脑子有点充血，心跳有点快，被吸引了，镇静。自己其实不能算是王力宏的粉丝，但是这几天却陷入着迷的状态中。了解到他的信息越多，那个原本平面的偶像越发立体起来，仿佛认识了很久的感觉。真实、亲和、诚恳、专注、努力、可爱，由内而外的散发着吸引人的魅力，以致产生希望他不是娱乐圈的巨星，而是一个可以结交的普通朋友的想法，一个可以坐在咖啡厅，谈很久，有很多话题的好朋友。
今年国产电影从花木兰以来一直很让我觉得很失望，直到看到《大兵小将》。“弟，追我一路，辛苦吧！”天，已经很久没有看到这样从骨子里散发出男人魅力的演员了。即使满脸污秽，长发散乱，却掩饰不住清秀的面容。爽朗的声音，坚毅的眼神，挺拔的身躯，儒雅的气质，文而不弱，武而不莽。这样的形象让我无法和那个唱《龙的传人》的王力宏对上座。
于是，又找出《色戒》再看一次，当时为什么没有注意到这个演员。在这部片子里，王力宏的演技是有体现的，开始的有些拘谨，随着剧情的发展而渐入佳境。李安给他的戏份太少，并且那个中规中矩的角色是很难出彩的，没有太多发挥的空间。应该感谢成龙，让更多人看到他是一个好演员。那个原本在我印象里是和费翔一类的歌手，让我产生了好奇。
整个周六哪也不去，一直在听王力宏的音乐，《唯一》、《不可思议》、《盖世英雄》、《心跳》。。。。。。王力宏居然写了这么多歌曲，有十多张专辑。当听到《Can you feel my word》，眼眶忍不住湿润，重复听了一遍一遍，带着慢摇滚式的抒情，无奈、慵懒的歌声深深击中我的软肋。不过，要是鼓点可以再弱点可能会更好。
已经很久没有花这么多时间来听中文的流行歌曲了，并且被感动得一塌糊涂。他的音乐传递了他的聪慧和认真，扎实的基本功，渊博的音乐知识，使他得心应手的玩着音乐。多才多艺、好口碑的人品，再加上足可以和吴彦祖媲美的外型，难怪会有这么多忠实的歌迷。
还有致命的一点，出生于一个好家庭，那是一个真正知识分子的家族，这种几代积累的优良气质不是普通人可以模仿出来的。所以我们才可以在他身上感受到不同一般演艺圈人的脱俗气质，没有物质的俗气，没有名誉的强烈欲望，认真的做自己想做的事。我只能感慨，为什么美国的教育可以让中国久违的儒雅、绅士、宽容、善良得到延续，还可以在这样浮躁的世界里仍有做事如此专注、忘我的人，真诚的面对周围的一切，清澈得如一潭清泉。
大家评价他是优质偶像、音乐才子等等，我觉得他是学者型的流行音乐人。他非常清楚自己想做的音乐，剖析不同的乐风，不断的进行各种尝试，对艺术忘我投入，却不失对音乐的理智。若干年后，如果翻开华语流行音乐的历史，会有一页是属于王力宏的，相信历史会给予他对音乐贡献的肯定。
http://www.leehom-cn.com/bbs/thread-219203-1-2.html
2010年3月29日 星期一
2010年3月23日 星期二
谁知道王力宏他想干什么？
最近编辑部内部流传着一些接头暗号---“摩西摩西，你知道王力宏亲自拍戏了嘛?”“蛤？？”“摩西摩西，你知道王力宏就在上海拍戏吗？”“蛤？？”“摩西摩西，你知道王力宏戏里有谁吗？”“蛤？？”“曾轶可哦！！”~~哎哟哟？事情大条喇？
————————前言
低调小将
等了一年零N个月，力宏的专辑还没有出世，但《大兵小将》却已经上映，可惜宣传的时候大多见大兵不见小将，唯一一次北京首映会上，力宏面对媒体的时候也比大哥话少很多，但这次见到他，真想问这孩子是不是逆生长的？还在叫他老王？请改口！多日没见，力宏可比前些日子精神了不少，简而言之就是帅！可能是因为广告跑完了，电影演完了，马上要过年了，一切都在休养生息中，所以皮肤白的放光，坐在大哥旁边安静地颔首地像个乖乖的小孩子。
如果时候给做艺人的基本素质打分，见到大哥之后，你会知道什么叫满分，一场记者会，前前后后全部能够打点得到，话说得不过不失，圆满得体，而力宏呢，则真如林凤娇所说，与大哥形成巨大反差，在大哥定格的笑容旁，观察脸上不规律的一颦一笑，倒也有趣得紧。入行这么多年，力宏参与电影宣传的机会想必比专辑、演唱会宣传要少很多，眼前的媒体记者对他来说显然有些生疏，于是就瞪着一双充满好奇的大眼睛安静地坐在成龙一旁，时而像聆听教诲一般的点头，时而去观察台下的媒体，不叫他的时候绝对不说话，偶尔叫到他的时候，也是字斟句酌，慢慢地吐出那些不够流利的国语。
倒是大哥，可能看力宏太过沉默，时不时地把话题往他身上转，更少不了满满的称赞。在大哥的眼里，力宏的片酬的确颇高，但这位男演员绝对是合作过不会后悔的。在片场，次男孩每每都按时到场，低调地做他的“小牌”，永远抱持新人的态度，听从导演指挥，叫他去哪儿就去哪儿，叫他躺下就躺下，哪怕是脏污的地面。平日里，此男孩吃住行都和剧组一起，宅在屋里的时候也不会有情况，只会埋头苦写那些音乐，。出乎意料的是，此男孩在戏里被摧残得那么丑，也是他自己要求的。
不仅低调谦逊，而且执拗，干一件事，就一定要把他干好。如果你有在电影院看过大兵小将，也可以注意一个细节，那是笑点。最后花絮时，所有人都在笑场，而力宏呢，还在保持一个表情，一个姿势，导演不喊Cut，便继续投入于角色中。
自始至终的认真在王力宏身上并不少见，但，最近的力宏渐渐地给了公众一番感觉：他要跳出去！他要挣脱旧旧的束缚。这欲望其实早已蠢蠢欲动，从《摇滚怎么了》开始吗？不不不，甚至可以从《can you feel my world》开始，总觉得，在时机成熟的时候，他一定会做些出人意料的事，去打开大家的视野，让大家看到“啊？王力宏也可以这样？”然后再来一句：“啊。他这样也不错呢！”
《大兵小将》够不够大胆？男主演之一，超多的武戏，长时间拉练一般的拍摄过程。透过荧幕，你再看不到他参加代言，宣传时有些疏离的眼神，可以感觉到这个男人是有将心投入进去的。上映之前，看衰力宏的人不少，不奇怪，但看过媒体场，原本没有抱太大希望，牙尖嘴利的记者们，不少都在给力宏暗暗竖大拇指。
就像成龙所说，到了他这个年纪，这个收入，这个资产，这个名气，拍电影已经不再是为了票房，而是为自己留下什么。对于音乐，王力宏所处的位置也一样，所以对他的专辑等待的焦虑逐渐转化成了期望他在音乐上有更多的创意，甚至在另一个领做出一番成绩。譬如，他那部比陶喆更快拉来投资，更快投拍的电影，到底是一番怎样的情景呢？就在小编一筹莫展之时，有料到！！在这个全民可以做“记者”的年代，王力宏的新戏自然没有逃过上海宏迷犀利的眼睛和相机。
平地一声雷！？
“首先声明，我不是标题党。下午我还发帖问力宏是不是和刘亦菲在拍什么戏。本来以为没什么机会看到他们了，结果临近晚饭时间，我和室友偷偷潜入他们的拍摄场地，竟然也大摇大摆地看着他们拍戏十分钟有余，但最终还是被发现赶了出来····
事情经过;
晚饭时间，下班回来的室友因为要去男友那边和我同路穿过校园，我向其透露力宏在此地拍戏一事，她便兴致大增，正好走到他们拍片之地，两人交换一下眼神，疾步上前偷瞄片场。这场戏的拍摄在学校已经很久没用的教学楼里，那里曾是多部电视剧的取景点。我们看也没人管，就蹑手蹑脚径直走到了拍戏的核心区，在拍的片段是N多人冲上去围着某男照相{不知道此男名字，但曾出现在多部电视剧中，觉得好眼熟}，导演突然喊Cut，我和室友一转头，天···此人正是力宏筒子，距离不到两米！！我俩心花怒放，定睛观察，只是觉的比想象中的矮了一点，服装奇怪了一点，整个感觉像穿着藏服，头发卷卷的，染黄了，比之前在电视上看到的黑了许多，不知道是不是故意晒黑的··总之造型有点独特··没看到他演戏，就看到他在那边指手画脚的，指导其他演员，和他们交流。
转角突然冒出两个人oh my god···没错,刘亦菲和他的助理···裹着个棉被，披着个头发，面无表情走进我们的韬奋楼。我和室友没有停下脚步，装作啥也没看见，只不过时不时回个头，后面那个谁，oh my god···竟然是曾轶可···
补充：看他们挂着的工作牌，的确叫《玩转大明星》
--------------------摘自网友yumwei发言
力宏果然是要么不出牌，一出牌就吓死人呢，以上这个帖子在王力宏的贴吧一出，就造成了不小的轰动，回帖甚多，担心者有，佩服者有，被雷劈到者有，看热闹者有，观光团有的有，曾轶可的粉丝有。甚至有人看到力宏一身古装，认为这部剧会有“穿越”的情节出现呢！淡定，淡定，其实我们可以在广电总局影片备案中找到这部《玩转大明星》的剧情：杜明汉从小就是一个超级巨星，他隐藏身份和好友魏志伯出行，谁知被音乐学院民乐系的女孩刘美青吸引，于是两人一起考入民乐系，与刘美青成为同学。刘美青偷偷参加杜明汉地签名会，证实了他的身份，生气离去，杜明汉再次出现在校园，帮助民乐系招生，同时举办演唱会，他在演唱会上对刘美青表白，两人尽释前嫌。
这样看来，男主角杜明汉非王力宏莫属了，那么曾轶可？在大家还不确定消息是否属实时，曾轶可的经纪人默认了，但却表示由于签订了保密协议而不透露细节。不过据知情人士透露，她在片中应是饰演民乐系的学生，需要演奏古筝和扬琴，甚至还是男主角与女主角感情出现问题时的调停人。
无论你对这一部据的期待值如何，一定要佩服一记力宏格局。所谓的传统艺人与选秀艺人的隔阂有多大，差距多远，在他心中似乎并不那么重要。就算退一万步，这样一次合作，起码可以使的影片在拍摄过程中，不用一分钱的宣传费，赚足媒体的关注度！这算是金牛座勤俭持家的本性吧！？
于是，虎年的王力宏彻底从一个阳光偶像变成了一个谜题，因为你再也不知道他下一步要出什么牌，电影？音乐？还是其他什么领域的尝试？或雷的你外焦里嫩，或美得你不知所措，但你只能照单全收。谁让他早就唱了---“我不是谁的玩偶”。
source:【2010-03-25/当代歌坛468期】
————————前言
低调小将
等了一年零N个月，力宏的专辑还没有出世，但《大兵小将》却已经上映，可惜宣传的时候大多见大兵不见小将，唯一一次北京首映会上，力宏面对媒体的时候也比大哥话少很多，但这次见到他，真想问这孩子是不是逆生长的？还在叫他老王？请改口！多日没见，力宏可比前些日子精神了不少，简而言之就是帅！可能是因为广告跑完了，电影演完了，马上要过年了，一切都在休养生息中，所以皮肤白的放光，坐在大哥旁边安静地颔首地像个乖乖的小孩子。
如果时候给做艺人的基本素质打分，见到大哥之后，你会知道什么叫满分，一场记者会，前前后后全部能够打点得到，话说得不过不失，圆满得体，而力宏呢，则真如林凤娇所说，与大哥形成巨大反差，在大哥定格的笑容旁，观察脸上不规律的一颦一笑，倒也有趣得紧。入行这么多年，力宏参与电影宣传的机会想必比专辑、演唱会宣传要少很多，眼前的媒体记者对他来说显然有些生疏，于是就瞪着一双充满好奇的大眼睛安静地坐在成龙一旁，时而像聆听教诲一般的点头，时而去观察台下的媒体，不叫他的时候绝对不说话，偶尔叫到他的时候，也是字斟句酌，慢慢地吐出那些不够流利的国语。
倒是大哥，可能看力宏太过沉默，时不时地把话题往他身上转，更少不了满满的称赞。在大哥的眼里，力宏的片酬的确颇高，但这位男演员绝对是合作过不会后悔的。在片场，次男孩每每都按时到场，低调地做他的“小牌”，永远抱持新人的态度，听从导演指挥，叫他去哪儿就去哪儿，叫他躺下就躺下，哪怕是脏污的地面。平日里，此男孩吃住行都和剧组一起，宅在屋里的时候也不会有情况，只会埋头苦写那些音乐，。出乎意料的是，此男孩在戏里被摧残得那么丑，也是他自己要求的。
不仅低调谦逊，而且执拗，干一件事，就一定要把他干好。如果你有在电影院看过大兵小将，也可以注意一个细节，那是笑点。最后花絮时，所有人都在笑场，而力宏呢，还在保持一个表情，一个姿势，导演不喊Cut，便继续投入于角色中。
自始至终的认真在王力宏身上并不少见，但，最近的力宏渐渐地给了公众一番感觉：他要跳出去！他要挣脱旧旧的束缚。这欲望其实早已蠢蠢欲动，从《摇滚怎么了》开始吗？不不不，甚至可以从《can you feel my world》开始，总觉得，在时机成熟的时候，他一定会做些出人意料的事，去打开大家的视野，让大家看到“啊？王力宏也可以这样？”然后再来一句：“啊。他这样也不错呢！”
《大兵小将》够不够大胆？男主演之一，超多的武戏，长时间拉练一般的拍摄过程。透过荧幕，你再看不到他参加代言，宣传时有些疏离的眼神，可以感觉到这个男人是有将心投入进去的。上映之前，看衰力宏的人不少，不奇怪，但看过媒体场，原本没有抱太大希望，牙尖嘴利的记者们，不少都在给力宏暗暗竖大拇指。
就像成龙所说，到了他这个年纪，这个收入，这个资产，这个名气，拍电影已经不再是为了票房，而是为自己留下什么。对于音乐，王力宏所处的位置也一样，所以对他的专辑等待的焦虑逐渐转化成了期望他在音乐上有更多的创意，甚至在另一个领做出一番成绩。譬如，他那部比陶喆更快拉来投资，更快投拍的电影，到底是一番怎样的情景呢？就在小编一筹莫展之时，有料到！！在这个全民可以做“记者”的年代，王力宏的新戏自然没有逃过上海宏迷犀利的眼睛和相机。
平地一声雷！？
“首先声明，我不是标题党。下午我还发帖问力宏是不是和刘亦菲在拍什么戏。本来以为没什么机会看到他们了，结果临近晚饭时间，我和室友偷偷潜入他们的拍摄场地，竟然也大摇大摆地看着他们拍戏十分钟有余，但最终还是被发现赶了出来····
事情经过;
晚饭时间，下班回来的室友因为要去男友那边和我同路穿过校园，我向其透露力宏在此地拍戏一事，她便兴致大增，正好走到他们拍片之地，两人交换一下眼神，疾步上前偷瞄片场。这场戏的拍摄在学校已经很久没用的教学楼里，那里曾是多部电视剧的取景点。我们看也没人管，就蹑手蹑脚径直走到了拍戏的核心区，在拍的片段是N多人冲上去围着某男照相{不知道此男名字，但曾出现在多部电视剧中，觉得好眼熟}，导演突然喊Cut，我和室友一转头，天···此人正是力宏筒子，距离不到两米！！我俩心花怒放，定睛观察，只是觉的比想象中的矮了一点，服装奇怪了一点，整个感觉像穿着藏服，头发卷卷的，染黄了，比之前在电视上看到的黑了许多，不知道是不是故意晒黑的··总之造型有点独特··没看到他演戏，就看到他在那边指手画脚的，指导其他演员，和他们交流。
转角突然冒出两个人oh my god···没错,刘亦菲和他的助理···裹着个棉被，披着个头发，面无表情走进我们的韬奋楼。我和室友没有停下脚步，装作啥也没看见，只不过时不时回个头，后面那个谁，oh my god···竟然是曾轶可···
补充：看他们挂着的工作牌，的确叫《玩转大明星》
--------------------摘自网友yumwei发言
力宏果然是要么不出牌，一出牌就吓死人呢，以上这个帖子在王力宏的贴吧一出，就造成了不小的轰动，回帖甚多，担心者有，佩服者有，被雷劈到者有，看热闹者有，观光团有的有，曾轶可的粉丝有。甚至有人看到力宏一身古装，认为这部剧会有“穿越”的情节出现呢！淡定，淡定，其实我们可以在广电总局影片备案中找到这部《玩转大明星》的剧情：杜明汉从小就是一个超级巨星，他隐藏身份和好友魏志伯出行，谁知被音乐学院民乐系的女孩刘美青吸引，于是两人一起考入民乐系，与刘美青成为同学。刘美青偷偷参加杜明汉地签名会，证实了他的身份，生气离去，杜明汉再次出现在校园，帮助民乐系招生，同时举办演唱会，他在演唱会上对刘美青表白，两人尽释前嫌。
这样看来，男主角杜明汉非王力宏莫属了，那么曾轶可？在大家还不确定消息是否属实时，曾轶可的经纪人默认了，但却表示由于签订了保密协议而不透露细节。不过据知情人士透露，她在片中应是饰演民乐系的学生，需要演奏古筝和扬琴，甚至还是男主角与女主角感情出现问题时的调停人。
无论你对这一部据的期待值如何，一定要佩服一记力宏格局。所谓的传统艺人与选秀艺人的隔阂有多大，差距多远，在他心中似乎并不那么重要。就算退一万步，这样一次合作，起码可以使的影片在拍摄过程中，不用一分钱的宣传费，赚足媒体的关注度！这算是金牛座勤俭持家的本性吧！？
于是，虎年的王力宏彻底从一个阳光偶像变成了一个谜题，因为你再也不知道他下一步要出什么牌，电影？音乐？还是其他什么领域的尝试？或雷的你外焦里嫩，或美得你不知所措，但你只能照单全收。谁让他早就唱了---“我不是谁的玩偶”。
source:【2010-03-25/当代歌坛468期】
2010年3月16日 星期二
BOY NEXT DOOR
B Magazine, January
He sings, he dances, he acts, he composes songs, he works as a producer of many major records- and he is only 24. Lee-hom Wang, young, handsome, and sociable, seems almost too perfect to be true. But the young pop star who has captured the hearts of million insists that he is just a naughty boy next door.
Say the name "Wang Lee-hom" to any teenage girl in Hong Kong, Taiwan or China and you're likely to get an excited scream in return. Wang, 24, has only been in the music industry for fives years but, with his musical talent and sunny good looks, he has already established himself as one of the most popular pop icons in Asia. Whether it's Hong Kong, Taipei, Shanghai or even Xi'an, hordes of fans bombard airports and hotels in hope of catching a glimpse of Wang.
Luckily, we successfully suppressed the news that Wang should be arriving at our studio for make-up and that he would be going to Big Wave Bay for the photo-shoot (and even changing his top in front of everyone), otherwise, a squad team of fans would certainly have shown up.
With so many reports of prima donna pop star hearthrobs these days, it's easy to imagine Wang as a spoiled brat from hell. His bio states how he started playing violin at age six, taught himself the guitar by 13, compoosed his first songs at 15, and went to music school and became a pop artist at 19. All this might indicate something of a precocious talent. Happily, nothing could be further from the truth.
Born and raised in Rochester, New York, Wang has an American flair to his personality that is obvious when he speaks. "Yo, dude!" He exclaims at some foul-looking foamy substance washing up on the shore. What's most likeable about Wang, however, is his ability to combine the best of both worlds. Despite his upbringing in the States, Wang speaks and reads Chinese, loves his heritage and even aspires to be the link bridging Chinese and international pop cultures. At present, he seems to be on the right track.
Having won the Best Male Artist of the Year and Best Producer of the Year in 1999 for his album Revolution at the Golden Melody Awards, the Taiwanese equivalent of the Grammies, Wang has been nominated again this year in six categories, including Best Arranger of the Year (Descendants of the Dragon) and for top Golden Melody Son gof the Year with his newest song Forever's First Day. He has also recently been inteviewed by CNN as one of the most successful Chinese pop artists. And with his natural good looks and charm, he has recently been picked for the second time as one of the winners of Top Ten Idols, an event held by Taiwanese publiclation Ming Shen Bao. Last November, Wang was selected as one of the sexiest male artist by Esquire magazine in Hong Kong.
None of this success wa sexpected in 1993, however, when Wang causally joined a talent search contest in Taiwan. "I was 17 years old, and i was on summer holiday. My mum and i were sitting in a restaurant and we spotted this poster on the wall about a talent search show, " Wang recalls. 'I had nothing to do, so Ithought, 'why not.' I didn't take it seriously at the time."
With a guitar and one of his own songs, Wang instantly attracted the attention of the record company that hosted the competition and was approached with a contract. "I just treated it as a summer job," says Wang. "Studies always came first and I had a deal with [the record company] to only work on the albums during the breaks I had from school." The contract meant forfeiting his entry into the final, but Wang wasn't really in it to win anyway - after all, he has never been a stranger to awards.
Since elementary school, Wang has won awards in everything from maths to essay competitions. He was ranked second in the American High School Thesis Competition, held by Cornell University in 1993, and was accepted as a member of Golden Key National Honour Society with his painting titled Eagle. He later graduated with honours from Sutherland High School and received a scholarship fro Pittsford Musical Inc. of the University of Rochester in 1994. Having passed the violin exam of Eastman Music School, Wang entered Williams College majoring in music.
Besides working on his degree, Wang spent a lot of time at Williams singing with an accapella band called the Springstreeters. His combination of passion for music and talent with poeple was already becoming apparent. "I fell like we grew up together," Wang said in an inteview with the school's journal, about his days with Springstreeters. For his final year project, Wang penned a musical entitled The Bite That Burns! and received an A for his work. Wang still speaks of the experience as one of the happiest moments in his life. "It was such hard work but everyone who was involved enjoyed it. They were doing it for free and they did it because we're friends. I appreciate that spirit and motivation."
Despite his formal music training, Wang was keen to enter the pop scene - despite claims that it was a waste of his talent. "In classical music we have Yo-yo Ma, but there is no internationally recognised Chinese pop star," Wang explains. "There is a huge potential there." Wang thinks it's a good thing that there are so many Chinese artists who have achieved international appeal, such as Jackie chan, chow Yun-fat and Lucy Liu, and he hopes to achieve the same in pop music and be a good role model for Chinese youths around the world.
Neither does he mind the ever-increasing commercialism of the pop industry. "My view on music is that it has to be commercial," Wang says. "If it's good, people love it and buy it." One crucial difference here is that Wang is not in it just for the money and fame. He's not led by commercialism but merely plays into it. "My goal is not to make a lot of karaoke hits, make lots of money and be famous, otherwise i would have made more than one album a year," Wang says. "Music must come first. When it's good, it becomes commercial."
Besides his remarkable musical talent, Wang's career has also been blessed by man notable musicians around the world. It was the late Seth McCoy who taught Wang how to sing. McCoy, who passed on a few years ago at 68, was among the very first black soloists to break through the boundary of racism and sing for Metropolitan Opera. It was McCoy who inspired Wang to think about his heritage. " Seth told me the world is not Rochester; here you're Wang Lee-hom, but outside there, your're a foreigner."
