Faye Wong
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Chinese singer-songwriter and actress (born 1969)

For other uses, see Faye Wong (disambiguation).

Faye Wong (Chinese: 王菲; pinyin: Wáng Fēi; born on 8 August 1969) is a Chinese-Hong Kong singer-songwriter and actress. Early in her career she briefly used the stage name Shirley Wong (王靖雯). Born in Beijing, she moved to Hong Kong at the age of 18. She debuted with the Cantonese album Shirley Wong in 1989 and came to public attention by combining alternative music with mainstream Chinese pop.[2] Since 1994, she has recorded mostly in her native Mandarin.

One of the biggest pop stars in the Chinese-speaking world, Wong has also gained followings in Japan and Southeast Asia. In the West she is perhaps best known for starring in Wong Kar-wai's films Chungking Express (1994) and 2046 (2004).[2][3] While she has collaborated with international acts such as Cocteau Twins, Wong has recorded only a few songs in English, including "Eyes on Me" (1999), the theme song of the video game Final Fantasy VIII (1999). Upon her second marriage in 2005, she withdrew from the limelight, though sporadically returned to the stage.[4][5]

Wong is known to be a "diva with few words" in public, and has gained a reputation for her "cool" personality.[6][7] In Encyclopedia of Contemporary Chinese Culture, Jeroen de Kloet characterised her as "singer, actress, mother, celebrity, royalty, sex symbol and diva all at the same time".[8] In 2000, she was recognised by Guinness World Records as the best selling Cantopop female artist, having sold an estimated 9.7 million copies of her albums by March 2000.[9]

Life and career

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1969–1987: Early life and career beginnings

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Faye Wong was born at Peking Union Medical College Hospital in Dongcheng District, Beijing in the midst of the Cultural Revolution.[10] Her father is Wang Youlin (王佑林), a mining engineer and second son of Wang Zhaomin aka Wang Molin (王兆民; 王墨林) (1901-1985), member of the Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China. Wang Youlin was parentally betrothed to Li Min (李珉), sister of Taiwanese writer Li Ao, but when Wang Zhaomin left for Taiwan by the Communist takeover, Wang Youlin, then a left-leaning college student, stayed in the Mainland and later wed Xia Guiying (夏桂影), a revolutionary music soprano with China Coal Mine Art Troupe, who would be Wong's mother.[11][12] Wong has an elder brother named Wang Yi (王弋).[13]

As a student, Wong already was involved in singing and attracted interest from several publishers.[11] On occasions, the school had to hide her artistic activities from her strict mother,[14] who as a professional saw singing as a dead-end career.[15] Despite her mother's opposition, Wong released 6 low-cost cover albums from 1985 to 1987 while still in high school, all in the form of cassettes, mostly consisting of songs by her personal idol, iconic Taiwanese singer Teresa Teng. For the last of these early recordings, the producer Wei Yuanqiang chose the title Wong Fei Collection, intending to show that he recognised a distinctive talent in the teenager.[16]

In 1987, after being accepted to Xiamen University to study biology, she migrated to Hong Kong to join her father, who had been working there for a few years. The plan was for her to stay there for a year to fulfill the permanent residency requirement, and go to a university abroad thereafter.[15] However, since Wong did not know a word of Cantonese, the language spoken in Hong Kong, she experienced great loneliness.[12] Following a brief modeling stint, she began taking singing lessons as a distraction with Tai See-Chung (戴思聰), an Indonesian-born Chinese who had gone to school in Mainland China and had previously tutored Hong Kong superstars Anita Mui, Andy Lau, Leon Lai and Aaron Kwok.[17] With Tai's recommendation, the 19-year-old signed with Cinepoly Records after winning third place in an ABU singing contest in 1988.[15] It was not only an unplanned move on the part of Wong, since her mother disapproved of a singing career, but also a risky move on the part of Chan Siu-Bo (陳小寶), Cinepoly's general manager, since Mainlanders were stereotyped as "backwards" in Hong Kong.[18]

As a result, Cinepoly asked Wong to change her "Mainland-sounding" name to a "sophisticated" stage name Wong Jing Man. (Her English name was to be "Shirley".)[19]

1989–1991: the Shirley Wong period

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In 1989, her debut album Shirley Wong sold 25,000 copies and won her bronze at the "Chik Chak New Artist Award". Two more albums (Everything and You're the Only One) followed, similarly featuring many cover songs by artists from the US and Japan. They sold 10,000 copies each, despite relentless promotions by the company. Many in Hong Kong perceived her to be "backwards", lacking personality.[20]

At the time, both Wong and her then-agent Leslie Chan (陳健添) were in conflicts with Cinepoly under Chan Siu-Bo's successor Lal Dayaram (林振業).[21] Leslie Chan then sold Wong's contract for 2 million HKD to Taiwanese singer Lo Ta-yu. Under the arrangement of Lo, who founded Music Factory in 1990 (later becoming the Hong Kong subsidiary of Rock Records), Wong went to the United States for professional training at the end of 1991. She initially went to Los Angeles with plans to learn keyboards, but missed the class registration deadline. She then moved to New York, living with Wawa, another new artist signed by Lo, at the house of Lo's sister, Jennifer, in Flushing. Wong attended classes at the Barbizon School, the Martha Graham School and with personal singing tutors for about two months. [22][23][24] In 1996, she explained New York's influence on her:

