Kit Chan
With her impeccable singing skills, Kit Chan was among the first Singaporean singers to break into the Hong Kong and Taiwanese music scene following her debut in 1993. At the height of her fame in 2004, Chan decided to take a break from showbiz to work in PR. Now she is ready to make a full comeback. She discusses record labels, languages and—of course—music with Grace Tsoi.
I had just turned 21 when I released my first album. In the early 90s, [a singer who was] barely 21 was very young.
[In Singapore,] the general perception was that only those who can’t study would join showbiz. I was quite a bright student and my mom always thought I would graduate from university and have a good job. She was very disappointed in me.
In my twenties, I was too busy learning the role of an artist. When I reached thirty, I was acutely aware that I wasn’t very well equipped as a human being.
It’s a bad thing as a human. There you are—gonna to be in your thirties, and you should be a mature woman. But you are actually quite incapable of a lot of things. I think that bugged me and made me feel extremely inadequate. I felt that I needed a break from that life to go back to school and maybe experience a slice of real life.
Office politics is interesting. At the beginning, I was just struggling with my stationery, laptop and everything… I didn’t understand nor realize the existence of office politics till very late in the game. By then, I was ready to exit.
There was never a doubt [about returning to the music scene]. I didn’t know how long the break would last, but I knew it was a break.