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Sweet candy for your ears

Jocelyn Wong

Fiona Fung says: 'I want to cheer people up with my music and bring a little bit of sweetness into their lives.'

Fung, a 27-year-old lyricist and singer, has just released her second album Sweet Melody, a follow-up to A Little Love, which sold 10,055 copies.

She has remained under the radar over the past few years, working behind the scenes, translating lyrics into Cantonese for songs used in Hollywood films, and even working as a backup singer.

Fans will probably see more of her after she signed with music producer, Chan Kwong-wing. She just finished her first solo concert recently and is looking forward to what the future holds.

On Sweet Melody, Fung has laid out 20 tracks including demos, new songs and songs featured on television adverts or movies. One of her favourite tracks is When I Was Young. 'It's about when I first started working,' she says. 'It was like emerging from a bubble - I was so used to my family and colleagues treating me kindly throughout the years.'

She was not used to a world where people had only their own interests in mind. She wrote this song as a reminder to herself and her fans to face challenges, and keep the same attitude as when she was young: 'full of innocence and uncorrupted courage'.

Fung says this song was inspired by a trip to the hair salon, which occurred at a low point of her life.

Most of her songs are inspired by daily events, such as conversations and personal stories, which give her insight into people's thoughts.

Taking these elements, she writes down her thoughts from the comfort of her bed and turns them into lyrics.

She says her voice, like her personality, is 'happy and sweet'. Through her music, she tries to 'recreate the same feeling that eating candy evokes' - a soft tinge of happiness. This delicate singing style sets her apart from other singers and has helped her achieve success.

She was named Best Female Newcomer at the 2008 Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Music Awards. And this year, she won TVB's Most Popular TV Commercial Award for Best Television Commercial Song.

Becoming a singer has made her life a lot busier, allowing her less time to spend with her family. But she still maintains a strong bond with them and emphasises closeness with her family and friends.

For young, aspiring musicians trying to break into the business, Fung says the best advice she can give is to just have passion. She believes that with passion, anyone can achieve their heart's desire.

Ambition and not giving up are important, too. She points to her own experiences as an example. Her singing style is quite different from most local artists and this has led to criticism within the industry.

While most local artists employ a lot of technique, Fung believes that expressing the essence and portraying the mood of the song is more important. This is why she uses heavy breathing in her songs, despite what others say.

She says she has been singing like that ever since she was a child, and that 'it is her performance style'.

For this month's book fair, Fung has written a book about her career experiences and transition to the forefront of the industry. It also outlines how she fell in love with writing lyrics and her views on the world and on romance.

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