I wandered around, visited museums and sat at cafes. There were so many strange, confident-looking people. They didn't care what other people thought of them. I felt I was originally like that too, independent and a little rebellious. But in Hong Kong I lost myself. I was shaped by others and became like a machine, a dress hanger. I had no personality and no sense of direction.[12]

Even though Wong found the experience enlightening, her less than tactful communication led Lo to decide to end the contract with her by the time she returned to Hong Kong. The two never collaborated or shared the stage thereafter.[24] With the help of her teacher Tai See-Chung, Wong found a new agent in Katie Chan (陳家瑛), who has remained her agent as well as her daughter's ever since.

1992–1995: Coming Home, No Regrets, 100,000 Whys, Random Thoughts, Mystery, Sky, Decadent Sounds of Faye and Di-Dar

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The 1992 album Coming Home, the first release since her return from New York, prominently featured on the cover her new English name "Faye", a homophone to her given Chinese name, and the Chinese character "Jing", a reference to her hometown Beijing. From then on she changed her stage name back to "Wang Fei" (王菲).[25] Coming Home incorporated R&B influences and was a change in musical direction from the more traditional Cantopop fare of her earlier albums. Coming Home also included her first English-language number, "Kisses in the Wind". Wong stated in a 1994 concert that she very much liked this song,[26] after which various websites listed it as her personal favourite;[27][28][29] however, in a 1998 CNN interview she declined to name one favourite song, saying that there were too many,[30] and in 2003 she stated that she no longer liked her old songs.[31]

One of the songs on Coming Home, "Fragile Woman" (容易受傷的女人), a cover of a Japanese song "Rouge" originally composed by Miyuki Nakajima and sung by Naomi Chiaki, became Wong's first hit after being featured in the popular TVB drama The Greed of Man (1992). (Thanks to Wong's cover, this 1972 song—in different language versions—would in the early 1990s become a huge regional hit in Thailand, Vietnam, the rest of Southeast Asia and even Turkey; the most popular English version was titled "Broken-Hearted Woman".) The favourable reception of "Fragile Woman" led Wong to abandon her original plans to return to Los Angeles to continue her studies. Instead, she stayed in Hong Kong to build on her newfound success.[32]

On February 1993, she wrote the Mandarin lyrics for her ballad "No Regrets" (執迷不悔) which led many to praise her as a gifted lyricist. In February, it became the title track to her album No Regrets. No Regrets features soft contemporary numbers, a few dance tracks and two versions of the title ballad: Wong's Mandarin version, and a Cantonese version (lyrics by Keith Chan). On September 1993, her next album 100,000 Whys showed considerable alternative music influences from the West, including the popular song "Cold War" (冷戰), a cover of "Silent All These Years" by Tori Amos. In 1992–93 she also appeared in TVB shows such as File of Justice II and Legendary Ranger.

Wong has named the Scottish post-punk group Cocteau Twins among her favourite bands,[30] and their influence was clear on her next Cantonese album, Random Thoughts. Her Cantonese version of The Cranberries' "Dreams" was featured in Wong Kar-wai's film Chungking Express, and gained lasting popularity.[33] Besides covering songs and learning distinctive vocal techniques, Wong recorded her own compositions: "Pledge" (誓言), co-written with her then-boyfriend (and later husband), Beijing rock star Dou Wei, as well as her first and only spoken-word song "Exit" (出路). The latter is a rare window into her outlook on life, including her worries about her future marriage with Dou, her conversion to Buddhism, her self-criticism, and her cynicism about the show business.

Besides two Cantonese albums in 1994, Wong released two other albums in Mandarin in Taiwan, Mystery and Sky, which propelled her to fame in the Mandarin-speaking world. The song "I'm Willing" (我願意) in Mystery would become her trademark Mandopop song till this day, and has been covered by other singers such as Gigi Leung, Sammi Cheng and Jay Chou. Sky was seen by fans as a successful amalgam of artistic experimentation and commercialism. While her hits in Hong Kong were noticeably alternative, her two Mandarin albums were more lyrical and traditional. Critics generally credit Taiwanese producer Yang Ming-huang (楊明煌) for their success.

With four best-selling albums in Cantonese and Mandarin, a record-breaking 18 consecutive concerts in Hong Kong, and a widely acclaimed film, Chungking Express (1994), Wong had established herself as a diva, or "heavenly queen" (天后) as she is commonly known in the Chinese world, by the mid-1990s. Meanwhile, her distaste for Hong Kong's entertainment industry and media environment only grew. She was frequently in touch with the Beijing rock scene, where Dou Wei was a leading light and whose influence distinguished her from the mainstream pop music in Hong Kong.

In 1995, she released Decadent Sounds of Faye, a cover album of songs originally recorded by her idol Teresa Teng (whose songs had been banned during Wong's formative years in mainland China for being "decadent sounds" from Taiwan). A duet with Teng was planned for the album, but she died before this could be recorded.[34] Decadent Sounds sold well despite initial negative criticism, and has come to be recognised as an example of imaginative covering by recent critics.

