20/07/2022
In 2019, no one knew who is To Keung. Now he is almost 23rd years old. His followers have reached nearly 8 million on Instagram within three years. People can see his face on every advertising board in Hong Kong, every chain restaurant and shopping mall is playing his song, like ''The Love Without Words'' or ''Master Class''. From no one and to win a Hong Kong-wide competition (just like American Idol), he was the only singer who thought and was the only one to believe in himself. He said it publicly, ""We will be the top one in Asia."" His 23rd birthday is at the end of April. His fans have organised a free tram day for all Hong Kong citizens to celebrate his birthday.
To Keung first joined a mainland China singing competition, Super Boy, in 2017. He represented Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan to make it to the Top 30. However, no one paid attention to it by that time, and none of them was willing to see him. Keung returned to Hong Kong after Super Boy. He didn't give up on becoming a star. When ViuTV (Hong Kong TV channel) organised a new reality entertainment show, The Goodnight Show, he joined and won the championship. ViuTV decided to set up a Cantonese-pop boy band—Mirror. Keung is one of the members.
At the young age of 19th, Keung first got a lot of ""mother fans"", which means middle-aged or even older women. ""Whenever I see him, I think I'm only in my teens; I've forgotten my age,"" says Eva, a 70 years-old female fan. She is not embarrassed by the act of following him but still feels the same way she did when she was a teenager to support another idol.
Those mother fans have often contributed money and efforts to support him, such as making their own products of Keung. They have spent thousands of Hong Kong dollars on MTR (Hong Kong Subway Station) advertisement boxes and placed slogans such as "God won't forgive you if To Keung cannot be popular." in the newspaper advertisement. Some have even bought land in New Zealand for him.
Being arrogant or conceited is a typical personality of an early age successor, yet Keung never shows that out, or even he isn't. He won a prize called The Most Favourite Male Singer in the 2020 Ultimate Song Chart Awards Presentation (USCAP). He also is the youngest awardee of this prize. When the MC announced that he had won it, he was so frightened and opened his mouth for more than two minutes on the stage.
Congratulations to him; Keung won the same prize in 2021. Unlike the first time, he was confident and calm. "This year, I won't lose for words." He walked onto the stage, took the microphone, and laughed, "As an artist, there are too many people to thank you." Then, he looked at the hints board on the stage and realised he didn't have enough time to thank you.
"Last year, I didn't say it properly, and people thought I lost my mind." He took a deep breath, ""Now, in this stage, I can be so confident to say we must be the top one in Asia."" The crowd burst into cheers.
Even though an idol generally means they look impressive but worthless, Keung won those prizes with his commanding stage presence and exceptional vocal and dancing abilities. His song styles covered a wide variety, from sadness to cheerfulness. He always considered the current situation in Hong Kong and then gave out a timely song.
One of Keung'sKeung's significant songs is ''The Love without Words'Words' which was inspired by COVID. Everyone needs to wear a mask to protect themselves, yet no one can see their smiles anymore. He hopes to spread positive energy, encourage Hong Kong people, and cheer up healthcare workers with this song.
With these kinds of compliments, people must think Keung is gifted. Yet, Keung was a fat boy (over 90kgs according to him) when he was small. He tried very hard to lose weight, like running every day and only having apples for dinner. By keeping fit in this way, he did lose a lot of fat, but he also suffered from it. Even his mother thought he was suffering from a terminal illness, as he had frequent nosebleeds and cramps in his sleep. After that, he knew it wasn't an excellent way to keep fit. So he changed and generously became smart.
Struggling to become a star is a difficult life, but fate isn't lovely to Keung after being an artist. His father got a stroke and stayed in the hospital for a few days at the end of 2020. Luckily, his father has been doing well after discharging from the hospital and no longer requires a cane to walk.
Right after his father's recovery, one trouble follows another. This time was his best friend's death. Keung had a basketball day with his best friend in March 2021. When they finished playing and walking toward home, his best friend suddenly fainted. Keung called 999 immediately. However, it couldn't save his best friend.
In light of that, Keung was extremely sad. He also made a song, "Dear My Friend", to honour his best friend. By March 2022, the music video had reached 15 million views, making it the most clicked new local song of 2021. And this song won the My Favourite Song Award in USCAP as well. He never thought this song would have any award. Due to this song's background, he couldn't sing properly right that moment and looked at the sky, "…. For you."
Despite all the troubles Keung has been through, he also got a different prize from oversea. He was chosen by a magazine Tatler from The United Kingdom as Asia's Most Influential, and a magazine from The United State Variety as International Breakout Stars of 2021.
There are a lot of senior singers, commented Keung, "Young people can make Hong Kong music alive."
And now he is approaching his 23rd birthday. His official fan club had crowdfunding to sponsor HK Tramways (which opened to everyone to support) to have a free tram day. With this free transportation day and many advertisements all over Hong Kong to celebrate his birthday, the public thought his fans could make Hong Kong alive again after tightening COVID guidelines. So Keung might be a real saver to Hong Kong.