Hong Kong ― Hundreds of people were screaming and chanting excitedly in the middle of a Hong Kong shopping mall. However, it is not a recent democracy protest. The crowd has gathered to meet the latest boy band, who has become a happy escape for the troubled city.
Fans gather as Edan Lui, one of the 12 members of local band Mirror arrived to promote an animated kids’ movie screening in local theatres. As the star goes on stage, a glass-shattering scream erupts and the placard-waving crowd goes crazy.
One of the fans is 74-year-old Chan Yuk-kwai who decided not to tell her daughter that she would be spending her Saturday trying to catch a glimpse of a man her grandson’s age. The lady shared that she only used to listen to Cantonese opera but Mirror awakened something new.
Chan had spent months trying to discover more about the boy band, often flooding family chat groups with selfies when she spots a billboard featuring the band’s uniformly good-looking members.
“This upsurge is a miracle,” she beamed, contrasting the excitement of Mirror-mania with the months of depressing political and coronavirus news.
“They are my source of positive energy and happiness,” she added.
Over the years, Hong Kong has been going through a tough time, reported CNA via AFP. In 2019, huge democracy protests convulsed the city, followed by a crackdown in which Beijing has swiftly moved to remodel the finance hub in its own authoritarian image.
Hong Kong has also remained closed to the outside world for most of the pandemic and has only just emerged from its worst recession in decades.
The boy band offered some much-needed relief and belief that Hong Kong’s Cantonese culture is still striving. Previously, Hong Kong used to produce pop stars that were devoured by fans throughout Asia.
However, in the last few decades, Chinese mainland and Taiwanese pop acts have overtaken them. The rise of K-pop has also affected Hong Kong’s pop music scene.
Mirror is now the latest and most popular Cantonese pop act since the emergence of “Four Heavenly Kings” in the mid-1990s. Mirror’s official Facebook fan page boasts 140,000 followers, while a tongue-in-cheek rival page called “My Wife Married Mirror and Left My Marriage In Ruins” boasts more than double that number.
“While society is feeling suppressed, people’s awareness of supporting local things has also increased,” Melody, an administrator of Edan Lui’s fan club, told AFP.
“That drives the motivation to support a homegrown boy band.”
Mirror debuted from a 2018 TV talent show. Democracy supporters have embraced their upbeat lyrics, and the group does not show support for any political colours.
In Hong Kong, public gatherings of more than four are not allowed as a guard against coronavirus. Nevertheless, Hong Kong has not had any major local outbreak for more than two months.
Protests are also illegal, but police are not keen on taking on Mirror’s fans. Prior to Lui’s mall appearance, a crowd formed on the harbour to take selfies next to a new McDonald’s advertising board featuring Mirror band member Anson Lo.
The police were present but soon moved on after advising the fans to save enough walking space for others.
Amy, a medical worker in her 40s, posed for a picture holding two cups of a special pink McDonald’s drink that Lo has endorsed.
“Many people in Hong Kong have many grievances that can’t be easily unloaded,” she told AFP, asking to use a pseudonym.
“They gave us the ‘wow factor’ – that Hong Kong still has such great young talent.”
Intimately bound up in the city’s democracy movement are pride in Hong Kong’s distinct Cantonese culture and language. Some of the political anger that exploded two years ago was fuelled by the growing “mainlandisation” of Hong Kong.
China’s authoritarian leaders have a long history of suppressing local identities and have vowed to make Hong Kong more “patriotic”. However, there are constant signs of pushback.
There was an explosion of patriotism when Hong Kong won a record six medals during the Olympics, not for China but for the athletes representing the city. There was a police investigation when China’s anthem was booed at one shopping mall gathering.
Fellow band My Little Airport has also built a huge following through their distinctly Cantonese lyrics, peppered with local slang, as well as clear nods of sympathy to the democracy movement.
The indie group has little of the corporate backing of Mirror, but tickets to two of their upcoming performances nonetheless sold out in just minutes.
Kitty Ho, a cultural commentator and recent Mirror convert, said the boy band had allowed Hong Kongers to realise they can still produce “Asia’s best” music acts.
Hong Kongers, she said, don’t need to look overseas to find musical inspiration.
“These 12 men, coming right out of us, are capable too.” /TISG