After his pop career kicked off, Wang met Jim Lee, a respected and experienced music producer who has worked with many notable pop stars such as Karen Mok and Coco Lee. The pairing has proved to be sensation in the pop music industry. And it was with Lee that Wang worked in producing the highly popular track, Revolution. "Lee taught me a lot how to be a producer - the techical side of things," says Wang. "He is my mentor."
Back in New York, where he spend about half of the year churning out new songs, Wang also works with many big wigs, one being Alex Richbourg, drumer programmer for Janet Jackson. In one of his newest songs City of Pleasure, Wangs works with Richbourg to combine Chinese elements, such as ping-pong ball and kung fu sounds with Western style drum grooves. This is apprently the path Wang wants to take in bridging the two worlds he is familiar with.
Wang's passion for his heritage is also noticeable in his reaarangement of the song Descendants of the Dragon. Originally sung by Wang's uncle, Li Juan-fu, Descendants of the Dragon became a legend in Chinese music when it was released in the 1980's. It was at a time when China was recovering from an especially turbulent and destructive periold in its history and moving on to becoming a world power. The song touched a chord for many chinese people, at home as well as around the world.
While Li has given up singing and moved on to heading Yahoo Taiwan, his nephew is picking up the ball to take the legendary song further. "Twenty years ago, when my uncle sang this song, it had a more local meaning. Now, when you talk about chinese people, you are talking globally," Wang said in a recent interview.
Another of Wang's musical inspirations is Stevie Wonder. Wang quotes one of Wonder's 1974 hits, LIving For The City as what he thinks music creation should be. In the middle of the song, The music lowers and thre is dramatic interlude about a black man visiting New York City, and being tragically framed for drug possession. "[Stevie Wonder] does all these different voices; he doesn't mind doing these things that might make others think of him as an idoit," Wang says. "He believes in what he is doing."
Wang's attitude to life and his career seems to be a winning formula, and work has never stopped pouring in. Besides his newest album, Forever's First Day, and the single, Time To Fall In Love, this talented homeoby, as Wang often refers to himself, has just finished the shooting of his first two movies. China Strike Force, in which Wang stars with pop legend Aaron Kwok and Japanese bombshell Norika Fujiwara, was released last month, while In the Names of Heros, with Hong Kong hearthrob Stephen Fung and pop princness Gigi Leung, is expected to be released this month.
Yet if there is one more thing that Wang has succeeded in over the past years, it must be the art of dealing with people. Like many other up- and-coming pop artists, Wang has had his fair nubmer of publicity headaches. Rumours about his sexuality and who he has been dating recently, as well as whispers along the grapevine that he stepped on Aaron Kwok's toes for wanting to sing the title track for China Strike Force, have all, at one time or another, got this homeboy frustrated. "I personally didn't mind [the sexuality rumour]. What upsets me is the way that the question came out," Wang says vehemently. "I was at an event for something totally unrelated and then out of the blue there was this question. It was rude and disrespectful."
At other times, Wang is weary of how reporters are so interested in his love life. "I was at this press conference once promoting my album, and thre were a few minutes out of an hour-long press conference where some reporters asked about this song i wrote about lost love," Wang recalls. "The next day, i read the paper and the headline was "Wang Lee-hom's Lost Love". There was no mentioning of my other songs. I was like, 'what the hell?' " Needless to say, recent sightings of him at a restaurant with Karen Mok have fuelled furthere speculation about the duo's relationship.
Wang sees nothing in these rumours and looks on them with a laugh. "I've wised up to see things as they are; there are always good things and bad things said about you." Wang sums up the experience: "Some people might say, you've put on weight, and then others say, you're skinnier. I say, 'screw it' "
Wang has foudn the perfect solution to getting his thoughts across without them being twisted by the press. He now writes a weekly diary on Sony Music Taiwan's website in Chinese and English. "If people care to read about it, then they'll know." And mandy do. The content of the diary has been recapped in many of his fans websites and Wang receives many responses each week.
In a couple of months, Wang will return to the life he loves most: making music in the studio. He is expecting to release his first English album in Japan next year. It's not going to be a holiday - as a matter of fact, work in the studio can get quite stressful and intense. "I don't deal with stress very well, I sink into it," Wang says. "When I'm stressed, I become high-strung and can't eat and sleep; I don't change my clothes and I don't take a shower." Sounds horrible, but when that stress is a result of your passion, it can be ironically pleasurable. "I feel much better now, having spent my day off practising piano in pure unadulterated solitude. I spent quality time today...and am much happy this way, Wang wrote, closing one of his recent diaries.
He sings, he dances, he acts, he composes songs, he works as a producer of many major records- and he is only 24. Lee-hom Wang, young, handsome, and sociable, seems almost too perfect to be true. But the young pop star who has captured the hearts of million insists that he is just a naughty boy next door.
Say the name "Wang Lee-hom" to any teenage girl in Hong Kong, Taiwan or China and you're likely to get an excited scream in return. Wang, 24, has only been in the music industry for fives years but, with his musical talent and sunny good looks, he has already established himself as one of the most popular pop icons in Asia. Whether it's Hong Kong, Taipei, Shanghai or even Xi'an, hordes of fans bombard airports and hotels in hope of catching a glimpse of Wang.
Luckily, we successfully suppressed the news that Wang should be arriving at our studio for make-up and that he would be going to Big Wave Bay for the photo-shoot (and even changing his top in front of everyone), otherwise, a squad team of fans would certainly have shown up.
With so many reports of prima donna pop star hearthrobs these days, it's easy to imagine Wang as a spoiled brat from hell. His bio states how he started playing violin at age six, taught himself the guitar by 13, compoosed his first songs at 15, and went to music school and became a pop artist at 19. All this might indicate something of a precocious talent. Happily, nothing could be further from the truth.
Born and raised in Rochester, New York, Wang has an American flair to his personality that is obvious when he speaks. "Yo, dude!" He exclaims at some foul-looking foamy substance washing up on the shore. What's most likeable about Wang, however, is his ability to combine the best of both worlds. Despite his upbringing in the States, Wang speaks and reads Chinese, loves his heritage and even aspires to be the link bridging Chinese and international pop cultures. At present, he seems to be on the right track.
Having won the Best Male Artist of the Year and Best Producer of the Year in 1999 for his album Revolution at the Golden Melody Awards, the Taiwanese equivalent of the Grammies, Wang has been nominated again this year in six categories, including Best Arranger of the Year (Descendants of the Dragon) and for top Golden Melody Son gof the Year with his newest song Forever's First Day. He has also recently been inteviewed by CNN as one of the most successful Chinese pop artists. And with his natural good looks and charm, he has recently been picked for the second time as one of the winners of Top Ten Idols, an event held by Taiwanese publiclation Ming Shen Bao. Last November, Wang was selected as one of the sexiest male artist by Esquire magazine in Hong Kong.
None of this success wa sexpected in 1993, however, when Wang causally joined a talent search contest in Taiwan. "I was 17 years old, and i was on summer holiday. My mum and i were sitting in a restaurant and we spotted this poster on the wall about a talent search show, " Wang recalls. 'I had nothing to do, so Ithought, 'why not.' I didn't take it seriously at the time."
With a guitar and one of his own songs, Wang instantly attracted the attention of the record company that hosted the competition and was approached with a contract. "I just treated it as a summer job," says Wang. "Studies always came first and I had a deal with [the record company] to only work on the albums during the breaks I had from school." The contract meant forfeiting his entry into the final, but Wang wasn't really in it to win anyway - after all, he has never been a stranger to awards.
Since elementary school, Wang has won awards in everything from maths to essay competitions. He was ranked second in the American High School Thesis Competition, held by Cornell University in 1993, and was accepted as a member of Golden Key National Honour Society with his painting titled Eagle. He later graduated with honours from Sutherland High School and received a scholarship fro Pittsford Musical Inc. of the University of Rochester in 1994. Having passed the violin exam of Eastman Music School, Wang entered Williams College majoring in music.
Besides working on his degree, Wang spent a lot of time at Williams singing with an accapella band called the Springstreeters. His combination of passion for music and talent with poeple was already becoming apparent. "I fell like we grew up together," Wang said in an inteview with the school's journal, about his days with Springstreeters. For his final year project, Wang penned a musical entitled The Bite That Burns! and received an A for his work. Wang still speaks of the experience as one of the happiest moments in his life. "It was such hard work but everyone who was involved enjoyed it. They were doing it for free and they did it because we're friends. I appreciate that spirit and motivation."
Despite his formal music training, Wang was keen to enter the pop scene - despite claims that it was a waste of his talent. "In classical music we have Yo-yo Ma, but there is no internationally recognised Chinese pop star," Wang explains. "There is a huge potential there." Wang thinks it's a good thing that there are so many Chinese artists who have achieved international appeal, such as Jackie chan, chow Yun-fat and Lucy Liu, and he hopes to achieve the same in pop music and be a good role model for Chinese youths around the world.
Neither does he mind the ever-increasing commercialism of the pop industry. "My view on music is that it has to be commercial," Wang says. "If it's good, people love it and buy it." One crucial difference here is that Wang is not in it just for the money and fame. He's not led by commercialism but merely plays into it. "My goal is not to make a lot of karaoke hits, make lots of money and be famous, otherwise i would have made more than one album a year," Wang says. "Music must come first. When it's good, it becomes commercial."
Besides his remarkable musical talent, Wang's career has also been blessed by man notable musicians around the world. It was the late Seth McCoy who taught Wang how to sing. McCoy, who passed on a few years ago at 68, was among the very first black soloists to break through the boundary of racism and sing for Metropolitan Opera. It was McCoy who inspired Wang to think about his heritage. " Seth told me the world is not Rochester; here you're Wang Lee-hom, but outside there, your're a foreigner."
After his pop career kicked off, Wang met Jim Lee, a respected and experienced music producer who has worked with many notable pop stars such as Karen Mok and Coco Lee. The pairing has proved to be sensation in the pop music industry. And it was with Lee that Wang worked in producing the highly popular track, Revolution. "Lee taught me a lot how to be a producer - the techical side of things," says Wang. "He is my mentor."
Back in New York, where he spend about half of the year churning out new songs, Wang also works with many big wigs, one being Alex Richbourg, drumer programmer for Janet Jackson. In one of his newest songs City of Pleasure, Wangs works with Richbourg to combine Chinese elements, such as ping-pong ball and kung fu sounds with Western style drum grooves. This is apprently the path Wang wants to take in bridging the two worlds he is familiar with.
Wang's passion for his heritage is also noticeable in his reaarangement of the song Descendants of the Dragon. Originally sung by Wang's uncle, Li Juan-fu, Descendants of the Dragon became a legend in Chinese music when it was released in the 1980's. It was at a time when China was recovering from an especially turbulent and destructive periold in its history and moving on to becoming a world power. The song touched a chord for many chinese people, at home as well as around the world.
While Li has given up singing and moved on to heading Yahoo Taiwan, his nephew is picking up the ball to take the legendary song further. "Twenty years ago, when my uncle sang this song, it had a more local meaning. Now, when you talk about chinese people, you are talking globally," Wang said in a recent interview.
Another of Wang's musical inspirations is Stevie Wonder. Wang quotes one of Wonder's 1974 hits, LIving For The City as what he thinks music creation should be. In the middle of the song, The music lowers and thre is dramatic interlude about a black man visiting New York City, and being tragically framed for drug possession. "[Stevie Wonder] does all these different voices; he doesn't mind doing these things that might make others think of him as an idoit," Wang says. "He believes in what he is doing."
Wang's attitude to life and his career seems to be a winning formula, and work has never stopped pouring in. Besides his newest album, Forever's First Day, and the single, Time To Fall In Love, this talented homeoby, as Wang often refers to himself, has just finished the shooting of his first two movies. China Strike Force, in which Wang stars with pop legend Aaron Kwok and Japanese bombshell Norika Fujiwara, was released last month, while In the Names of Heros, with Hong Kong hearthrob Stephen Fung and pop princness Gigi Leung, is expected to be released this month.
Yet if there is one more thing that Wang has succeeded in over the past years, it must be the art of dealing with people. Like many other up- and-coming pop artists, Wang has had his fair nubmer of publicity headaches. Rumours about his sexuality and who he has been dating recently, as well as whispers along the grapevine that he stepped on Aaron Kwok's toes for wanting to sing the title track for China Strike Force, have all, at one time or another, got this homeboy frustrated. "I personally didn't mind [the sexuality rumour]. What upsets me is the way that the question came out," Wang says vehemently. "I was at an event for something totally unrelated and then out of the blue there was this question. It was rude and disrespectful."
At other times, Wang is weary of how reporters are so interested in his love life. "I was at this press conference once promoting my album, and thre were a few minutes out of an hour-long press conference where some reporters asked about this song i wrote about lost love," Wang recalls. "The next day, i read the paper and the headline was "Wang Lee-hom's Lost Love". There was no mentioning of my other songs. I was like, 'what the hell?' " Needless to say, recent sightings of him at a restaurant with Karen Mok have fuelled furthere speculation about the duo's relationship.
Wang sees nothing in these rumours and looks on them with a laugh. "I've wised up to see things as they are; there are always good things and bad things said about you." Wang sums up the experience: "Some people might say, you've put on weight, and then others say, you're skinnier. I say, 'screw it' "
Wang has foudn the perfect solution to getting his thoughts across without them being twisted by the press. He now writes a weekly diary on Sony Music Taiwan's website in Chinese and English. "If people care to read about it, then they'll know." And mandy do. The content of the diary has been recapped in many of his fans websites and Wang receives many responses each week.
In a couple of months, Wang will return to the life he loves most: making music in the studio. He is expecting to release his first English album in Japan next year. It's not going to be a holiday - as a matter of fact, work in the studio can get quite stressful and intense. "I don't deal with stress very well, I sink into it," Wang says. "When I'm stressed, I become high-strung and can't eat and sleep; I don't change my clothes and I don't take a shower." Sounds horrible, but when that stress is a result of your passion, it can be ironically pleasurable. "I feel much better now, having spent my day off practising piano in pure unadulterated solitude. I spent quality time today...and am much happy this way, Wang wrote, closing one of his recent diaries.
Scholar--Wang Lee-Hom
ICON, December 8, 2001
Born with Taiwan canto-pop, bred on American arts and letters, Lee-hom Wang is now made famous on mainland water. But the serious musician in him can't get over being just another pop star. Formal training in college once provided substance that doesn't quite translate to the masses, as fellow alumnus Val Wang tells us.
It's hot in Beijing, damn hot, and you're on the street looking for relief. The quandary is as epic as Coke vs. Pepsi: Robust or Wahaha bottled water? Or, more clearly put: a bottle plastered with the face of some bland pop star unscrewing the top of a Robust bottle, or some other guy in a white T-shirt and a, shall we say, flamboyant pose with his arm over his head holding a Wahaha bottle? You reach for the Wahaha and, even if you couldn't care less, you wonder briefly: Who is this guy? And why that pose?
He's Lee-hom Wang, best known as a Taiwanese pop star and less well-known as a graduate of Williams College (1998), an elite liberal arts university of 2,000 students tucked away in a self-proclaimed "Village Beautiful" of 10,000 people located in scenic New England called Williamstown (Massachusetts). It was far away from the maddening crowds of Taipei.
Williams was also my alma matter. I graduated a year earlier than Lee-hom and came to China shortly afterwards. I'd heard that Lee-hom was a pop star in Taipei, but how big of a star he was didn't hit home until one thirsty day earlier this year. With every bottle of Wahaha I imbibed, my question grew: how did I end up as a struggling freelance writer in Beijing while he ended up a pop idol in Taipei with four Sony Music albums to his name and billions of water bottles splashed with his visage?
I caught up with him in Shanghai, where he is currently taping a kung fu movie directed by Stanley Tong and starring some Hollywood stars too big to even tell me about. Also riding high off of his recent album, "Forever's First Day," he was only too happy to indulge my curiosity.
Prodigy
Lee-hom's career started one Winter Study, a month-long term at Williams designed to give flight to creative independent projects or, alternately, to invoke existential despair in those left behind on campus to cope with the New England winter.
So while I was drinking my brains out trying to forget that it was the dead of winter, he was in Taipei on a project to study the demographics of the pop music phenomenon and produce the first album that would turn himself into a pop music phenomenon.
He did have a head start, of course. He'd trained in violin at the prestigious Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York since age six and by the time he got to Williams at age 18, he somehow had already landed a recording contract with Sony Music.
At Williams, he helped to found the folk music club Williams Grassroots Music, sang in the a cappella group the Springstreeters, got into the small jazz scene and, his senior year, wrote and directed the yearly musical entitled "The Bite that Burns," a vampire musical that he admits was somewhat "frivolous." Me? I can barely recall what I did through most of college.
Summer vacations were spent in Taiwan cutting records and Williamstown provided a contrast to that lifestyle. He welcomed the tranquility of Williamstown that some of the rest of us resented so much. "I was so overexposed in Asia, so social. You meet a thousand people every day," he says. "But back at Williams it was quiet, so peaceful. You could walk around Spring Street and no one would ask you for an autograph."
Being a huge pop star was a new twist on the old hybrid identity issue. "It was a way to strike a balance of my two identities: being born an American kid used to having a private life and being a public figure [in Taiwan]," he says, without a trace of angst. "That's what fate has dealt me."
What it seems fate has also dealt him is a nice niche market. After he graduated from Williams with his music degree, he went to the Berklee Institute of Music in Boston and spent time laying down tracks for his third album. With the music theory he learned in college, he has produced and arranged all of his own albums. "A lot of my friends who are great musicians have become lawyers and I-bankers," he says. "I realized that success is not about how great you are on the piano. In pop music, it's about bringing new stuff in, a unique perspective as a composer."
Though raised in the States with little formal education in Chinese, he sings most of his songs in Mandarin, supplying one of the most satisfying ironies of his story. He had to begin with the Chinese 101 class at Williams and work his way through four years with the famed textbook couple Gubo and Palanka before he had the reading and writing skills it took to pen pop songs. Now he speaks English sprinkled with Chinese phrases delivered in a dulcet Taiwanese accent.
Probing Pop
His tender sound and juvenile following might conjure comparisons to Backstreet Boys, but whatever criticisms might be lobbed at the vacuity of pop music, Lee-hom doesn't consider it a fall from his upbringing in classical and jazz music. "It's what you can say in the music that's important," he says. "I don't feel like my creativity has been stifled."
His latest album has funkier beats and more rockin?songs than his earlier work, crafting a harder image for Lee-hom than the usual fare of winsome love songs. It also reflects his ambition to make music with "dongfang yinsu" (Eastern elements) but with "international arrangement and production techniques," music that't universally appealing but with "established Chinese cliches" so you know it's "Chinese music." On this note, he delivers a remake of "Descendants of the Dragon" (Long de Chuanren), a patriotic song from the early 1980s written by Taiwanese singer He Dejian and popularized by his uncle, Li Jianfu. The lyrics are simple and passionate ("The distant East has one great river; its name is the Yangtze River./ The distant East has one river; its name is the Yellow River./ The ancient East has one dragon; its name is China./ The ancient East has one people; they are descendents of the dragon.")
He evens adds his own flourish at the end with a rap about two immigrants from Taiwan who go to the States with "no money no job no speak English nobody gonna give 'em the time of day."
When I ask Lee-hom how Williams College fell short in preparing him for the life he lives now, he says, without a trace of irony that "nothing can prepare you for the real world." His tumble from the ivory tower led to pop stardom and its own particular phantasmagoria sold-out stadium concerts, sides of Taipei buses plastered with his mug for an American Cotton endorsement, tabloid stories about his love life.
When it comes to transmitting more than music to the masses, his Williams education is useless. "If I say in an interview how Gustav Mahler influenced this one song on my pop album, they're not going to care, not going to know what I'm talking about," he says.
Thank goodness for the internet. Lee-hom writes to his fans every week on the Sony Music Taiwan website. He uses it as a forum to talk about those things "a classical composer at a concert of a premiere of their work would," like the chords, scales, and keys his songs are in, his inspirations and concepts.
The Wahaha endorsement is all part of the China campaign, a natural corollary to being a pop star in Taiwan. The match was made when the Hangzhou-based Wahaha went looking for a young singer and found Lee-hom looking towards the mainland. Some combination of his popularity, his image and his singing "expressed the inner spirit" of the drink, said Ms. Yang of the Wahaha Advertising Department.
However, at this point, 97% of his albums that are sold in the mainland are pirated. While it will take years to fix the problem, Lee-hom isn't worried. Fame on the mainland "won't go away for the rest of your life. It's not like in Taiwan where people's tastes are always changing."
And about that pose, let's just say that it was the last of hundreds they asked him to do. "I didn't want to do it, but I'm a nice guy, so I did," he says, though he had a bad feeling about it. "I just knew it [was the one they were going to use.]"
All Hail the New Prince
The Teens , January 2002
The talented and charming lad of Chinese pop talks about his growing-up years, his passion for music and his first real girlfriend.
Sitting comfortably in a chair, in the quiet poolside lounge of Four Seasons Hotel, LeeHom, paused when asked to comment on the cover shot of his debut album, Love Rival Beethoven. With a smile and after some hestitation, he said: "I think it's kind of cute".
Yup, that was a cute LeeHom back in 1995 then. He has since matured into a suave gentleman, and hailed as the Chinese Prince of R&B music - with no less than 10 full albums, one single, one cantonese EP and three movies in seven years under his belt.
Music-wise, the 25-year-old New Yorker has also grown from strength to strength. "My music has gone through so many different stages. In Love Rival Beethoven, my music background was pretty broad - classical, pop, rock and lots of other different styles," said LeeHom. "But I did not really study jazz. After that album, I studied jazz a lot and became a jazz piano player because that was what I majored in college."
It was the beginning of his second year in Williams College, Massahusetts, US, when he released his debut. Jazz influence got into his second album, If You Hear My Song. "From the second album onwards, you start to hear more jazz. Now I'm writing in a more unique style because I've become more comfortble with myself as an artiste, more confident with my own writing," he said.
To Call His Own
The confidence that keeps growing results in LeeHom writing almost all the songs in his last two album. "For the last couple of albums, I really wanted to do something from my heart because I am a composer," he gushed. "I've written songs since I was really young. It is something that I love to do, so I want to share this with my fans. It's really nice composing the entire album by myself. But I don't object to singing other people's songs; I do so all the time in concerts," he said.
That's not to say LeeHom only appreciates singers who write their own stuff. "You take N'Sync or somebody else who does not write his own songs. They both make great sounds but they feel different."
Mother Tongue
The person who wields the biggest influence in LeeHom's career is his mother. "She's an amateur opera singer," he revealed. "She's been most involved in my career for the last few years in terms of managing me, especially at the beginning, because I didn't really speak Mandarin."
But LeeHom never gets this weakness hinder him. Although the singer-composer had weekly Mandarin lessons in his primary school days, he attributed his present improved proficiency in Mandarin to his mother's coaching, and his innate ability to pick up languages well. In fact, he's now good enough to pen lyrics for his Chinese songs. "I think I'm a pretty fast learner, maybe because the language is also very musical," he said.
Pink Floyd & Broadway
As a kid, LeeHom was a Top 40 fan and listened to Michael Jackson. But he also plugged into rock bands like Led Zappelin and Pink Floyd. It is this love for rock tht led the guileless LeeHom to the shock of his life. "The first concert I went to was Heart when I was 12," he recounted. "It was the first time I saw people taking drugs, getting drunk. I went with my brother and it was like: what are these people doing? That was really hard rock. But Heart is a great band," he added.
