Thanks for tuning in today.

Hello everybody again and welcome.

East meets West is an often overused cliche,

but today we get to meet a unique example of bridging the Pacific.

She was born here but grew up in San Francisco, California.

She was back here in Hong Kong for a visit about a decade ago

and decided to try her luck singing in a talent contest.

Well, that marked the start of a fast-rising and powerful career for her.

You know her music, you’ve seen her videos,

you’ve heard her sing the theme song to the movie "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon"

at last year’s Academy Awards.

Time to meet Coco Lee.

Coco, it’s good to finally see you.

Nice to meet you.

Good to see you. It’s a pleasure.

I’ve been watching you all these years.

That was a really amazing introduction.

Did you like that?

You said everything.

I don’t need to interview anymore.

We should go right off your website.

Oh, that’s great.

I’m a little confused.

I have an identity crisis when it comes to you.

Is it Coco?

Is it Ferren?

Is it Meilin?

Okay, for my friends from high school or from my school,

they call me Ferren.

People who know me from work is Coco.

 My family still call me Ferren.

Okay, but people who call you Coco in public,

that means they’re groupy people, real friends call you Ferren, right?

Well, I really don’t mind either way,

but Ferren is my real name,

but I still prefer to be called Coco.

All right. Well, it’s a beautiful name.

Busy holiday season for you coming up.

You’re cutting at least a couple albums,

another Chinese album, another English album.

Come January, you’re going to be singing in Shanghai for hundreds of thousands.

Yeah, for the countdown.

 That’s going to be amazing.

It must be very exciting, especially in China.

There’s going to be big changes right now.

You know all about what’s going on, the change of leadership.

Yeah, the most important thing,

they want to make it a very international city.

Shanghai is already an international city,

and having the countdown there,

I believe it’s going to be one of the biggest things.

And then you’ve got other things on the horizon.

I think you’ll be doing the MTV awards with Shaggy, right?

Yeah, I’ll be co-hosting the MTV Music Awards with Shaggy.

You ever worked with Shaggy before?

No, but I’m a big fan. I’m definitely a big fan.

I think I will be singing a song of his with him, a duet.

And then you just came off a visit to Houston, Texas.

Is that your first time to the deep south?

First time to Houston, but second time to Texas.

The first time was there in Dallas, promoting the English album,

and it was quite well received there.

So this time I went there, you know, good crowd.

They always say southern hospitality. Oh, I certainly thought that.

And it was the debut of the Chinese basketball star, the center, Yao Ming, right?

And he’s like, what, 7 feet five or something?

He’s gigantic. He is really gigantic.

He’s like seven foot six, seven foot five, somewhere.

And he’s just amazing.

Heads and tails above us anyway, right?

Yeah, and, you know, I was just surprised to hear that I was his favorite singer.

I was his idol, so to meet him, he was really shy.

Shy, really?

Shy guy. He didn’t say much.

Was it just to meet maybe it was English or?

No, no, no, because I spoke Chinese to him, but then he was very shy.

But I told him, you know, you go kick some butt.

And he did, right?

Yeah.

I guess you tend to be self-conscious when

you’re about three feet higher than everybody.

I was looking up at him the whole time.

And you look up to him, right?

Oh, I do, I do.

Literally.

And you were singing the national anthem there

for the opening of the Houston Rockets.

Yeah, I think for the people in the east,

they may not feel how important it is,

but for the people who grew up in the states,

for the Chinese people who grew up in the states,

it was really important because it has never been done before.

It’s unprecedented.

And to sing such an emotional song, you know,

the crowd just went crazy.

And I felt that love.

 It was just, it was unforgettable.

That is something very unique, isn’t it?

Having an Asian sing the United States national anthem.

Yeah, I have never seen it myself.

Perhaps maybe another Asian singer has done it on another venue.

But for me, being there with Yao Ming was unprecedented.

You, like I said, you’ve been busy as heck.

I mean, in what, eight years you’ve cut,

I don’t know how many albums now, 15 going on?

