie Yan Fei Yan Mei, we play a couple and the scene is a very sweet tender moment between them. This is an anti-smoking movie. Karen's character is a smoker and mine isn't. In that scene, I asked Karen, 'Because of our love, give me a present and that's to stop smoking.' She agreed. It shows quitting smoking can be a romantic thing, not necessarily a scary thing. This scene must be very touching.

"I cannot be afraid of the rumours. I'm an actor. All the characters in the three movies I'm in have lovers, the other two being Gigi Leung and Lin Xinru. The good thing about acting is that it gives others room for the imagination to grow. They know this is not real. I've been acting in stage plays since I was 13. To me, it's not embarrassing to be kissing a girl on stage. This is a performance. In almost every musical I've been in, there'll be such scenes. They are there to touch the audience.

Hom is where the heart is

Will your acting schedule affect or reduce your song writing?

"Not at all. I act to enrich myself. A songwriter writes so many songs. I've published around forty songs so far. The songs in my latest album are all my own compositions. A good songwriter cannot just learn from the textbook. I know a lot of theories, but I must have more life experiences.

"I've been writing songs while filming. In acting, a lot of time is spent waiting. So armed with my violin, guitar and songbook, I've written a lot of new songs. Besides, I'm sure that if this time was not spent acting, my recording company would arrange some promotional work for me. Every year around four months are spent on promotions. Since I have only 365 days in a year, I don't want to compromise my song writing time."

Would you be writing the songs for the soundtracks for your two movies?

"Yes, I'll be involved in the soundtracks. After I finished Forever's First Day, I felt really relaxed. I'd put in a lot of effort in that album; a lot of my jazz, my classical, life and feelings into it. Fifty minutes of a year of highs and lows. I did so much in that album that now, faced with writing the soundtrack music, I'm actually very relaxed. I can write anything now, even playful songs and still face myself. If you want my thoughts, my musical background or songs with more substance, you can look to Forever's First Day."

Your album Forever's First Day hasn't been selling as well as your previous albums, perhaps because it contains more songs that do not appeal to the mass market. How do you feel about that?

"I will not produce for the mass market, especially not for this album. This is my baby for one year. I don't want my record company to give me too much pressure as well, like which song will be the main song. When I was preparing for this album, I would go in to the studios and stay there for a week. It's very pure and concentrated and that's how I managed to produce something that's very in my style, and not a copy of others. Some songs are very meaningful to me, for example, the song Long De Chuan Ren (Descendents of the Dragon). It's not a commercial song, nor a love song. But it's meaningful to me, because I'm born in the year of the dragon and it has international meaning since the millennium falls in the year of the dragon as well. It doesn't mean you wear a qi pao and it makes you a descendent of the dragon. I'm a descendent of the dragon too even though I'm born and bred in New York. My parents immigrated to America, just like many other Chinese who made the journey. This is what I thought about when I wrote this song."

Were you a victim of racial discrimination in America?

"Just some name-calling, nothing serious at all. What makes me angry and sad is not the bullying but rather that the ABCs (American-born Chinese) are not united at all. The ABCs don't know their identity. I didn't notice this phenomenon until when I was in university, because there you have the Chinese American Students' Organisation. You see all these ABCs sitting around and nobody knows how to speak Mandarin. Even though we come from different states, we all realise we have similar experiences, like we had violin classes, our parents are stricter compared to the other Americans and we all don't know Mandarin, which we regretted and went to learn."

Were you very involved in that Chinese American Students' Organisation?

"Yes, and I still am. If I'm in America and know of some performances, I would go. Recently I was in Harvard as a special guest for the annual Taiwanese Students' Association, the Intercollegiate, where universities around the country congregate in Harvard for a day of celebration. I've also been to a lot of other schools.

"I see areas that can be improved. Firstly as a musician. The world is getting smaller and people hear music from a lot of places in the world, and feel it's refreshing. When international markets hear Chinese music, do they feel there's a unique sound and style and even though you don't understand the language, you'll still feel it's great. This is something I would like to spend some time on; creating a recognisable Chinese pop music sound, that even though you don't know the language, when you hear it, you'll go 'Hmm, this sounds like Chinese pop music.' "

How do you feel your musical style has changed over the years?

"I'm more confident and I trust my instincts a lot more now. In the last four years, I've learnt a lot more about music, the last four years being me graduating from college, going to Berkeley School of Music and just getting my music. My skills are more polished now. The last four years, I've learnt about production, electricity, microphones and recording equipment. I'm more confident as to what I want to achieve as my musical style, as my unique sound and make it my own."

To end things off, are you planning a concert in Singapore?

"Yes, I am. I'm planning a world tour next year. It'll be really really big. It'll probably be with my next album though, probably in the summer or fall.