"I also listened to a lot of classical music. I'm a serious violin muisc then. I played in the youth symphony orchestra in New York, so I also listened to orchestra music," said LeeHom. "There's also Broadway muisc because that's very integral in New York culture. When I was 13, I began performing in broadway musicals in school.
Acting Up
With a solid grounding in music, you may wonder why LeeHom dabbles in movies as well. "I've been doing plays but the thign about movies that atttract me is that they are more realistic than plays," he explained. "In plays, you have to project your voice so everyone can hear. But in movies you can talk softly."
When asked if he would make more movies, the long-haired singer said: "I think it depends on how good the movie is. If it's going to be a good experience, I would jump on it because good movies are hard to come by and also the schedule is uncontrollable. It's unlike producing albums beacuse most of it is my own time. In movies, it involves the schedule of hundreds."
The Nomad
LeeHom counts travelling as his hobby and lifestyle even.
"The life that I live is so nomadic. There isn't much time for me to spend at home or with friends," he lamented. "I write in the road, produce on the road, record with my computer. I have two suitcases and that's everything I own. I don't have a car or a house. But I enjoy that kind of lifestyle."
Looking back, the singer has chalked up enough traveling to fatten his passport with two inches worth of extensions. Well considering LeeHom started travelling overseas at the age of 12 (he went to Mexico with his family then), it is no wonder at all!
Turning Bad
While international artistes like Robbie Williams and Eminem can get away with vulgarities and obscene acts onstage, does LeeHom think Asian artistes can do likewise? "It's tougher to some extent. It has always beend the case. Robbie Williams uttered some vulgarities when he was in Taiwan. If he were a Chinese artiste, he would be dead," he noted.
No Life But Rumours
With a heavy schedule producing and promoting albums, concert tours and movies, does LeeHom have a life? "No," he shakes his head and adds: "I definitely chill out in clubs and hang out with friends but it's harder when I am producing albums," he explained. "This album The One and Only was produced in Singapore, Hongkong, Taiwan, Boston and New York. So when I'm flying all over the place, it's really hard to meet up with friends."
Very few artistes are unscathed by rumours; LeeHom is no exception. over the past year, rumours cirulated that he was gay. And there was the well-publicised romance he had with an Eurasian Hong Kong model. How does he handle the rumours?
"It doesn't bother me much now," he stated. "At that time, of course, I was emotionally affected. Anybody would, especially when they are not true. I don't want to come out and make the news bigger," LeeHom explained. "I do music and I want to focus all my energy on this. I've no desire to use tabloids to promote myself. I don't want to waste my energy holding press conferences to deny my relationship with certain people or to say that I am not gay because it's just not in my interest.
The Real Girlfriend
LeeHom first fell in love when he was 13. That was, in his own words, a crush. He had another girlfriend at 15, but that was not a serious relationship.
He reveals more: "My first real girlfriend actually sings in this latest album. I was 17 then. She's an opera singer. She sings on the last song [I Want] in the album. We're still great friends," he maintained.
Well, go get the album if you want to know the name of this Prince Charming's maiden fair!
The talented and charming lad of Chinese pop talks about his growing-up years, his passion for music and his first real girlfriend.
Sitting comfortably in a chair, in the quiet poolside lounge of Four Seasons Hotel, LeeHom, paused when asked to comment on the cover shot of his debut album, Love Rival Beethoven. With a smile and after some hestitation, he said: "I think it's kind of cute".
Yup, that was a cute LeeHom back in 1995 then. He has since matured into a suave gentleman, and hailed as the Chinese Prince of R&B music - with no less than 10 full albums, one single, one cantonese EP and three movies in seven years under his belt.
Music-wise, the 25-year-old New Yorker has also grown from strength to strength. "My music has gone through so many different stages. In Love Rival Beethoven, my music background was pretty broad - classical, pop, rock and lots of other different styles," said LeeHom. "But I did not really study jazz. After that album, I studied jazz a lot and became a jazz piano player because that was what I majored in college."
It was the beginning of his second year in Williams College, Massahusetts, US, when he released his debut. Jazz influence got into his second album, If You Hear My Song. "From the second album onwards, you start to hear more jazz. Now I'm writing in a more unique style because I've become more comfortble with myself as an artiste, more confident with my own writing," he said.
To Call His Own
The confidence that keeps growing results in LeeHom writing almost all the songs in his last two album. "For the last couple of albums, I really wanted to do something from my heart because I am a composer," he gushed. "I've written songs since I was really young. It is something that I love to do, so I want to share this with my fans. It's really nice composing the entire album by myself. But I don't object to singing other people's songs; I do so all the time in concerts," he said.
That's not to say LeeHom only appreciates singers who write their own stuff. "You take N'Sync or somebody else who does not write his own songs. They both make great sounds but they feel different."
Mother Tongue
The person who wields the biggest influence in LeeHom's career is his mother. "She's an amateur opera singer," he revealed. "She's been most involved in my career for the last few years in terms of managing me, especially at the beginning, because I didn't really speak Mandarin."
But LeeHom never gets this weakness hinder him. Although the singer-composer had weekly Mandarin lessons in his primary school days, he attributed his present improved proficiency in Mandarin to his mother's coaching, and his innate ability to pick up languages well. In fact, he's now good enough to pen lyrics for his Chinese songs. "I think I'm a pretty fast learner, maybe because the language is also very musical," he said.
Pink Floyd & Broadway
As a kid, LeeHom was a Top 40 fan and listened to Michael Jackson. But he also plugged into rock bands like Led Zappelin and Pink Floyd. It is this love for rock tht led the guileless LeeHom to the shock of his life. "The first concert I went to was Heart when I was 12," he recounted. "It was the first time I saw people taking drugs, getting drunk. I went with my brother and it was like: what are these people doing? That was really hard rock. But Heart is a great band," he added.
"I also listened to a lot of classical music. I'm a serious violin muisc then. I played in the youth symphony orchestra in New York, so I also listened to orchestra music," said LeeHom. "There's also Broadway muisc because that's very integral in New York culture. When I was 13, I began performing in broadway musicals in school.
Acting Up
With a solid grounding in music, you may wonder why LeeHom dabbles in movies as well. "I've been doing plays but the thign about movies that atttract me is that they are more realistic than plays," he explained. "In plays, you have to project your voice so everyone can hear. But in movies you can talk softly."
When asked if he would make more movies, the long-haired singer said: "I think it depends on how good the movie is. If it's going to be a good experience, I would jump on it because good movies are hard to come by and also the schedule is uncontrollable. It's unlike producing albums beacuse most of it is my own time. In movies, it involves the schedule of hundreds."
The Nomad
LeeHom counts travelling as his hobby and lifestyle even.
"The life that I live is so nomadic. There isn't much time for me to spend at home or with friends," he lamented. "I write in the road, produce on the road, record with my computer. I have two suitcases and that's everything I own. I don't have a car or a house. But I enjoy that kind of lifestyle."
Looking back, the singer has chalked up enough traveling to fatten his passport with two inches worth of extensions. Well considering LeeHom started travelling overseas at the age of 12 (he went to Mexico with his family then), it is no wonder at all!
Turning Bad
While international artistes like Robbie Williams and Eminem can get away with vulgarities and obscene acts onstage, does LeeHom think Asian artistes can do likewise? "It's tougher to some extent. It has always beend the case. Robbie Williams uttered some vulgarities when he was in Taiwan. If he were a Chinese artiste, he would be dead," he noted.
No Life But Rumours
With a heavy schedule producing and promoting albums, concert tours and movies, does LeeHom have a life? "No," he shakes his head and adds: "I definitely chill out in clubs and hang out with friends but it's harder when I am producing albums," he explained. "This album The One and Only was produced in Singapore, Hongkong, Taiwan, Boston and New York. So when I'm flying all over the place, it's really hard to meet up with friends."
Very few artistes are unscathed by rumours; LeeHom is no exception. over the past year, rumours cirulated that he was gay. And there was the well-publicised romance he had with an Eurasian Hong Kong model. How does he handle the rumours?
"It doesn't bother me much now," he stated. "At that time, of course, I was emotionally affected. Anybody would, especially when they are not true. I don't want to come out and make the news bigger," LeeHom explained. "I do music and I want to focus all my energy on this. I've no desire to use tabloids to promote myself. I don't want to waste my energy holding press conferences to deny my relationship with certain people or to say that I am not gay because it's just not in my interest.
The Real Girlfriend
LeeHom first fell in love when he was 13. That was, in his own words, a crush. He had another girlfriend at 15, but that was not a serious relationship.
He reveals more: "My first real girlfriend actually sings in this latest album. I was 17 then. She's an opera singer. She sings on the last song [I Want] in the album. We're still great friends," he maintained.
Well, go get the album if you want to know the name of this Prince Charming's maiden fair!
Maturing Into His Own Groove
THE STAR Malaysia, November 22 2001
by Brian Cheong
After his 'fun' movie outing in China Strike Force last year and a year-long absence from the music scene, Wang Lee Hom returns with a brand new CD that is about his most remarkable effort yet.
Young he may be but American-born, Taiwan-based singer Wang Lee Hom is no chip off a boyband block. Where almost everyone his age gunning for pop fame is doing it with toned bodies and pretty faces, Wang goes one up by actually writing his own songs, producing his own albums and playing the instruments.
Wang, sporting much longer hair that makes him hunkier, is back with a new album, The One and Only, a sturdy roster of work that is simply his best yet.
It features Wang in top form when it comes to instrumentation and vocalisation. This is a new, more mature Wang at the helm. After five years in the business, the 24-year-old may have finally found his groove.
"I think this album is a transition for me in terms of the way I work and the way I produce," he said in a recent interview.
"I feel that being a producer, other than the musical aspect, it also has a lot to do with communicating with people, communicating with musicians and finding the right people to work with. I felt that I handled all the aspects better than before. The production went much more smoothly than did my previous albums."
Unlike many of his peers, Wang has the luxury of taking an entire year to work on one album. Smiling, he said: "That's in my contract (with Sony Music Taiwan). I think that alot of time you can't rush yourself to create or to be inspired. Some take faster that I do, some slower, but the most important thing is to find your own pace. From my past experiences, one album per year is perfect."
His busy schedule compelled Wang to take his songwriting on the road. One of the tracks on the album, An Quan Gan (Sense of Security) was written when he was on the way to the airport in Taipei. "I was finally on my way home to New York after a long stint abroad. It tells of the feeling of being able to go home and reunite with your loved ones."
The album, which Wang described as his 'diary' from the past year, is varied in style and instrumentation, making it one of the year's most successfully eclectic albums by a Chinese artiste.
Take the song Jie Bu Liao Ni (Addicted to You) for instance. Not many Chinese singers would dare venture into the depths of laidback jazz and blues in gloomy lounge vibe. But Wang not only did it, he triumphantly mixes what is essentially a Western musical style into a rare Chinese pop treat.
"This song is an example of the spirit of the album. I got a bunch of friends from Berklee (College of Music in Boston) and we went to a friend's studio. "There were three guys; myself on the piano, a drummer and a bassist, and we were having such a great time. We wanted to jam abit and so the bass player started playing this and the drummer started playing and then I started playing and then we were like 'Hey! That sounds really good.' The guys went out for some beer and I stayed back to work on the melodies, and soon the melodies were done and that was it.
"The song writing process (in general) was really painless and natural because nobody ever wrote anything down. It just kind of happens spontaneously." On Wo Yao (which Wang translated to be "Yearnings of My Childhood Spirit"), Wang experimented with surreal mood.
"It's not a love song, for a change, but a philosophical song about what I think are ideals in life. It's about the dreams I had as a child, about strangers coming together on the streets and dancing to whatever music that's playing.
"The female voice on the album belongs to my ex-girlfriend from high school. We've known each other since I was 13. I've always wanted to record her voice and I thought this song was most appropriate."
The mournful title track, one of the best songs from the album, was written while Wang was on a rare holiday in Greece.
"I wanted songs that can translate well onto the stage. So I've set out to make a very 'live' album. There is no electronic music on this album. The sound throughout is very 'live' which is why I think all the songs come together so well on the album.
"It is a successful album because it is able to fulfil the original inspirations that I had at the beginning. I had an idea of how I wanted the album to sound and this album is poretty close to what I had in mind."
Wang has not only grown much more self-assured as a producer, he has quite obviously moved up another level as a song writer and singer.
"Working with my lyricist (Taiwanese He Chi Hong), I learnt about not making my songs too personal. It's very easy, when you have all the control, to make your songs too persoanl and people might not relate to your songs.
"I've learnt how to hold back a little, yet at the same time keep my feelings in the songs."
On vocals, Wang has always applied the same rule. "I understand my voice and I know which songs are suitable and which are not. So when I write songs, I think about my strength and weakness and what I'd like to feature vocally. It's the same thing when I write for other singers; I think about their strengths and weaknesses.
"Of course, my instrument has grown stronger like any muscle when you constantly work it. I really enjoy performing the songs on this album and it's very natural for me when I perform them."
While music remains Wang's priority, he is not at all averse to doing a little acting on the side, despite a somewhat ho-hum debut in China Strike Force. He will next apeear in the long-delayed Tekken, which was shot right after China Strike Force.
"I think for my fans to see me in movies, it's kind of like a novelty, a fun thing to do. I would do another movie but I don't know if I want to do another action movie. I'd like to do some other stuff," said Wang who never ceases to explore unfamiliar terrain.
王力宏的旅人心事
2002年2月份 VOGUE
这日子，过的其实连他自己都觉得有点迷糊，不是已经进入宣传期尾声了吗？怎么仍旧马不停蹄的做空中飞人，“我想很重要的一个原因，是为了二月份在香港红勘的演唱会吧，那之前有很多的准备工作，然后期间又穿插进一些不同的事情”，例如前阵子刚推出的写真歌谱，总之工作似乎是不停的，生活的步调，自然因此变得紧凑。
除了黑了点，瘦了点，眉宇之间的神情慢慢走离男孩的青涩，逐渐展现属于男人特有的刚毅之外，王力宏大体而言其实没有多大的改变，对人仍旧是礼礼貌貌的拘谨，说话仍旧是那好像得经过千锤百炼的慢条斯理。这可能是因为面对媒体的关系吧，他一次又一次的强调，私底下的他，可不是这么“典型斯文” 的，比较随性，比较自由，比较可以放开胸怀，比较愿意??谈阔论，比较能够和人开玩笑，总之比较自在。
他说这其实是一种障碍，“我始终觉得我不是一个口才很正很棒的人，不只是因为讲中文的关系，英文也一样”，担心没办法将自己真正想讲的话，正确传达，“所以在舞台上，在做现场表演的时候我可以很放，是因为透过音乐的这个屏障跟距离，让我觉得安全，或者应该说，我比较习惯，也比较擅长用音乐和人沟通吧。”
一如他眾所周知的古典背景，也就像他周身上下自然散发的贵族特质，在还没走进流行音乐的领域之前，王力宏曾经一心一意的以为，自己这辈子就是要当个职业小提琴手，“那应该是在我十七八岁的时候吧”，当时心下真是这么笃定的认为着，然而在家人反对，又得不到太多鼓励的情况下，心却开始七上八下的犹豫了起来，在难以抉择之下，干跑去问老师觉得自己是不是适合走这条路。“我那时候水准其实挺差的”，没想到老师听他这么一问之后，立刻笑笑的回答说：如果你还需要问我，就表示你根本不适合，因为你没有那个决心，因为音乐是一条很苦的路。
“哇，我那时候真的觉得好难过，好沮丧，甚至有一种无法形容的慌张和茫然，可是他说的好像又是事实”：“因为小时候对自己的未来虽然也有过很多幻想，比方建筑师啊，警察，救火员，动物园的管理员，但自从接触了音乐，更准确应该说是开始创作之后，我整个人就完全被它栓住了”。
“怎么说音乐呢？”话锋一转，他的思绪汇到更早更早以前，“你们都知道我成长在一个，可能可以说是最复杂的环境里吧，纽约，英文有个句子叫做shorterm memory span，当你什么都不知道的时候，反而是一种幸福，大量的信息虽然会带给你力量，但相对也会变成一种负担，让你混淆了自己的位置，不知道自己到底是什么，这其实很容易变成一种灰涩，会有很多负面的东西出现。就是好像什么都有一点，却偏偏
又什么都不是。”其间有个重大关键，叫做种族身份的迷思。
大多时候，他总是一个人，从一个国度到另一个国度，从一个城市的风景转换到另一个城市的面貌中，就像是一个旅人的心情，四海为家，却又处处不是家，王力宏把寂寞转换成为音乐，把生活的碰触变成音符，用音乐记录下他行进步伐中的点点滴滴!
“所以我真的很感激我拥有了创作，拥有音乐，因为创作这件事情让我了解了自己，对我来说，它就好像是一个隐形的朋友，它会问我很多问题，会不断不断的考验我，然后我必须要很诚实的面对它，很透明的把自己放在它的面前，把自己所有的一切都交给它。”
人都说他温文，阳光笑容里无法和叛逆发生联想，王力巨阀却说，做音乐的人，其实没有一个不叛逆，“因为它原本就是一个很逆向的东西”，他的叛逆不诉诸行为，却隐藏在音乐的世界中，其间居住着他内在或纠结或澎湃或不平或吶喊或抒情的活动。他将他的心情，他的生活，他的体验都放在音乐里，企图从中寻找一种自己与外在风景可以协调相处的平衡。
“很庆幸音乐的那扇门为我开了，而且是可以和更多人沟通的流行音乐”，露出了一个爽朗的笑容，“要不然现在的我，搞不好已经是一个医生了”，大笑，这曾经是家人对他最大的期望。要是那扇门永远都不曾打开，会觉得遗憾吗？好奇问他，“遗憾当然会有，但我相信我仍旧会是一个快乐的人吧，毕竟人是不可能没有遗憾的，就好像我虽然走进了流行音乐的世界中，我还是会有遗憾，遗憾我花了那么多的时间在录音室里，结果我的小提琴退步成这样，不也是很可惜的一件事情吗？”
“不过我不会后悔，因为我觉得人生只有一条路，你既然已经做了决定的选择，就好好的去做吧”；“任何事情都必须付出代价的，在我选择音乐，选择自由的同时，或许其实就已经付出了孤独的代价。”
过去一年的365天里，王力宏住了361天的饭店，尽管身边围绕着各种各样的人群，也许是歌迷，也许是记者，也许是工作人员，也许是哥作的伙伴，但就某种意义来说，他其实一直都是自己一个人，从一个国家到另一个国家，从一个城市转移到另一个城市，流转在不同的脸孔，不同的景色中，他说常常很喜欢在三更半夜的时候，一个人在街上走，除了是享受某种自虐的孤寂之外，同时是想对自己证明说：这就是我的家，“我想我和其它亚洲歌手很不同的地方，就是我在这些地方其实是没有家的，我心里永远觉得我不在家，我始终在旅行，对，就想是一种旅行，旅行的过程中，会有一些里面的不安全感，会有着某种奇怪的享受，我试图把我所经过的每个地方都当成家，但又其实清楚这些地方都不是我的家，那是一种很奇怪的感觉。”
如果能够改变自己个性上的某一点？王力宏突然爆出一连串的大笑声说：我好希望，我能够有足够的勇气和陌生人说话。就像是个旅人般的生活，“陌生”几乎等于是他生活的常态，飞机上，行走间，公车里，或者日常生活中的每一件事，身边永远充斥着一个又一个的陌生人，常常，他很希望能够开口跟他们说话，聊些什么都好，你这双鞋很好看，你长得很漂亮之类的，“总之可能是一些很霹雳的话”，偏偏大多数时候，他总是害羞的开不了口，要是哪天鼓起勇气做到，他便会开心个一整天，觉得自己很屌，“我其实很喜欢和人沟通，就像音乐对我而言，除了一种内在世界的抒发之外，更重要的意义，是它能够和人沟通。”
“寂寞吗？你说的是男人的寂寞，还是人的寂寞？”“其实都一样啦，寂寞时候最没脑的方法，当然就是想办法让自己变得很忙，忙到你回饭店之后就已经累垮了，根本没力气多想。而如果真的寂寞的话，我想我还是会拿出那句话吧，把寂寞变成一种享受，一种真实陪伴你的感觉，我觉得这就是音乐，是音乐人原本就应该要忍受的一种折磨，这样你的作品才会有肉，不是吗？”
话题进入短暂的沉默中，王力宏神情交杂在某种复杂的状态里，“我不是没有想过，我要这样子过一辈子吗？要过到什么时候呢？到少女不尖叫或怎么样吗？但反过来想，人原本就是寂寞的啊，一个人生一个人死，有什么呢？不知道，我只知道，我现在其实还蛮习惯，蛮喜欢这样的生活，谁知道未来会有什么变句呢？也许突然夹带着强烈冲击力的某件事情，某个人，就让我突然改变了，谁知道呢？”未来的事，就交给未来吧。
如今的王力宏，仍旧一心一意的随性过生活，像个雷达似的接收者四周的纷沓，把生活的感动变成歌，“生活是创作最大的原动力”，他的心思都在音乐上，放在创作里，几近疯狂的，“我最大的渴望，是能够做出我闭着眼睛时所听到的声音，我希望只要我能‘听’得到，我就能够做得出”，如今的他，仍旧会不断的旅行，不断的移动，不断的感受，不断的自虐，仍旧，不断的创作，在生活的每一个步伐里。
"我始终相信，这世界上的每一个人都是不一样的，每一个人都有着属于他自己的精彩，这是创作最有趣的地方。"王力宏说。
这日子，过的其实连他自己都觉得有点迷糊，不是已经进入宣传期尾声了吗？怎么仍旧马不停蹄的做空中飞人，“我想很重要的一个原因，是为了二月份在香港红勘的演唱会吧，那之前有很多的准备工作，然后期间又穿插进一些不同的事情”，例如前阵子刚推出的写真歌谱，总之工作似乎是不停的，生活的步调，自然因此变得紧凑。
除了黑了点，瘦了点，眉宇之间的神情慢慢走离男孩的青涩，逐渐展现属于男人特有的刚毅之外，王力宏大体而言其实没有多大的改变，对人仍旧是礼礼貌貌的拘谨，说话仍旧是那好像得经过千锤百炼的慢条斯理。这可能是因为面对媒体的关系吧，他一次又一次的强调，私底下的他，可不是这么“典型斯文” 的，比较随性，比较自由，比较可以放开胸怀，比较愿意??谈阔论，比较能够和人开玩笑，总之比较自在。
他说这其实是一种障碍，“我始终觉得我不是一个口才很正很棒的人，不只是因为讲中文的关系，英文也一样”，担心没办法将自己真正想讲的话，正确传达，“所以在舞台上，在做现场表演的时候我可以很放，是因为透过音乐的这个屏障跟距离，让我觉得安全，或者应该说，我比较习惯，也比较擅长用音乐和人沟通吧。”
一如他眾所周知的古典背景，也就像他周身上下自然散发的贵族特质，在还没走进流行音乐的领域之前，王力宏曾经一心一意的以为，自己这辈子就是要当个职业小提琴手，“那应该是在我十七八岁的时候吧”，当时心下真是这么笃定的认为着，然而在家人反对，又得不到太多鼓励的情况下，心却开始七上八下的犹豫了起来，在难以抉择之下，干跑去问老师觉得自己是不是适合走这条路。“我那时候水准其实挺差的”，没想到老师听他这么一问之后，立刻笑笑的回答说：如果你还需要问我，就表示你根本不适合，因为你没有那个决心，因为音乐是一条很苦的路。
“哇，我那时候真的觉得好难过，好沮丧，甚至有一种无法形容的慌张和茫然，可是他说的好像又是事实”：“因为小时候对自己的未来虽然也有过很多幻想，比方建筑师啊，警察，救火员，动物园的管理员，但自从接触了音乐，更准确应该说是开始创作之后，我整个人就完全被它栓住了”。
“怎么说音乐呢？”话锋一转，他的思绪汇到更早更早以前，“你们都知道我成长在一个，可能可以说是最复杂的环境里吧，纽约，英文有个句子叫做shorterm memory span，当你什么都不知道的时候，反而是一种幸福，大量的信息虽然会带给你力量，但相对也会变成一种负担，让你混淆了自己的位置，不知道自己到底是什么，这其实很容易变成一种灰涩，会有很多负面的东西出现。就是好像什么都有一点，却偏偏
又什么都不是。”其间有个重大关键，叫做种族身份的迷思。
大多时候，他总是一个人，从一个国度到另一个国度，从一个城市的风景转换到另一个城市的面貌中，就像是一个旅人的心情，四海为家，却又处处不是家，王力宏把寂寞转换成为音乐，把生活的碰触变成音符，用音乐记录下他行进步伐中的点点滴滴!