Oh, yeah.

16, 17.

I mean, do you ever get to feeling like you’re a bit of a music factory

and churning them out the way you are?

You know, at the beginning when I first came out,

because my record label was a very small local label in Taiwan,

and I was the only artist who was making money.

And so I would come out with two or three albums a year.

And then after I signed with Sony, they realized that that’s not good for an artist.

Too much exposure.

So, and I believe in the quality of music, not quantity.

So we start to slow down, and then when I have the vibe,

when I know what I want musically, then we cut the record.

Like right now for my English album, it’s taking quite a long time

because I feel like I need to be ready for the market.

And studying for my old English album,

I realized this time I’ve got to write some of my own material

or to be even more edgier and then try new stuff.

Right. And this one, I mean,

you’re taking full charge of this one, right?

Oh, yeah.

I mean, you’re basically directing the whole creative process from the beginning.

I mean, you have a lot of state here, don’t you?

I mean, to be honest, your first launch, your first English album,

your American debut a couple of years ago,

I mean, I guess, was it disappointing to you?

I mean, it disappointed some people.

Well, I think, you know, because we have no one to compare it to.

I don’t have another predecessor I could say,

"Oh, I could compare my success to her."

So for a lot of people, they would feel that

I’ve already reached my successful point in my career by releasing an English album,

which no one else was able to do that.

And it’s done quite well because it’s sold over millions of records worldwide.

And with the opportunity to sing for the Oscars,

which is even another highlight of my career, I think it really helps.

But this time for my English album, I just wanted to make it even better.

And what are we going to notice this time as compared to the first album?

I mean, you’ve morphed into different styles.

You’ve gone sort of Euro-techno fusion or whatever they call it.

Oh, that’s only for the remix.

But for my English album, it’s going to be a little bit of the East meets West, you know,

because I think it’s even more justified being Chinese

that I can have the Chinese element into R&B music.

It has a really good pulse shape.

And is that something, I mean, is that sort of a sea change for you?

I mean, you don’t have to be strictly Western because you’re not strictly Western.

You’re a product of the East.

So that’s important to you to have that theme.

It’s very important.

After the " Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon " theme song,

I realized that the Chinese element is so beautiful.

You know, when you mix it with modern pop music, it was something else.

But it was just as good as right now hip-hop music.

And I just wanted to incorporate a lot more of the Chinese traditional sound into popular music.

Well, I’m looking forward to it.

We’re only months away from that launch.

Coco, hold on.

We’re going to be back with superstar Coco Li right after this.

Back in Q&A.

 

Welcome back to "Lo and Co."

We are with Coco Li on the program today.

You’ve been working with some pretty high-powered superstars,

collaborating with people like Ricky Martin.

Jackie Cheung

Tell me some stories.

Who hits you as particularly interesting?

Who did you really enjoy working with?

Well, I enjoy every single person, such as Julio Iglesias.

I’ve been working with him.

And then there was Ricky Martin and then Jackie Cheung.

I would have to say, of course, I was really shocked to

work with Ricky because he’s always been my idol.

I love the way he works.

He’s very focused, determined.

And he’s such a hard worker.

And we’re both Capricorn, so I really like that.

And then, of course, we’re all up with bum shaking.

And when they told me he invited me to be his special guest,

which on all his shows, he never had a special guest.

I was his first one in Asia.

I was so happy.

And to meet him in person, he was so sweet.

I remember the first day I met him was in Japan.

And he took me backstage because one of his bodyguards,

it was his birthday.

So he held my hand, took me in and said,

"Okay, meet our new family member, Coco."

And I was like, "Hi, Coco.

 I want to give you a kiss."

And then we’re all singing happy birthday songs to the bodyguard.

And it was just a whole family atmosphere.

I like that so much.

He’s a nice guy, huh?

He genuinely downed everything he’s done.

Yeah, he was very affectionate.

He’s always kissing my forehead.

Maybe I’m short.

That’s why forehead.

