- 06.13 6/13 V MAG
The Mando-pop Dude
American-born Taiwanese pop star, Wang Lee hom, is a dishy combination of charm and talent as V MAG finds out in a recent interview.
Text MARK photography SHELBY
WHEN ASKED BY A JOURNALIST at a recent press conference in Kuala Lumpur whether he was past his sell-by date, superstar Wang Lee Hom promptly replied, “I can’t be compared to a can of peas. I don’t think I have a shelf life. There is no limit to my potential.” The 29-year-old has probably been asked that very question many times before. After all, he is a veteran of 10 albums and he has been rocking the Asian music charts for nearly over a decade. He continues: “With hard work, I believe that anything is possible. There is always room for improvements.”
Dressed in standard issue hip hop gear and a cream coloured Blanc de Chine jacket, Wang looks very much like a dishy fusion concoction. “I’m embarking on the next stage of my career. With a bit of luck, I hope to be able to successfully communicate my ideas through music. I certainly don’t think I’m maxing out on my capacity to produce good work,” he says with a slight smile.
With The Sun and Moon in the Heart – his 10th studio album, Wang has done things his way. In an interview with V MAG a year ago, Wang mentioned that he was planning a “chinked out” album and had plans to head to Mongolia and Tibet to “research new sounds”. So it’s hardly surprising that his latest work incorporates an international array of music elements: blues, Chinese orchestra and Tibetan sounds.
While on his travels, Wang admits that he was in search of this personal musical Shangri-La. “What I do has very little to do with trends…if I can make something good, challenging and exciting, then I’ll just make it,” he explains.
“My intention was to create a very Chinese yet international album, but with more traditional sounds.” And it looks like Wang has been true to his word - the title track of his latest album features a groundbreaking, combination of blues together with classical Chinese sounds.
It has probably taken Wang a long time to get the creative freedom he now possesses. He has tackled a variety of musical styles in his career. Incidentally, his first album featured both jazz and classical sounds, and was influenced perhaps by the music of Kenny G. (Wang once admitted that he was a big-time fan.)
But a lot has happened since those early days. With the release of The Sun and Moon in the Heart, Wang hopes to “transcend music boundaries”. He intends to take the “chinked out” concept even further. “I hope to create an international product that people around the world will be able relate to,” he says. “But I have to say that where my career is concerned, I’m not a strategist. I usually let things take their natural course.”
Although he claims otherwise, Wang’s career trajectory does seem to have been rather orchestrated. Growing up in Rochester, New York, Wang went by the name of “Alexander” and did not speak a word of Mandarin. But at a recent press conference, his Mandarin was impeccable. Although his parents wanted him to pursue a career in Medicine, Wang was intent on charting his own career paths; in fact, he was offered places in two American Ivy League institutions: Yale and Princeton, which he turned down.
As a consolation to his ambitious parents, however, Wang has had countless highlights in his career in entertainment. He famously appeared alongside the Kuala Lumpur Symphony Orchestra in the mid-90s in the “Impossible to Miss Lee Hom and the KL Symphony Orchestra Live Concert”. Recently, he directed his first music video for a track in his latest album – “The Deep of the Bamboo Grove”.
It’s perhaps his constant desire to further more his craft and to learn new skills that has ensured his longevity in an industry famous for wanting to discover the next big thing. Wang once remarked that “music is like bodybuilding”. “You must put your whole heart into it in order to see results. If there are any distractions present, it becomes difficult to improve.”
“For me, making a big sacrifice would entail doing promotional work, interviews, photo shoots, and the like. Sometimes, I find that I don’t have time to practice the piano or my vocal, which makes it hard for me to improve.”
But improve he has, midway through the press conference, he sings – with prefect pitch -
a line from “Forever Love,” which is a track from his latest album. This gets everyone in the room very excited. A girl shouts from the back of the room: “We want more”. He obliges by humming another tune and the crowd goes wild.
Clearly, Wang Lee Hom is not past his sell-by date.
※Special thanks to Xiuyue offered the news article of V mag to HOM2usic STATION.
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