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My dad took me to the MoMa when I was six. I was like, “Whoa, this is where I want to work.”
That dream didn’t change. I’m a really consistent person. But I guess one’s own principles are hard for others to comprehend.
I was studying print-making in New Zealand, where I grew up, when a composer friend asked me to sing on a demo for Sammi Cheng.
Music producer Alvin Leong heard it, and asked me to go to Hong Kong for an audition. Hey, it was a free trip. I thought I blew it but Alvin offered me a contract right before I flew back.
My mom said, “What? You’re crazy!”
I moved to Hong Kong just before I turned 23 and released my first album. I won all the best newcomer awards soon after.
I had a chauffeur, two assistants and a huge apartment. Whatever I wanted to eat would appear before me in 10 minutes.
My label wanted me to be the second Faye Wong. WTF? I couldn’t replace her. And I didn’t want to!
As someone trained as an artist, it’s really difficult to deliver work that is not based on your mindset or persona. It’s contradictory to oneself.
You don’t really have a life. The schedule’s pre-booked for the whole year.
They never let me talk about my music. They just wanted me to lie on a pool table, wearing a mini-skirt.
I broke down one day at a salon. I cried and screamed. I asked to meet with the GM. They asked, “Is it urgent?” Oh yeah.
I’d done this for two years and I couldn’t do it anymore. I told them I’d made up my mind: I’m giving up.
When I was eight, my mom confronted my dad about an affair he had. He confessed and apologized. My mom was screaming and crying. But then, I saw the relief on her face as she didn’t need to guess anymore. That really affected me.
Honesty makes people sad, but at the end of the day, it frees people. I wasn’t being honest. I wasn’t actually doing stuff that I liked. I just pretended that I liked my songs. I was faking it, for the fans.
My label sued me for breaking the contract. I gave them four years’ worth of savings. I couldn’t even afford a coffee because I only had $32 in my bank account.
But I was a happy, broke person. I was literally free. Woohoo! Rock n’ roll!
I found a job at an art gallery. During the next three years I learned the gallery business and became a contemporary art buyer.
I loved it so much I just had to have my own gallery.
The name “Madhouse” is inspired by my art school, Elam College of Fine Arts in New Zealand. The actual building was a psychiatric hospital. It was creepy, but very inspiring.
I didn’t sing for five years—I was just thinking about art.
But I picked up singing again to raise awareness of animal abuse with “Woof.”
If I have the guts to put an album out, it means that I’m really satisfied with it, and am responsible for it.
If you’re a singer, or an artist, you do it because you love it. Otherwise, why on earth would you be singing to others? Are you sick?
Reporters still go on about me being similar to Faye Wong. So now I tell them: “I’m not just like Faye—I want to be Faye.”
Proceeds from the sale of “Woof” goes to the Hong Kong Companion Animal Federation. Available at HMV and Madhouse Contemporary (10 Kau U Fong, Central, 2815-6007).


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Shin Wong's return to singing

Shin Wong

Magazines

Singer turned art gallery owner Shin Wong used to be touted as the “second” Faye Wong. When she turned her back on the music industry, she lost all her money but found salvation in art. With the release of her new album, “Woof,” Johannes Pong heads over to her gallery, Madhouse Contemporary, to find out why she is singing again.