Faye Wong and Dou Wei were the winner and the runner-up to the 1995 MTV International Viewer's Choice Award, with the music videos "Chess" and "Black Dream" respectively. In December, she released her Cantonese album Di-Dar which mixes an alternative yodelling style with a touch of Indian and Middle Eastern flavour. This album was a success, partly because it was so different from the mainstream Cantopop music, but—ironically—a couple of very traditional romantic songs topped the charts.

1996: Fuzao and Cinepoly extended plays

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1996 saw the release of what many would consider her boldest and most artistically coherent effort to date, Fuzao, usually translated as Restless or Impatience. This was her last album with Cinepoly, and Wong felt she could take more artistic risks. The album contains mainly her own compositions, with an aesthetic inspired by the Cocteau Twins, who penned two original songs for the album, "Fracture" (分裂) and "Spoilsport" (掃興). As Wong had covered their work in 1994, she had established a remote working relationship with them—even laying down vocals for a special duet version of "Serpentskirt" on the Asian release of the group's 1996 album Milk & Kisses.

Although the album was Wong's personal favourite, the response from Hong Kong and Taiwan was less supportive. Many fans who enjoyed her previous three Mandarin albums turned their back on Restless, which they considered to be too alternative and self-absorbed. There were few ballads which were radio-friendly and some became disenchanted with her experimental style of recording. However, hardcore fans, known as Fayenatics,[35] adored the album and it became a cult hit. Wong has not released another fully artistic album since. After the release, Wong became the second Chinese artist (after Gong Li)—and the first Chinese singer—to be featured on the cover of Time magazine.[36]

From 1993 to 1995, Cinepoly released an EP of Wong's songs each year: Like Wind (如風), Faye Disc (菲碟) and One Person, Two Roles. Then in 1996–97, she recorded ten original songs in Cantonese, all written by lyricist Albert Leung and various composers, such as Wong Ka Keung, Adrian Chan and Chan Xiao Xia, before her departure from Cinepoly. After her contract with Cinepoly expired, the company released eight of these songs in the two subsequent EPs entitled Toy (玩具) and Help Yourself (自便). Although the EPs contained new songs—ballad hits like "Undercurrent" (暗湧), "Date" (約定) and "On Time" (守時)—and were welcomed by fans, they received lukewarm critical responses. The other two songs were included in later compilations; the last to be released was "Scary" (心驚膽顫) in 2002.

1997–1998: Faye Wong and Sing and Play

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Wong signed for the recording giant EMI in 1997 after her first daughter was born, in a contract worth HK$60 million (approx. US$7.7 million), to release 55 songs in five albums. While most of her earlier albums were in Cantonese, Wong has since sung more in Mandarin, her mother tongue. Having gone through a period of experimentation, Wong stated that she wished to make "music that I like. I do not care if others don't, though I would be delighted if they do".

Her first album with EMI was Faye Wong (王菲 1997), released in autumn 1997. Critics expecting another artistic breakthrough after 1996's Restlessness found—much to their dismay—a much more inoffensive and commercially oriented musical album. Simon Raymonde and Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins wrote two original compositions for the album, but only one, "The Amusement Park" (娛樂場), was used. This release included an acoustic cover of the Cocteau Twins' "Rilkean Heart", renamed "Nostalgia" (懷念).[37]

This album is filled with feelings of lethargy, languor and disengagement, yet most of the tracks sound warm and sweet, as opposed to those piquant self-centered ones before her motherhood. Reporters noticed that she began to smile more often in public and was not as icy or aloof as before. However, the album was released during the Asian financial crisis which swept East and Southeast Asia. Wong's former company Cinepoly, which retains the copyright on her previous records, released a Mandarin compilation at the same time in 1997 to counteract her new EMI album (and indeed outperformed it). Later, Cinepoly would release two compilations each year to compete with Wong's new releases, a tactic which has come under fire from her international fans. Faye Wong did not sell well in Hong Kong, but did quite well in Taiwan and mainland China. Although Wong had garnered some popularity with her 4 previous Mandarin albums, it was really this sweet yet slightly alternative album which had the mainland Chinese audience listening. Her profile began to rise sharply in Asia.

In 1997, singer Na Ying signed with EMI and struck a lasting friendship with Wong. Na had been a regular at the annual CCTV New Year's Gala, the most-watched TV show in mainland China and the world, and she invited Wong to do a duet with her on the upcoming show in 1998. The collaboration by the "Mainland Diva" and "Hong Kong Diva", titled "Let's Meet in 1998" (相約一九九八), became an instant hit and arguably the most played song in mainland China that year.[38] Thanks to this exposure[fn 2], in late 1998 Wong finally held her first concert in her native mainland, and continued her tour in 9 cities.

Sing and Play was released in October, and contained four songs composed by Wong: the opening track "Emotional Life", "Face", "A Little Clever" and "Tong" (both written for her daughter, the latter produced by Dou Wei). Amongst other songs were "Give Up Halfway" (sung both in Mandarin and Cantonese), which was one of the more commercially successful tracks from the album, along with the successful ballad "Red Bean" (紅豆).

