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!"