G.E.M. Criticized For Singing Only 6 Cantonese songs, with the Rest in Mandarin at Her Hong Kong Concert

[MomoMoon115]

   

 

 

G.E.M.'s 5 Hong Kong shows for her "G.E.M. X.X.X. Live World Tour" opened the night before in Hong Kong. Shot to popularity in Mainland China through the show "I Am a Singer 2", G.E.M. sang only 6 Cantonese songs the whole night; therefore attracting criticism from fans that she was holding a "Mainland China I Am a Singer Night" instead, and suggested she give up her Hong Kong passport and apply for a Mainland passport. 

After touring 23 cities in Mainland China, Australia and New Zealand in the past year and 9 months, G.E.M. finally returned to the Hong Kong Coliseum stage the night before. Although she had emphasized many times she misses her Hong Kong fans, that Hong Kong is a part of her roots, and that Hong Kong fans's support is her motivation for continuing, but the whole night, out of the 20+ songs she sang, only 6 songs were in Cantonese. The rest were all Mandarin and one to two songs were in English. Within the list of songs, many of them were the songs she sang in "I Am a Singer 2". Many fans criticized, saying the concert was more like a "Mainland China I Am a Singer Night" show. She did not even sing the song that brought her to fame in Hong Kong, "Where Did U Go". Instead, she covered a lot of other people's songs. 

Fans support: You are the pride of Hong Kong

There were also fans who supported their idol, saying Khalil Fong also doesn't sing Cantonese songs. However, this made people question how G.E.M. debuted singing Cantonese songs, but now changed to singing Mandarin songs. There were also many fans who left messages encouraging her; there was one who praised her as Hong Kong's pride and not to be unhappy about criticisms. There was also a fan who claimed to be a 70 year old man living in America, who is also a fan of hers, waiting to see her perform in Las Vegas. 

$898 HKD expensive ticket holders must return the concert wristbands

The concert restricted fans from bringing any glowsticks other than the official $280 HKD space glow wristbands sold outside the venue. But as seen inside the venue, the $1880 and $898 HKD expensive seats were provided with those wristbands. Just when those two groups of audience thought they could take the wristbands home as a memory, in reality, only the $1880 ticket holders were able to keep them, while the $898 ticket holders had to return the wristband at the end of the show, so the company can reuse them for the next show's fans. This attracted even more criticism from the audience.

No arrangements for interviews for print media reporters

This time, when G.E.M., who rose to popularity in Mainland China, finally returned to Hong Kong after touring in other cities, her company requested "Hollywood" level treatment. Previously, for her concert's press conference, they requested that print media and digital media reporters conduct interviews at the same time, saying that it would be "more logical and uniform". However, the night before, they changed the rules again, requesting the organizer to print two versions of the interview notices; only allowing print media photographers to shoot for the first half hour of the concert, and then her management company will supply them with a press release and photos afterwards. They can also film the last 15 minutes and do a backstage interview. 

Wasted 10 minutes for the background before TV station interview

Because the $1880 tickets (most expensive) included a backstage tour and a photo with G.E.M.'s wax figure, the organizers set up the backstage dance studio like an exhibition, displaying G.E.M.'s wax figure, awards and MV props, etc. After the show, the TV station reporters also conducted their interview there. When the photographers had set up the camera already, G.E.M.'s company's staff member was not satisfied with the angle of the camera using G.E.M.'s wax figure as the background. Although the wax museum's staff was also there, they still requested that everyone move their spots, so that G.E.M. can stand with her awards during the interview. After about 10 minutes, G.E.M. did the interview in front of a black cloth. 

About this "special" arrangement for interviews, G.E.M. said that she didn't pay attention to much because of preparing for the concert. She emphasized that she's a goldfish, only has a 7 second memory! The Metro Radio awards celebration party issue was brought up again, and she replied: "I won't purposely try to please anyone, I also have times when I got hurt! For Christmas, I personally made 200 cookies for the media to show my sincerity. Whether they take it or not, I cannot think too much about it. I hope I can show my respect and sincerity to them everytime we meet." The space wristbands are too expensive? G.E.M. said that she was also shocked about the price in the beginning, but the cost is actually quite expensive.

 

Source: MingPao

Translated by: Chloe.C @ http://asianuniverse.net/forums

 

[abra]

Her next concerts need to be organized better, what are they thinking??

[Rapmon's Ahjussi Husband]

I don't know this bitch, but looks like G.E.M. needs to be left jobless and start cleaning houses from 7:00 am. to 19:00 pm.

[graybunny]

altho it seems like a trivial issue, I can understand the mindset of her HK fans with whats going on politically rn 

[Lightning]

I'm sure most fans enjoyed the concert, the media loves to write negative stories about gem atm

[laiwingnang]

some ppl complained, but from the 2nd show onwards, she added more cantonese songs during the encore...

the HK media loves to exaggerate..they aren't known for fair/unbiased reporting anyways..

after she defended HK's government/CE on her facebook, the attack on her got even worse

[Haus of Tzu:Lai]

She needs a better publicist / PR team. 

[StarShapedGummy]

Hong Kong media is the worst. They have really nothing to talk about so they scratch the tinniest of controversies. 

 

GEM can sing what she wants. If the fans want to see her sing, they came her to see her sing.