[TodayOnline]'I was once a fan'
http://www.todayonline.com/Entertainment/Music/EDC100708-0000043/I-was-once
-a-fan
("一不做二不休" XD; 有圖:第1和第5張沒看過)
'I was once a fan'
Or how I helped Kit Chan attain superstardom (well, kind of)
by Christopher Toh
05:55 AM Jul 08, 2010
IT'S 8PM. MediaCorp studios. In the auditorium below, fans are screaming
for Korean boyband Beast, who are performing for Channel 5's variety show,
Entertainment On 5. Up in the dressing room, it's fairly quiet until
someone goes: "Chris Toh! I've been meaning to talk to you for the longest
time! I was such a big fan!"
Okay, I will put that as my headline, I joke.
"That would be cool," comes the reply. "I think you should put that in. That
I was once a fan."
See, writing features and columns for a newspaper has its perks, but mostly,
you tend to draw flak from people who disagree with you and can't wait to
tell you so. So when someone says "I'm your fan", I always prepare for the
smackdown, usually something like, "In your dreams, fat boy!" followed by
derisive laughter.
But when it's Kit Chan proclaiming to be your fan, that kind of throws things
a little, well, off. For one thing, it's Kit Chan, singer, actress and author
- and only one of the pioneers of the local Chinese pop music scene. The one
who sings those National Day songs, acts in musicals with Jacky Cheung, and
played Empress Dowager Cixi in Forbidden City: Portrait Of An Empress.
I know, you don't believe me. But what she was referring to was an incident
that happened back in 1993 ...
The 1993 incident
See, back in the day when I was a slightly famous musician, music arranger
Case Woo asked me to help this young girl - that would be Kit - put together
a demo. She had written these songs but had no music to them, and wondered if
I could insert some backing tracks.
So we sat down in my living room and put together a few songs onto my
two-track cassette recorder, including one I remember called Motorcycle Boy.
("I was inspired by Mickey Rourke," she said.) Once we finished, she said
thank you very much, goodbye and left.
The next thing I knew, she was in Taiwan, released an album called Heartache
(1994), and the rest, as they say, is history. True story. I am not making
this up.
"Those were really nice memories," said Kit. "I don't have the cassette any
more, but I can still sing the songs. Actually, some of those songs from that
'era' were in my last album (East Of Saturn). Not that version, but redone. I
think Purple Grass And Fireflies was one of them. I was having all these
issues about wanting to be free when I was recording my last album."
Kit and Newton's Third Law
Newton's Third Law of Motion states that for every action, there must be an
equal and opposite reaction. Which, in a way, sums up Kit's career. For 10
years, Kit worked at being one of the top stars in the region, putting out 15
bestselling albums and acting in a number of TV shows and musicals. Then in
2004, she announced plans to take an indefinite hiatus. And apart from a
short tour of Snow.Wolf.Lake (2005) and a run of Forbidden City (2006), she
did practically ... nothing.
Oh, sure, there was the stint at Hill & Knowlton in 2007 that lasted 19
months.
"It was very awkward at the beginning. It wasn't always pleasant. I didn't
know how to handle being in the same room with a lot of people without them
helping me," she said.
"I always had people who protected me from others. And while it's a good
thing, it's also a little crippling. The moment the managers and the PA are
gone, you actually feel naked and vulnerable, like a little kid. And I
thought, 'this is not the way to live my life as a 30-something.'"
After leaving the company, she took time off to recharge again.
"I've always believed in the Chinese saying 'either don't do or don't rest'.
I'm pretty extreme like that. When I 'don't do', I can zoh bo (Hokkien for
relax) for a long time. I'm quite good at home. I'll bake or read ... But
once I get into it, my friends will know, 'oh you're in your crazy phase,
we're not going to talk to you'."
Going crazy again
Kit's current "crazy phase" started sometime last year, when she acted in the
Hong Kong portmanteau film Love Discourse, directed by Derek Tsang, son of
Eric, who plays her husband in one vignette. "A very strange pair, obviously,
but the story is a bit warped," she said.
But she got to see how a world-class actor like Eric delivered the goods. "He
kept sleeping in between takes," she laughed. "I mean, when he's not working,
he'd be sleeping! And it was very interesting to see how he could just wake
up and just ... act. Just like that!"
The movie is set to be released later this year. Now, she's smack in the
middle of rehearsals for the Goh Boon Teck-helmed musical, December Rains,
set during the time of the Hock Lee bus riots. She plays Qi Ling, a student.
It's her first musical role since Forbidden City.
"I think Boon Teck is like one of those old school directors, because he's
using all these drama techniques that I learnt in school. And I've not used
these in years, so it was good to get back into it," she said. "Right now,
the worst thing is that I'm so exhausted from all the rehearsals!"
State of indie-pendence
The other thing she's planning: A new album. "I haven't really worked out the
direction, but it has to represent me now," said the 37-year-old. "There's
always this temptation to give the public the 'Kit Chan song', but I want to
be able to be in touch with who I am now and go with that."
She doesn't have a release date set, but the cool thing about being an indie
artiste is that you can dictate your pace.
"With the labels, there's a fixed release date. And die-die, they will
release it ... Not enough songs? Don't care; just chuck a few in to fill it
up. So you end up with songs that you don't like."
She added: "I'm not being ungrateful. We benefitted a lot from (major
labels). But in the end ... you have to take the wheel and drive. If not,
they will drive you off the cliff."
Getting comfy
Here's the thing about Kit. Apart from the required media rounds she has to
do for her work, chances are you're probably going to see or hear very little
about her.
"If I have nothing to promote ... I'll probably be hiding at home or at the
supermarket," she said.
While Kit is affable and friendly, she admitted she was nervous about being
around people, and it took her "a couple of years" to be able to go out in
public without being too self-conscious.
"There are ways around it. Like, I go to the same hawker centre and sit at
the same spot all the time. Soon the people will get sian," she explained.
"Once you're a public figure, there are many ways in which people can make
you uncomfortable with yourself. I think I'm comfortable with my age, my
body, at this stage in my life."
The key, she said, is to learn to say "no". "You have to say 'no' sometimes
in order to have a good life. That's one of the reasons why I stopped
recording in 2004. It was to get that work-life balance. As an artiste, you
have none of that."
The "life" part of that balance also includes her boyfriend, whom she said is
cool about her getting into the thick of it all again. This, of course,
prompted me to ask whether she'd be nesting.
"You're making me sound like a chicken! Do I have plans to get married? Not
as solid as the plans I have for the album. I'm moving in that direction. I
was just so caught up with everything else," said Kit.
"But what will be, will be."
Moving right along
This is the person who admitted she can't rest on her laurels. Which means
she will never stop being a performer.
"I never thought I would stop singing. I just needed a break to do the things
that I needed to do. You cannot just sit still; you have to move. But you
don't have to rush.
"Like the album - I certainly have the plan and the motivation to get it done
by the end of the year. But if I get delayed by a couple of months, don't
kill me over it. The best thing is that I have choices now."
Then she stands up. She's needed for her interview on Entertainment On 5. She
says thank you very much, goodbye and leaves. Again.
December Rains runs Aug 6 to 15, 8pm (3pm on Sat and Sun), Esplanade Theatre.
Tickets $69 to $129 from Sistic. Catch the repeat of Kit Chan's interview on
Entertainment On 5 on Sun, 6pm, MediaCorp TV Channel 5.
--
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