It was the best selling Chinese album in Singapore in 1999. Together with Lovers & Strangers and the compilation album Wishing We Last Forever, it gave Wong 3 albums in the Singapore top 10 selling Chinese albums of 1999,[40] making her one of the best selling artists in Singapore in 1999.[41] In Japan, the album sold close to 90,000 copies in the first three months after its release.[42]

1999: "Eyes on Me" and Lovers & Strangers

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The video game Final Fantasy VIII was released in Japan in February 1999, for which Faye Wong recorded the ballad "Eyes on Me" in English. It was the first time that a Japanese video game featured a Chinese singer for its theme. The "Eyes on Me" single sold over 335,620 copies in Japan and 500,000 worldwide,[43] making it the best-selling video game music disc to that date, and winning "Song of the Year (Western Music)" at the 14th Annual Japan Gold Disc Awards.[44][45] When the game was released in North America later that year, the theme song became very popular among gamers in the West; while it was not a mainstream hit there (as Wong had no desire to explore these markets), she gained many fans who were not previously familiar with her music.[46]

In March, she held two concerts in Nippon Budokan, with tickets for the first show on 11 March being sold out in one day and an extra show added on 12 March;[42] she was the first Chinese singer to perform in that venue.[47][48] Earlier in the year, Pepsi-Cola had made Wong a spokesperson, and after these concerts she shot the promotional music video for "Spectacular" (精彩), which Pepsi used in commercials.

The album Lovers & Strangers was released in late September,[49] and sold over 800,000 copies, topping the charts in Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia.[50] This was her first album after parting from Dou Wei, and her first without any musical collaborations with him since their relationship began. The title track of the album was featured in Sylvester Stallone's remake of Get Carter. The entire album was penned by Albert Leung, who, like Wong, was suffering from a broken heart in his love life at the time. Buddhist philosophy has informed his lyrics since the album, originally as a way to console both Wong and himself. In 2022, Leung picked two of the songs, "Last Blossom" (開到荼靡) and "One Hundred Years of Solitude" (百年孤寂), as his all-time favorites over his prolific career.[51] Wong also became a spokesperson for JPhone in October, 1999, performing in several commercials which aired in Japan. In addition, she began filming for 2046 in August, a project she would pursue on and off over the next few years when her schedule permitted.

2000–2004: Fable, Faye Wong and To Love

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The new millennium saw a shift in Wong's musical career with the album Fable. The prominent feature of this album is its segregated and distinguishable halves—songs in the first half of the album running in an almost continuous manner and in a format that is akin to a song-cycle, and the second half of discrete, chart-friendly numbers. The album itself derives its artistic merits from the first half, notable for its unique thematic and continuous sequencing of songs unprecedented in the Chinese music industry. The theme itself is ambiguous and the lyrics subject to multiple interpretations, though it is quite certain that the theme of Fable forms the main thematic reference, derived from the motivic elements of the prince and princess in fables and fairytales of European origins. Elements of spirituality, metaphysics and Buddhism hold an important place in the lyrics as well, penned by Albert Leung who has by then, been unanimously identified as Wong's lyricist par excellence. Musically the arrangements display influences of drum and bass, electronica, east-west collage and lush string orchestral infusions. Her other activities during this year included the Pepsi promotional duet and music video of "Galaxy Unlimited" with Aaron Kwok, the filming of Okinawa Rendezvous, as well as several concerts in China and Taiwan.

By this time, Wong had forged a famous alliance with producer/musician Zhang Yadong and lyricist Albert Leung, often referred to as the 'iron triangle'. However, due to Zhang Yadong's unavailability during this period (he was engaged on other projects), Wong decided to treat this last album with EMI as an experiment whereby she would collaborate with new producers/musicians/lyricists and 'see what their vision of her will be'.

The response from the public and critics alike were lukewarm at best. Wong herself admitted that she was not totally satisfied with some tracks, namely those produced by Taiwan 'father of rock' Wu Bai,[citation needed] which had an industrial electronica flavour reminiscent of Karen Mok's album Golden Flower. She cited the two folk-style songs written by Singaporean singer-songwriter Tanya Chua as her favourite picks on her album. The song that generated most noise from the press turned out to be "Vertigo" (迷魂記), a ballad composed by her then-boyfriend Nicholas Tse. Tse claimed that his composition was originally for Singaporean singer Stefanie Sun;[52] however, when the song went to Wong, Albert Leung crafted it as a love song between Wong and Tse from Wong's perspective. Leung followed this with a less known companion piece for Tse, "Angel in White"(白衣天使), from Tse's perspective. "Vertigo" is also Leah Dou's favorite song from her mother's body of work.[53]

While she was under contract with EMI and later Sony, Wong performed in the ensemble movie 2046 which had been in production since 1999 and finally wrapped in 2004. She performed at benefit concerts, including ones that helped those who suffered from AIDS and SARS. She sang on tracks with other celebrities such as Tony Leung, Anita Mui, and Aaron Kwok. She also starred in a Japanese TV serial, Usokoi, and the film Leaving Me Loving You with Leon Lai.