“所以我真的很感激我拥有了创作，拥有音乐，因为创作这件事情让我了解了自己，对我来说，它就好像是一个隐形的朋友，它会问我很多问题，会不断不断的考验我，然后我必须要很诚实的面对它，很透明的把自己放在它的面前，把自己所有的一切都交给它。”
人都说他温文，阳光笑容里无法和叛逆发生联想，王力巨阀却说，做音乐的人，其实没有一个不叛逆，“因为它原本就是一个很逆向的东西”，他的叛逆不诉诸行为，却隐藏在音乐的世界中，其间居住着他内在或纠结或澎湃或不平或吶喊或抒情的活动。他将他的心情，他的生活，他的体验都放在音乐里，企图从中寻找一种自己与外在风景可以协调相处的平衡。
“很庆幸音乐的那扇门为我开了，而且是可以和更多人沟通的流行音乐”，露出了一个爽朗的笑容，“要不然现在的我，搞不好已经是一个医生了”，大笑，这曾经是家人对他最大的期望。要是那扇门永远都不曾打开，会觉得遗憾吗？好奇问他，“遗憾当然会有，但我相信我仍旧会是一个快乐的人吧，毕竟人是不可能没有遗憾的，就好像我虽然走进了流行音乐的世界中，我还是会有遗憾，遗憾我花了那么多的时间在录音室里，结果我的小提琴退步成这样，不也是很可惜的一件事情吗？”
“不过我不会后悔，因为我觉得人生只有一条路，你既然已经做了决定的选择，就好好的去做吧”；“任何事情都必须付出代价的，在我选择音乐，选择自由的同时，或许其实就已经付出了孤独的代价。”
过去一年的365天里，王力宏住了361天的饭店，尽管身边围绕着各种各样的人群，也许是歌迷，也许是记者，也许是工作人员，也许是哥作的伙伴，但就某种意义来说，他其实一直都是自己一个人，从一个国家到另一个国家，从一个城市转移到另一个城市，流转在不同的脸孔，不同的景色中，他说常常很喜欢在三更半夜的时候，一个人在街上走，除了是享受某种自虐的孤寂之外，同时是想对自己证明说：这就是我的家，“我想我和其它亚洲歌手很不同的地方，就是我在这些地方其实是没有家的，我心里永远觉得我不在家，我始终在旅行，对，就想是一种旅行，旅行的过程中，会有一些里面的不安全感，会有着某种奇怪的享受，我试图把我所经过的每个地方都当成家，但又其实清楚这些地方都不是我的家，那是一种很奇怪的感觉。”
如果能够改变自己个性上的某一点？王力宏突然爆出一连串的大笑声说：我好希望，我能够有足够的勇气和陌生人说话。就像是个旅人般的生活，“陌生”几乎等于是他生活的常态，飞机上，行走间，公车里，或者日常生活中的每一件事，身边永远充斥着一个又一个的陌生人，常常，他很希望能够开口跟他们说话，聊些什么都好，你这双鞋很好看，你长得很漂亮之类的，“总之可能是一些很霹雳的话”，偏偏大多数时候，他总是害羞的开不了口，要是哪天鼓起勇气做到，他便会开心个一整天，觉得自己很屌，“我其实很喜欢和人沟通，就像音乐对我而言，除了一种内在世界的抒发之外，更重要的意义，是它能够和人沟通。”
“寂寞吗？你说的是男人的寂寞，还是人的寂寞？”“其实都一样啦，寂寞时候最没脑的方法，当然就是想办法让自己变得很忙，忙到你回饭店之后就已经累垮了，根本没力气多想。而如果真的寂寞的话，我想我还是会拿出那句话吧，把寂寞变成一种享受，一种真实陪伴你的感觉，我觉得这就是音乐，是音乐人原本就应该要忍受的一种折磨，这样你的作品才会有肉，不是吗？”
话题进入短暂的沉默中，王力宏神情交杂在某种复杂的状态里，“我不是没有想过，我要这样子过一辈子吗？要过到什么时候呢？到少女不尖叫或怎么样吗？但反过来想，人原本就是寂寞的啊，一个人生一个人死，有什么呢？不知道，我只知道，我现在其实还蛮习惯，蛮喜欢这样的生活，谁知道未来会有什么变句呢？也许突然夹带着强烈冲击力的某件事情，某个人，就让我突然改变了，谁知道呢？”未来的事，就交给未来吧。
如今的王力宏，仍旧一心一意的随性过生活，像个雷达似的接收者四周的纷沓，把生活的感动变成歌，“生活是创作最大的原动力”，他的心思都在音乐上，放在创作里，几近疯狂的，“我最大的渴望，是能够做出我闭着眼睛时所听到的声音，我希望只要我能‘听’得到，我就能够做得出”，如今的他，仍旧会不断的旅行，不断的移动，不断的感受，不断的自虐，仍旧，不断的创作，在生活的每一个步伐里。
"我始终相信，这世界上的每一个人都是不一样的，每一个人都有着属于他自己的精彩，这是创作最有趣的地方。"王力宏说。
2001年4月日本访问
中文有声杂志
Part 1 of 4
马: 哎，各位听众朋友，你们好! 我是主持人马骅。让我们回到"人物专访"的栏目，那么今天呢，我们“人物专访”的主人是谁呢? 就是坐在我对面的十分帅的一位小伙子—王力宏。你好!
王: 你好!
马: 我想呢，日本的很多朋友呢，可能对王力宏呢，不是很熟悉，能不能在这里做些简单的自我介绍呢?
王: 简单的介绍。我是在美国New York出生、长大，然后我后来从台湾开始作唱片，然后我是从小一直学音乐的。亦是在大学主修音乐毕业的，所以我是一个创作人，然后我的新专辑你可以听到整张我的创作品跟制作品。然后我希望我的音乐是很独特的，有自己的style的东西，希望你们在这张专辑，可以听得出来，可以体会到。
马: 在中国大陆的好像没有人不知道王力宏。因为我在上海也好，在北京也好，喝到的矿泉水上面都是有王力宏。所以我们在国内，在中国大陆呢，每天都可以见到王力宏。
王: 没错，没错。很开心!
马: 那么第几次到日本呢?
王: 第二次。
马: 感觉怎么样，东京?
王: 啊! 十分棒! 其实我对日本的这个音乐文化 是非常有兴趣的。哎，自从我念大学的时候，我就是学一些有关日本古典音乐呀，还有一些“雅乐”啊，一些“能”……这些日本歌剧的东西。还有这个日本的一些古典音乐影响到现在的古典音乐。
Part 2 of 4
马: 那么说到王力宏呢，我想问一个非常基础的问题，就是在香港和台湾，许多的歌手呢，都有自己的英文名字。而恰恰王力宏没有英文名字，为什么呢?
王: 这个很有意思。刚好是相反的。在亚洲长大的华人就会取英文名字，那但是在外国长大的中国人就相反，我觉得不需要。本来取了一个英文名字，但是后来都没有用过，因为我还是觉得“力宏”比较特别。那在那个班上如果你叫Mike, John, David……可能很多人都会转头呢! 如果老师叫你的话。那我还是觉得“力宏”是唯一的，可能在美国没有，没有几个力宏! 可能我真的是唯一的。所以，我觉得叫起来蛮特别的。
马: 我想这跟你的歌是有关系的，是吗?“龙的传人”这首歌，你觉得是有关系的吗?
王: 对呀! 其实当时没有，没有这样的考虑。但是，但是现在这首歌是，我觉得特别有这个意义啦! 因为我还要把歌词重写，就是有加了一部分rap，还有它后面的歌词都有改。就是变成从ABC的角度American Born Chinese的角度来说，我们对中国人的这个定义其实可以越来越国际化了。但是我是土生土长在美国，而现在有上百万个人在美国，华裔的美国人，或者是加拿大长大，或者是澳洲出生啊……其实全世界我相信都有华人了。所以啊，这首歌作了一个非常国际的一个制作方式，一个编曲，那就是希望大家可以认同，新的 “龙的传人”的一个面貌。
马: 好的，让我们换个话题来谈谈你自己的音乐。那么你六岁开始学小提琴，八岁呢，开始学钢琴，后来在美国上音乐学院，那么你的音乐是一种什么样式的音乐呢?
王: 音乐对我来说是一种语言! 真的很像语言，真的很像……你坐在那边讲话，主要的是你里面的那个，那个想说什么……
马: 想表现什么……
王: 对，想表现什么? 音乐对我来说是个很直接而且很有感情的东西。它最棒的地方就是，它可以跟任何的人沟通。就是不管是哪一国的，或者是哪一个年龄的人，是有很大的空间。听音乐的人可以把它放在自己的生活里面，那完全没有压力，然后可以完全明白这个意思。对，所以我觉得音乐是一个很棒的沟通方式。
Part 3 of 4
马: 那么呢，你是出生在美国，长在美国。以后到了台湾、香港和中国大陆。那么，你从一个在外的人看，也就是在中、港、台之外的人来看，中、港、台的音乐是一种什么样的音乐呢?
王: 啊 ，中、港、台的音乐对一个音乐人来说是一个很有前途而且很刺激的一个环境。
马: 比如说?
王: 啊，比如说我觉得它在这五年来改变非常非常大。我觉得流行音乐就是一个在不断发展的一个，不断在改变的一个东西，这个才叫流行音乐。所以在这几年来，我觉得它的动力很强，所以可以带给很多创作人很多灵感! 譬如说，我，我记得五年前来到台湾我时候，我就听了收音机，那时候大部分的音乐还是以抒情歌为主。都是慢歌，都是一些比较卡拉OK式的东西。然后在这几年就多了一些另类，多了一些其它的，我不是说另类像是玩Band的那种另类，不是那么中间路线，我觉得这个很重要，因为年轻人可以在收音机，可以在一个音乐环境比较富的地方长大，可以扩大他们自己的思想，扩大自己的领域，我觉得这个很好。他们可能，以后更能接受不同的人，不同的音乐种类，啊，我觉得这样子其实都很重要。所以我觉得作华人的音乐给我的成就感很大。
Part 4 of 4
马: 你经常去大陆做些你的Promotion，对吧? 你觉得大陆的音乐市场 是一种什么样的状况呢?
王: 当然最明显的是大家都要支持正版的作品。因为有一个健康的市场，才能养一个丰富的音乐环境。同时来讲，我一直对中国大陆的音乐家的水准很 Impressed。就是我是说在音乐方面，因为我听过很多就是很会唱的一些歌手，或者是很有形的Band。我肯定以后就是我们亚洲的或者是东方人的这些音乐的领导，一定有很多从中国大陆出来的。
马: 那么对于中国大陆的目前的问题呢，刚才你说的像盗版，其它的你觉得在你所看到的问题呢?
王: 啊，问题? 我没有觉得……这些作音乐的人如果他们是在认真地在作音乐而且是很诚恳地在作音乐就没有什么问题。本来作音乐就是一个很自由的而且很自然的东西，所以作出来的东西一定会很不一样。但这个是很珍贵的。
马: 那么你现在的舞台在中、港、台，最多的地方是什么地方呢?
王: 啊，我觉得蛮平均的。
马: 蛮平均的。
王: 对。最近很多时间在上海跟香港，因为要同时在拍两部电影。一个是，跟郭富城、藤原纪香。还有唐季礼导演的。那这个几乎都在上海拍，啊，都是动作片，所以很好玩。那是我拍过的第一部电影。然后接下来就是还有另外一个电影，叫做。是based on 一个电动玩具，一个PlayStation的电动玩具。然后这个是由元奎导演的。因为元奎是导演过像李连杰啊，杨紫琼他们，也是一个动作片。那是科幻的动作片。所以我也是非常期待，因为动作片对我来说是一个新的 战，演戏也是一个新的学习。那个会是，大部分是在香港拍摄。
马: 那么你今后的路是一个什么样的路呢? 影、视、歌?
王: 当然还是音乐。啊，现在就是刚好我的音乐同行可以休息一下，因为花了一年，躲在录音室，那每一天都不出门，这样子。都在Homeboy Music Studio，是我自己的录音室，在美国。然后在作的很多工作，很多制作的工作。那作完了它之后，我就觉得我要不要去上很多通告啊?像过去这样子拍很多照啊，还是接受很多访问吶?一定还是要做吧，还是要去海外啊，还有每一个国家去，去见到当地的一些歌迷朋友们，但是这次在同时拍戏。因为拍戏是我觉得一方面音乐的头脑可以休息，另外是说可以豐富自己。连续作了很多张自己的专辑，然后现在就是从来没有拍过戏，对我来说是一个新的刺激。
马: 新的刺激?
王: 对。
马: 谢谢力宏!
王: 谢谢!
World of His Own
January, 2002 Lime Magazine
All Leehom wants is to plug his new album The One and Only! But will the American-bred Mando-pop whiz talk about anything else other than music? Chelsia Toon has quick chat with the serious musician who insists stoutly: "I party haaard!" Jeepers!
Shuffling betwen Four Season's Hotel's conference rooms for a string of TV interviews, Leehom is singing like his life depends on it. Yup, even if the 25-year-old musician/composer is just strolling along the marble-tiled floor for all of 30 seconds, he's gotta showcase a coupla lines from his latest single 'The One & Only'. Which is quite a sight if you're a LIME reporter loitering round 'cuz mind you, this rendition ain't your amateurish, bathroom-style warbling. This corridor crooning is delivered with so much emotional gusto and vibrato, one fellow journo cleverly coins the term 'Hom-phobia' as "a fear of people not taking you seriously as a musician". Giggle! Yes, the songster comes off a little showy, but wouldn't you flaunt it if you've got it?
Never mind that he's a little exhausted from all that jet-setting trying to promote his latest album, The One and Only. "Being tired makes me feel like I'm fighting a battle. Packing my bags in 20 minutes and getting out of that door in half an hour, deciding which cities to go to, when to go, taking my album and my music all round world to places I've never been to. It's like waging war really! Being tired is part of me."
So Leehom ain't the least shy about letting you know he is the goods when we're talking music. This no-nonsense overachiever is all eager to dish about his new CD (he wrote the title tune "at a club in Greece at five in the morning when everyone leaving was drunk and singing on top of their lungs."), but what we really wanna know is: does this guy have any fun at all?
LIME: The highlight of your new album The One and Only is its raw sound. Were most of the songs recorded on the spot?
LEE HOM: Well, I didn't want to sound too contrived when I produced this album. I'm doing a world tour after this so I wanted it to be a fun record that I'll really enjoy performing live. That was the vibe I went for. By the way, most of it is live! I went into the studios with nothing written and recorded 'Can't Quit You'. That was the most painless composition.
LIME: Quick, name The One and Only person whose opinion you value.
LEE HOM: Hmm...I have to say it's me. I'm definitely my harshest critic. When I write a song, I've to be confident it's gonna work when I'm 100 percent done. I really value the opinions of others, but I also know I can use some feedback and ignore the irrelevant bits.
LIME: This record has been described as a testament of how you've grown over the last year. Describe one incident that has made you more mature.
LEE HOM: Working on movies! That was the first time I worked with so many other artists and it made me realise we're all different. I used to think...oh, let's not worry about that! Now I think even though artists may release albums at the same time or we may be compared all the time, we're all different in what we wanna accomplish. (Seriously) I know I'm really here for music.
LIME: You say composing a song is 99 percent perspiration and 1 percent inspiration. How much of that is exasperation?
LEE HOM: (Smiles) I'm never exasperated when writing a song! I'm kind of a masochist. If I'm having a hard time writing and I get frustrated, I'll find some way to convince myself that I'm making progress - and I'll actually enjoy the pain. It's good pain!
LIME: Er...OK. You worked one of your production folks so hard on the last album, he passed out! None of those nasty accidents this time, we hope?
LEE HOM: (Chortles) No, thank goodness! I was too obsessed the last time and since then, I've learnt alot more about the logistics of producing. It's like having a kid. Overbearing parents are bad for the kid. On this album I was more relaxed, confident...but not overbearing!
LIME: But you've lost quite a bit of weight!
LEE HOM: That's what I've heard! It's not a conscious effort though. I dunno, I tend not to eat when I'm alone. And I totally forget about it when I don't leave the studio! (Rolls his eyes) And it's not like I have a girlfriend to remind me! Plus, my normal body type is really skinny, so I've to work really, really hard to put on weight.
LIME: Although you've proven yourself to be more stuff than fluff, it's still hard to shake off that idol tag. Does that bug the heck outta you?
LEE HOM: No! That's a huge compliment! But I'm just going to be myself and concentrate on my music. I want to be a better musician but I'm not shying away from being an idol. It's just that I'd rather not spend my time taking pictures with flowers and stuff! Haha!
LIME: You've admitted to being wary of journalists and often lie to get them off your back. What's the most ridiculous story you've cooked up to feed the prying press?
LEE HOM: (Thoughtfully) Gee. This is a good question 'cuz I really should create better stories! But it's not like they're big, elaborate, fabricated lies. I'm not very good at lying at all! But when nasty reporters are obviously asking pointed questions to corner you, then you have to tell yourself, 'I don't owe these people the truth because they just wanna use it to hurt me anyway.'
LIME: When we fisrt interviewed you yonks ago, you were an inexperienced newbie. How much of a seasoned pro are you now? Fallen for any showbiz trappings so far?
LEE HOM: (cheekily) Trappings? What kinds of trappings? I'm into some of the trappings. Heh heh. I enjoy the independant life of a travelling musician. And I love staying in some of the nicest hotels! Over the last six years, I've always lived in hotels. My room is always in a mess but it's clean when I get back. See, I've really been spoilt. It's gonna be a problem when I finally want to settle down and buy a house!
LIME: Teehee! Do you have a girlfriend in every port?
LEE HOM: (Chuckles) No. That would be very uncool.
LIME: You're dead serious about being seen as a credible musician. What's the fun side of you we don't get to see?
LEE HOM: Well, it wouldn't be so fun if you did get to see it, would it?
LIME: We wouldn't know if we don't get to see it, would we?
LEE HOM: (Guffaws) Well, it wouldn't be fun for me if you got to see it!
LIME: So, this is the fun side of you, we suppose?
LEE HOM: Well, I mean, I ...I have a great time just like everyone else. And I party hard. Harder than most people my age do. Really.
LIME: How hard exactly?
LEE HOM: I get crazy!
LIME: How crazy?
LEE HOM: Erm...(Thinks hard) Crazier than...crazier than...it's suitable for the average G-rated movie. (Waves dismissively) OK, leave it.
LIME: Right. What are your other passionate pursuits, then?
LEE HOM: Anything creative! I have lots of friends who are directors, painters, sculptors and scriptwriters. (Enthusiastically) I just like being around creative people. It makes me so excited! My other hobbies include acting and writing. I write a lot, like, I write in my diary! And I love admiring the creativity in films. I just saw 'Being John Malkovich'. I really liked the movie 'coz it's like no other I've seen before!
LEE HOM: I get crazy!
Interview Wang Lee-Hom
2002
Wang Lee-Hom the 24-year-old singer has cult status in South-east Asia. He was in Nepal during April to film a documentary for the Speak Your Mind campaign which he co-hosted with Manisha Koirala. He is an International Youth Ambassador for the campaign and is committed to the rights of the Asian youth. On the musical front, keep a look out for, Like a Gunshot, from the OST of Spiderman.
This articulate superstar took time out of his busy schedule to answer a few questions for WAVE.
How do you define yourself?
I identify myself as an American born Chinese, and as a global person. My Asian side is very important to me.
What made you move back to Asia?
It was fate. I never deliberately intended on developing a career in Asia but it just happened that I kept getting more and more offers. In fact I am looking for a house in Taiwan, and that’s a first. For the last few years I have been flying back and forth.
On the Asian Youth Charter:
I think the children are the future of this world. I believe in education for them. You know it doesn’t even matter where, children of the world are all the same. When they are born, they are like tabula rasa, a blank paper. Society, culture and education shape them.
On working with Manisha Koirala
It was wonderful working with Manisha. She’s taught me a lot. Not only is she a celebrity but she is also very involved politically. Her uncle used to be PM so she knows what’s going on in the poorest side and she also knows what’s going on in the executive side. So to be with her and talk to her was really educational. She’s very smart.
You say music can change the world.
I have to believe, just as I did as a young child, that music can change the world. When we were in Kavre, Manisha and I walked into this room of about fifteen very shy girls. We started asking them questions with the camera and they wouldn’t even look at us. And then, after a while of that we started to sing songs, and they started to sing their songs. A little boy, maybe he was 5 years old, pulled out his drum and all the girls started singing. I started singing in Chinese and everyone clapped along. We drove the car up and put in some CDs, opened up the doors and turned it up really loud. Everyone started dancing together. There were no barriers. Even though I couldn’t understand a word of what they were saying by the end of the day we were friends, very close, so I still believe in the power of music. I think every real musician is sincerely a pacifist in his heart, because he knows the power of music; how simple, primitive and important it is.
Would you go on tour to raise funds for Third World Countries?
There are so many things I’d like to do and a lot of times you have to wait for an opportunity. I’m one person. I cancelled other things to be here, like commercials for Spiderman, for my commitment to social work. The other things I do charity wise are really just personal donations. I also wrote songs for Jane Goodall, the Taiwan earthquake and a song called Frozen Dreams for orphans in Taiwan. Those were all personal things though and don’t have the impact of a huge event like the UNICEF and MTV can.
Greatest musical influences:
Stevie Wonder and Leonard Bernstein, the classical musician. In Jazz my favourite would be Herbie Hancock. I’ll be meeting a couple of musicians here tonight. I heard the song currently on number one, it starts with a guy going ‘ahem’. You know which one it is?
It’s Wari Jamuna. Tell us about your single for the OST of Spiderman.
It’s called Like a Gunshot. I just finished it before coming here. It’s going to air soon.
How did you like Nepal?
It’s been fantastic. I want to come back, and so do two of my colleagues. It was such a great experience but we were mostly working on the documentary. I’m very proud of it. A lot of work went into it so I hope everyone looks out for it. I think it’ll be entertaining and informative. The documentary took us to some interesting places though. We went to the Durbar Square in Patan, Dhulikel. I want to see the Himalayas, do some trekking.
Most memorable incident:
It was meeting this kid called Manoj. He works in the Patan Durbar Square. He runs up to tourists and he speaks very, very good English.He took us around; he knows all the history of all the relics, temples because he’s a guide. He also speaks Japanese, French, Spanish, Chinese, Nepali and Hindi. He’s been working there since he was 5, and has never been to school. We became friends, we spent the whole day together. He’s really quick because he also has street smarts. He could get admitted to the best schools in the world because he is really gifted. I mean this kid would go to Harvard next year, he is so smart!
