Form 6 – Turning Point: Hacken Lee talks about his life as a young singer

(not sure the exact year Hacken wrote this, but should be the early '90s)

Form 6 – Turning Point

First of all, I must apologize to all readers of YES! Magazine, Mr. Ngai and Mr. Shao. The initial agreement of writing 7 entries of “My Days As A College Student” stopped at the 5th entry, I’m very sorry. I’ve been filming day and night that I am unable to take time out. Now that I’ve finished filming, I rejoin the team and add more “stuff” into my entries as a form of making up.

Form 6 – I made one of my great lifetime experiences – joining the “Xin Xiu” competition.

I recall that Leslie Cheung was the one who “ding” me away. It was my first time entering such a grand competition and getting to meet with people of different status. It enlarged my social circle. In my studying life, I’ve been seeing the same group of people all day and had few chances of knowing new friends.

From the competition, I got to know Vivian Chow, the Grasshoppers, Alex To, William So, Kong Yan Yin, Chan Ya Lun, Wu Guo Jin and more – who were also contestants at that time. Though most of them did not make it (like me), we became good friends. The broadcast where I had to face thousand of audiences left a deep impression on me. (I hereby include the promotional poster for the competition; please keep a look out for Cai Yi Jie’s explosive image!)

From what I remember, I felt dead when I went on stage. Adding to the fact that I was wearing checkered suit and red scarf, I felt as nervous as a robot. Everybody laughed when I appeared, and this increased my nervousness. It wasn’t easy for the 4 minutes to pass (I sang Love’s Origin), but this experience was enough for me to remember it for a lifetime.

Gaining experience from this competition, I realized that we should never force things to come our way. I relaxed myself and with the “If victory comes, be happy. If failures comes by, we can feel happy too” attitude, I entered the 19 vicinity competition. Who knew that I succeeded and became the champion. Hence, I signed a singing contract and became a singer.

Honestly speaking, singing did affect my studies. I kept thinking of singing, recording, going to the TV station…how could I do well in my studies?

However, I do not regret. I think, if I did not enter any competition back then I could be in US now studying interior design. I would not be working at the TV station day and night. The satisfaction, friends and support from fans that I get today are not something an overseas student can get.

Insist on your dreams, create the future. I’m willing to strive with readers of Yes! Magazine.

[source: Hacken Zone]
[translated by Hianez]