The theme song for Usokoi, titled "Separate Ways", was released as a single; it was one of her few Japanese songs (another being "Valentine's Radio").[54] She recorded several other solo non-album tracks, such as the eponymous hit theme song to Hero and a Buddhist song containing similar sounds to some of her work on her album Fu Zao. In addition, she recorded a recitation of the Heart Sutra. Meanwhile, her former record companies released several more compilations and boxed sets of her records.

For her Sony album To Love, released in November 2003, she recorded 13 tracks, 10 in Mandarin and 3 in Cantonese. She wrote the music and lyrics for 3 songs, the title track "To Love" (將愛), "Letting Go" (不留), "Sunshine Baby" (陽寶), as well as the music for "April Snow" (四月雪). The three songs with her own lyrics stirred much speculation about their implications of her personal life, as she was in a love quadrangle with Nicholas Tse, Cecilia Cheung, Li Yapeng, though with Li unknown to the public then. "To Love," short for “To Love to the End" (將愛進行到底), the name of Li Yapeng's 1998 breakout show (also known in English as Eternal Love or Cherish Our Love Forever), describes love as a "war." She explained in an interview: "Love itself is not a war, but my love triggered a war. I'm referring to many things attached to love, such as utilitarian and conspiratorial elements, which involve sacrifices. The environment makes love very cruel."[55] "Sunshine Baby," along with the song "MV" (short for "My Valentine") composed by Tse, is sometimes interpreted as her nostalgia for the relationship with Nicholas Tse, as "baby", or in Beijing dialect "baobei'er," was their term of endearment for each other.[56] "Letting Go," especially in retrospect, is an overture to her then little known life decisions to leave Tse for Li, to leave Hong Kong for Beijing, and, as echoed by "Passenger" (乘客), a cover of Sophie Zelmani's "Going Home," to leave the entertainment business for a new family.

Before the album's release, her Cantonese song "The Name of Love" (假愛之名), with lyrics by Albert Leung, was banned in some areas such as mainland China because the lyrics mentioned opium.[57] According to interviews, she said that she preferred the Mandarin version of the song (the title track); she had penned these lyrics herself, and they made no reference to drugs.[31] The album became more successful than her previous self-titled album, both commercially and critically. Afterwards, she held numerous successful concerts for over a year. Faye Wong was awarded pan-Asian female artist of the year at the sixth CCTV-MTV Music Honors.[58] At the 2004 Golden Melody Awards, she was awarded Best Female Artist after being nominated multiple times, delivering the now-famous acceptance speech: "I can sing songs. This I know. Now that Golden Melody judges have given me their approval, I approve of their approval."[59][60]

2005–2009: Hiatus

[edit]

In January 2005, during the last concert of her tour, the usually reticent Faye Wong said something that left her fans wondering: "If I ever retire from showbiz, I hope you all forget about me."[61] In May 2005 her agent Katie Chan confirmed that Wong was "resting indefinitely".[62] Two months later, Wong wed Li Yapeng in Xinjiang, with only a small marriage banquet held in Beijing, and their daughter Li Yan was born the following year.

In the four years that followed, Wong would not return, ignoring Live Nation's offer of 100m-HKD[63] as well as the 3m-yuan offer for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sing at the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony on her birthday,[64] even though the Beijing native was the choice of over 63% netizens in a CCTV online poll.[65] She did, however, come out to sing "Wishing We Last Forever" in May 2008 at a CCTV fundraising event for Sichuan earthquake victims,[66] and "Heart Sutra" in May 2009 for a Buddhist ceremony at the Famen Temple.[67]

In May 2009, Wong shot an ad for "Royal Wind" shampoo, sparking speculation that it would be the first step in her comeback.[68] In June 2009, a compilation of 3 CDs and 1 DVD of her songs was released by Universal Music.[69][70]

2010–present: Partial comeback

[edit]

Wong made her comeback at the 2010 CCTV New Year's Gala, covering Li Jian's ballad "Legend" (傳奇).[72] From October 2010 to June 2012, she embarked on her Faye Wong Comeback Tour 2010–2012 across Asia.[73] Since then, Wong has sporadically released singles, mostly theme songs for Chinese movies. One of these songs is a duet with Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma titled “Feng Qing Yang” (風清揚), the theme song for Ma’s short film, Gong Shou Dao.[74] She also attends fashion shows, shoots advertisements, and makes appearances in gala performances on national TV.

On 30 December 2016, Wong hosted her first concert in six years, "Faye's Moments Live 2016" (幻樂一場), at the Mercedes-Benz Cultural Centre in Shanghai, with a VR live webcast via the Tencent Video website watched by 20 million online audience.[75] Her singer-songwriter daughter, Leah Dou, was part of the backing vocalists team. Wong performed several new songs at the concert, opening with "Dust" (塵埃), with her own lyrics comparing herself at this time to a particle of dust: "Blown up and dusted off. Inhaled and exhaled. No meaning, no direction. Don't want anything." She also rendered "Tong's Palace" (童殿), the Mandarin version of Leah's English song "The Way" with the Chinese lyrics by Albert Leung intended as a sequel to "Mortal World" (人間), Wong's song to Leah back in 1998.

