Sunny side up
Rich, successful, charitable, caring, humble and happy all the time? How does Stefanie Sun do it?
Friday • November 23, 2007
Maybe it's jealousy or jaded cynicism, but show us a person who's always cheerful, and we'll show you a medicated crackpot. How many people can honestly claim to be happy and satisfied with their lives and not have their noses grow a couple of inches? Well, apparently, Stefanie can. Even her name is spelt with a "happie" "ie", not a gloomy "y".
We're talking a singer who's got 10 hit albums under her belt, numerous music awards on her mantle, and enough earnings from her various endorsements — from SK Jewellery to New Moon Premium Fragrant Rice — to last her a lifetime, we bet. In fact, Sun was back in town last month to renew her New Moon endorsement contract for a second year. Funnily enough, rice was what spawned the idea for Dick Lee's theme song for the recent Asean summit, Rise, which was — even more funnily enough — sung by Sun at the event last Tuesday.
We're talking about a pop star who takes time off to work with World Vision to raise awareness about the world's underprivileged children. We're talking about a recording artiste who has won so many local music awards, she has announced she no longer wants to squirrel away any more. According to Sun, she made the decision to give younger singers a chance and not occupy a slot that they would otherwise have. "I look at the new artistes, and it can be such a struggle — they don't get the chance or the opportunity," she told Today.
Now, if anybody else had said that, they might have come across as arrogant. Not Sun. In fact, talking to her is like talking to some long lost friend — you want to call her "Stef" even though you've never met. Hearing it from her, she just sounded so sincere and nice that you almost applaud her generosity. And that's what many have said about her — that she's just too nice. And it works in her favour.
We all love to hear a sob story, or read about the tragic difficulties of a struggling artiste, or report about a star's fall from grace. But it's the kind of thing you read about Carina Lau — not that nice girl, Stef.
Seriously. "Singer found drunk in stairway: Says the public just want to s*** on me". Does that sound like something you'd read about her? No. Sun has cleverly managed to sidestep all that tabloid sensationalism. How does she do it?
By not living in paparazzi-hungry places like Hong Kong or Taiwan, for one. While she still makes promotional trips and appearances around the region, her home is still Singapore. "I think it's quite sad that some artistes in Hong Kong (have) their curtains perpetually drawn," she said. "I'm so glad I live in Singapore! It's very sad that their lives are reduced to that. People like Sammi (Cheng) — every small thing is turned into a big thing."
And even when Sun is involved in a "big thing", the truth is you don't want to associate anything remotely negative with her. Take that incident in Egypt in February this year when it was reported that some unsavoury characters threatened and extorted money from her for four days — at gunpoint, no less. Didn't you think: Really? That sort of thing doesn't happen to Stefanie, does it? The word on the lips of sceptics was "marketing". "I'm sure there are people who thought it was a great marketing ploy. I'm sorry, it wasn't my intention," she said, her dark eyes lighting up. "
The true story is that we had an unpleasant encounter and it was unfortunately blown out of proportion. I mean all the accusations (about what happened in Egypt) were all true. It was unfortunate. And maybe the record company also thought it was a fantastic idea to tell everyone. Did the media try to blow it up? I think so. I just say, sh** happens. That's life. Sometimes you can clean up the sh**, sometimes you can't. "So yeah, it happened, let's just get on with life. I don't know what else to say," she said.
You know what else bugs her? Hawkers. "I think the hardest part is that people tend to be judgemental and magnify the things you do," she said sighing. "For example, I like to eat bak chor mee, but when I go to hawker centres to buy it, people go like, "Eh, I thought she earn a lot of money, still want to come here?" What kind of logic is that? They probably think I can get it delivered to my house or whatever, but I like going to the hawker centre!" Great.
So on top of being successful, charitable and caring, she's humble, too. She doesn't flash her wealth. In fact, she dismisses talk that she's one of the richest young Singaporeans. "You know, they always exaggerate! You really have to discount a lot of things you read nowadays, lah. I don't think I'm in the top 10. Maybe like top 1,000 or something. "
What people don't know is that when I started out, I couldn't (command) good rates, and that went on for years." Still, Sun said she's "very comfortable". "I do admit that I have a few perks, lah!" she admitted with a laugh. So, Sun may be living the good life now, but, she said, things weren't always like that. "The first seven albums were very hectic. I was pretty much like a factory. Then, there was a highly-publicised sabbatical, but since then, it's been a lot easier to breathe, a lot easier to rethink … what you stand for, what you like. That's the most simple and important thing for an artiste. "
I've been lucky. These seven years, I've had a lot of opportunities, I've met a lot of right people, and I've worked really hard. Maybe that's the formula to success: Meet the right people and work hard. "
But life is unpredictable. Seven years ago, I wouldn't have thought that I'd be where I am, doing what I'm doing. I thought I would be married by the time I was 25, but I'm 29 now … What you wanted 10 years ago might not be what you want now. "I don't know where I'll be. You just never know … "
Maybe that's the secret to being truly happy and contented. It's either that or a whole lot of premium fragrant rice.
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