不可能错过王力宏的第一次 First Times
遮掉阳光的那一面，你会看见怎样的王力宏？
Lee-hom grew up just like any other young Americans. Born and bred in New York ,he was once a rebellious kid, got himself involved in fights, ran away from home ;made mistakes on stage, fell in love secretly, got grounded by mum, moved to tears by the performance of a symphony orchestra......
王力宏的成长经验，和一般ABC小孩没什么不同，在纽约出生长大的他，也曾经叛逆、打架、离家出走；上台表演“凸槌”、暗恋女生不敢追、被妈妈处罚禁闭、听交响乐感动落泪.......
First Time On Stage
第一次上台表演，好兴奋！
Lee-hom did his first performance at the age of 9." It was a recital organized by my teacher where all his students took part. I was very excited ! " The pieces being performed were familiar to most people. Lee-hom found everything to be exciting,there was no fear until the moment he was to go on stage. " I was sitting down stage, holding my violin waiting for my turn, I felt a little bit nervous. "
九岁那年，王力宏第一次站上舞台表演，他回想当时的心情：“那是我的老师办的演奏会，他的学生都上台表演，我觉得满兴奋、满喜欢的！”因为演奏的曲目都是大家很熟悉的，对王力宏来说，这是一件很开心的事情，所以心情始终处于兴奋状态，只有在上台前才感到少许紧张，“那时我坐在台下，抱着小提琴，心里数着什么时候轮到我，有点紧张。”
The first performance was a success but something went wrong in a performance in high school. " I was totally lost and I had repeated the piece more than once. That was the worst ! " It was Lee-hom's solo violin recital, he had a pianist who accompanied him on the piano. When the disaster occurred, the pianist could not follow and stopped to search the score. Lee-hom went on playing his violin so that no one would notice his mistake."
第一次演出非常顺利，不过高中三年级那次的表演就出了大差错。“有一首歌我完全迷路了，因为太投入，所以不知道已经演奏到第二还是第三遍，又重复演奏，那是最离谱的一次！”那场是王力宏个人的小提琴演奏会，有位钢琴手帮他伴奏，王力宏出状况时，钢琴手因为找不到王力宏的旋律，只好停下来找谱，王力宏则镇定地继续演出，不让别人发现他的错误。
My teacher instilled an important notion : never stop even if you made a mistake. " Lee-hom feels that as long as he acts natural, it will not be noticable to the audience because they are not experts in music ; if he stops, the audience will feel panic. " I am the one who is steering, I will go on until I reach my destination. " Lee-hom does get upset on flaws in his peformance. However, he does not get emotional on stage but he will make a self-criticism after the performance.
老师给了我一个观念，就算‘凸槌’也不能停下来让人家知道。”王力宏觉得只要自己表现得很自然，观众其实不会发现，因为他们不是那么专业；而且如果中断表演坦白出错，观众也会跟着你紧张。“是我在控制方向盘，我一定要开到底。”王力宏对自己的失误会感到很懊恼，但他一定在事后才检讨，不会在舞台上闹情绪。
Fighting ?
和哥哥打架，好刺激！
Can you imagine Lee-hom fighting ? Lee-hom says that he is a good natured person and he has never fight with anyone before except with his brother...but that was not the real fighting.
你能想象优质俊俏的王力宏打架的模样吗？王力宏说他的脾气温和，没有人别人打架的经验，倒是和自己的哥哥打打闹闹了好几年，还曾因此意外骨折。
" At the beginning we were just having fun and we knew our limits, no one will be hurt. There was a period where we would fight 5 to 6 times in a week. "
“刚开始是好玩，像玩摔跤，看谁能打得重，后来愈打愈重，就真的打起来。可是会有限度，不会让对方受伤。”
So who was the winner ? " My brother won most of the time. He's older, taller,fatter and heavier than me. " There was once when Lee-hom and his brother was 'playing' fighting, the ground was slippery, Lee-hom fell accidentally and ended up with his arm wrapped in a cast.
王力宏说，有几年的时间，兄弟俩一周大概会打个五、六次。谁是赢家？王力宏笑说：“通常都是我哥会嬴，他大我两岁半，比我高、比我胖、比我重。”有一次，两人又在‘玩’打架，因为地上结冰很滑，王力宏一个不小心摔倒，压到手而骨折，还上了石膏。
First love, so sweet!
初恋滋味，好甜蜜！
Lee-hom's first love came by when he was 13. She wasnew in school and both of them took part in the school play. Even though Lee-hom liked her a lot but he never told her so. They became the best of friends and she had got a boyfriend of her own.
王力宏的初恋，严格说来，应该是暗恋。十三岁那年，王力宏参与学校舞台剧。“她很漂亮，那时才刚来我们学校。”王力宏虽然喜欢她，却爱在心里口难开，“我没有追，我暗恋她，后来成为好朋友，她也有男朋友了。”四、五年后，王力宏才跟她表白：“那时候我喜欢妳”，对方怪他：“你怎么不说？”后来王力宏演过不少有吻戏的舞台剧，他自嘲道：“台上接吻比台下多”，不过恋爱经验没有随着吻戏次数递增。
Grounded For A Month
禁足一个月，好郁闷！
How do you punish a disobedient child ? The first time Lee-hom was grounded onemonth for coming back late after a baseball match. He did not know that the match was held out of town. When he got home by bus, it had already passed the time he had promised his parents earlier.
不听话的孩子，怎么处罚？教育孩子很有一套的王妈妈，曾经禁足王力宏一个月，而且让王力宏心服口服，“游戏规则就是这样，要玩就要遵守。
" When I got home at 2am, mum and dad were there in the living room waiting for me. I knew I was finished. "
”第一次被禁足（除了上学，哪里都不能去）一个月，是因为和朋友去看球赛，回家时已是凌晨两点，“爸妈都在客厅等我，我一看就知道完了！”
Apart from attending school he was not allowed to go anywhere else for a month. The second time was Halloween, Wang Mama had told Lee-hom to call home if he was to come home late.
因为不知道球赛地点在城外，王力宏搭巴士来回，错过他承诺父母的时间，以致被禁足。第二次是在万圣节，王力宏和朋友玩得太晚，妈妈事前已交代他，如果晚回家要先打电话让家人知道，
" Other kids don't have to call home, I'll loose face if I do so."Therefore Lee-hom was grounded again. Do you feel ashamed ? " No, I even called up my friends and told them that I would not be able to play with them. "
“别的小孩不用打电话，我如果打电话，很没面子。”于是王力宏再次被禁足。会不会觉得很丢脸？王力宏说：“不会，我还打电话一一告诉朋友，让他们知道这段时间我都不能出去玩。”
The Most Unforgettable Picture
最难忘的画面：屋顶唱歌看星星
There was a roof top just outside Lee-hom's bedroom window. During the night when everyone had gone to sleep, he would climb out the window onto the roof. " I would lie down and look at the stars, play the violin and sing , like the fiddle on the roof. This is the most unforgettable picture."
在王力宏房间的窗外，有个屋顶。晚上，当全家人都入睡后，他经常从窗户爬到屋顶上，“躺在屋顶上看星星、拉小提琴唱歌，一直到天亮，像屋顶上的提琴手。”一个人仰望星斗，是王力宏最难忘的画面。因为邻居离王力宏家很远，住家附近又空旷，不会吵到家人和邻居。
The Most Electrified Moment
最触电的感觉：听波士顿交响乐团演奏
The first time Lee-hom saw the Boston Symphony Orchestra perform, he went alone,bought the ticket, got a good seat, looked, listened and cried. " I was very touched, they were so talented. I admired their creativity. " Lee-hom hopes to become a conductor in future. He is taking conducting courses to build up his dream.
王力宏第一次去听波士顿交响乐团演出，一个人去，买了票，做在很好的位子，看着、 听着、哭了。“我太感动、太羡慕了，他们有那样的才华。我最羡慕的是他们的创作力，太爱了！”王力宏梦想将来自己有这么一天，“我想当指挥家”，目前他已开始选修指挥课程，构筑梦想。
The Most Unforgettable City : New York
最难忘的城市：纽约
New York has his beloved family, the memories of his childhood days ; New York has the most familiar sceneries ; New York the most unforgettable city.
纽约，有他最亲爱的家人、有他成长的回忆；纽约，是他最熟悉的风景，也是他最难忘的城市。
"Everytime I step into New York city, I can feel the excitement. It's like anything can happen, your biggest dreams will be made possible there. " To Lee-hom, everything seems possible in New York.
“每次到纽约，一进入市区就会有很刺激、很兴奋的感觉，觉得你很有可能去发生任何事，你的梦想再大都可能完成。”一说起故乡纽约，王力宏眼睛就发亮，纽约对他来说，有无限的可能，
When Lee-hom and his friends visited New York , they felt that they could complete a Broadway show. Lee-hom had tried performing on the streets of New York. He put his hat on the ground and started singing. " It's good money ! Just one afternoon, I can have an excellent meal with my friends. "
他和一群朋友到纽约，就觉得可以完成一出百老汇剧。王力宏曾把帽子往地上一放，就在纽约的街头唱起歌来，他笑说：“很好赚耶！唱一个下午，就可以就朋友去吃一顿很棒的大餐！”王力宏，也曾经是纽约迷人的一部份。
The Most Unforgettable Movie
最难忘的电影：The Shining
Lee-hom has not the time to encounter "Ring", but he has seen many horror movies.The most terrifying would be "The Shining", starring Jack Nicholson. " That one's a classic. " Lee-hom was 15 or 16 when he saw that movie. " There were a few scenes which I dare not see, especially the twin sisters who were obsessed by the demon and the pavement flooded with blood ...... ! "
虽然还没时间领教“贞子”的威力，不过看过不少恐怖片的王力宏，觉得最恐怖、最难忘的电影是 Jack Nicholson 演的 "The Shining"，“那是恐怖片的经典”，王力宏看这部电影时约15、16岁，他说：“有几幕我还不敢看，尤其是被鬼附身的两个双胞胎姐妹，以及如洪水般倾泄而出、掩没走道的鲜血......！ ”
Things Which Lee-hom Carries With Him Most Of The Time
力宏总是带着的随身物件
His notebook and musical scores -- Music.Whenever Lee-hom is back in Taiwan for promotion, he will always bring along with him his beloved violin, his Mac notebook, musical scores which he uses in school,manuscript papers and sunglasses.
他的笔记型计算机和乐谱---都是相关音乐方面的。力宏不管什么时候回到台湾宣传一定都会带着他最钟爱的小提琴、他的麦金塔笔电、在学校使用的乐谱、手稿还有太阳眼镜。
Lee-hom grew up just like any other young Americans. Born and bred in New York ,he was once a rebellious kid, got himself involved in fights, ran away from home ;made mistakes on stage, fell in love secretly, got grounded by mum, moved to tears by the performance of a symphony orchestra......
王力宏的成长经验，和一般ABC小孩没什么不同，在纽约出生长大的他，也曾经叛逆、打架、离家出走；上台表演“凸槌”、暗恋女生不敢追、被妈妈处罚禁闭、听交响乐感动落泪.......
First Time On Stage
第一次上台表演，好兴奋！
Lee-hom did his first performance at the age of 9." It was a recital organized by my teacher where all his students took part. I was very excited ! " The pieces being performed were familiar to most people. Lee-hom found everything to be exciting,there was no fear until the moment he was to go on stage. " I was sitting down stage, holding my violin waiting for my turn, I felt a little bit nervous. "
九岁那年，王力宏第一次站上舞台表演，他回想当时的心情：“那是我的老师办的演奏会，他的学生都上台表演，我觉得满兴奋、满喜欢的！”因为演奏的曲目都是大家很熟悉的，对王力宏来说，这是一件很开心的事情，所以心情始终处于兴奋状态，只有在上台前才感到少许紧张，“那时我坐在台下，抱着小提琴，心里数着什么时候轮到我，有点紧张。”
The first performance was a success but something went wrong in a performance in high school. " I was totally lost and I had repeated the piece more than once. That was the worst ! " It was Lee-hom's solo violin recital, he had a pianist who accompanied him on the piano. When the disaster occurred, the pianist could not follow and stopped to search the score. Lee-hom went on playing his violin so that no one would notice his mistake."
第一次演出非常顺利，不过高中三年级那次的表演就出了大差错。“有一首歌我完全迷路了，因为太投入，所以不知道已经演奏到第二还是第三遍，又重复演奏，那是最离谱的一次！”那场是王力宏个人的小提琴演奏会，有位钢琴手帮他伴奏，王力宏出状况时，钢琴手因为找不到王力宏的旋律，只好停下来找谱，王力宏则镇定地继续演出，不让别人发现他的错误。
My teacher instilled an important notion : never stop even if you made a mistake. " Lee-hom feels that as long as he acts natural, it will not be noticable to the audience because they are not experts in music ; if he stops, the audience will feel panic. " I am the one who is steering, I will go on until I reach my destination. " Lee-hom does get upset on flaws in his peformance. However, he does not get emotional on stage but he will make a self-criticism after the performance.
老师给了我一个观念，就算‘凸槌’也不能停下来让人家知道。”王力宏觉得只要自己表现得很自然，观众其实不会发现，因为他们不是那么专业；而且如果中断表演坦白出错，观众也会跟着你紧张。“是我在控制方向盘，我一定要开到底。”王力宏对自己的失误会感到很懊恼，但他一定在事后才检讨，不会在舞台上闹情绪。
Fighting ?
和哥哥打架，好刺激！
Can you imagine Lee-hom fighting ? Lee-hom says that he is a good natured person and he has never fight with anyone before except with his brother...but that was not the real fighting.
你能想象优质俊俏的王力宏打架的模样吗？王力宏说他的脾气温和，没有人别人打架的经验，倒是和自己的哥哥打打闹闹了好几年，还曾因此意外骨折。
" At the beginning we were just having fun and we knew our limits, no one will be hurt. There was a period where we would fight 5 to 6 times in a week. "
“刚开始是好玩，像玩摔跤，看谁能打得重，后来愈打愈重，就真的打起来。可是会有限度，不会让对方受伤。”
So who was the winner ? " My brother won most of the time. He's older, taller,fatter and heavier than me. " There was once when Lee-hom and his brother was 'playing' fighting, the ground was slippery, Lee-hom fell accidentally and ended up with his arm wrapped in a cast.
王力宏说，有几年的时间，兄弟俩一周大概会打个五、六次。谁是赢家？王力宏笑说：“通常都是我哥会嬴，他大我两岁半，比我高、比我胖、比我重。”有一次，两人又在‘玩’打架，因为地上结冰很滑，王力宏一个不小心摔倒，压到手而骨折，还上了石膏。
First love, so sweet!
初恋滋味，好甜蜜！
Lee-hom's first love came by when he was 13. She wasnew in school and both of them took part in the school play. Even though Lee-hom liked her a lot but he never told her so. They became the best of friends and she had got a boyfriend of her own.
王力宏的初恋，严格说来，应该是暗恋。十三岁那年，王力宏参与学校舞台剧。“她很漂亮，那时才刚来我们学校。”王力宏虽然喜欢她，却爱在心里口难开，“我没有追，我暗恋她，后来成为好朋友，她也有男朋友了。”四、五年后，王力宏才跟她表白：“那时候我喜欢妳”，对方怪他：“你怎么不说？”后来王力宏演过不少有吻戏的舞台剧，他自嘲道：“台上接吻比台下多”，不过恋爱经验没有随着吻戏次数递增。
Grounded For A Month
禁足一个月，好郁闷！
How do you punish a disobedient child ? The first time Lee-hom was grounded onemonth for coming back late after a baseball match. He did not know that the match was held out of town. When he got home by bus, it had already passed the time he had promised his parents earlier.
不听话的孩子，怎么处罚？教育孩子很有一套的王妈妈，曾经禁足王力宏一个月，而且让王力宏心服口服，“游戏规则就是这样，要玩就要遵守。
" When I got home at 2am, mum and dad were there in the living room waiting for me. I knew I was finished. "
”第一次被禁足（除了上学，哪里都不能去）一个月，是因为和朋友去看球赛，回家时已是凌晨两点，“爸妈都在客厅等我，我一看就知道完了！”
Apart from attending school he was not allowed to go anywhere else for a month. The second time was Halloween, Wang Mama had told Lee-hom to call home if he was to come home late.
因为不知道球赛地点在城外，王力宏搭巴士来回，错过他承诺父母的时间，以致被禁足。第二次是在万圣节，王力宏和朋友玩得太晚，妈妈事前已交代他，如果晚回家要先打电话让家人知道，
" Other kids don't have to call home, I'll loose face if I do so."Therefore Lee-hom was grounded again. Do you feel ashamed ? " No, I even called up my friends and told them that I would not be able to play with them. "
“别的小孩不用打电话，我如果打电话，很没面子。”于是王力宏再次被禁足。会不会觉得很丢脸？王力宏说：“不会，我还打电话一一告诉朋友，让他们知道这段时间我都不能出去玩。”
The Most Unforgettable Picture
最难忘的画面：屋顶唱歌看星星
There was a roof top just outside Lee-hom's bedroom window. During the night when everyone had gone to sleep, he would climb out the window onto the roof. " I would lie down and look at the stars, play the violin and sing , like the fiddle on the roof. This is the most unforgettable picture."
在王力宏房间的窗外，有个屋顶。晚上，当全家人都入睡后，他经常从窗户爬到屋顶上，“躺在屋顶上看星星、拉小提琴唱歌，一直到天亮，像屋顶上的提琴手。”一个人仰望星斗，是王力宏最难忘的画面。因为邻居离王力宏家很远，住家附近又空旷，不会吵到家人和邻居。
The Most Electrified Moment
最触电的感觉：听波士顿交响乐团演奏
The first time Lee-hom saw the Boston Symphony Orchestra perform, he went alone,bought the ticket, got a good seat, looked, listened and cried. " I was very touched, they were so talented. I admired their creativity. " Lee-hom hopes to become a conductor in future. He is taking conducting courses to build up his dream.
王力宏第一次去听波士顿交响乐团演出，一个人去，买了票，做在很好的位子，看着、 听着、哭了。“我太感动、太羡慕了，他们有那样的才华。我最羡慕的是他们的创作力，太爱了！”王力宏梦想将来自己有这么一天，“我想当指挥家”，目前他已开始选修指挥课程，构筑梦想。
The Most Unforgettable City : New York
最难忘的城市：纽约
New York has his beloved family, the memories of his childhood days ; New York has the most familiar sceneries ; New York the most unforgettable city.
纽约，有他最亲爱的家人、有他成长的回忆；纽约，是他最熟悉的风景，也是他最难忘的城市。
"Everytime I step into New York city, I can feel the excitement. It's like anything can happen, your biggest dreams will be made possible there. " To Lee-hom, everything seems possible in New York.
“每次到纽约，一进入市区就会有很刺激、很兴奋的感觉，觉得你很有可能去发生任何事，你的梦想再大都可能完成。”一说起故乡纽约，王力宏眼睛就发亮，纽约对他来说，有无限的可能，
When Lee-hom and his friends visited New York , they felt that they could complete a Broadway show. Lee-hom had tried performing on the streets of New York. He put his hat on the ground and started singing. " It's good money ! Just one afternoon, I can have an excellent meal with my friends. "
他和一群朋友到纽约，就觉得可以完成一出百老汇剧。王力宏曾把帽子往地上一放，就在纽约的街头唱起歌来，他笑说：“很好赚耶！唱一个下午，就可以就朋友去吃一顿很棒的大餐！”王力宏，也曾经是纽约迷人的一部份。
The Most Unforgettable Movie
最难忘的电影：The Shining
Lee-hom has not the time to encounter "Ring", but he has seen many horror movies.The most terrifying would be "The Shining", starring Jack Nicholson. " That one's a classic. " Lee-hom was 15 or 16 when he saw that movie. " There were a few scenes which I dare not see, especially the twin sisters who were obsessed by the demon and the pavement flooded with blood ...... ! "
虽然还没时间领教“贞子”的威力，不过看过不少恐怖片的王力宏，觉得最恐怖、最难忘的电影是 Jack Nicholson 演的 "The Shining"，“那是恐怖片的经典”，王力宏看这部电影时约15、16岁，他说：“有几幕我还不敢看，尤其是被鬼附身的两个双胞胎姐妹，以及如洪水般倾泄而出、掩没走道的鲜血......！ ”
Things Which Lee-hom Carries With Him Most Of The Time
力宏总是带着的随身物件
His notebook and musical scores -- Music.Whenever Lee-hom is back in Taiwan for promotion, he will always bring along with him his beloved violin, his Mac notebook, musical scores which he uses in school,manuscript papers and sunglasses.
他的笔记型计算机和乐谱---都是相关音乐方面的。力宏不管什么时候回到台湾宣传一定都会带着他最钟爱的小提琴、他的麦金塔笔电、在学校使用的乐谱、手稿还有太阳眼镜。
Dream Guy
October 3, 2000 The Straits Times
By Yeow Kai Chai
But Wang wants to be loved for his voice -- not looks
Wang Lee Hom was recently voted the No. 1 sexual fantasy of Taiwanese girls. But if he had his way, he would rather people focus on his singing than his looks. The American-born Chinese singer goes behind the cameras for a special fashion spread with Life!.
Asian Ambition
Wang Lee Hom is so serious about his image that he does not smile at Life!'s photo shoot. What about his love life? Sorry, folks, he's not telling.
WANG LEE HOM, at the ripe old age of 24, is a very serious multi-hyphenate: singer-composer-arranger.
Who cares if he was nominated Taiwanese girls' No. 1 sexual fantasy in an online poll in July?
During his press conference, the classically-trained musician reminds journalists, time and again, about his wide-ranging musical interests, from classical to rock to funk.
Any question about relationships and love scenes is deflected deftly with the polite insouciance of an intensely-private, but well-brought-up boy.
"What was it like kissing Karen Mok? Aren't you afraid of people talking?" a wide-eyed scribe asks, referring to Wang's 30-second smooch with the Hongkong wild girl in Ashes To Ashes, a new anti-smoking, educational short film directed by Leslie Cheung.
The milliseconds tick by, air charged with expectancy.
"You can't worry about all these things when you're an actor," comes his slick reply, accented by a wee, but oh-so-telling shrug.
A rocker with less patience and more swagger would have stood up and walked away, but not Wang.
The New Yorker is too level-headed to be bothered by inanities.
FACING this reporter after the press conference, Wang demonstrates utmost professionalism.
He should be beat from a jam-packed schedule which saw him attending the charity show Affairs Of The Heart on Sunday and undergoing a busy round of interviews to promote his seventh album, Forever's First Day. But he is not.
Well, at least not on the surface. Demonstrating nary a sign of frazzled nerves, he shakes your hand and begins talking about himself on the sofa, impervious to the clatter of minders nearby.
The 1.8-m-tall lad locks you with his gaze while offering resolutely cogent answers to your probing, sometimes hackneyed queries.
An unruffled, attentive interviewee: What more could one ask for?
So, first things first. What is his attitude towards the paparazzi?
"Well, I haven't had it so bad, I don't have that many negative reports," demurs Wang. "Maybe it's got to do with the fact that I don't really talk about my personal life with the press. I withhold information, though all they want to know is my love life. They want to know the dirt. But, sorry, it's not public knowledge."
In eloquent American-English, he spits it out plainly, mien unchanging, placid even. Not an iota of distress from this dude who says he inherits patience from his doctor Dad and librarian Mum, who migrated from Taiwan to America.
"Anyway, all the relationship issues are in my songs," he offers, directing the focus smartly back to his craft.