However, the highly-anticipated concert received divisive reviews. Singer Gong Linna criticized Wong's "off-pitch" performance, while music critic Liang Huan accused her of using pre-recorded "live" vocals.[76][77] Singer and producer Tiger Hu stated that Wong did go off-key during the VR live broadcast but explained that the audio fidelity was too high, which is why the stadium audience didn't complain as much as the online audience. Hu believed this highlighted the failure of the VR live broadcast and predicted that fewer singers would attempt it in the future.[78] Nicholas Tse, Wong's boyfriend and the Greater China chairman of Digital Domain, who oversaw the VR live broadcast, defended her on social media, saying, "She sounds great on her own!" [79]

In 2018, Wong participated in two variety shows, Hunan TV's PhantaCity (幻樂之城) and CCTV-3's National Treasure II (國家寶藏第二季). In May, 2020, she was one of the headliners for Alibaba's Believe In The Future, a three-day online benefit concert for Covid-19 frontline workers.[80] In September, Wong hosted a karaoke live broadcast on the Alibaba-owned platform Youku, teaming up to sing a duet with Jack Ma near the end of the broadcast.[81]

Personal life

[edit]

Vegetarianism

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Wong used to be a vegetarian. In 2008 and 2011, she was named Asia's sexiest vegetarian woman by animal rights group PETA.[82][83]

Social media

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Wong used to be an active Weibo user under the name "veggieg," with a talkative, surprisingly funny presence online.[84] The Weibo account has not been active since early 2015. Wong also has a private Instagram account under the name “feibeing.” [85]

Religion

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Wong has been a Buddhist since the early 1990s, releasing many Buddhist songs over the years. In 2011, Wong, in a Weibo post, associated the power of religion with the survival of a wooden Buddhist object in a fire in Shenyang earlier that year, inciting an online spat with Fang Zhouzi, a popular science writer who ridiculed her belief.[86][87] In 2016, Wong, with some other celebrities, was warned by the Chinese government against fraternising with the Dalai Lama after attending a Buddhist assembly in India with members of the Tibetan government-in-exile.[88][89]

Relationships

[edit]

In the early 1990s, Wong had a relationship with Luan Shu, the bassist of the Beijing rock band Black Panther. The relationship prompted Dou Wei, the vocalist, to leave Black Panther in 1991. Wong then started dating Dou and, in June 1996, married him.[90] Their daughter, Leah, was born on 3 January 1997, with the Chinese name Dou Jingtong meaning "child of Dou and Jing" (from Wong's stage name Jingwen). The baby's voice appears in the song "Tong" of the 1998 album Sing and Play and in the title track of the 1999 album Lovers & Strangers. Wong and Dou divorced in late 1999[90] with Wong claiming the rights to their daughter Leah and waiving child support.[91]

Wong had an on-and-off relationship with Hong Kong star Nicholas Tse from 2000 to 2003.[92] Wong‘s relationship with Chinese actor Li Yapeng became public in 2004; their wedding took place in July 2005, after which she took a long break from the entertainment business.[93] In 2006, Wong gave birth to their daughter, Li Yan. On 13 September 2013, Wong and Li announced that they had divorced, with Li claiming the rights to their daughter Yan.[94] In 2014, Wong and Tse rekindled their relationship.[95]

Charities

[edit]

In August 2006, Li Yapeng published a public letter, "Gratitude (感謝)", on his Sina.com blog,[96] showing Wong and his gratitude towards all concerned parties, and confirming rumours their daughter, Li Yan, was born with a congenital cleft lip. He expressed their reason for seeking medical treatment in California: due to the severity of Li Yan's cleft, the special reconstructive surgeries she needed were not available in China. Citing a South American folk tale, Li described his daughter as a special child and her cleft as a mark of an angel. The couple has since established the Smile Angel Foundation to assist children with clefts.[97]

On 26 December 2006, Wong made her first public appearance since 2005 at the foundation's inaugural fundraising ball. She opted not to speak or sing, but her new composition "Cheerful Angel" (愛笑的天使) debuted at the event as the official theme song of the charity.[98][99] At the second fundraising ball on 8 December 2007, Wong sang an electronica-infused version of the Diamond Sutra for the event.[100] For the foundation's publicity event on 27–28 November 2008, Wong and her husband visited children in Tibet who were in various stages of recovery after being cured with the help of the charity.[101]

In May 2008, following the disastrous earthquake in Sichuan, the couple accepted a local girl who lost a leg trying to save her classmates, to their family as she underwent recuperation and treatments in Beijing. The middle school student returned to her hometown a year later.[102] The Lis agreed to continue paying for her medical needs until she turns 22 and visit her at least once a year.[103] In March 2012, the Smile Angel Foundation donated 15 million Japanese yen to ChildFund Japan to help needy children after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.[104]

In April 2010, the China Social Sciences Press recognised Wong as one of the 13 "richest souls" in China.[105][106] In 2012, Smile Angel Foundation established China's first charity paediatric hospital in Beijing. In May 2013, Wong and Li topped the inaugural "China Celebrity Philanthropist List" compiled by the China Philanthropist magazine.[107] On 19 May 2013, she sang four songs in a memorial concert celebrating Teresa Teng's 60th birthday, with a portion of the concert proceeds going to the charity.