He’s a nice guy.

And he is a bum shaker without peer, obviously.

And obviously that was an attraction to you.

Right right right

Because that’s one of your fortes.

Right, right.

Is it true? I’ve heard that your mom told you early in your career

that you really need lessons and you need to learn to shake your booty.

That’s so funny.

Is that true?

I learned it before I even became a singer.

I was learning Tahitian dancing.

Because she really enjoyed it when we watched it on TV.

She always thought, "Wow, what is that?

 It’s so beautiful what they do with their bums."

She’s like, "My daughter has nice bums.

 She’s able to do that."

A conservative Chinese mom is going,

"I want my daughter to shake her bums."

She’s very conservative.

But ever since I was a baby, I loved to dance.

So she noticed that.

I always dance.

The moment I hear fast music, I’m moving, my body’s shaking, my head.

So I got that rhythm.

She wanted me to learn all these different types of dancing.

Your style, to this day, remains a step ahead or a step aside

from mainstream Asian pop music that’s coming out.

Where are we in the Asian pop scene?

There seems to be a resurgence of interest in J-pop from Japan, K-pop, the Koreans.

Are we making inroads as a pop power?

Honestly, for me, I don’t really listen to J-pop.

I’ve always liked K-pop.

I was working with Korean producers and songwriters

even before they got popular in the Chinese area.

I really respect their music.

I think we have similar musical sense.

I was working with people like Solid years ago.

They were the biggest group before H.O.T.

Right now, I’m working with Park Jin-yoon, who’s a JY Park.

He’s really famous for songwriting for his R&B songs.

It’s great to work with guys like that because

he respects me as an artist and I respect him.

China is going to be your next big push.

That’s your focus, not just ethnically but culturally as well.

Why do you think that is?

Is it simply because that’s the untapped, sweeping giant

and we’re going to see a big boom there?

Definitely.

Plus, the population is so big.

I believe that one day China will be able to be

number one consumer market in the world.

Because of population by itself, it’s just humongous.

Like I said, come the turn of the new year, January,

you’re going to be singing for lots of people.

Let’s put it that way.

You can get crowds that you can’t get anywhere else in China.

That was at the invitation of the authorities there, right?

Yeah, with the government.

You’ve got an excellent repartee with the Chinese.

I know this is a bit sensitive but I do want to ask you

because the big event on the radar scope for China is 2008.

The Olympic Games.

Earlier in the year, Leon Lai was chosen as the official voice,

the singing voice for the Olympics.

I don’t mean to denigrate him but he’s kind of going downhill and you’re up there.

How the hell did that happen?

During that time, there’s a lot of songs.

We call it the official songs for the bid for Olympics.

These are not really the people.

They’re going to be the main singers for the official Olympics in 2008.

It was just part of the bid.

During that time, I was really sick.

The good thing was I was actually there in person to witness that historical moment.

I was there in Moscow and then when they said Beijing, we’re all like, "Ah!"

Everybody started crying.

It was just so emotional because I think people, all Chinese people from all over the world,

just felt that proud moment, "Oh my God, Beijing got it. Beijing got it."

My biggest dream right now is to sing the Olympic theme song for 2008.

All right. You obviously have a lot of big dreams in the years ahead in China.

Question for you.

Okay.

你的国语怎么样

我的国语很好啊

That’s very good.

In your last summer release, I don’t even know the name of it.

Is it "This is Coco" or "Dixie Coco"?

"D" is Coco, which means "Dance is Coco."

"Dance is Coco," which you love to do, right?

Yeah.

I saw some of the reviews.

I don’t know if you saw them.

I actually went into the chat rooms and the message boards and that sort of thing.

Some of them were a little bit critical of your Mandarin singing,

getting better but still not quite there.

Well, I think you can never satisfy everybody.

There’s going to be fans who love you.

There’s going to be people of other fans, other people’s fans,

who’s going to put you down for whatever you do.

It could be the best thing you’ve ever done.

