” What I love most is being able to make a difference, having a voice—I can speak up for those who don’t or can’t. What’s the ” point of having a voice if you don’t use it?
When it comes to her music though, Lee remains as raw as ever.“I didn’t learn all the music stuff; I’m self-taught and I just play by ear. I’ll write the lyrics first and then I’d play a melody on the piano or the guitar,” she explains of her process. As for what she writes about, she aims to be as personal as her idol,Taylor Swift. “Listening to her music is like opening her diary. Her songs are her stories and you know the feeling because you’ve been through the same stuff.” Lee draws from the same well when she writes.“I write about feelings. I’m just like everyone else—I have family problems, friendship problems, relationship problems.” She has channelled those experiences into four singles and an eponymous EP since 2018, and recently signed with a recording label.
She may write about universal emotions, but not everyone has had her experience of growing up in the spotlight.“It was tough sometimes,” she admits.“In primary school, I kind of got bullied a little. But after that, things got better. And then there’s social media. There’s a good side and there’s a bad side—that’s just the way it works. Sometimes, when people say really negative things, yes, I do get really angry; I want to respond, but it’s hard because doing that would make things worse.” So how does she deal with it? “You get used to it. The things they say are the same all the time; after a while, it doesn’t affect you anymore.”
oday, as a rising star in the entertainment industry, what upsets her is when people try to confine her to boxes.“They take one look at you and say, ‘Oh, you look cute, so you have to sing this cute song, wear that, play this kind of role.’ But I don’t want to.That’s not what I signed up for. I’m the kind of girl who doesn’t like labels.” Asked about the roles she’d like to play, Lee says: “For now, I tend to pick characters I know I can br ing to life. Sometimes, it’s not the one that is the most challenging because I’m still kind of scared. But after I finish a project, I’ll try to push myself a bit more for the next one. Period pieces are hard for me because of the language and the script—my Mandarin isn’t that great. I’d love to be in something like the gritty prison drama a superhero, Marvel kind of movie would be so cool too.The one role I would never play is a bimbo—I can challenge myself to try and play sweet, but I can’t do stupid.”
Her sense of style reflects the versatility she aims for in her career. “Sometimes, I wear very girly, sparkly, fairy-tale dresses. Most of the time though, I’m in very boyish clothes. If I feel like it, I wear something sexier—tight, skinny dresses. It really depends on my mood for the day. I just like to try things out.” Her love of fashion extends beyond dressing up for the camera or the red carpet. “I like drawing and I like designing clothes—I actually designed two of my mum’s Star Awards red-carpet looks,” she reveals. “That was fun. One of my dreams is to one day open my own store, selling my own designs.”
Whatever she chooses to do, this is just the beginning.“What I love most about doing what I do,” she says,“is being able to make a difference, having a voice—I can speak up for those who don’t or can’t, and I can speak up for myself.What’s the point of having a voice if you don’t use it?”We can only wait to hear what sweet music she makes with that voice. ■
Embellished silk dress, Miu Miu. Clash de Cartier pink gold medium hoop earrings; medium bangle in white gold; small bangle in pink gold; yellow gold, emerald, onyx and diamond Panthère de Cartier ring