WANG, as is abundantly clear, is proud of his latest Mandarin magnum opus, Forever's First Day, which has so far sold a brisk 10,000 copies in Singapore since its release in late June.
In Taiwan, it sold a whopping 200,000 copies.
The album took more than a year to record. He composed and arranged all 11 songs while finishing his Masters at Berklee College of Music last year. Best of all, it fulfilled his ambition of revitalising formulaic Mandopop with classical and R&B touches.
Next year, he plans to cut an English album and embark on his first world tour.
This innate sense of duty and integrity to introduce musical variety into the Chinese music scene was inspired by an unforgettable experience.
As a 17-year-old lad, he first listened to a Mandarin album, which happened to be Andy Lau's Forgettable Waters. It was not fortuitous.
"That was years ago," he groans. "Well, I didn't mean to say that everything he did was boring. It just sounded like all the kelian (pitiful) ballads! It's nothing personal."
Today, his idea of revolutionalising Chinese pop is exemplified by a simply jaw-droppin' dance cover of Descendent Of The Dragon, originally a heart-thumping folk anthem by Li Jianfu.
It is a version which should silence purists for good, and which "bananas" (Westernised Asians) should embrace, especially for its slang twang.
Why did he cover that song?
"It's just great timing," he explains. "There are obvious coincidences. I'm a Dragon. Li Jianfu is my maternal uncle. It means a lot to me personally, as well to my family and extended family. We are very proud that he wrote the song."
He adds: "Also I recorded it in 2000, the Year of the Dragon, which marks the beginning of the new millennium for the rise of Asia."
FOR Wang, the second of three brothers, music has become a platform for him to assert his identity as a new cosmopolitan Asian.
His recent forays into moviedom, like Stanley Tong's mega-action thriller, China Strike Force, opposite Hongkong superstar Aaron Kwok, American rapper Coolio and Japanese actress Norika Fujiwara, is, well, "a sideline thing".
Music, on the other hand, affords him the greatest freedom to forge a new millennial vision.
"There are so many different types of Chinese now," he philosophises. "There's Australian Chinese, South-East Asian Chinese, New Zealand Chinese, American Chinese, Canadian Chinese. Being Chinese doesn't mean you have to wear a ma gua (traditional robe for men). You can be just like...me!"
One stares at the gleaming Star of David dangling from his neck and his nascent Elvis sideburns.
So, what about this supposed rivalry between him and fellow Asian-American singer David Tao?
Wang cannot wait to give his side of the story.
"It's all imagined competition, this talk that we snubbed each other," he says. "We're really good friends. He'll come over to my house in Boston, and I'll just pop by his house. In fact, part of this album was recorded at his house in Los Angeles.
"It's all soooo stupid. The press just put two separate pictures of us looking pissed off, together.
"So it looks like we're giving each other dirty looks."
You laugh, nervously. He does not smile. But neither does he look angry.
ACTION speaks louder than words indeed. So, how serious is Wang when it comes to his music career?
At the Life! photo-shoot, the guy is firm, sure of what he wants, while unfailingly polite at the same time.
Of the eight outfits chosen for him, he agrees to wear only three. The other outfits are his own.
He also tells the stylist that he is conscious about the image he wants to project, which is that of a serious composer and not just another teen-pop singer. Which is why he seldom smiled for the camera.
It may seem naive of Wang to think that serious musicians do not smile, but hey, the five-year showbiz pro should know the inner workings of the music scene and how image is pivotal.
At the same time, the dude is wary of the trappings of awards and accolades.
"While it's nice to receive awards, I am very critical about who is giving them to me," the muso avers.
"An award doesn't mean anything..." he checks himself, then continues. "Let me put it in a positive way, an award means a lot to me if it's given to me by somebody I respect. Otherwise, I just wouldn't attend the event."
Smart words. All eyes will be watching the awards shows you do attend, Lee Hom.
By Yeow Kai Chai
But Wang wants to be loved for his voice -- not looks
Wang Lee Hom was recently voted the No. 1 sexual fantasy of Taiwanese girls. But if he had his way, he would rather people focus on his singing than his looks. The American-born Chinese singer goes behind the cameras for a special fashion spread with Life!.
Asian Ambition
Wang Lee Hom is so serious about his image that he does not smile at Life!'s photo shoot. What about his love life? Sorry, folks, he's not telling.
WANG LEE HOM, at the ripe old age of 24, is a very serious multi-hyphenate: singer-composer-arranger.
Who cares if he was nominated Taiwanese girls' No. 1 sexual fantasy in an online poll in July?
During his press conference, the classically-trained musician reminds journalists, time and again, about his wide-ranging musical interests, from classical to rock to funk.
Any question about relationships and love scenes is deflected deftly with the polite insouciance of an intensely-private, but well-brought-up boy.
"What was it like kissing Karen Mok? Aren't you afraid of people talking?" a wide-eyed scribe asks, referring to Wang's 30-second smooch with the Hongkong wild girl in Ashes To Ashes, a new anti-smoking, educational short film directed by Leslie Cheung.
The milliseconds tick by, air charged with expectancy.
"You can't worry about all these things when you're an actor," comes his slick reply, accented by a wee, but oh-so-telling shrug.
A rocker with less patience and more swagger would have stood up and walked away, but not Wang.
The New Yorker is too level-headed to be bothered by inanities.
FACING this reporter after the press conference, Wang demonstrates utmost professionalism.
He should be beat from a jam-packed schedule which saw him attending the charity show Affairs Of The Heart on Sunday and undergoing a busy round of interviews to promote his seventh album, Forever's First Day. But he is not.
Well, at least not on the surface. Demonstrating nary a sign of frazzled nerves, he shakes your hand and begins talking about himself on the sofa, impervious to the clatter of minders nearby.
The 1.8-m-tall lad locks you with his gaze while offering resolutely cogent answers to your probing, sometimes hackneyed queries.
An unruffled, attentive interviewee: What more could one ask for?
So, first things first. What is his attitude towards the paparazzi?
"Well, I haven't had it so bad, I don't have that many negative reports," demurs Wang. "Maybe it's got to do with the fact that I don't really talk about my personal life with the press. I withhold information, though all they want to know is my love life. They want to know the dirt. But, sorry, it's not public knowledge."
In eloquent American-English, he spits it out plainly, mien unchanging, placid even. Not an iota of distress from this dude who says he inherits patience from his doctor Dad and librarian Mum, who migrated from Taiwan to America.
"Anyway, all the relationship issues are in my songs," he offers, directing the focus smartly back to his craft.
WANG, as is abundantly clear, is proud of his latest Mandarin magnum opus, Forever's First Day, which has so far sold a brisk 10,000 copies in Singapore since its release in late June.
In Taiwan, it sold a whopping 200,000 copies.
The album took more than a year to record. He composed and arranged all 11 songs while finishing his Masters at Berklee College of Music last year. Best of all, it fulfilled his ambition of revitalising formulaic Mandopop with classical and R&B touches.
Next year, he plans to cut an English album and embark on his first world tour.
This innate sense of duty and integrity to introduce musical variety into the Chinese music scene was inspired by an unforgettable experience.
As a 17-year-old lad, he first listened to a Mandarin album, which happened to be Andy Lau's Forgettable Waters. It was not fortuitous.
"That was years ago," he groans. "Well, I didn't mean to say that everything he did was boring. It just sounded like all the kelian (pitiful) ballads! It's nothing personal."
Today, his idea of revolutionalising Chinese pop is exemplified by a simply jaw-droppin' dance cover of Descendent Of The Dragon, originally a heart-thumping folk anthem by Li Jianfu.
It is a version which should silence purists for good, and which "bananas" (Westernised Asians) should embrace, especially for its slang twang.
Why did he cover that song?
"It's just great timing," he explains. "There are obvious coincidences. I'm a Dragon. Li Jianfu is my maternal uncle. It means a lot to me personally, as well to my family and extended family. We are very proud that he wrote the song."
He adds: "Also I recorded it in 2000, the Year of the Dragon, which marks the beginning of the new millennium for the rise of Asia."
FOR Wang, the second of three brothers, music has become a platform for him to assert his identity as a new cosmopolitan Asian.
His recent forays into moviedom, like Stanley Tong's mega-action thriller, China Strike Force, opposite Hongkong superstar Aaron Kwok, American rapper Coolio and Japanese actress Norika Fujiwara, is, well, "a sideline thing".
Music, on the other hand, affords him the greatest freedom to forge a new millennial vision.
"There are so many different types of Chinese now," he philosophises. "There's Australian Chinese, South-East Asian Chinese, New Zealand Chinese, American Chinese, Canadian Chinese. Being Chinese doesn't mean you have to wear a ma gua (traditional robe for men). You can be just like...me!"
One stares at the gleaming Star of David dangling from his neck and his nascent Elvis sideburns.
So, what about this supposed rivalry between him and fellow Asian-American singer David Tao?
Wang cannot wait to give his side of the story.
"It's all imagined competition, this talk that we snubbed each other," he says. "We're really good friends. He'll come over to my house in Boston, and I'll just pop by his house. In fact, part of this album was recorded at his house in Los Angeles.
"It's all soooo stupid. The press just put two separate pictures of us looking pissed off, together.
"So it looks like we're giving each other dirty looks."
You laugh, nervously. He does not smile. But neither does he look angry.
ACTION speaks louder than words indeed. So, how serious is Wang when it comes to his music career?
At the Life! photo-shoot, the guy is firm, sure of what he wants, while unfailingly polite at the same time.
Of the eight outfits chosen for him, he agrees to wear only three. The other outfits are his own.
He also tells the stylist that he is conscious about the image he wants to project, which is that of a serious composer and not just another teen-pop singer. Which is why he seldom smiled for the camera.
It may seem naive of Wang to think that serious musicians do not smile, but hey, the five-year showbiz pro should know the inner workings of the music scene and how image is pivotal.
At the same time, the dude is wary of the trappings of awards and accolades.
"While it's nice to receive awards, I am very critical about who is giving them to me," the muso avers.
"An award doesn't mean anything..." he checks himself, then continues. "Let me put it in a positive way, an award means a lot to me if it's given to me by somebody I respect. Otherwise, I just wouldn't attend the event."
Smart words. All eyes will be watching the awards shows you do attend, Lee Hom.
A Pop Star-Musician
--September 19, 2000 The Straits Times
By Brian Cheong
In America, he pursues his music interest in total anonymity. It's a different scenario in Asia; here is his fan base where he basks in their adulation as a pop idol. Welcome to the world of contradictions that is Mandopop singer Wang Lee Hom.
East meets West. And never more intriguingly--or with more contradictions--than within Wang Lee Hom.
On the one hand, the New York-born singer's commitment to his craft is indisputable the way he goes on and on about production techniques, about wanting, no, needing to create a new international sound for Chinese music, a distinctive Asian-American identity.
On the other hand, Lee Hom (as he's known to his adoring fans) loves being a "pop star"--surely not a term associated with serious musicianship? Especially not with a man who wrote, produced and arranged his latest album on his own. Or someone who would rather consider Taiwanese singer-songwriters like Shunza and David Tao his peers than Hong Kong's huge pop idols.
But there it is: "I love it!" he declares.
"But as long as I don't let it lead my creativity. Rather, I hope it is the other way around. My pop is not purely pop because I incorporate elements like jazz and classical," he says of his seventh album, "Forever's First Day", released in Malaysia two months ago by Sony Music.
And let's not even get started on his dual identities: "I'm very American but I'm also very Chinese..."
He seems to be living proof that, occasionally, you do get to have the cake and eat it too.
Lee Hom's Malaysian promo tour from September 9 to 11 underlined the contradictions in his life. While the 23-year-old attracted huge crowds of teenage fans screaming for his attention just as any pop idol would, he also spoke with firm authority about music.
He does, after all, have four years of experience in the music business to draw on since he released his first album in 1996. He didn't reach genuine pop-idol status, though, until his sixth album Impossible to Miss You and its huge hit Julia--which, by the way, he said he wrote in five minutes while he was getting his hair cut!
His slow take-off could have something to do with the fact that catchy tunes like Julia are not exactly his choice for radio singles, although he did suspect that the record company would be plugging them.
"Personally, I like less commercial songs," he sighs, completely acknowledging for once how misplaced priorities are in the pop industry.
"And I'm not going to record an album in a week or release three albums in a year. That's a lot of pressure to handle."
He does consider himself lucky to be so young and new, relatively speaking, yet in control. That control allowed him to record what he considers a rather risky album.
"I'm always willing to take risks," he states unapologetically.
Even the risk of ticking off the press. He once wrote in exasperation in his diary which is available on the official Sony Music Taiwan website (http://www.sonymusic.com.tw): "I can spend an hour talking about music, and five minutes answering reporters' questions about my love life and the next day's newspapers come out all about my love life!"
To counteract the frivolous media, Lee Hom writes comprehensively in this webdiary about the musical virtues of First Day. He leads you not only into the concept or even a track-by-track guide, but a verse-for-verse introduction to the minutest detail and the philosophies behind each arrangement and song.
At a glance the essays may appear drudgingly dry, not something a fan who worships the idol more than the music would care to read.
But for those who bother to give them a careful read, these essays show that Lee Hom is much more than a pretty face with a great physique. And you feel much R-E-S-P-E-C-T for the lad for the sheer amount of effort and thought put into making the album.
Actually, his record label could have safely let Lee Hom loose behind the mixing console long before since he does have a major in music composition and he's doing his Master's at Boston's prestigious Berklee College of Music. In fact, he's been composing since he was a kid growing up in New York, when he used to write songs as birthday gifts.
Since then, it's been a steady progression to reach First Day, which Lee Hom feels, is his best effort yet.
"I took the most time to work on this album. It's been doing well despite the fact that I only did 11 days of promotion in Taiwan compared with two months previously."
Up close and personal
When we finally meet for a proper interview, Lee Hom is already on the last leg of his promo tour. Tired may be an understatement. But even though he has been bombarded by questions endlessly in the last two days, the singer is talkative and perceptive. Yes, he is also very nice.
You have talked about your music but hardly said anything about your singing. How did you train that baritone?
I have an independent vocal coach, Dr William Riley. He also coaches Celine Dion and Michael Bolton.
He was introduced to me by Sony Music in New York last year. He taught me a lot about vocal production. He does not influence you with a particular kind of vocal style but, rather, he teaches you how to sing correctly, how not to hurt yourself when you're singing for a long period of time and how to avoid getting tired.
How would you rate yourself as a singer?
(Smiles) To me, the voice and my composing, producing and arranging is one single presentation.
I write for my voice, I know what kind of songs I don't sing very well and those that I do. (Pauses)
I want to be a great artist. I never thought David Bowie was a good singer because he's very raw. But pop music is about feeling and it is more important for an artist to have a unique quality. I strive to be unique.
There is nothing wrong in deliberately writing pop music. But within the big commercial picture, I still want to have my own unique ideas and styles. And I think I did that with this album. There's a deeper kind of appreciation.
How much creative control do you have?
I have all the say on this album. The company just gave me the budget and I got complete control.
This happened only after I received the Best Producer nod at the Golden Melody Awards in Taiwan last year.
How do you feel when your fans get all excited over you?
I want to be very open to my fans. When they really like you, it's such a nice feeling.
And when they hug you spontaneously?
That's adorable!
In the last few years you have been travelling for several months a year in Asia, receiving star treatment at every venue. When you return to the United States (to hometown Boston) do you have to make a huge adjustment to being just another regular guy?
I'm consistent as a human being. There's no difference between the Lee Hom in Asia and the one in the United States. Well, the only difference is that I probably don't shave and just wear my pyjamas around the apartment when I'm home!
But there were some strange moments when I would be walking in the streets of Boston (where he now lives) or New York and there was nobody whispering, "Hey, is that Lee Hom?'' (Laughs)
But it's important for me to have that balance. It's nice to just be a nobody and I can concentrate on composing, go to symphonies, visit museums.
Are you a loner?
Yes. I go from hotel to hotel and meet different people (in Asia). At night, when I don't work, when I'm back in my room, that's when I get to be more consistent as a human.
Would you say you're contemplative?
I'm a romantic person. I'm interested in existential philosophies, not the hard reasoning sort propounded by German philosophers.
How do your American friends react to your fame in Asia?
They don't know the concept of Mandopop. They don't even know the difference between Thailand and Taiwan.
But my closest friends who are also musicians, they know how hard it is to be one.
Do they envy you?
They envy the fact that I have a niche in the music world.
How do you remain so refreshingly scandal-free?
It's stupid sometimes. I'm personally not interested in reading about them (scandals) and playing to the press. Whenever there's a rumour, I just don't take part in it.
I'm willing to share a lot of my emotions in my songs. On all my albums, there are at least a couple of songs that are very autobiographical.
You've always been asked about what it is like to be a Chinese in a foreign land. But how American are you?
It's my identity to be half Chinese and half American. I like to break tradition through my music and remind people that you don't have to wear a qi pao (cheongsam) or be in Beijing to be a Chinese. With an attitude like this, it's easier to accept who you are.
What's your greatest fear?
That I won't live up to my expectations as a musician.
What do you love most about yourself?
That I'm never afraid to love other people.
What do you always say when you meet your family?
"Hey, we should go on a vacation!" Then they would go and I would not be able to join them.
Complete this sentence: If there's no music in this world...
Then there must have been a nuclear holocaust.
There is just no separating Lee Hom and music. He breathes it, lives it, hawks it, makes money out of it; it is an endless cycle that doesn't daunt him the slightest bit.
But underneath it all, he is just like every other youngster, whether in Boston, Taipei or Kuala Lumpur: "What's your favourite boyband?" I asked as he was being hurriedly ushered away for another interview.
"'N Sync!"
HOM Style
--October 2, 1999 8 Days Magazine
Boyish, handsome and articulate to boot, classically trained singer/songwriter Wang Lee Hom talks about the value of clean underwear and other similarly important issues.
You've seen him bouncing from wall to wall and jumping around like a hyper beagle in his music video. But nothing could be furthur from the real Wang Lee Hom, closet intellectual and musical prodigy. This 23-year-old ABC (American-born Chinese) is introspective, down-to-earth and lovely company for an afternoon of chit-chat.
You're young, talented and hot and this is going to sound so shallow but tell us what's your personal style?
Well, first off, most of my clothes don't categorise me. They don't make a statement saying: I'm a hippy/I'm a skate-boarder/I'm into death metal. Most of my clothes are just kind of natural so I can just be myself and feel comfortable. I don't shop a lot unless I have a new music video or a new album, then Sony takes me shopping with a professional image consultant and buys me thousands of dollars of clothes. I get to keep them. But back in school [Berkeley School of Music], I won't be wearing those leather trousers or shiny shirts. Good for raves but when you go to Music Theory Class, it's kind of odd!
Offstage, what do you wear?
I don't really dress up in my private life. It's liberating--I can do whatever I want, I can not shave, I don't have to do my hair etc. I can wear my glasses! In my apartment (Boston) in summer--go barefoot and no shirt! Or in the park reading and getting some sun. I believe in being yourself, having your personality come through. If it makes you feel good--do it. If you want to make your hair bright purple--go do it. I'm not a fan of fashion when it is a pressure to comform-- you know, if everone's got a Prada backpack you gotta buy one or else you're not hip enough. It's more what you are doing and how you look when you are doing it. Leonard Bernsten conducting the New York Philharmonic. I love that. True style comes from within...not from labels.
You seem to have thought about fashion a little bit. What labels do you go for?
(without missing a beat) Paul Smith Jil Sander Gucci Helmut Lang!
My goodness me, a veritable who's cool!
I like the classy stuff. Simple. Nothing extraneous, nothing too distracting. Jil makes you look really tall and the Gucci stuff is cool.
You must have been reading Harpers Bazaar!
No. Actually I read biographies. Right now I'm reading this biography of Sting.
Oh God! Trudie Styler!
Well, I like reading biographies of pop stars. They make me feel less lonely. You know, in the pop music industry, you can feel so alone. No one understands how it is. How alienated you feel from everyone else. It's interesting to read how pop stars weather these very specific obstacles in their lives.
What are you best gifts from your Mom and Dad?
That's easy! My musical ablities--though my parents are both not professional musicians, they love music and I grew up with lots of music always playing in the house. My mom sings very well. Also my intelligence. My IQ. My ability with languages. There is a lot I thank them for.
Including your good looks and other physical traits?
I don't think of myself as being particularly good-looking. Mmmm...let's see. I guess my frame. My build. My height. (Lee Hom is 1.79m tall.) I can get pretty skinny, so I work out. When I'm back in school, I work out at the gym every other day. When I'm working, like now--travelling and doing promos for my albums--it's hard. But I try to work out when I can. Maybe twice a week...
But there are gyms in hotels--surely it's easy for you to scoot up and huff and puff away.
[Minder in pink tights: (in Mandarin, shrilly, from across the room) Well it's hard because of time. He got in at 1:30am last night and had to get up at 7am this morning. Rehearsals, interviews,photo sessionsand more rehearsals later. He has no time to do anything.]
I feel really good after a good workout. Especially the cardio stuff. Also I play baseball with my friends.
I see a lot of ritzy stuff on your sink. What's your grooming regime?
I'm very hygenic. I have to get at least one shower a day. Even in winter, I brush my teeth at least twice a day--or three times. I try to be good and I floss. And every time before I sing, I brush my teeth. But my room is a pigsty.
What's you favourite music--you know, the stuff you bring with you on the road?
Real music! Stravinsky, Bartok, Leonard Bernstein, some jazz. I'm studying jazz. I love those Jazzers! A lot of the Jazzers like to have some kind of a mystique--a wise look, not too showy. Most Jazzers are humble and poor but dress dapper. I love that look. They know everything about music, those old guys, but they're very humble, you know, modest. Even if they're 25 they've seen the world. If you look into their eyes...a part of me is like that.
Complete the sentences: Looking stylish to me means...
...Being natural and having a casual attitude whatever I'm wearing. Interaction with people, and speaking well, can make all the difference.
The Cheapest thing in my wardrobe is...
I have lots of things that are hand-me-downs from Salvation Army sales. Umm...er...these jeans. Actually, these jeans (snugly fitting vintage boot-cut Levis 517) aren't cheap. I bought them in Taipei from a funky, used cowboy store for about US$40. Sony bought it. In the US, I have t-shirts that are like US$4. I've got lots of cheap clothes!
What's the one thing you can't live without?
A clean pair of underwear is absolutely essential! (laughs) My fashion philosophy is if I've got clean underwear and clean socks, then I'm set. I'm fine, I like switching it up between briefs and boxers...Sony doesn't buy my underwear, nobody buys my underwear. I buy my underwear!
Boyish, handsome and articulate to boot, classically trained singer/songwriter Wang Lee Hom talks about the value of clean underwear and other similarly important issues.
You've seen him bouncing from wall to wall and jumping around like a hyper beagle in his music video. But nothing could be furthur from the real Wang Lee Hom, closet intellectual and musical prodigy. This 23-year-old ABC (American-born Chinese) is introspective, down-to-earth and lovely company for an afternoon of chit-chat.
You're young, talented and hot and this is going to sound so shallow but tell us what's your personal style?
Well, first off, most of my clothes don't categorise me. They don't make a statement saying: I'm a hippy/I'm a skate-boarder/I'm into death metal. Most of my clothes are just kind of natural so I can just be myself and feel comfortable. I don't shop a lot unless I have a new music video or a new album, then Sony takes me shopping with a professional image consultant and buys me thousands of dollars of clothes. I get to keep them. But back in school [Berkeley School of Music], I won't be wearing those leather trousers or shiny shirts. Good for raves but when you go to Music Theory Class, it's kind of odd!