Artistry

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The focus of Faye Wong's concerts has always been on her vocal performance. She seldom dances or speaks to the audience, and there are generally no supporting dancers. There were two exceptions to the latter in the 1994–95 live concerts; first, many dancers joined her on stage for the lively song "Flow Not Fly". In the second half, Wong and a line of male dancers were menaced by a giant mechanical spider overhead during the song "Tempt Me".

Another trademark is her unconventional fashion on stage.[108] Her 1994 concerts were memorable for dreadlocks and extremely long sleeves, as well as for the silver-painted tears. She later said "I wore long sleeves because usually I don't have choreography; I don't know what to do with my hands." Her 1998 concerts saw her sporting the "burnt" cheek makeup, the "Indian chief" look, and the soleless strap-on boots.[109] At the start of her 2003 concerts her headgear was topped by an inverted shoe supporting a very long feather, and her makeup for that concert went through several changes of painted eye-shades.

She does not perform encores, and usually exits by sinking below the stage via a platform. After her release of Miyuki Nakajima's "Mortal World" (人間) in 1997, she ended her concerts for the next few years with this song while shaking hands with the audience, then taking a deep bow to a horizontal position before leaving the stage. However, during her Comeback Tour from 2010 to 2012, she ended with "Flower of Paradise" (彼岸花), a song from the album Fable (2000). She has also given concerts in North America, Australia and Southeast Asia.

Public image

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Dutch scholar Jeroen Groenewegen credits Wong's mass appeal to some of her perceived "cool" traits including autonomy, unique artistry and childishness.[110] Katie Chan, Wong's agent, once said "Faye does whatever she wants... it's really quite a miracle that she became a success."[12]

Despite being a favorite target of media and paparazzi, Wong is known for giving terse, direct, and somewhat unexpected answers, if she responds at all, when asked questions. One of her many famous interactions with the media occurred at a 1999 press conference:[111]

Reporter: "Has your divorce [from Dou Wei] been finalized?"

Wong: "What does it have to do with you?"

Reporter: "Our readers want to know."

Wong: "Nothing to do with them either."

Reporter: "But you're a public figure."

Wong: "I'm a public figure so I have to tell you everything? Again, it has nothing to do with you and nothing to do with your readers."

Li Yan, Wong's daughter, was once photographed using a cell phone case featuring the meme of Wong saying, "What does it have to do with you?"[112]

Wong's devil-may-care attitude is as apparent in her public image as in her love life. In 1994, during one of her many trips to Beijing to see Dou Wei—which already strained her relationship with her agency by distracting her from work—Hong Kong paparazzi from Next Magazine followed her and tracked her down. The photographs taken, showing her entering an unhygienic community toilet in a narrow hutong to dump urine—in sharp contrast to the modern and glamorous lives Hong Kong celebrities led—caused quite a stir, with some in Cinepoly fearing that her diva image would be tarnished.[18] But many were impressed by what the diva would do for love, as Taiwanese lyricist Chien Yao, who initially declined to write lyrics for Wong because he never met and knew very little about her, recalled in 2012,

It just happened that I took a business trip to Hong Kong and on the flight back, I saw that tabloid magazine with photos from Beijing, of her coming out in the morning carrying the chamber pot to dump in the public toilet ... That piece from the tabloid moved me ... Such a famous female celebrity, willing to do that, and she only had a 2-day break (from work), most of that time must have been spent traveling. Just to be with (him). So the first line (I wrote down) was, "I'm willing to forget even my name". Also "running towards you", they all describe how I felt when I saw those pictures. That's how I wrote "I'm Willing" (for Faye Wong).[113]

Wong's relationship with Nicholas Tse, spanning over two decades, has become the stuff of popular romance and cemented her image as a woman dedicated to love. The two dated in the early 2000s, split in 2003, married and had children with other celebrities, divorced, and reunited in 2014 after an 11-year breakup.[114] Their reunion, revealed by paparazzi photos of them kissing at Wong's Beijing apartment, caused a sensation but received mixed reactions. At a time when traditional media was declining and social media was on the rise, her reunion with Tse was welcomed by the media and other celebrities, but she faced considerable criticism on Weibo from conservative quarters for prioritizing love over family at her age[115][116] and from Cecilia Cheung's fans.[117] Not long after, she quit Weibo after having been one of the platform's most active celebrities for years.

Legacy

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In 2004 and 2005, Faye Wong was ranked in the top five on the Forbes China Celebrity 100, as well as in 2011 and 2012 after her hiatus. In a 2011 "most popular celebrity in China" marketing study, she was also ranked in the top 5.[118] In 2008, Wong was voted Asia's sexiest vegetarian woman in a poll run by animal rights group PETA.[119] In 2009, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China, a government web portal conducted an online poll on The Most Influential Chinese Cultural Celebrity in the Past 60 Years; out of 192 candidates, Wong received over 7 million votes, second only to the deceased Teresa Teng from Taiwan, Wong's own personal idol.[120] In 2014, she was named one of the 10 most admired female singers in Asia by RHA media.[121] Chen Tao, a China Radio International DJ, compares Wong's influence in the Sinophone world to Madonna's in America: "She represents a certain era of pop music, a certain trend, and a vision of being unique."[33]

