Pop Music and the Society
A Study of Faye Wong’s Music
December, 2009
Abstract
Since the late 20th century, Faye Wong has been recognized as one of the most outstanding pop singers in Hong Kong. Unlike earlier Canto-pop singers, Wong’s song and values have helped her create an independent, unconventional, and contentious image. This clearly shows how she is able to express and inspire middle-class females who seek for the balance of family roles and independence. Faye’s music has been strongly welcomed by the public since late 1980s and 1990s. Hence, it is possible to analyze how the social norms and ideologies changed by studying the diversities of her songs and attitude in different periods of time. In the first part of this paper, a brief introduction of Faye Wong is provided, including the world record she broke and the awards she won. In the second part, some of her most recognized albums are analyzed providing evidence for her celebration of self-identity. In the third part, the reasons for her specialty are discussed, including the background of Hong Kong’s pop music industry and the status of females in Hong Kong in recent decades. The implication and significance of this study is illustrated in the fourth part. The limitation of this paper is presented after the conclusion.
Introduction of Faye Wong
Faye Wong (王菲), born on August 8th, 1969 in Beijing, is recognized as one of the most outstanding pop singers in Hong Kong, China, and many other Asian countries since early 1990s. She came to fame in the early 1990s in Hong Kong. During her 20 year career, she had produced more than 60 albums and acted in more than 6 movies.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Faye Wong, had sold an estimated of 9.7 million copies of her albums by March 2000 and is one of the first women to dominate Hong Kong’s recording industry.[1] She was given the title of Best Selling Canto-Pop Female in the same year. [2]During her career, she won a...