Offstage, what do you wear?
I don't really dress up in my private life. It's liberating--I can do whatever I want, I can not shave, I don't have to do my hair etc. I can wear my glasses! In my apartment (Boston) in summer--go barefoot and no shirt! Or in the park reading and getting some sun. I believe in being yourself, having your personality come through. If it makes you feel good--do it. If you want to make your hair bright purple--go do it. I'm not a fan of fashion when it is a pressure to comform-- you know, if everone's got a Prada backpack you gotta buy one or else you're not hip enough. It's more what you are doing and how you look when you are doing it. Leonard Bernsten conducting the New York Philharmonic. I love that. True style comes from within...not from labels.
You seem to have thought about fashion a little bit. What labels do you go for?
(without missing a beat) Paul Smith Jil Sander Gucci Helmut Lang!
My goodness me, a veritable who's cool!
I like the classy stuff. Simple. Nothing extraneous, nothing too distracting. Jil makes you look really tall and the Gucci stuff is cool.
You must have been reading Harpers Bazaar!
No. Actually I read biographies. Right now I'm reading this biography of Sting.
Oh God! Trudie Styler!
Well, I like reading biographies of pop stars. They make me feel less lonely. You know, in the pop music industry, you can feel so alone. No one understands how it is. How alienated you feel from everyone else. It's interesting to read how pop stars weather these very specific obstacles in their lives.
What are you best gifts from your Mom and Dad?
That's easy! My musical ablities--though my parents are both not professional musicians, they love music and I grew up with lots of music always playing in the house. My mom sings very well. Also my intelligence. My IQ. My ability with languages. There is a lot I thank them for.
Including your good looks and other physical traits?
I don't think of myself as being particularly good-looking. Mmmm...let's see. I guess my frame. My build. My height. (Lee Hom is 1.79m tall.) I can get pretty skinny, so I work out. When I'm back in school, I work out at the gym every other day. When I'm working, like now--travelling and doing promos for my albums--it's hard. But I try to work out when I can. Maybe twice a week...
But there are gyms in hotels--surely it's easy for you to scoot up and huff and puff away.
[Minder in pink tights: (in Mandarin, shrilly, from across the room) Well it's hard because of time. He got in at 1:30am last night and had to get up at 7am this morning. Rehearsals, interviews,photo sessionsand more rehearsals later. He has no time to do anything.]
I feel really good after a good workout. Especially the cardio stuff. Also I play baseball with my friends.
I see a lot of ritzy stuff on your sink. What's your grooming regime?
I'm very hygenic. I have to get at least one shower a day. Even in winter, I brush my teeth at least twice a day--or three times. I try to be good and I floss. And every time before I sing, I brush my teeth. But my room is a pigsty.
What's you favourite music--you know, the stuff you bring with you on the road?
Real music! Stravinsky, Bartok, Leonard Bernstein, some jazz. I'm studying jazz. I love those Jazzers! A lot of the Jazzers like to have some kind of a mystique--a wise look, not too showy. Most Jazzers are humble and poor but dress dapper. I love that look. They know everything about music, those old guys, but they're very humble, you know, modest. Even if they're 25 they've seen the world. If you look into their eyes...a part of me is like that.
Complete the sentences: Looking stylish to me means...
...Being natural and having a casual attitude whatever I'm wearing. Interaction with people, and speaking well, can make all the difference.
The Cheapest thing in my wardrobe is...
I have lots of things that are hand-me-downs from Salvation Army sales. Umm...er...these jeans. Actually, these jeans (snugly fitting vintage boot-cut Levis 517) aren't cheap. I bought them in Taipei from a funky, used cowboy store for about US$40. Sony bought it. In the US, I have t-shirts that are like US$4. I've got lots of cheap clothes!
What's the one thing you can't live without?
A clean pair of underwear is absolutely essential! (laughs) My fashion philosophy is if I've got clean underwear and clean socks, then I'm set. I'm fine, I like switching it up between briefs and boxers...Sony doesn't buy my underwear, nobody buys my underwear. I buy my underwear!
王力宏：写首情歌给恋人
资料来源：女友2000.1-1 NO.151期
1999年，少男少女最迷哪个歌手？很多人会告诉你，是那个长着双‘电眼’的帅哥王力宏！
在新一代的年轻歌手中，王力宏无疑是相当具有实力的一位，无论是歌喉还是外形，皆具有一定的水准，轻易地就获得了FANS的青睐，从里到外都流溢着时尚的动感，被人称做1999年国语乐坛的“镀金音乐才子”。除了唱功上不俗外，有些歌曲不单是词曲创作，甚至连编曲、程式设计、键盘、钢琴、吉他、和声都由他一人包办。
四年前的王力宏就已经出道了，他今天的漂亮成绩单是与他的聪明和音乐素质分不开的，但其中他所付出的勤奋却也是艰辛的。所以也就才有他以23岁研究生的身份击败众多实力歌手，一举夺下台湾最具权威性的金曲奖的“最佳男歌手”“最佳制作人”奖。
标题一：天生我才必有用
这位人气升得最快的歌手是在美国出生、美国长大的。王妈妈、王爸爸在有小力宏之前已有一子，为了让正在孕育中的孩子（就是后来的帅哥王力宏）更聪明、更健康，王妈妈做足了胎教。那段时间里王爸王妈到处搜罗胎教盒带，先由两人一起挑选，然后再天天放给胎儿力宏听，果不其然，从小王力宏就展现出了极高的音乐天赋：2岁学小提琴、6岁学钢琴、13岁便开始作曲写歌。回忆起小时侯，力宏已忘了练琴的苦，只记得有一次妈妈随口说有一首曲子他弹的退步了，他便决心一定要让妈妈收回这句话。连着几天，他都坐在琴房刻苦练习。一天晚餐时找不着他，爸爸妈妈都急坏了，最后才发现他太累了，竟在琴房睡着了。
像许多偶像一样，王力宏步入星坛也是无心插柳的。“四年前我初到台湾，当时没有什么打算，有一天拿着吉他到餐厅吃饭，看到一个歌唱比赛广告，便报着去玩心态参加了。真的只为玩，然后有唱片公司找我，便开始出唱片。”19岁时，王力宏发行了首张国语个人专辑《情敌贝多芬》，只可惜没有成功，碟片发行成绩平平。“当时的心情当然是坏透了，但我知道，如果只有懊恼，那就什么也别想做了。”没有气馁的王力宏，分析了自己的现状，毅然转投SONY唱片公司，卧薪尝胆，用心拼打，共出版了六张个人专辑和一张精选辑，累计销量超过150万张。港台的当红歌星像他一样优秀的也许很多，但却没有他的身份??研究生歌王。虽然知道天生我才比有用，虽然最终获得大奖，可他仍旧很谦虚：“我原来以为最多只有50%的获奖希望，这次运气好，其余四位歌手比我更有资格获奖。获奖固然十分开心，但面对边随而来的压力，也只有更加努力。”
标题二：录音室怪癖
知道“优质偶像”王力宏在录音室里的“隐秘”么？录音的时候，哇噻，他竟喜欢身上“一丝不挂”！难道不怕曝光吗？“我都是在家里的录音室录音，所以不怕有人看到。因为录音时我想BE FREE，这样唱起歌来比较轻松，我会唱得更自在。”
另外他还有一些怪癖，录音前先刷牙，“刷了牙感觉比较干净，咬字也会比较清楚；吃饭之后唱歌，会有东西在嘴里，很不舒服。”在衣橱里录音，是这位靓仔的独创：“我很多歌曲都是在衣橱里录的，里头比较干，而且有隔音效果，不怕外头的冷气，卡车的声音。声音没有回弹，录音比较好。”再就是他还往录音室墙上贴 ‘大字报’，“怕忘掉歌词，所以录一首歌之前，都会把歌词粘在墙上。”到录音结束的时候，整间录音室的墙上都是歌词和乐谱。
到了进行专辑制作的时候，王力宏会“从白天到黑夜”不停地制作。“即使去上课，也会有一些人在我的工作室里帮我打扫，为录音带编目录等等。每一次做完一首，我会去外面透一透气，不然录音室这么小，会感到幽闭恐怖。我有时会一直在录音室里呆足足18个小时，能到外面玩一玩时，感觉真的太棒了！”
拍MTV的时候，王力宏也神采飞扬，简直要和体操运动员一较身手。大家一定对《公转自转》的MTV记忆犹新，其中力宏360`腾空旋转的高难度动作给人印象深刻。这次在MTV《不可能错过你》中再度展现空中飞人的本领，腾空跳跃横跨三个场景，导演要他在看似居家的场景中做许多高难度动作，而爬天花板、劈腿飞跃桌面、跳跃接花瓶等力宏样样照单全收，完全难不倒他。其实，王力宏小时侯的确受过体操训练。不过，他除了过人的身手外，胆子也不小。其中有一幕站子靶前面对迎面射来的飞镖，在一旁射飞镖的工作人员因害怕自己误射力宏而脸色发青时，王力宏仍面不改色看看耳朵旁的飞镖说：“还有没有？”
标题三：KISS经验，初恋秘密
目前声势如日中天的王力宏，已成为许多女孩心中的偶像，褪下这些掌声及喝彩，王力宏这个大男孩的内心感情世界同样令人世界同样令人好奇不已。
他的初恋发生在读高中的时候。他喜欢的女孩是同学，彼此虽然互相有意，但终究跨不过朋友的界限，维持着微妙的关系，后来终于不了了之。虽未真正与对方交往，当王力宏认为这是自己的初恋，当真是‘爱在心里口难开’。谈及第一次约会及KISS的经验，王力宏给了一个令人莞尔的答案??居然是在话剧公演中！他说14岁时参加学校的戏剧公演，担任男主角，其中有一场戏是男女主角亲吻的戏，于是，就这样，小帅哥有了第一次的KISS接触。从小拥有女生缘的王力宏，最难忘的情人节是在14岁那年，因为那是他第一次同时收到很多女生送的巧克力，简直使他受宠若惊。
认为爱是“凡人无法抵挡的感觉，也是世上最美的音乐”，王力宏目前虽没有知心伴侣一起过情人节，但谈及未来情人节会如何表示心意，他倒是给了一个颇为浪漫的答案??“写一首情歌给她”
常常创作情歌的王力宏，对女朋友的要求和一般人相同，那就是彼此能谈得来，他向往纯挚，如涓涓流水般的爱情，当然最重要的一点是，对方要能懂并且欣赏他的音乐。自承到目前为止仍未真正谈过恋爱的王力宏，认为完美爱情是不会出现在现实生活中，但音乐可以做得很完美、深深打动人心。况且，随着工作的加重，此时的小帅哥只想以学业和工作为主，无法分身兼顾感情，尤其年纪尚轻，感情之事就更不急了。虽然恋爱的滋味使人着迷。但此时的王力宏只能把感情投注于歌曲创作中，分享给天下的有情人。
1999年，少男少女最迷哪个歌手？很多人会告诉你，是那个长着双‘电眼’的帅哥王力宏！
在新一代的年轻歌手中，王力宏无疑是相当具有实力的一位，无论是歌喉还是外形，皆具有一定的水准，轻易地就获得了FANS的青睐，从里到外都流溢着时尚的动感，被人称做1999年国语乐坛的“镀金音乐才子”。除了唱功上不俗外，有些歌曲不单是词曲创作，甚至连编曲、程式设计、键盘、钢琴、吉他、和声都由他一人包办。
四年前的王力宏就已经出道了，他今天的漂亮成绩单是与他的聪明和音乐素质分不开的，但其中他所付出的勤奋却也是艰辛的。所以也就才有他以23岁研究生的身份击败众多实力歌手，一举夺下台湾最具权威性的金曲奖的“最佳男歌手”“最佳制作人”奖。
标题一：天生我才必有用
这位人气升得最快的歌手是在美国出生、美国长大的。王妈妈、王爸爸在有小力宏之前已有一子，为了让正在孕育中的孩子（就是后来的帅哥王力宏）更聪明、更健康，王妈妈做足了胎教。那段时间里王爸王妈到处搜罗胎教盒带，先由两人一起挑选，然后再天天放给胎儿力宏听，果不其然，从小王力宏就展现出了极高的音乐天赋：2岁学小提琴、6岁学钢琴、13岁便开始作曲写歌。回忆起小时侯，力宏已忘了练琴的苦，只记得有一次妈妈随口说有一首曲子他弹的退步了，他便决心一定要让妈妈收回这句话。连着几天，他都坐在琴房刻苦练习。一天晚餐时找不着他，爸爸妈妈都急坏了，最后才发现他太累了，竟在琴房睡着了。
像许多偶像一样，王力宏步入星坛也是无心插柳的。“四年前我初到台湾，当时没有什么打算，有一天拿着吉他到餐厅吃饭，看到一个歌唱比赛广告，便报着去玩心态参加了。真的只为玩，然后有唱片公司找我，便开始出唱片。”19岁时，王力宏发行了首张国语个人专辑《情敌贝多芬》，只可惜没有成功，碟片发行成绩平平。“当时的心情当然是坏透了，但我知道，如果只有懊恼，那就什么也别想做了。”没有气馁的王力宏，分析了自己的现状，毅然转投SONY唱片公司，卧薪尝胆，用心拼打，共出版了六张个人专辑和一张精选辑，累计销量超过150万张。港台的当红歌星像他一样优秀的也许很多，但却没有他的身份??研究生歌王。虽然知道天生我才比有用，虽然最终获得大奖，可他仍旧很谦虚：“我原来以为最多只有50%的获奖希望，这次运气好，其余四位歌手比我更有资格获奖。获奖固然十分开心，但面对边随而来的压力，也只有更加努力。”
标题二：录音室怪癖
知道“优质偶像”王力宏在录音室里的“隐秘”么？录音的时候，哇噻，他竟喜欢身上“一丝不挂”！难道不怕曝光吗？“我都是在家里的录音室录音，所以不怕有人看到。因为录音时我想BE FREE，这样唱起歌来比较轻松，我会唱得更自在。”
另外他还有一些怪癖，录音前先刷牙，“刷了牙感觉比较干净，咬字也会比较清楚；吃饭之后唱歌，会有东西在嘴里，很不舒服。”在衣橱里录音，是这位靓仔的独创：“我很多歌曲都是在衣橱里录的，里头比较干，而且有隔音效果，不怕外头的冷气，卡车的声音。声音没有回弹，录音比较好。”再就是他还往录音室墙上贴 ‘大字报’，“怕忘掉歌词，所以录一首歌之前，都会把歌词粘在墙上。”到录音结束的时候，整间录音室的墙上都是歌词和乐谱。
到了进行专辑制作的时候，王力宏会“从白天到黑夜”不停地制作。“即使去上课，也会有一些人在我的工作室里帮我打扫，为录音带编目录等等。每一次做完一首，我会去外面透一透气，不然录音室这么小，会感到幽闭恐怖。我有时会一直在录音室里呆足足18个小时，能到外面玩一玩时，感觉真的太棒了！”
拍MTV的时候，王力宏也神采飞扬，简直要和体操运动员一较身手。大家一定对《公转自转》的MTV记忆犹新，其中力宏360`腾空旋转的高难度动作给人印象深刻。这次在MTV《不可能错过你》中再度展现空中飞人的本领，腾空跳跃横跨三个场景，导演要他在看似居家的场景中做许多高难度动作，而爬天花板、劈腿飞跃桌面、跳跃接花瓶等力宏样样照单全收，完全难不倒他。其实，王力宏小时侯的确受过体操训练。不过，他除了过人的身手外，胆子也不小。其中有一幕站子靶前面对迎面射来的飞镖，在一旁射飞镖的工作人员因害怕自己误射力宏而脸色发青时，王力宏仍面不改色看看耳朵旁的飞镖说：“还有没有？”
标题三：KISS经验，初恋秘密
目前声势如日中天的王力宏，已成为许多女孩心中的偶像，褪下这些掌声及喝彩，王力宏这个大男孩的内心感情世界同样令人世界同样令人好奇不已。
他的初恋发生在读高中的时候。他喜欢的女孩是同学，彼此虽然互相有意，但终究跨不过朋友的界限，维持着微妙的关系，后来终于不了了之。虽未真正与对方交往，当王力宏认为这是自己的初恋，当真是‘爱在心里口难开’。谈及第一次约会及KISS的经验，王力宏给了一个令人莞尔的答案??居然是在话剧公演中！他说14岁时参加学校的戏剧公演，担任男主角，其中有一场戏是男女主角亲吻的戏，于是，就这样，小帅哥有了第一次的KISS接触。从小拥有女生缘的王力宏，最难忘的情人节是在14岁那年，因为那是他第一次同时收到很多女生送的巧克力，简直使他受宠若惊。
认为爱是“凡人无法抵挡的感觉，也是世上最美的音乐”，王力宏目前虽没有知心伴侣一起过情人节，但谈及未来情人节会如何表示心意，他倒是给了一个颇为浪漫的答案??“写一首情歌给她”
常常创作情歌的王力宏，对女朋友的要求和一般人相同，那就是彼此能谈得来，他向往纯挚，如涓涓流水般的爱情，当然最重要的一点是，对方要能懂并且欣赏他的音乐。自承到目前为止仍未真正谈过恋爱的王力宏，认为完美爱情是不会出现在现实生活中，但音乐可以做得很完美、深深打动人心。况且，随着工作的加重，此时的小帅哥只想以学业和工作为主，无法分身兼顾感情，尤其年纪尚轻，感情之事就更不急了。虽然恋爱的滋味使人着迷。但此时的王力宏只能把感情投注于歌曲创作中，分享给天下的有情人。
史上流行乐坛转位战 全球传媒目光大移转 音乐有想法 优质不偶像
封面人物 王力宏
FROM广播歌曲杂志（RADIO＆MUSIC） 一九九八年十二月号
文/胡伟
1998年新力音乐又加入了一位新的生力军－－王力宏。一年没有发片，在今年4月份的记者会上，王力宏正式告诉大家，他回来了。在这一年的时间里，力宏除了完成大学的课程外，还得到母校威廉姆斯学院（Williams College)全校师生票选年度音乐家（Class Musician)。
全校师生票选年度音乐家，这一份殊荣是由全校师生共同票选出来的，得奖者也将为全校的毕业生编写毕业歌曲。力宏不但一手包办所有的词曲编曲及教唱，还同时公开邀请其他4位获得提名的同学参与创作毕业歌曲，把荣誉与大家分享。
另一项，就是力宏凭个人力量独立完成毕业论文－－百老汇音乐剧＜吸血鬼＞。这是一部大编制的电子乐乐曲，一共有570多页的乐谱，在整体音乐剧的体制上，融合了舞台剧，百老汇及电影，这种表演形式，可以说是纽约最新百老汇音乐剧，并以多媒体的表演形式演出。
在毕业公演结束之后，音乐剧得到大家一致的好评及口碑，由于力宏大学学业成绩非常优秀，再加上毕业论文杰出的表现，所以力宏在毕业典礼上得到荣誉毕业生（Certificate With Honors)的殊荣。
此外，力宏在这当中还抽空主唱了全美暑假冠军电影＜蒙面侠－－苏洛＞的指定中文版主题曲＜我用生命爱你＞，抢先在英文版歌曲两周前推出。新力唱片继＜铁达尼号＞电影原声带在台狂卖120万的销售佳绩。原作曲者，也是金像奖得主的詹姆斯霍纳（James Horuer)，特地亲自在众多歌手之中圈选＜蒙面侠－－苏洛＞电影中文版主题曲演唱人－－柯以敏以及王力宏。
据说大量对柯以敏及王力宏所诠释的中文版主题曲＜我用生命爱你＞相当满意，柯以敏声乐基础扎实，完全符合大师的要求，而力宏的歌唱实力，更让詹姆斯霍纳大师啧啧称奇。
新力新力宏 音乐变活力
“力”骇唱功 超“宏”创作
不愿只是个“优质偶像”，不愿空负“年度音乐家”的美名，为了自己的音乐理想，为了更淋漓尽致地痛快地创作，在亚洲各大传媒的殷切询问下，王力宏选择在今年4月，加盟新力音乐，开始了他新的音乐里程碑。
从选歌，填词谱曲，编曲配唱，到封套摄影，音乐录影带的拍摄，力宏无不具细靡遗，全心投入。终于在今年的8月，力宏十首全新国语大碟拍板定案，交出了一张亮眼的成绩单。
在这张＜公转自转＞的全新车国语大碟中，力宏不但自己担纲半张的制作人，还自己创作了5首半的新曲。值得一提的是，力宏首度突破语言的限制，亲手填了两首中文词，还发展出“力骇唱腔”，厚实动人，充分地发挥力宏在音乐上的想法。
接触到力宏这张个人全新国语大碟，首先明显感觉到不同的是力宏的唱腔。因为一年没有发片，力宏在Williams College 也顺利毕业，在感情及歌唱技巧上，明显的成熟而且进步很多。正因为这一年的沉淀，力宏利用在学校编写百老汇音乐剧之际，重新思考一个崭新的表达技巧。所以就当力宏进录音室练唱的时候，浑厚有力的唱腔，震撼了许多人，一种与过去截然不同的“新”声就些展开。力宏在低音中“感情浓郁”，高音处 “澎湃动人”，仿佛要将这一年来从未开口唱的歌，一次唱尽，于是我们听到一个崭新的力宏，我们就称他为“宏派唱腔”。
在这张个人新碟的第二项尝试，就是自己担纲半张制作人。也因为如此，力宏常常是“日出而作，日出不息”，以录音室为家，一天常常都睡不到两，三个小时，非但如此，力宏用功的程度，可能是许多专业的制作人都自叹不如，常常在歌曲配唱好了之后，力宏觉得味道不对又再度重编，一首歌最高的纪录可以重唱，重编三次，而且是从流行转到JAZZ，最后又转到R＆B带ROCK。
另一个惊人纪录，力宏可以同时订下3间录音室，同时进行自己制作的3首歌，一间录音室配唱，一间录音室编曲，其余另一间录音室则是Mix Down的工作。或许就是制作自己的作品，在复杂的过程中，怎么编，怎么唱力宏一点也不会弄错。
或许有人会问为何要那么大费周章？答案很简单，力宏所想要证明自己优质的，不只偶像外表，还有他的创作，音乐。
另一个惊人尝试是自填中文词，由于语言的隔阂，所以尽管自己是制作人，作曲人，编曲者，甚至到主唱，但有关于歌词的部分在以往常常都需要假手他人。于是这一次力宏决定突破语言障碍，改用中文词与歌迷沟通，更亲近歌迷，让大家更了解他的想法。
这次力宏自己亲手填写了＜One Of These Days>及＜2000年＞，歌词中展现了力宏对未来和爱情的看法，乐迷不妨细细倾听歌词之中所表现的词意。
走过黑夜，白天
走过春，夏，秋，冬
恋爱新世代
最新爱情比喻法＜公转自转＞
王力宏加盟新力的首支个人国语单曲＜公转自转＞，是由国内首席填词大师姚谦和瑞典知名作曲家Waermo两人联手为力宏量声定作的歌曲。
所谓“公转”就是指地球绕着太阳的运行过程；而“自转”就是地球本身自行运转；这也是最新恋爱世代的爱情比喻法。
＜公转自转＞这首歌说的是每个人心目中理想的对象，都是自己心目中最重要的生活中心，就好像太阳和地球的关系一样，恋爱中的一言一行，一动一静，都是为她而作，为她而转，听到＜公转自转＞这支单曲，立刻有很多画面快速成形在每一个人的脑海中，这也可以说是恋爱新世代的爱情比喻法。
在＜公转自转＞最新单曲中，力宏还首度尝试分身，以一化七，首创全球华人个人单口七部大合声。力宏表示，常常有许多的歌手自己合音，但是要一次搭出七轨，而且每一个拍子，每一个音符都能如此的恰如其分，准确而有音率，可以说是国内首创。就连制作过像莫文蔚，BEYOND的制作人JIM LEE都表示，能够如此快速而准确的唱出七个不同的旋律，力宏可以说是第一人，这也是他第一次遇到一个音乐素养和唱腔实力表现都可圈可点恰如其分的艺人，完全可以传达出制作人想表达的音乐理念，完成了全球华人个人单口七部合声的创举。
事实上，主打歌＜公转自转＞也充分的流露出力宏的心情写照，因为在久违的一年里，音乐就是他的太阳，更是他未来生命旅程中最重要的部分。
为拍封面
清晨两点爬上高楼十八层
这一天果然转得厉害
俄国作家托尔斯泰说：“我们认识某个城市，还不是从某个顶尖的建筑物开始。”为了突显这是力宏加盟新力首张个人国语大碟的气势，也是力宏超越偶像的个人代表作，所以新力的工作人员特地找了一个往前可看到淡水河，向后可以看到新光三越的十八层高的大楼，来做为拍摄专辑封面的一个据点。
这栋十八层高的大楼，外观看起来非常宏伟，由于尚未施工完毕，力宏必须和相关的工作人员在高温闷热，无任何灯光及水的环境之下，靠自己的双脚爬上十八层顶楼，这对任何人来说，无疑是一项体能上的大挑战。更何况是对爬上高楼之后就要立刻进行拍照的力宏。
不过为了突显出重新出发的企图心，力宏一点也不以为意，工作人员为了躲避三十八度的高温，也为了拍摄旭日东升的照片，半夜两点就开始拍摄的前置作业，三点一到便展开这挑战体力，耐力的极限之旅。这一次拍照的效果极好，充公地展现了力宏新出发的企图心，所有的视觉呈现，非常的宏伟壮观，公司一致上下对于这次的封面非常满意。力宏还针对这一次拍摄封面照后的观感写了一篇英文文案，非常感人。
王力宏拍摄最新大碟MTV＜公转自转＞
为求千分之一秒的瞬间转速
二十二台同厂牌
同型号的超快门照相机
同时抢拍
