A TASTE OF COCO
An Interview With Rising Asian Star COCO LEE
By Lionel Zivan S. Valdellon

published in PHILMUSIC.COM : Feb 26, 2000

She's Chinese-American, grew up in San Francisco, but has a string of best-selling albums in her homeland of Taiwan. Sony Music has internationally released her first all-english album, Just No Other Way, and now she's a rising global star with a distinctly Asian face. Her name : Coco Lee.

Last December 6, during the Philippine leg of her Asian promo tour for her album, we were able to sneak in a few minutes' conversation with her to ask her why she's not showing off her bellybutton anymore and other related matters of consequence. Turns out she's more loquacious than she looks.

THE ALBUM

So, how are you?
Coco Lee: I'm great! It's a pleasure to be in the Philippines, it's my first time. And I'm really excited to release this album.

Tell us about it.
CL: Altogether there're 12 tracks…the first single is "Before I Fall in Love," which is also in the soundtrack of Runaway Bride. And this song, we have a little nickname for it, it's called the "Grammy song." Seriously. Because, they (producers) said, we can imagine Coco Lee standing on the Grammy stage, receiving an award and singing "Before I Fall in Love." I'm like, oh cool, I hope so! But I'm sure with all the support in Asia, going back to the States, and going internationally, maybe, we have a chance!
___ I was the executive producer for this album and I chose all the songs. And it was produced with big producers such as Rick Wake who works with Celine Dion, Frankie Knuckles who was a Grammy award-winner a few years ago, sang with Kelly Price (on "Can't Get Over") and she also wrote that song for me. It was exciting to work with her, she's definitely awesome.
___ This album is very R&B, pop-based. It's gonna be a big challenge to go into the States, but you know why I had to make this move? Because in the international music market, there is no Asian face. You see all these great divas but there is no Asian face. I have a great team of people in Sony and they believe that I definitely can be the next one to make it.

How come you didn't go into the more sedate realm of ballads and love songs? Is being in a pop/dance genre your choice?
CL: Oh yeah. Whatever I project, it's got to be for real! I love to dance! I want people to see the real Coco, and the real Coco loves dancing. I love hi-NRG stuff, and when I'm onstage I want it to be a very dynamic kind of performance. Even if ballads are the songs that sell all over the world, I'm not going to force myself to do that.

I heard the video for "Do You Want My Love" was shot in the same place as another famous video?
CL: Oh yeah. We shot it at this club where Ricky Martin shot his video for "Livin' La Vida Loca." The most memorable thing was that scene at the beginning when the blow dryer was blowing up my hair. Well, imagine this, it's like a super powerful blow dryer, and it's really dirty so there was a lot of dust hitting my face!

How do you feel about being compared to these other singers, like your being labelled as the Mariah Carey of Taiwan?
CL: It's always a compliment for me, being compared to Mariah. Because she is, you know, one of the best-selling female artists. Nobody ever doubts her talent. Why would that be a bad thing? I feel good when people make that comparison, but I keep in mind that when I go into the studio there's just me and my music. I don't think about anyone else. It's always important to keep your own style.

THE LOOK

Talking about style…Let me ask something positively girly here. How do you pick out the clothes you wear? Is this a stylist thing or your choice completely?
CL: Actually my mom buys everything. My mom, she's a very low-key type of person, she doesn't dress up fancy. Just denim jeans and like ten layers of clothes, but she has very very funky taste in clothes. She buys a lot of clothes for me, and I never have to try them on! She's the best stylist I've ever worked with. I'm very lucky.
___ Let's see, my hair has been almost every type of color: orange, purple, red, brown, sandy blond. Right now I just stopped. I can't figure out what other color to do. I don't wanna do green or blue. I'll just keep it like this for now.

So you're constantly changing and evolving your image?
CL: Yeah! Like with the other styles I tried before and didn't return to. Way back, I was always like kinda showing my navel … but then the Spice girls came out and someone else was doing that. So I try to stay ahead of the trends.

So no more exposed bellybuttons?
CL: (laughs)

ROOTS & WINGS

What do you do when you have free time?
CL: If I have free time? I realized after releasing this album, I have NO free time. If I do, like last night… Well we went to play pool. I love playing pool. And my manager beat me, just that time, so it's okay. I love to go clubbing, dancing. I love exercising, workouts, basketball, and volleyball. I try to be pretty active basically.

I understand that you started in 1994, when you were 18 years old. Do you have any regrets starting out so young?
CL: I never have regrets. My family has been a hundred percent behind me. Plus, I graduated from high school and I was prepared to go to college, and study Biology. I still have dreams. As long as you have your head screwed on right and you don't let the bad things influence you, you're fine.

Do you make people aware of your Asian origins?
CL: I try to. That's what makes me different, I think, in the States and internationally. In the album there's one song called, "Can We Talk About It," and I tried to incorporate the Eastern into the Western. During the music break, I speak in Chinese.

