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Since I was
studying in elementary school, the name Shirley Wong (Wong Ching Man)
was already there in my life. I first knew her through the song Vulnerable
Woman. I can still remember, that song was really popular. Even me, a
9-year-old girl in 1992 was able to sing the entire song. Imagine! In
fact, I didn't like that song, I could sing the song simply because the
lyrics were very easy to memorize. And for me, Shirley Wong was just another
ordinary pop female singer with a classic fragile look singing in a late
show E.Y.T.
In 1993,
No Regrets came up. Since then, Shirley Wong became a new hot icon. Her
image had turned tough from a fragile one by having short hair. Her new
image was so astonishing that became a new hot spot of every local magazine.
I did notice about that, and I found that she was so different and captivating.
Shirley Kwan had the same haircut later on. The way she sang caught my
attention. She sang songs in an odd way, I mean, she dragged the last
sound of each line with an obvious deep breath. (Sorry for my poor description.)
However, she was still out of my mind.
In 1994, Shirley totally turned into an undeniably invincible Queen of
Pop. Almost every song she sang had topped the hit charts. She then branded
her name back to the original one, Faye Wong. I began to be interested
in her because of her unique name and image. And I started to accept many
of her pop songs, such as Lau Fei Fei, Cold War, Like Wind, In the edge
of Love and Pain, Chess, etc. One more thing, Faye showed more than 50
pairs of sunglasses in an afternoon show, Relaxed City. I wondered how
come that girl was so fond of sunglasses.
After that, she reduced the frequency of showing up on TV, yet she was
still there and had many great songs. Indeed, I was still not fan of her.
I did not know how huge the impact she had made on Hong Kong music industry.
I had no idea why she was always with a veil. I did not understand why
she always stood against the mass media. I wondered why she did not like
to show up on TV. So many questions in my mind, but I did not seem to
care, as she was still just another ordinary singer to me. All I knew
was she always went to Beijing, and a large number of my friends were
fans of her.
One day in 1996, Fiona and Sjmila (friends of mine and fans of Faye) mentioned
about Vexation and told me how good it was. Starting from that day on,
my life changed enormously.
In 1996, I became a form two student, and I found myself had become more
up-to-date. I did what a high school student was supposed to do, started
listening to the radio, reading student magazines, watching music programs...
One day, Sjmila suddenly asked me, `Hey, have you seen the latest music
video of Faye Wong?' I was puzzled, since I never thought about Faye,
so I asked `What song?' She answered excitedly, `Vexation! It's so cool!
You gotta check it out!' Fiona said, ` Yeah! It's marvelous!' I pondered
for a while, I kept asking myself `what's so special? Why are they so
excited about it?' But still, I was not interested in that song.
Until a night, Vexation was played on TV. I was floored with it. The video
was just so stunning and surprisingly funky. Then it was all like a drama
series, another special thing came up to me the very next day.
Listening
to one of the radio stations, I was exploring more new songs to "update"
myself. A DJ spoke out a name, Faye Wong, I was awaken again. Then a kind
of peculiar song was played, I was like flowing in the air. I knew I loved
that song and kind of song. But I did not know what song it was until
the DJ said its title, Please Myself, and said it was written by Faye
Wong herself. `Wow! The name was so amazing!' I told myself, `I love it!
I love it! I love the song, and I love the song writer!'
Then, I rushed into the hi-fi, as I knew my brother had 2 Faye Wong cassettes
there. I used to ignore those tapes, as I didn't like Faye. They were
I'm Willing and Please Myself. I was as happy as if I had found a box
of gold bars. The faces on the tape were so beautiful. Faye was just so
pretty! Especially her long legs, they were so attractive. I just couldn't
take my eyes off her. I knew that I had gone gaga over her already.
However, it was too late. Faye hid herself in Beijing when I started to
like her, that means I could hardly see her on TV. The last time I saw
her on TV was in a seasonal awards presentation show. She dressed in black
and sang some songs.
After a few days, I finally found the reason why she was hiding; she got
pregnant by a Beijing musician Dou Wei. And some newspaper even tried
to create a photo of their coming baby by mixing the couple's faces. I
swear, it was really funny.
A few days later, I was even crazier about her; I began collecting the
news articles about her. I also bought the very first CD of Faye, A Collection
of Faye's Pop Music, which was also my first CD. I bought it at HMV Causeway
Bay.
Certainly, I kept listening and listening to her songs. I loved her ballads,
but I was fonder of her alternatives. I especially liked Please Myself,
Exit and Back Shadow. I indulged myself in her heavenly voice.
As I started to collect things about her, I asked every single of my friend
to help me cut out any piece of news about Faye from newspapers and magazines.
I'm so proud to be her fan.
Now Playing:
You're Happy, so I'm Happy
Faye Wong
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