因为地球会自转，所以会有黑夜，白天；因为地球会公转，所以才有春，夏，秋，冬。为了表现新歌＜公转自转＞的概念，为了展现力宏加盟新力音乐首张大碟的企图心，MTV导演特别安排黑，白两个场景，象征黑夜和白天，并且利用玫瑰，雨点，飘雪来暗喻四季。因为力宏整整一年没有发片，整支音乐录影带所想要说明的意义是力宏走过四季，走过黑夜及白天，最后还是站在舞台上，做他最想做的事－－唱歌，给他所有支持他的乐迷来听。
MTV除了原先所要表现的概念外，这支音乐录影带的另一项特点就是想抓住力宏千分之一秒的转动速度感，导演特别走访台北的大街小巷，甚至寻求大盘商，找同一品牌的单眼照相机。经过近半个月的寻找，才找到同一个品牌同一个型号的相机。利用同型同牌的特性，运用同一个遥控器，在力宏旋转的千分之一秒的时候，按下快门。从二十二个角度分解力宏旋转的过程，并且利用后制效果，把底片串连剪接起来，就可以看到连续定格的特效，并且横跨二十二个角度，绝非一般电脑可以作得出来。
FROM广播歌曲杂志（RADIO＆MUSIC） 一九九八年十二月号
文/胡伟
1998年新力音乐又加入了一位新的生力军－－王力宏。一年没有发片，在今年4月份的记者会上，王力宏正式告诉大家，他回来了。在这一年的时间里，力宏除了完成大学的课程外，还得到母校威廉姆斯学院（Williams College)全校师生票选年度音乐家（Class Musician)。
全校师生票选年度音乐家，这一份殊荣是由全校师生共同票选出来的，得奖者也将为全校的毕业生编写毕业歌曲。力宏不但一手包办所有的词曲编曲及教唱，还同时公开邀请其他4位获得提名的同学参与创作毕业歌曲，把荣誉与大家分享。
另一项，就是力宏凭个人力量独立完成毕业论文－－百老汇音乐剧＜吸血鬼＞。这是一部大编制的电子乐乐曲，一共有570多页的乐谱，在整体音乐剧的体制上，融合了舞台剧，百老汇及电影，这种表演形式，可以说是纽约最新百老汇音乐剧，并以多媒体的表演形式演出。
在毕业公演结束之后，音乐剧得到大家一致的好评及口碑，由于力宏大学学业成绩非常优秀，再加上毕业论文杰出的表现，所以力宏在毕业典礼上得到荣誉毕业生（Certificate With Honors)的殊荣。
此外，力宏在这当中还抽空主唱了全美暑假冠军电影＜蒙面侠－－苏洛＞的指定中文版主题曲＜我用生命爱你＞，抢先在英文版歌曲两周前推出。新力唱片继＜铁达尼号＞电影原声带在台狂卖120万的销售佳绩。原作曲者，也是金像奖得主的詹姆斯霍纳（James Horuer)，特地亲自在众多歌手之中圈选＜蒙面侠－－苏洛＞电影中文版主题曲演唱人－－柯以敏以及王力宏。
据说大量对柯以敏及王力宏所诠释的中文版主题曲＜我用生命爱你＞相当满意，柯以敏声乐基础扎实，完全符合大师的要求，而力宏的歌唱实力，更让詹姆斯霍纳大师啧啧称奇。
新力新力宏 音乐变活力
“力”骇唱功 超“宏”创作
不愿只是个“优质偶像”，不愿空负“年度音乐家”的美名，为了自己的音乐理想，为了更淋漓尽致地痛快地创作，在亚洲各大传媒的殷切询问下，王力宏选择在今年4月，加盟新力音乐，开始了他新的音乐里程碑。
从选歌，填词谱曲，编曲配唱，到封套摄影，音乐录影带的拍摄，力宏无不具细靡遗，全心投入。终于在今年的8月，力宏十首全新国语大碟拍板定案，交出了一张亮眼的成绩单。
在这张＜公转自转＞的全新车国语大碟中，力宏不但自己担纲半张的制作人，还自己创作了5首半的新曲。值得一提的是，力宏首度突破语言的限制，亲手填了两首中文词，还发展出“力骇唱腔”，厚实动人，充分地发挥力宏在音乐上的想法。
接触到力宏这张个人全新国语大碟，首先明显感觉到不同的是力宏的唱腔。因为一年没有发片，力宏在Williams College 也顺利毕业，在感情及歌唱技巧上，明显的成熟而且进步很多。正因为这一年的沉淀，力宏利用在学校编写百老汇音乐剧之际，重新思考一个崭新的表达技巧。所以就当力宏进录音室练唱的时候，浑厚有力的唱腔，震撼了许多人，一种与过去截然不同的“新”声就些展开。力宏在低音中“感情浓郁”，高音处 “澎湃动人”，仿佛要将这一年来从未开口唱的歌，一次唱尽，于是我们听到一个崭新的力宏，我们就称他为“宏派唱腔”。
在这张个人新碟的第二项尝试，就是自己担纲半张制作人。也因为如此，力宏常常是“日出而作，日出不息”，以录音室为家，一天常常都睡不到两，三个小时，非但如此，力宏用功的程度，可能是许多专业的制作人都自叹不如，常常在歌曲配唱好了之后，力宏觉得味道不对又再度重编，一首歌最高的纪录可以重唱，重编三次，而且是从流行转到JAZZ，最后又转到R＆B带ROCK。
另一个惊人纪录，力宏可以同时订下3间录音室，同时进行自己制作的3首歌，一间录音室配唱，一间录音室编曲，其余另一间录音室则是Mix Down的工作。或许就是制作自己的作品，在复杂的过程中，怎么编，怎么唱力宏一点也不会弄错。
或许有人会问为何要那么大费周章？答案很简单，力宏所想要证明自己优质的，不只偶像外表，还有他的创作，音乐。
另一个惊人尝试是自填中文词，由于语言的隔阂，所以尽管自己是制作人，作曲人，编曲者，甚至到主唱，但有关于歌词的部分在以往常常都需要假手他人。于是这一次力宏决定突破语言障碍，改用中文词与歌迷沟通，更亲近歌迷，让大家更了解他的想法。
这次力宏自己亲手填写了＜One Of These Days>及＜2000年＞，歌词中展现了力宏对未来和爱情的看法，乐迷不妨细细倾听歌词之中所表现的词意。
走过黑夜，白天
走过春，夏，秋，冬
恋爱新世代
最新爱情比喻法＜公转自转＞
王力宏加盟新力的首支个人国语单曲＜公转自转＞，是由国内首席填词大师姚谦和瑞典知名作曲家Waermo两人联手为力宏量声定作的歌曲。
所谓“公转”就是指地球绕着太阳的运行过程；而“自转”就是地球本身自行运转；这也是最新恋爱世代的爱情比喻法。
＜公转自转＞这首歌说的是每个人心目中理想的对象，都是自己心目中最重要的生活中心，就好像太阳和地球的关系一样，恋爱中的一言一行，一动一静，都是为她而作，为她而转，听到＜公转自转＞这支单曲，立刻有很多画面快速成形在每一个人的脑海中，这也可以说是恋爱新世代的爱情比喻法。
在＜公转自转＞最新单曲中，力宏还首度尝试分身，以一化七，首创全球华人个人单口七部大合声。力宏表示，常常有许多的歌手自己合音，但是要一次搭出七轨，而且每一个拍子，每一个音符都能如此的恰如其分，准确而有音率，可以说是国内首创。就连制作过像莫文蔚，BEYOND的制作人JIM LEE都表示，能够如此快速而准确的唱出七个不同的旋律，力宏可以说是第一人，这也是他第一次遇到一个音乐素养和唱腔实力表现都可圈可点恰如其分的艺人，完全可以传达出制作人想表达的音乐理念，完成了全球华人个人单口七部合声的创举。
事实上，主打歌＜公转自转＞也充分的流露出力宏的心情写照，因为在久违的一年里，音乐就是他的太阳，更是他未来生命旅程中最重要的部分。
为拍封面
清晨两点爬上高楼十八层
这一天果然转得厉害
俄国作家托尔斯泰说：“我们认识某个城市，还不是从某个顶尖的建筑物开始。”为了突显这是力宏加盟新力首张个人国语大碟的气势，也是力宏超越偶像的个人代表作，所以新力的工作人员特地找了一个往前可看到淡水河，向后可以看到新光三越的十八层高的大楼，来做为拍摄专辑封面的一个据点。
这栋十八层高的大楼，外观看起来非常宏伟，由于尚未施工完毕，力宏必须和相关的工作人员在高温闷热，无任何灯光及水的环境之下，靠自己的双脚爬上十八层顶楼，这对任何人来说，无疑是一项体能上的大挑战。更何况是对爬上高楼之后就要立刻进行拍照的力宏。
不过为了突显出重新出发的企图心，力宏一点也不以为意，工作人员为了躲避三十八度的高温，也为了拍摄旭日东升的照片，半夜两点就开始拍摄的前置作业，三点一到便展开这挑战体力，耐力的极限之旅。这一次拍照的效果极好，充公地展现了力宏新出发的企图心，所有的视觉呈现，非常的宏伟壮观，公司一致上下对于这次的封面非常满意。力宏还针对这一次拍摄封面照后的观感写了一篇英文文案，非常感人。
王力宏拍摄最新大碟MTV＜公转自转＞
为求千分之一秒的瞬间转速
二十二台同厂牌
同型号的超快门照相机
同时抢拍
因为地球会自转，所以会有黑夜，白天；因为地球会公转，所以才有春，夏，秋，冬。为了表现新歌＜公转自转＞的概念，为了展现力宏加盟新力音乐首张大碟的企图心，MTV导演特别安排黑，白两个场景，象征黑夜和白天，并且利用玫瑰，雨点，飘雪来暗喻四季。因为力宏整整一年没有发片，整支音乐录影带所想要说明的意义是力宏走过四季，走过黑夜及白天，最后还是站在舞台上，做他最想做的事－－唱歌，给他所有支持他的乐迷来听。
MTV除了原先所要表现的概念外，这支音乐录影带的另一项特点就是想抓住力宏千分之一秒的转动速度感，导演特别走访台北的大街小巷，甚至寻求大盘商，找同一品牌的单眼照相机。经过近半个月的寻找，才找到同一个品牌同一个型号的相机。利用同型同牌的特性，运用同一个遥控器，在力宏旋转的千分之一秒的时候，按下快门。从二十二个角度分解力宏旋转的过程，并且利用后制效果，把底片串连剪接起来，就可以看到连续定格的特效，并且横跨二十二个角度，绝非一般电脑可以作得出来。
1998年力宏向歌迷征求「梦想被冷冻」时发的书信。
Dear Friends,
亲爱的朋友们：
In every country, society, community, neighborhood, or family, the future lies in its children. The older generations look to the young with time in their eyes and hope in their hearts. The young look back at the old with ideas of tomorrow, with energy, and spirit. We, the young people of the global community, are it.
对于每个国家、每个社会、每个社区、每个邻里、以致家庭，未来都寄望在孩子们的身上。 老一辈的用自己饱经沧桑的眼光来审视下一代，并且寄予下一代殷切的希望。年轻人用未来的眼光，活力充沛、朝气蓬勃的眼光来看待老一辈。而身为地球村年轻世代的我们，就是世界的未来。
And as I graduate from college, I see the endless possibilities of my destiny that I must take into my own hands, a future I've never been so excited to live it out.
正当我大学毕业的时候，我知道自己必需独力面对命运中无限的可能，这是一个我从未这么兴奋地想去体验的未来。
You, are probably at similar stages in your lives: young and smart, working hard, moving forward. But what if you didn't have the freedom to determine your own destiny? Think of how you might feel every day if you were, at this young age of hope, completely denied hope. What if you were denied the excitement of your natural youth?
也许你的生命历程中也正走到相似的阶段：年轻睿智、努力奋斗、积极向上。但是如果你没有主宰自己命运的自由，你该怎么办？想一想，试着去想象，如果在这么充满希望的青春时期，每天却处在一个完全被打压希望的境地，你会有怎样的感受？如果你自然吐露、朝气蓬勃的激情被否决，你又会怎么想？
This is hard for most of us to imagine, but when we think about the sort of oppression that is brought on by negligent parents, juvenile crime, child labor, lack of education, hunger, war...this is precisely the situation that is at hand.
这对我们大多数人来说都是难以想象的，但是当我们想到那些因为父母抛弃、青少年犯罪、童工、失教、饥饿、战争等等所导致的压迫，这些都是真实在身边上演的情境。
How can a child grow up in these environments with hopes in her/his heart? So I'm coming to you all, my friends on the internet, to get a voice from the youth. I'm asking you all to write a few words or phrases (in Chinese or English) telling how you might feel if you were spending your days oppressed in any of these situations.
一个在这些环境下成长的孩子，怎能在幼小的心灵中孕育他们的美好希望？所以我号召所有网友们，仔细倾听孩子们的心声。我想请大家写些文字（中英文都成），告诉我如果你们身处以上任一种压抑的环境，会有何种感受。
Try to keep it as short as possible, but be as creative or direct as you want. I will take your words, organize them, set them to music, and record it as a song on my new album which is coming out in August, 1998.
请尽可能地保持简短，但是务必有创意、或者可以如你想要的直接。我将会撷取你们的文字、组织成歌词、配乐，再把它录成一首歌放进我1998年8月即将推出的新专辑。
I am so excited to hear your ideas. If this works, it will be a dream come true for me. It has always been my goal to serve as a voice for the young. Now I have this chance...to sing your words.
我会非常乐意看到大家的点子。如果能成功的话，我的一个梦想也就真正实现了。为年轻人发声一直是我长远来的目标，现在，我有了这个大好机会...可以唱出你们的感受。
So please write back! There are no rules to this song, except that by responding, you are giving me your permission to set your words to music and your responses must be in before July 1st!
所以请不要吝惜你们的文字！这首歌没有特定规则，除了要附带允许我将你们的感受谱写成歌，此外，你们的响应必须要在7月1日之前寄过来！
You are also agreeing to let Sony and me determine the various usages of these lyrics and forego the copyrights (both moral and economic rights) of your lyrics (phrases, words), and all the money that might be generated by this song. The songwriter's royalties generated by this song will be donated in full to a charitable foundation for children.
另，你们要同意让新力公司和我决定这些歌词的各种安排方式、放弃你们歌词（词组和文字）上的著作权（无论是在道德或经济上的权利），并不计较这首歌可能获取的收入。歌曲创作者经由此歌所获得的版税将会全数捐赠给一个儿童慈善基金会。
Unfortunately, there are no guarantees that your words will be used in their entirety or at all. Don't be upset if I use only one or two of your words and mix and match them with someone else's, that is the whole idea of the song, MANY voices becoming ONE.
遗憾的是，我们无法保证你的文字可以被完整地录用。如果只采用了你的一两个字并将它们和别人的文字混合在一起，也请不要因此而伤心难过，因为这就是我们创作整首歌曲的主旨，使许许多多、各种各样的心声能融合为一体。
Never before has a song been written together by so many people and this will be the first time ever that song lyrics are written collaboratively through the internet, how exciting! You can e-mail me your phrases by clicking below.
过去从来没有一首歌是由这么多的人一起写的，这么多人通过因特网通力合作完成歌词写作，这是史无前例的，多令人振奋啊！大家可以点击下面的地址把你们的文字e-mail给我。
For those who do not have access to the internet, but would like to contribute, please mail your phrases or words to:
对于那些想要做些贡献却又无法上网的人，请把你们的文字寄到 ：
PO Box 20083,
Rochester, NY 14602
United States of America
or mail it to:
或者寄到：
"Our song" c/o Sony Music Taiwan 6th F. No. 35, Lane 11, Kwang-Fu North Rd. Taipei, Taiwan.
台北市光复北路11巷35号6楼台湾新力唱片公司（注明「我们的歌」）。
Good luck, fellow composers! Thank you!!!!
我写作的伙伴们，祝大家好运！ 万分感谢！！！！
Love,
Lee-hom Wang
亲爱的朋友们：
In every country, society, community, neighborhood, or family, the future lies in its children. The older generations look to the young with time in their eyes and hope in their hearts. The young look back at the old with ideas of tomorrow, with energy, and spirit. We, the young people of the global community, are it.
对于每个国家、每个社会、每个社区、每个邻里、以致家庭，未来都寄望在孩子们的身上。 老一辈的用自己饱经沧桑的眼光来审视下一代，并且寄予下一代殷切的希望。年轻人用未来的眼光，活力充沛、朝气蓬勃的眼光来看待老一辈。而身为地球村年轻世代的我们，就是世界的未来。
And as I graduate from college, I see the endless possibilities of my destiny that I must take into my own hands, a future I've never been so excited to live it out.
正当我大学毕业的时候，我知道自己必需独力面对命运中无限的可能，这是一个我从未这么兴奋地想去体验的未来。
You, are probably at similar stages in your lives: young and smart, working hard, moving forward. But what if you didn't have the freedom to determine your own destiny? Think of how you might feel every day if you were, at this young age of hope, completely denied hope. What if you were denied the excitement of your natural youth?
也许你的生命历程中也正走到相似的阶段：年轻睿智、努力奋斗、积极向上。但是如果你没有主宰自己命运的自由，你该怎么办？想一想，试着去想象，如果在这么充满希望的青春时期，每天却处在一个完全被打压希望的境地，你会有怎样的感受？如果你自然吐露、朝气蓬勃的激情被否决，你又会怎么想？
This is hard for most of us to imagine, but when we think about the sort of oppression that is brought on by negligent parents, juvenile crime, child labor, lack of education, hunger, war...this is precisely the situation that is at hand.
这对我们大多数人来说都是难以想象的，但是当我们想到那些因为父母抛弃、青少年犯罪、童工、失教、饥饿、战争等等所导致的压迫，这些都是真实在身边上演的情境。
How can a child grow up in these environments with hopes in her/his heart? So I'm coming to you all, my friends on the internet, to get a voice from the youth. I'm asking you all to write a few words or phrases (in Chinese or English) telling how you might feel if you were spending your days oppressed in any of these situations.
一个在这些环境下成长的孩子，怎能在幼小的心灵中孕育他们的美好希望？所以我号召所有网友们，仔细倾听孩子们的心声。我想请大家写些文字（中英文都成），告诉我如果你们身处以上任一种压抑的环境，会有何种感受。
Try to keep it as short as possible, but be as creative or direct as you want. I will take your words, organize them, set them to music, and record it as a song on my new album which is coming out in August, 1998.
请尽可能地保持简短，但是务必有创意、或者可以如你想要的直接。我将会撷取你们的文字、组织成歌词、配乐，再把它录成一首歌放进我1998年8月即将推出的新专辑。
I am so excited to hear your ideas. If this works, it will be a dream come true for me. It has always been my goal to serve as a voice for the young. Now I have this chance...to sing your words.
我会非常乐意看到大家的点子。如果能成功的话，我的一个梦想也就真正实现了。为年轻人发声一直是我长远来的目标，现在，我有了这个大好机会...可以唱出你们的感受。
So please write back! There are no rules to this song, except that by responding, you are giving me your permission to set your words to music and your responses must be in before July 1st!
所以请不要吝惜你们的文字！这首歌没有特定规则，除了要附带允许我将你们的感受谱写成歌，此外，你们的响应必须要在7月1日之前寄过来！
You are also agreeing to let Sony and me determine the various usages of these lyrics and forego the copyrights (both moral and economic rights) of your lyrics (phrases, words), and all the money that might be generated by this song. The songwriter's royalties generated by this song will be donated in full to a charitable foundation for children.
另，你们要同意让新力公司和我决定这些歌词的各种安排方式、放弃你们歌词（词组和文字）上的著作权（无论是在道德或经济上的权利），并不计较这首歌可能获取的收入。歌曲创作者经由此歌所获得的版税将会全数捐赠给一个儿童慈善基金会。
Unfortunately, there are no guarantees that your words will be used in their entirety or at all. Don't be upset if I use only one or two of your words and mix and match them with someone else's, that is the whole idea of the song, MANY voices becoming ONE.
遗憾的是，我们无法保证你的文字可以被完整地录用。如果只采用了你的一两个字并将它们和别人的文字混合在一起，也请不要因此而伤心难过，因为这就是我们创作整首歌曲的主旨，使许许多多、各种各样的心声能融合为一体。
Never before has a song been written together by so many people and this will be the first time ever that song lyrics are written collaboratively through the internet, how exciting! You can e-mail me your phrases by clicking below.
过去从来没有一首歌是由这么多的人一起写的，这么多人通过因特网通力合作完成歌词写作，这是史无前例的，多令人振奋啊！大家可以点击下面的地址把你们的文字e-mail给我。
For those who do not have access to the internet, but would like to contribute, please mail your phrases or words to:
对于那些想要做些贡献却又无法上网的人，请把你们的文字寄到 ：
PO Box 20083,
Rochester, NY 14602
United States of America
or mail it to:
或者寄到：
"Our song" c/o Sony Music Taiwan 6th F. No. 35, Lane 11, Kwang-Fu North Rd. Taipei, Taiwan.
台北市光复北路11巷35号6楼台湾新力唱片公司（注明「我们的歌」）。
Good luck, fellow composers! Thank you!!!!
我写作的伙伴们，祝大家好运！ 万分感谢！！！！
Love,
Lee-hom Wang
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