[2023.10.17] KAY TSE OFTEN RUNS INTO BOTTLENECKS AND TREATS THEM LIKE TRAINING

With 20 years in the business, Kay Tse rose to fame with the song WEDDING INVITATION STREET.  At the time she has not learned how to accommodate the sudden attention, and her pressure grew so big that she had an emotional disorder

Rondi Chan (middle) and Anna hsibbuR (right) are both making their film debuts and are happy to play a family with Kay Tse (left)
courtesy of mingpao.com

Kay Tse On Kay, Anna hisbbuR and Rondi Chan Lok Ting earlier promoted their film BAND FOUR (4 PAK 4 GA JOOK). Playing the single mother Cat, Kay due to the sudden appearance of her step sister Anna hisbbuR has to live under the same roof with her. The family relationships becomes very complicated. The character is constantly in a frustrated stated. She not only has to argue with Anna but also rip open her throat to disciple her son Riley. "This time is a challenge to my profession. As a singer I have to maintain my voice. Normally when I speak I am very low and soft, but the movie has many argument scenes and they take more than just one take. They are very harmful to my voice."

When taking care of the children in real life, has she been just as frustrated? Kay says, "I want to thank my children for never forcing me to rip open my throat and yell. They really are very good. They know how to self examine and would communicate with me. They are very high scoring children."

Anna says for her first movie, she would argue with all her might with Kay. It is very interesting experience. "I have a lot of fun from the argument because I am Kay's fan. However argument has its difficulty, maintain the heavy emotion for several hours isn't easy." The 10 year old Rondi is also making his first movie. He feels it is a lot of fun but also has its difficulties. "In one scene Mommy yells at me, I smash the guitar. The hardest to cry nonstop while delivering the lines."

Kay reveals that she has not been too demanding on her children's education, feeling that learning is not about getting scores. The most important is focusing on learning, having worked hard and contributed. A teacher said that my son very actively raises his hand to ask questions. Even though he might not know the answer, he is purely supporting the teacher. Thus at school he is rather popular with the teachers and the students. His grades aren't great, but I am pleased. (Has he inherited your musical talent?) The children definitely like music and acting, home often is their little theater. They like to make their own jokes, everyday they create a lot of comedy and bring me endless joy. They certainly have the talent, as for whether they would get into the business it is too early to say. My son is only 16, let him making his own decisions in the future."

In the film Kay used music to resolve her family problems. Off screen she feels very lucky. In her 16 year marriage with Louis Cheung Kai Chung they never have any crisis. Even though they are living with her in laws, even 3 dogs and a domestic helper, the family has been rather harmonious and never argued. When they see someone is mad, the others would examine where the problem is. Whether they talk, scope, buy food they like, they would resolve the matter. We are all very easy going people, when we see someone is trying to be kind then we are fine."

Many film subjects are male driven. Kay is very happy that BAND FOUR revolves around her character and gives her a lot of opportunity to perform. She can relate to the character the most on their music dreams. They both persist for their dreams and never give up. With 20 years in the business, she has experienced countless bottlenecks. "After getting into the business I have blown out my lung two or three times, my health condition had ups and downs. If I wanted to give up I could have, because a blown lung wasn't something to get over easily. The earliest bottleneck was a few years in. Because the song WEDDING INVITATION STREET became very popular, I got many awards and even the opportunity to perform concerts at the Hong Kong Coliseum. Some people liked me, and some didn't. All of a sudden I had many people around me giving me different opinions, like they were thinking of me. However I didn't know how to differentiate between good and bad, I wasn't used to it. In addition I haven't learned to enjoy this type of sudden attention, I felt a lot of pressure. At the time I didn't know how to face it, leading to a very severe emotional disorder."

For awhile, Kay had her eye on the Greater Chinese market an made Mandarin songs to explore the Chinese language market. This level would require leaving home, with very little time to spend with the children and family. After a few years she still has not been able to make a name for herself. "It's not easy to stand firm and blow up in the Chinese language market, but it was a great lesson. My vision has been widened, work has become steady. At the same time I have met many music friends outside Hong Kong. After that I still had many bottlenecks, and I got lost. After giving birth to the youngest daughter, I rested for two years. I obviously longed to make music, but I didn't know my direction. I was starting from zero like a new comer."

Looking back now, Kay feels that every experience is a type of training. "This business is very interesting, at the low points you would have a lot of emotions; but when in the eyes of others I have reached a high level, I should be very happy. However I would have pressure that is difficult to understand, and I wouldn't know how to share it with others. I am a workaholic, but as I grew, in these few years I have learned to slow down the pace when I reach a certain place, rest a little or absorb something new." Instead the 23 year old Anna says to stop in music at age 25 and look for new development. Because she is very playful, she wants to make many new attempts.