Amber Liu is bringing her No More Sad Songs tour to Singapore on March 20. She sits down with AsiaOne to discuss her androgynous style, her recent collaboration with Jessica Jung and her relationship with her bandmates in the K-pop girl group f(x). Can fans expect an f(x) reunion in the future?
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00:00 The bond I think with f(x) I think I like to see it is that it's beyond music.
00:04 It's just us as like friends, as sisters and that's what's most important to us.
00:10 Hey what's up Asia One this is Amber Liu.
00:18 So it's great to meet you. So you're like almost at the end of the tour. Singapore marks the last
00:24 stop of it and now you're in Oceania. So how has the tour been so far? My band and I are always like
00:32 oh man can the crowds get any crazier and then every night there's always something different
00:37 that the crowd brings. So I'm really curious because this is my first time like performing
00:44 on my own. I'm like really curious to like what each city's like vibe is. It's kind of crazy like
00:51 like you wake up you're like oh I'm in Australia right now. I'm in Changsha right now. So it's
00:58 it's been kind of like a it's been like a dream but a very fun dream. The last time I saw you
01:04 perform was with f(x) 12 years ago in SMTOWN 2012 here in Singapore. But have you been back to
01:12 Singapore since? I had like a short performance in Singapore like in 2016. I did go for my friend
01:20 good friend Jessica her her concert as like a surprise. So have you had time to like visit go
01:26 around visit the sites or what are you looking forward to doing when you're here this time
01:31 around? For some reason like I feel like I have less time to look around than I actually think I
01:37 do. I at least try to at least walk around where at least wherever my hotel is. Like if I wanted
01:44 to go sightseeing and stuff it might be a little hard unfortunately. I think looking up places and
01:49 going there is I think at a different time where it's more suitable right now. It's more like I
01:55 really want to not have any plan and just kind of feel things out. So before one of your shows
02:03 before a concert like how do you get ready for it? Do you have some kind of like pre-concert ritual?
02:07 Nothing too exciting usually. I'm usually just chilling with with everybody like obviously eat
02:14 typical like get ready. We kind of do like a huddle circle right before. Also with the band like
02:21 think a group sing-along I guess. So we kind of choose a song that we all really like and we just
02:27 just sing a chorus of it and just kind of while I just kind of get us pumped a little bit.
02:32 You obviously had a very different style to other women in k-pop and was that something I mean I
02:39 know that is your style because you haven't changed it since you left. So that's something
02:44 you were worried of that you would be made to change how you look, made to look more feminine
02:50 perhaps or was that seen as like a positive thing because you were like so different?
02:55 Going and doing every single album you never know what concept it is and I think at the time
03:01 since I'm also really young I also just didn't have the I guess confidence. I think I was very
03:09 self-conscious as well and very insecure with like if I changed up my style would I like would I like
03:16 it? How would people look view me as because you know when when people when I put out something
03:20 feminine people just you're like oh my gosh Amber's doing this. I think over the years I've really
03:26 embraced just like kind of dressing up and having fun with it. Luckily at the same time it was never
03:32 like every concept for the album didn't really cross any like huge like this is not my style.
03:39 Luckily it was never that. Now being 30 and 31 wow I'm 31. Been in this realm of
03:48 not not only embracing my feminine like my femininity as like as a woman but kind of just
03:54 being all like you know I'll just dress the way I want. If Amber puts on a dress or dress feminine
04:00 it's gonna you know get more likes or be more like in like the viral sense or whatever like I don't
04:06 I don't I don't need that like I just really just want to be who I am. What makes me feel comfortable
04:12 is what I'm gonna do and you know when I want to challenge myself I'll challenge myself as well.
04:16 I think those times in K-pop has definitely like exposed me to a lot of different types of styles.
04:22 It's fun in the end like fashion is just a way of expressing yourself so if I feel like wearing
04:28 something really pretty and nice I'll wear something pretty and nice. If I want to be you
04:32 know in my sweats and my tea I'll be in my sweats and my tea. So yeah you mentioned Jessica earlier
04:38 and obviously also listen to her music and she's of course your bandmate's older sister. So how did
04:47 that collaboration with her come across like who approached who? Oh Jess and I were on a show and
04:55 she messages me after she's all like hey like by the way do you want to do something because like
05:00 Jess and I have hung out like throughout the years. She's always like supported me like she's
05:04 she came to my last tour back in what 2020 in New York. We've always had each other's backs in that
05:12 way and she's always been a really good big sister to me. So when we saw each other on the show last
05:17 year she was like hey let's do something I'm like I'm down. It just was like yeah I don't know what
05:22 you want me to do but I'm gonna do it for you. So we were thinking about what to do with the song
05:26 Get It Got It Good and I was like I'm like we gotta dance we just gotta do it come on we gotta
05:31 do it like all like all flash career come on let's just do it and she's like okay fine. Do you ever
05:37 think you're gonna collaborate with the other girls in f(x) or do you guys still stay in touch?
05:42 You can't predict the future I think we're all just right now really focused on you know our
05:47 solo stuff and um yeah I guess when the time is right maybe but can't promise anything as well.
05:54 The bond I think with f(x) I think I like to see it is that it's it's beyond music it's just us as
06:00 us as like friends as sisters and that's what's most important to us and we're always supporting
06:06 each other um in our own endeavors as well so. So f(x) I know never got disbanded but kind of
06:13 fizzled out so do you have any regrets or hard feelings about what happened or wish things could
06:19 have gone differently? I can always say there could have been a shoulda woulda coulda um I think in
06:26 the end whether it's my personal feelings or whoever's personal feelings or whatever it may be
06:31 or like maybe what happened is the best that happened. I like to concentrate on the present
06:38 and what I could do as Amber Liu. What are your uh future music plans? For this year just to
06:45 finish out the tour and I feel like I'm already working on my next project that's um something
06:51 I'm really excited about um at the shows um we've been like playing some demos for the fans. Even
06:57 though the No More Sad Songs tour technically ends in April um I know there are a lot of cities that
07:03 we haven't where we weren't able to get to so hopefully down the line a little surprise one or
07:10 pop-up concert show like hopefully that I don't know hopefully that might be a thing. Do you have
07:15 anything to say to your Singapore fans or what do they have to look forward to at your concert? I
07:20 hope that number one they'll have fun. I believe it's on a weekday this show so you know bring all
07:25 that work stress or school stress and let's just like dance it out at the concert and I hope we
07:31 can have a lot of fun. I am really excited to meet the fans in Singapore and rock out with them and
07:36 I just hope that uh that we can just again have a really fun time. Thank you so much Amber. All
07:42 the best for your Oceania dates and all the best for Singapore. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank
07:48 you.
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