No one gets attention like Faye Wong.
The pop diva returned to the spotlight on September 9 when she announced in Beijing that she will hold a concert at Shanghai’s Mercedes-Benz Arena in December this year, her first show since her tour in 2010.
Titled Faye’s Moments Live 2016, the concert will be streamed live exclusively by Chinese internet giant Tencent, which means her fans will be able to enjoy the show from any corner of the world.
Wong says she will perform more than 20 songs and the look of the stage will be “dreamy”.
“I will sing some of the hits, along with the songs that are my favorites but I rarely perform at concerts,” says Wong.
“I have never been too ambitious about my career. I don’t listen to much music these days either. I just do what I like,” she adds.
Asked why there will be just one concert, the 47-year-old says she is interested in the streaming technology and wants to give it a try. The show will also use virtual technology.
“This is not a farewell concert,” Wong says, in reply to the rumours about her retirement. “Probably I will have tours in the future, but this time I just want to hold one concert.”
The news conference was streamed live by Tencent, which attracted nearly 10 million fans. According to Han Zhijie, the general manager of Tencent’s copyright department, the internet company will work closely with Wong by using latest technology to interact with her fans, such as launching exclusive online channels to live-stream the concert’s preparation.
Katie Chan, Wong’s agent, who has been collaborating with the pop star for over 20 years, says: “Faye is a creative artist. At different stages of her life, she has been trying to give shape to her own ideas. We are grateful that we have Tencent to help us with the latest technology to realise her ideas.”
Chan adds that rumours of Wong’s return to the stage took off in the past few months, with reports of a planned tour and photos of the singer leaking online.
“We want to take our time and present a great show to the fans,” Chan says.
Wong’s longtime partner, songwriter and producer Zhang Yadong, who has written songs for her and produced some of her most popular albums, such as Restless in 1996, Lovers & Strangers in 1999, and Fable in 2000, will be the music director of the Shanghai concert. Zhang also wrote and produced Wong’s latest single, Dust, which was released online in July.
Wong denies that she will perform with her daughter, Dou Jington, at the concert. The 19-year-old Dou, who is the daughter of Wong and rock singer-songwriter Dou Wei, is also a singer-songwriter, who released her debut album, Stone Cafe, this May.
But Wong says that she may perform Dou Jingtong’s songs at the concert, but she hasn’t decided yet.
“I like her songwriting style and maybe we could collaborate sometime in the future at some smaller shows,” Wong says.
Born and brought up in Beijing, Wong moved to Hong Kong in 1987 with her family and became a pop singer after winning third place in a singing contest a year later.
She performed in Cantonese at the beginning of her career and one of the her songs, Fragile Woman, a cover of Japanese song, Rouge, sung by Naomi Chiaki, won her popularity in the 1990s.
From 1993’s album, Random Thoughts, Wong changed her music style from traditional Cantonese sad love ballads to alternative music, which was heavily influenced by the Western bands, such as The Cranberries and Bjork.
She began singing in Mandarin in 1994, with songs such as Pledge and Exit, co-written with her ex-husband Dou Wei. Her musical transition was a great success and propelled Wong into one of the best-selling female pop singers in Asia.
So far, Wong, who has swept nearly all the music awards of Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Chinese mainland, has released over 20 Cantonese and Mandarin albums.
Besides being a singer, she has also starred in movies, such as Chungking Express directed by Wong Kar-wai, which won her the Best Actress nomination of the 14th Hong Kong Film Awards.
Though she rarely appears in public and stopped releasing albums-her last studio album was To Love, which was released in 2003, fans get glimpses of her life from pictures taken by paparazzi.
Her personal life also gets lots of attention.
Wong, along with her second husband, actor-turned-entrepreneur Li Yapeng, whom she divorced in 2013, established the Smile Angel Foundation, after her daughter was born with cleft lip in 2006. The organisation helps children born with cleft lips.
In September 2014, Wong’s agent Chan confirmed that Wong and Hong Kong singer-actor Nicholas Tse resumed dating after they had gone their separate ways 11 years ago, which made the couple hit headlines again.