Numerous artists have released works that paid tribute to her,[122] including "(I Want to See) Faye Wong" by J Church,[123] "Faye Wong" by Green Club Riviera,[124] "Wong Fei, Gwanyu Nei Dik Mei" (王菲，關於你的眉) by my little airport,[125] "Wang Fei de Hui Mou" (王菲的回眸) by YuFeiMen,[126] I Love Faye Wong (我愛王菲), debut album of Maggie Chiang,[127] and "We are Not Romantic in This Age" (在這個年代我們不浪漫) by Easy Weeds.[128][129] Wong's songs have been covered in other languages, including "Meteor" (流星) in Japanese by Hanayo,[130] "Chanel" (香奈兒) in Korean by Lim Hyung-joo,[131] and "Red Bean" (紅豆) in Vietnamese by various artists.[132] Lene Marlin's "Still Here" is an English cover of "I'm Willing" (我願意).[133] China's 2007 spacecraft Chang'e 1 played Faye Wong's version of "Wishing We Last Forever" (但願人長久).[134]

Japanese director Shunji Iwai had explained that the titular pop-star character of his 2001 film All About Lily Chou-Chou was conceived after attending a Faye Wong concert.[135] Wong's name was also mentioned in the 2003 Japanese film The Blue Light as one of the protagonist's favourites.[136] Hikari MitsushimaThe female protagonist in the 2013 Chinese film Beijing Flickers was prototyped after Wong, according to director Zhang Yuan. Zhang remembered when he shot his 1993 hit Beijing Bastards with Dou Wei, Wong as Dou's girlfriend would visit the set every day.[137] Japanese singer-actress Hikari Mitsushima stated that Wong was her idol and muse;[138] she performed Wong's Cantopop song "Dreams" at the 2024 Megaport Music Festival, in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.[139]

Discography

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Main article: Faye Wong discography

Concert tours

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Title Dates Associated album(s) Location Shows Faye Wong Live in Concert 13 November 1994 – 10 November 1995 Sky North America and Asia 30 One of the concerts in Hong Kong was published on CD, VHS and LaserDisc. The visual designer for the concerts was the film director Wong Kar-wai. Unlike later series of concerts, these performances included dancers and encores. Faye Wong Scenic Tour 10 October 1998 – 23 March 2001 Sing and Play Asia and Australia 46 The New Year's Eve concert in Hong Kong was published on CD and VCD. "Auld Lang Syne" is included in the recording, but was actually sung by the background vocalists rather than Faye Wong. In the Japan concert, she covered "Don't Break My Heart", a Mandarin song originally performed by Dou Wei. Faye Wong Tour 2001 7 September 2001 – 2 November 2001 Faye Wong China and Japan 6 One of the concerts in Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, Japan was released on VCD and DVD. No Faye! No Live! Tour 20 December 2003 – 8 January 2005 To Love Asia 16 One of the concerts in Hong Kong was published on CD, SACD, VCD and DVD. The title sponsor was the clothing company Baleno. "Those Flowers" (Mandarin song originally performed by Pu Shu) was covered in the concerts in China. Faye Wong Comeback Tour 29 October 2010 – 9 June 2012 — Asia 46 The Comeback Tour was a concert tour in Asia by Faye Wong, marking her return to public performance after several years of concentrating on her family.

Setlists

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The following setlists only include songs published in the concert albums, not all songs performed throughout the tours.

Comeback Tour (巡唱)

N/A (Not yet officially released)

Filmography

[edit]

Films

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Year English Title Original Title Role Notes 1991 Beyond's Diary BEYOND日記之莫欺少年窮 Mary 1994 Chungking Express 重慶森林 Faye Nominated – 14th Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Actress

Won – Stockholm Film Festival for Best Actress

Nominated – 31st Golden Horse Award for Best Leading Actress 2000 Okinawa Rendez-vous 戀戰沖繩 Jenny 2002 Chinese Odyssey 2002 天下無雙 Princess Wushuang Nominated – 22nd Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Actress

Won – HK Film Critics Society Awards for Best Actress 2004 2046 Wang Jingwen Leaving Me, Loving You 大城小事 Xin Xiaoyue

Television

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Year English Title Original Title Role Notes 1991 Traces of the Heart 別姬 Mei-fong TVB movie 1992 File of Justice II 壹號皇庭 II Mandy Tong Yuk-man TVB series 1993 Legendary Ranger 原振俠 Hoi-tong TVB series (20 episodes) Eternity 千歲情人 Bou Ging-hung TVB series (20 episodes) 1994 Modern Love Story: Three Equals One Love 愛情戀曲：愛情3加1 Wun-gwan one part of TVB series 2001 Love from a Lie ウソコイ Lin Fei Kansai TV series (11 episodes) 2018 Phantacity 幻乐之城 Herself Hunan Television series (10 episodes)

Awards and achievements

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Awards and achievements Top Chinese Music Chart Awards Preceded by Best Female Artist, Hong Kong & Taiwan

2004 Succeeded by Golden Melody Awards Preceded by Best Female Artist

2004 Succeeded by

References

[edit]

Biography portal

China portal

Hong Kong portal

Pop music portal