Canto-pop idol Nicholas Tse Ting-fung will leave next month for an indefinite break to sort out his life.
The singer, 21, said yesterday that after completing his present work, including his first Putonghua album, he would leave Hong Kong.
Tse, who started in the entertainment world five years ago and rapidly rose to stardom, said the break was not a way for him to run away from things. He refused to say where he was going or how long the break would be, but said he was not leaving with his girlfriend, singer Faye Wong.
'I am not running away from all the bad news that has been happening. I hope that I can really find the real me and what I need,' he said. 'If I do come back, there will be a better me, along with all my fans and the media, and I hope we will have all grown up.'
Tse said his experiences in the past few months had had a serious impact on his work and he could no longer find inspiration to write songs.
'At the New Year, I made a wish that the media would report more about my work than other things, but I have completely failed on that,' he said.