Life and Leisure

An album about a single

By Chen Nan (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-11-09 08:00

Evergreen entertainer Karen Mok continues to offer surprises for her fans with her new work. Zou Hong / China Daily

Karen Mok's new release, Precious, worried some fans because she sings about life without love. Chen Nan finds there's nothing to worry about.

As she sinks into a red sofa Karen Mok gracefully raises her slim legs and places one hand on her waist, showing off her trademark wide smile. Being a model is second nature to her, as she poses in the narrow corridor of her record company office, dressed in black jeans and a see-through shirt.

"Is that good? I feel great as long as I'm in heels," giggles the singer-actress.

Best known for her Barbie-doll figure, deep, bewitching voice and changing styles, it's this sort of playful attitude that typifies the petite celebrity.

Mok isn't the kind of star, however, who says yes to everything. For instance, a photographer wanted to take a picture of her in a gray jacket, but she refused.

"You know, the jacket is just for keeping warm and not for photos," she told him.

Wang Yuewu / Asia News Photo

Twenty-four hours earlier, she had flow out from a job in Singapore and shown up in an open square in Beijing. Dressed in a short pink skirt and a pair of lace stockings in the same color, despite the low temperature, Mok pleased her screaming fans.

And after rounds of interviews and videotaping, she was still cheerful.

The two-time Golden Melody Award winner has just released Precious, an album for which she wrote all the music. Zhang Yadong, the so-called godfather of mainland pop behind several of Faye Wong's best-selling albums, is the producer.

The album was born when Zhang handed her the lyrics of Bao Bei (Precious, the title song of the album), and Mok decided to write the melody.

"Zhang had never written lyrics before. It just happened and things went on from there," Mok says.

She quickly finished the melody and then the other nine songs.

"I just recorded the melody when it popped in my mind, either on my cell phone or I wrote it down. It was a fresh experience and I love new challenges."

A productive singer-actress with more than 50 movies and 20 albums under her belt, a trend-setter who has her own fragrance label and fashion chain in Asia, Mok has a peculiar effect on both men and women. And frankly, at the age of 40, she still has it.

"For some reason, men call me sexy and women don't see me as an enemy. And I am happy with that," she jokes.

Her desire to be actress dates back to when she was 5 years old and saw a TV program with lots of artists performing.

"I didn't dare tell my parents because they wanted me to become a doctor or a lawyer," she recalls. "But I made my plan secretly."

After spending time living in Italy and London as a kid, Mok was influenced by a wide range of music, from classic to alternative rock. She also learned dancing, piano and the guzheng, a traditional Chinese zither.

"Every time I get to jump up and down and scream at the top of my lungs and dance around on the stage, I feel like I have so much energy I can never use it up," she says.

Since she started in Hong Kong showbiz, in 1993, starring in her first movie and releasing her debut album, she has never stopped offering surprises, "for the fans and also for myself".

She shaved her hair and starred in director Wong Kar-wai's award-winning movie, Fallen Angels, in 1996, which won her Best Supporting Actress award at the Hong Kong Film Award.

When she got a role in director Stephen Chow's production, God of Cookery, in 1997, she had chicken feathers all over her short hair and a mouth full of yellow teeth. That role won her the Best Actress nomination at Taiwan's Golden Horse Award.

"It is really fun to try so many different roles and images," she says. "I was unhappy when some critics doubted that this was just for media attention. I have made a lot of effort, why put me down in this way?"

"But I am fine with that. Working in the spotlight means having both good and bad reviews. I just want to be myself and do my job, which makes me happy," she adds.

In 2004, she played a role in the Hollywood movie, Around the World in 80 Days, starring Jackie Chan. She also played the lead role in the small-budget art house movie, Lost Indulgence, in 2008.

While other musicians show off their bodies to promote their albums or follow Western trends to combat declining record sales, Mok took a gamble by releasing her 10-song album, Hui Wei, or Retaste, in digital form, through a mobile network, on the mainland last year.

The album of updated traditional Chinese folk songs and oldies dating back to the 1940s and 1950s, has been downloaded 2 million times since its release.

"The positive response from the fans means so much to me. It makes me feel my efforts have paid off," she says.

"That's why I keep on singing and holding concerts. I can see people's reactions immediately and I really look forward to that kind of self-achievement."

A self-described workaholic, Mok portrayed a tyrannical executive in last year's popular movie, Go Lala Go! and media gave her a new title, "golden" sheng nu (single and in their late 20s or over 30).

"In that case, I like the word 'golden' because it means women who are intelligent and beautiful," she laughs.

The singer has been enjoying her single life after ending a nine-year relationship with actor-director Stephen Fung, in 2007.

"We run into each other at some events and we are still good friends. He knows me well after all those years together. It's really unnecessary to have my ex-boyfriends become strangers after breaking up," she says.

On the new album, she sings about being alone in a hotel room, going shopping and eating, which made fans think she was sad and lonely. Not so, Mok says.

"Being single is wonderful and I love it Your life is complete anyway. You can be happy no matter if you're by yourself or with someone. When that happens, I will congratulate that lucky person on finding me.

"I am a human being, and I have flaws. I think some men will find the focus and energy with which I pursue my career frightening.

"But performing is what I live for. Of course, one's life is incomplete without love, but I believe you don't need to go out and hunt for true love - that person will come to you naturally."