How Chinese or how American can you get?
CL: How Chinese? I grew up in a very conservative, traditional family. When I was younger, I wasn't allowed to speak when I was with older people around a table. Up to this day, when I say thank you or goodbye I still do that bow, and that's a very polite Asian thing. Still, I believe that when I get married, my mother has to live with me! And my husband will have to be approved by my mother. That's an extremely Chinese thing.
___ How American? I think that's in the way I dress, I perform. Because I was raised in the States and I grew up there, that was a huge part of my life. The way I was brought up was very Chinese, but I grew up in the American culture.

You mentioned that you wanted to be doctor as well. How do you see launching yourself internationally with your music career, and becoming a doctor?
CL: I've always wanted to be a doctor, since I was around 5 years old. My mother is a doctor and I grew up in that kind of an environment. I wish I could be more like her. But right now, I have the greatest opportunity in life. I love what I'm doing. I love going to the studio and recording, that's the happiest time for me. But I cannot imagine myself still doing this when I'm 50. There's always going to be new stars rising, and you have to give them a chance, right? Let someone take over! That's when I want to go back to school, finish my college degree and become a doctor. That's going to be when I'm really old.

Aren't boys intimidated by mom?
CL: Yes they are very much intimidated by mom, but if you get to see her, she's the sweetest lady. She's got this very wise look on her face--- 'cause she's studied all her life, nonstop, she's always learning. And I love that about her. She'll look at you and can read your face, a little like fortune telling, and she'll be able to tell if you're a good boy or a bad boy. But if she reads your palm , it's worse. She can tell you your whole life story. She's very sweet--- as long as we're, like, friends it's okay. If she feels you're getting a little closer, she might be a little more protective.

GOING GLOBAL

What's the greatest difficulty been in shifting from your career in Asia to one that's more global?
CL: I don't see any difficulties, but I think it's difficult to find time to relax or just rest. Right now all the time is spent traveling around the world. Before, I'd release my Chinese albums and just go to Chinese-speaking territories. But right now I go to different places. It was my first time going to Korea to do a promotion, going to Thailand and the Philippines, and that's thrilling for me.

You were saying that there was a difference in terms of how long your English album took to be finished and how long your Chinese albums usually take. What was the difference?
CL: Altogether it took 9 months to produce this album. It's not because the vocals were taking a long time. I'm used to walking into the studio, recording for about 2 to 3 hours and I'm done. That's always been my style in Asia. I've noticed that recording in the States, they really take their time arranging. Musical arrangements can take, like, one month. Because they're very diligent, everything is flawless. I remember working with Rick Wake, and he was shocked. He actually had 2 days reserved for me to record that one song, "Wherever You Go." And I walked into the studio, started singing, and finished in 15 minutes. And he was like, oh my god you're so fast! And he said the only artist that he ever worked with that finished that fast was Celine Dion. And I just told him, I don't understand why some people take so long! I was fortunate enough because here in Asia, this is what you do. Time is very efficient, very fast. And that's the way I'm used to doing things.

You broke into the States, where racism is still very strong. Does that bother you?
CL: I'm fortunate because I grew up in San Francisco, which has a very large Asian community. There are a lot of Chinese, Koreans, Filipinos… I didn't really see racism. Recently there's this one song that I really detest. What's that group called? LFO. (Who sang "Summer Girls" with the lyric: "Chinese food makes me sick. ") Wow, that is so offensive to anyone who likes Chinese culture, or who is Chinese. Don't you think that's a little offensive to us? That, to me, is racism right there. You should never ever say anything negative about any culture at all.

How do you counter-attack such things?
CL: I would tell the media, this is wrong. I think we should ban that song. I can't believe someone said that about the food that I eat every day. I wish everyone would just use their judgement. If you think they are not good musicians, then you should not support them.

You seem to be very optimistic about your being in the States. But historically there has never been any Asian who made it big, apart from one-hit wonders. What makes you so hopeful?
CL: Well, the way I see it, and my company sees it: I grew up in the States, and I'm Chinese- American. That's the biggest difference. For the other artists who crossed over, they might've never lived in the States, they didn't grow up with that culture. They aren't assimilated, they can't even speak the language.
___ Which reminds me…There was one time, this host asked me, if I open this door, who do I think will be the next country to follow? And I said, definitely the Philippines. Some of the best singers are in the Philippines. People are very musical here. The way the English is spoken. Plus, the English songs are so beautiful. Absolutely comparable to those done in the States. So I thought that that would definitely be the next step, for Filipino artists to go international.

Given the same talent do you think it would be easier for you to break into the US market if you were white?
CL: Honestly speaking, I think that if I were just a white artist, it would be more difficult. There are so many. How are they going to differentiate? If I was black, it's the same thing. There are so many great ones out there. But because I am Asian, the advantage is I'm the only Oriental face.

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