They’ll still put you down.

But I think as an artist, you always try your best.

Just try to put out the best music possible.

My fans always see that Coco tries her damn hardest.

She always tries to challenge herself and do something new

to have a breakthrough in the music.

很好 没有问题

because your 国语 is 好过我的

Why do I do that to myself?

We’ll be right back with more of Coco Lee.

 

And we’re back once again with Coco Lee.

You’ve been with Sony now for how many years?

Oh, my God. I can’t remember.

I’m sorry to inundate you with rumors,

but I heard that your mom paid off like $100,000 to

get you out of your old label so you could get with Sony in that time.

No, it wasn’t like that.

That’s bull, right?

No, that’s not true.

Actually, Sony was the one who did that.

Yeah, they bought out.

Oh, That’s even better.

They bought out my old contract because basically

that was an eight-year contract with the old record company

and there was a lot of problems with them

and Sony was able to get me out of it.

That’s good for you.

Sony is, I guess they can be very tough.

I mean, it’s a very professional label in many ways,

so it can be very tough, too.

And they don’t normally keep people on if they’re not churning them out,

improving their popularity.

It’s somewhat unusual for Sony to sign an Asian, isn’t it?

Oh, yeah.

 I’m the first Chinese artist to be signed internationally,

so I actually belong to international sony

I belong to New York.

And I feel very fortunate to be able to do all this stuff.

I might not be the best singer.

I might not be the biggest song artist, but I’m fortunate enough

to do all these things and kind of open doors

for other little cocos to come in the future.

Because we’ve never seen an Asian artist being able to

go into the international music market.

Hopefully, we can change that.

We wish you a lot of luck with that.

You know, even early in your career, people making comparisons,

likening you to saying, "Well, you’re the new diva of Asia, number one.

This is going to be another Mariah Carey."

I’m not sure you want to be another Mariah Carey nowadays.

Another Madonna.

And you were very, you know, self-deprecating and very humble at that time.

Do you want to boast here for a minute or two?

I never like to boast.

I always take it as a compliment, honestly,

because these artists that they compare me to,

they’re one of the biggest song artists in the world, and I love them.

And I look up to them.

I look up to Madonna.

And, you know, to be compared up to people like that, it’s great.

But I’m my own individual, and I have my own musical style.

And I would love to work with them one day, too,

or to be on the same stage with them.

Any chance of that happening soon?

I hope so.

Have there been any discussions?

Do you ever — do you talk to Madonna?

Do you go to the same parties?

Oh, yeah, but I’m too busy.

I’m just kidding.

Madonna, next time.

Hold on.

I’m too busy now.

No, no, no.

I really look up to them.

I really do.

And hopefully one day I’ll be able to have such a great success as Madonna.

You’re not known for being a social butterfly in the pop music circle.

I mean, you don’t exactly, you know, hobnob with the jet set of the pop set, do you?

No.

Why is that?

I don’t know.

Maybe because I’m a shy person.

I don’t know.

No, you’re not shy.

No, you know, after work, I’m a very — I can only do my work.

In my world, there’s only music.

I just do that.

And then after work, I just go back home and rest.

That’s it.

I don’t go and socialize and hang out, party.

You’re a very family-oriented person, aren’t you?

You and your sisters, Carol —

Carol and Nancy.

— Nancy.

And my mom.

And your mom.

And my doggy, Milky.

That’s Coco, Inc., right?

Yes, yes, yes.

You know, the story about how you got started just fascinates me.

You grew up here in Hong Kong until you were what, about —

Ten years old.

So you were, what, primary two or three or —

Yeah, two.

So, I mean, so your Cantonese is good.

You spoke Cantonese at home.

And then you went to San Francisco and you grew up there.

And I guess you had a pretty normal childhood, right?

Very strict, though.

No boys, no phone calls.

Just go home, do your homework.

And then I was class president.

I was in the volleyball team.

So I was very outgoing in school.

Very active.

Good student, I assume.

Good student, right.

