host:林柏希
The radio dj started his program by listing Steven’s work titles prior to introducing Steven as his today's guest:
- Actor, Singer, Music composer,Lyricist, Author, Tv host (cooking, game show), Entrepreneur (publisher/production studio owner), Producer (which Steven comments is title is purely gratuitous (mo yong) like how he himself has been a lo ban with his own publishing company for so many years already
Work schedules
Late May – film either a mainland movie or tv series
@3:41 -- later half of the hold concert in Malaysia
His own studios have plans to film a movie in Hong Kong and another in mainland
Besides that, he has also received a plethora of script offers from
Steven thinks the title of owner (lo ban) is mere grat other producers to film their series.
Why burdened and overworked himself with film production when life as an artist is so much more less complicated and easier?
Steven: It’s true it’s very tiring as a producer at least 4-5 times more work – even the numerous meetings now are part of the work, research and preparation stage, the pre-and post production stages, the crew and cast management etc
Steven goes round and round without answering the question above. Lol
He got off the topic to discuss his recent shooting of a mini movie. In the end, his roundabout answer is yes indeed you can say that I am just creating hardship for myself but to me I find it enjoyable. (tn: of filmmaking)
DJ: So per your personality, are you more suited to being a purely artist (actor/singer) or an artist but with authority in production and directing decisions?
S: Of course as a pure artist I would do fulfill my part of my work but besides fulfilling my acting passion I’m a person with bold and unconstraint visions (天马行空) My thoughts are fecund. The only way to evoke them is to do it myself (dj: be able to make decision) In the past I used words by publishing books and writing lyrics to evoke them, and also use my voice. (to evoke his thoughts), but now I want to use images to show my pov, I can do that by acting or by directing. But if it is another person’s investment I can’t interfere with their wishes and demands. If it is my own production or the Beijing company’s production I can boldly incorporate my thoughts/ideas/ and/or boldly insist on my decisions.
DJ: So envious of Steven like the chocolate eggs commercial can at one time fulfill many dreams simultaneously
S: Can fulfill all three dreams at the same time (tn: act, direct, write) but also have to give much in return too, like if you eat too much chocolate you'll get fat and raise your cholesterol.
DJ: You'll enjoy the process. Anyway, let talk about your and Fala Chen duet "Platonic Love" and why you chose her.
--- 10:28- 12.:24 play song ---
DJ: This is Steven and Fala's duet, which is also Steven's 2014 first plug song. It's titled, "Platonic Love" -- just a half plug song 'cause it's a duet. So why this Platonic Love duet? You of course started as a singer, and Fala has also released a cd, but why a duet for you two? And Johnny Yim was also involved too - melody composition and music compilation. Why the collaboration?
S: Because Fala and my relationship is very close, and has worked together in numerous series.
DJ: There's this fox
S: Ghost Writer
DJ: She's so suited in that role hahaha. Very cute (ho oi) Was a CNY timeslot?
S: No, it's World Cup timeslot.
DJ: I don't watch ball games so I watched that and thought it was really good. Fala's role was very suited for her.
S: Yes, we all felt she did very well because you act as a fox spirit but at the same time you can't give off an evil vibe 邪 to the viewers
DJ: Her role is the tame/harmless version, that's why I felt she did very well, not evil at all but very lovable. So, is that how you two met and got to know each other from there?
S: We first collaborated in Steps, followed by A Journey called Life, Ghost Writer, and then Link to Temptations. 4 in all. Our relationship is very close. At the time we wondered why we never sang a duet together like the tv series themesong . Way back when we already said we should come up with a duet for us two to sing.
DJ: Yee! So this reflects what we just said -- you naturally enjoy being a singer and an actor but as your own boss you can fulfill the crazy ideas you want to realize.
S: We did the production but I'm not the lo ban (boss) . I'm very grateful to my investors for their trust in me. As for this song, (the upcoming album Cherish 2 will be released in June), we use love as our theme for the album.
DJ: So you two recorded sing the song together?
S: No, I recorded my segment first because at the time Fala was still in America. We kept in contact thru emails to discuss the song, lyrics etc and also included Johnny Yim in the discussion on how to sing the song. Actually this song is truly custom written for us. Because when we first decided to produce the album we used love as the theme for 9 songs with one instrumental on the album. They each describes different kind of love. So if we (Mala) were to sing a duet, then what kind? A romantic love song - so common already. Moreover, though not related by kinship but our relationship is akin to siblings'. So we told the music producer to write a song to reflect Fala and my actual relationship - though we are not kins, but between man and woman besides romantic relation there is also a relationship that is akin to siblings' closeness. So Johnny composed the melody for this song and had Fo Fo wrote the lyrics. Fo Fo did an excellent job depicting Fala and my relationship.
DJ: So besides this duet with Fala that talks about brother-sister's love, the other 9 songs are alternately sung by you and Fala?
S: No, only just one duet. I sing the rest.
DJ: So they're your various sentiments/relationships (情 qing) then
S: There's father's love; objective look at the world, people and situations in general; silent altruistic contributions,
DJ: Though not actual personal experiences but are you connected to all these qing (情) ? Did you come up with the ideas/notions by giving suggestions?
S: I've to admit to this fact. Though I'm not involved in the creation of the songs beside this one Mandarin song that I participated with my revision beside that one, I did not participate in the others. But each song's theme is my idea. So together with my manager and the music composer and the lyricist, we came up with different theme/content for each song. And they would come up with the draft - which is very important. I'm very grateful to the participating music composers and lyricists; some old friend, some new. There's Ben Tim whom we had collaborated before, and there's Fo Fo in our first collaboration here, her lyrics is well done. And there's also a new collaborator from Beijing, a lyricist, Mo Sam. He wrote the lyrics for a Mandarin song, he did an outstanding job. We communicated through the phone. We also collaborated with new musicians. We also did a song on father's love with a group of djs. And there's another one that talks about marriage. Depict a man's thoughts/feelings on his wedding eve. Steven won't use his roaming phone overseas.
Steven says if given the choice he is not an early riser. For instance, he could hit the alarm snoozer 20 times once from its first sound of alarm. Before he sleeps he would set his phone to "do not disturb". And he also set his set messages received by grouping because of heavy spams or messages esp. during CNY where the phone would go ding ding ding for each message received. Steven does not send new year greetings unless to seniors or close friends.
Since he is not interested in gambling Steven doesn't know what to do inside a casino or in a casino town. When asked if prefer a real vacation vs overseas stage performance (hence can consider business cum pleasure), Steven says for some reason his overseas stage performance always seemed so hurried - like that time in the Niagara Falls, he got in the day before his show so spent the whole day rehearsing and on the day of concert spent the morning rehearsing and once his concert was done he left the next day. He doesn't mind doing overseas performance work but he won't treat it or mix it with pleasure trip. He wants to enjoy a real vacation without having his mind on work.
He likes long cruises for vacation because he doesn't have to do anything. He is most happy because he is away from the worldly cares and worries like having an excuse not to return phone calls or emails. He even attends classes for stuff to do. One of the most relaxing things for him to do on a cruise is ballroom dancing. Because of his packed schedule this year, he is not planning on a cruise but would have shorter vacations to his usual vacation spots like Taiwan.
No comments:
Post a Comment