Doting father
Wang Leehom seems to have taken to parenting well and it shows in his latest album.
CHINESE-AMERICAN entertainer Wang Leehom wears many hats. He is a singer, a songwriter, a music producer, an actor and a director – as well as a dedicated husband and father.
For each of his wife’s three pregnancies, he took two months off, one before birth and one after the baby’s arrival.
He says in an interview: “I think it’s important for a husband to show his support and there’s no time more important than during a pregnancy. It was great to be there. Paternity leave – I highly recommend it to all the men out there.”
Wang, 42, and his wife, Li Jinglei, have two daughters, aged four and two, and a son, born in August.
He is now back on the road touring with his Descendants Of The Dragon 2060 concert.
He covered the well-known track, Descendants Of The Dragon, on his 2000 album, Forever’s First Day.
There is a narrative complete with villains, heroes, drama and conflict and, ultimately, a message of positivity, love and peace.
His body of work encompasses R&B-influenced hits such as Revolution (1998), the hip-hoptinged Heroes Of Earth (2005) and easy-on-the-ear ballads such as Heart Beat (2008).
In his most recent album, A.I. Love (2017), he seems to have mixed feelings about artificial intelligence as he tackles its impact on people’s lives in the title track, asking in the refrain: “Where should ethics be placed?”
He says: “I’m worried, but at the same time, I’m hopeful. I think AI will improve our lives and the world. I’m just not sure how it will change us, so there’s always going to be fear of the unknown. But I’m an optimist in the end.”
His relationship with technology is “pretty tight”. The self-described techie likes to keep up with the latest in software and hardware – from the latest cameras to the newest microphones. “I’m always trying to stay on top of that.”
The star has more than 3.7 million “likes” for his Facebook page and more than 62 million fans on Weibo, on which he recently posted a photo of him with his wife and one-month-old son.
He says he has mixed feelings about social media. “I think, by its nature, it breeds a culture of haters, gossipers, militant nationalism. It definitely makes people vulnerable to these forces.
“But I like to think of my Weibo, Facebook and Instagram (accounts) as kind of a nice place for people to hang out, old friends to get together, keep in touch.”
His children are too young to get any screen time on mobile devices at the moment and he says of his parenting style: “I have firm principles. But I’m also gentle in the way that I communicate those principles in simple and clear ways that a four-year-old or twoyear-old can understand.”
He certainly seems to have taken to his new role well and there are signs of doting fatherhood all over his latest album, including on tracks such as Dearest (“I can pat your back until your breath is even/Quietly whisper in your ear I love you”).
“The only thing you can’t be prepared for with fatherhood is that it’s something you can’t turn off,” he muses.
He sees the parent-child relationship as a two-way street.
“I think that the tolerance and patience it nurtures in you is a great lesson. They always say you learn from your kids just like your kids learn from you.
“I always try to stay grateful and open-minded in that respect of fatherhood.” – The Straits Times/ Asia News Network