Canto-pop singer Kay Tse On-kay, the rising star who lifted 17 trophies at last year's Hong Kong Music Awards, finds fame a mixed blessing.
'When I first became a singer, nobody knew much about me and the paparazzi couldn't have cared less. But now I feel like I have no privacy,' said Tse (right), who will have her first solo concert run at the Coliseum next month.
The 32-year-old's career began when she landed a contract with an independent record label after winning an inter-school singing contest in 2003 while she was studying at the University of Hong Kong. Two years later, she released her debut album, Kay One, which was well received by critics and DJs. Tse's outstanding vocals have since won her many fans. Her fifth album, Binary, released last year, sold more than 30,000 copies.
'I've never changed my personality or the way I make music; it's only the way people see me that has changed,' she said. 'I don't want to be a diva or a billionaire. I just want to make good music.'
Almost everything about Tse has become press fodder of late. Gossip magazines reported that she was separating from her songwriter husband Louis Cheung Kai-chung. Another claimed recently that she had plastic surgery on her eyelids.
'I've seen a lot of biased and false reporting about me in tabloids and magazines. I think I'm getting used to it now,' she said. 'I've stopped blaming myself for doing things like appearing somewhere the paparazzi are.'