Almost four-point average?

3.83.

That’s pretty good.

First on the roll

I was 3.79.

Oh!

You know, that’s a C in American history.

It was a revolutionary world we live in.

And, okay, so you had a very strict upbringing,

except the bum-shaking lessons.

Your mom assisted you —

Dancing was okay.

Dancing was okay.

And then you came back here to Hong Kong 10 years later.

You were 19, I assume, or 20.

I was 18.

18, okay.

And you headed up to Broadcast Drive.

You know, the funny thing was,

this whole thing started from my older sister, Carol.

She loved singing, and she would enter into a singing contest, and she won.

And she got a record label deal, and my mom was like, "No!

Out of your mind!"

So, of course, my sister respected her.

She said, "Okay, fine."

She gave up the dream and goes to UCLA.

And then my second sister, Nancy, also entered a singing contest,

and she won first place, too.

And then she got a movie deal.

And my mom’s like, "No!

Out of your mind!"

So, of course, Nancy gives up that dream.

And then I’m the third one, and what happened was I crashed my sister’s car.

Well, I didn’t really crash it.

I just cracked the oil pan of her Beamer.

And so I broke it. I fixed it.

I got to find a way to pay for it.

I don’t work.

And so I entered a singing contest.

Hopefully I’ll win, and I did.

And then I also got a record deal with her.

And then my mom was thinking, "This is funny.

In our families, it’s this luck.

This fate with singing."

So she sort of changed her conservative mind and supported me.

I better not deny fate the third time around.

And she finally wisened up, right?

Yeah, yeah.

In the last instance.

And she even, you know, because she was a doctor for the longest time,

and then she had retired

to be by my side, to be a good mother, to care for me.

That’s a really sweet story, and kudos to your mom.

We all thank your mom for finally giving in and allowing fate to happen as it did.

You still want to be a doctor?

You’re a biology graduate.

You still want to be a doctor?

After all this fame and glitz and glamour and everything,

why would you want to be cutting into people?

Well, I have passions in life.

The first one, when I was a little kid, I’ve always wanted to be a doctor.

Because watching my mother, we learned from her.

And Carol and I, we both wanted to be a doctor,

because we’re not afraid of blood, Nancy is, so she can’t.

And yeah, I wanted to take on her footstep.

And right now, I still love to watch some channels

in which they have surgeries and stuff like that.

It’s quite interesting.

I’d like to hope.

So I guess even when you decide to hang up your hat

and finish your singing career, I’ll have a reason to see you,

because I’m getting sick all the time.

Oh, I hope you don’t come see me, because I want to specialize in cancer.

So don’t come see me.

Oh, okay.

I take that back.

By the way, you’ve made a bomb of money in your eight years in the business.

CNBC, we do financial news from time to time.

Of course.

What have you done with your money?

Just give us a little quick tip here.

Funny thing is, I give all my money to my mom.

Everything.

Ever since I was young, with my allowance money,

I save it up at the weekend and I give it to my mom.

So it’s been a habit of mine.

I always give all my money to my family.

And I don’t even carry a credit card or a wallet.

I don’t bring anything with me.

It’s quite embarrassing at my age right now, but I just don’t need to.

I don’t feel like I need to.

But I think the best investment I have ever made is in real estate,

and especially my home in Beverly Hills, because I have the best neighbors.

I live right next to Diana Ross, and then right across the street from me right now

is Leonardo DiCaprio, who’s building his house.

Whoa.

And sometimes I get invited to Jackie Chan’s house

to have dinner with his whole family.

So I think that’s definitely the best investment.

And you can live in it, too.

Yeah.

And you’re going to be over soon, right?

Oh, of course.

Coco, it’s good to finally meet you.

Thank you so much for making time to stop by.

All right. Everybody, Coco Lee, Asian diva, superstar,

and someday an oncologist, who I really don’t want to see.

That’ll do it for this edition of Lo and Co.

Thanks for tuning in once again.

I’m Bernard Lo.

See you again.