Alan Tam on G.E.M.’s Diva Behavior: “Let Her Grow”
Controversy has rocked G.E.M.’s (鄧紫棋) career since she shot to fame in Mainland China through the I Am a Singer 2 <我是歌手2> singing competition. G.E.M. is now facing criticism for her alleged diva behavior. Tabloids insisted that fame had gotten into G.E.M.’s head and the 23-year-old singer was blasted for being arrogant and disrespectful to the media.
Unreasonably Expensive Concert Ticket Prices
G.E.M.’s X.X.X. Live World Tour, which will be held from January 14 to 17 at the Hong Kong Coliseum, broke records for being one of the most expensive concerts held by local artistes. VIP prices reached $1,880 HKD per ticket, which charged more than some concerts headlined by international artistes.
Arrogant Attitude
During a recent press conference, traditional print media outlets asked to interview G.E.M. separately from digital media sources. G.E.M.’s manager, Cheung Tan (張丹) claimed that G.E.M. is now an international singer and she will only conduct one round of interviews. Cheung said, “If there is lack of cooperation, today’s press conference will be cancelled.” When the offended reporters were ready to leave on the spot, Cheung quickly changed his tune and said that G.E.M. would be willing to conduct separate interview sessions.
Cheung’s arrogant attitude and rude treatment towards the media reflected poorly on G.E.M., who was subsequently criticized for acting like a diva. However, G.E.M. explained that she was only a performing artiste and that she was “unaware of administrative matters” and said, “I hope there is mutual tolerance and understanding among everyone.” She explained that there have been new staff additions to her team recently and will need time to generate greater synergy.
Alan Tam Criticizes G.E.M.
At a press conference for the upcoming Chinese Gold Songs Award, Alan Tam (譚詠麟) was asked for his thoughts on G.E.M.’s recent behavior and lack of respect for the media. Alan replied, “Wasn’t it just a misunderstanding? She is a very, very good singer, but in regards to [her] social skills, [she] still has a long way to go.”
The 64-year-old singer expressed that interpersonal relationships are difficult to manage well and urged everyone to give G.E.M. an opportunity to grow and learn. “Her agency also needs to learn how to be more flexible. Just because you handle things a certain way at a certain place doesn’t mean the same methods can be applied here. Honestly, when it comes to the entertainment industry, it’s all about making people happy. If you make them happy, they will remember you.”
Source: On.cc; Sina.com.hk
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
Media can distort things but I always get the vibe that she does sound and act arrogant with her new found fame. Only obsessed fans are willing to pay that price. She was rude and arrogant before becoming a singer. Didn’t she criticize Myolie as fat, Ron as ugly and Stephy as a terrible singer? Even though she publicly felt embarrassed by her comments and apologized, I never felt it was sincere.
Anyways, I don’t know her personally so I don’t know if she really acts like a diva and its because of her manager that’s causing the commotion. Agree with Alan that she’s still fairly young and needs to improve on social skills especially with obnoxious HK reporters.
why can’t you media take no for an answer?.gem have every right be proud of her self,she work hard for it from being a underdog in china and even in hk. I am proud of her even though I am not a hongkie.and you should too. about gem critize others…. well , she was so young at that time,and that was long time ago, and you still brought it out.is a shame on you. don’t you dare you haven’t done this silly thing when you are young? after all hong kong is a democracy country and is freedom of speech is not what you are fighting for at this moment?
[Didn’t she criticize Myolie as fat, Ron as ugly and Stephy as a terrible singer? ]
Her criticisms about fat and ugly are pretty much in line with comments constantly made by the media and bloggers here.
in line with comments made by media and bloggers makes it ok for her to make such criticisms ?
Saying Myolie fat, Ron ugly is so shallow and is more like bashing instead of criticising. It just shows GEM personality.
She said it when she was a schoolgirl in a private blog. During that time, she wasnt famous at all. So much like you guys here who said bad things about artists you dont like everyday. After she got famous, some people dig her old blogs to give it to reporters. She said sorry to Myolie and Ron personally. Actually her words were not that har-sh. At least not as har-sh as you guys often say in here. If it shows GEM personality, your personality is also showed.
I totally agreed with you. She is rude and arrogant.
freedom of speech …….is it not what you all hong kong peoples are fighting for at this moment? gem have every right to be proud of herself. she work hard for it . I am proud of her even though I am not a hongkie.
well…that is just her choice of doing it no-one is judging her anyways!!! and she is having a “Tour next year at Hong kong Coliseum”!
She’s always been a diva. Yes, she can sing but she acts like she’s the best. GEM has no respect for other singers that are way more experienced than her. She once criticized Miriam Yeung for being a bad singer and her recent statement about “demolishing” the HK music industry is another example of her putting her foot in her mouth.
GEM says the HK Music industry needs to start over and stations need to develop rules so singers can be rewarded equally. She complains about stations not giving her enough credit. How could they when her songs have become stagnant and repetitive? Adding an English word in Cantonese pop songs does not make it Western.
She needs to go away for a bit and ask her egotistical manager to stop pretending to be Scooter Braun.
Contemporary Cantonese or Mandarin songs are no longer pure Chinese any more. In fact, they are hybrids – Chinese with a bit of English. That Mandarin song in the movie “Seventh” sung by S’porean Mindee Ong & Taiwanese Gino even has a bit of Malay which is refreshing.
I don’t think she’s acting like a diva, honestly do people think she has a say to how much her concert tickets cost? And for a VIP, meet and greet and possibly front row tickets, that amount is not so bad given how popular she is.
Besides her comments towards other TVB artistes were from years ago, like what 17? At that age, we say anything. It’s not relevant now.
If she can sing, I don’t see what’s the problem? She’s just being honest and herself which is rare nowadays in Hk entertainment.
Sounds like the manager is the one acting like a jerk rather than this G.E.M. girl.
Anyway, if Alan Tam really wants to give this girl constructive feedback on how to behave he should tell her to set up a meeting with Hacken Lee, who had a reputation for being horribly rude and arrogant at the beginning of his career, only to see it plummet even though he had one of the greatest voices. His career suffered and he had to eat major humble pie to revive it.
Just like how she handled her breakup with Yoga Lin, I think she won’t go far with that attitude of hers.
if the ticket price are high just don’t buy … just don’t support her, herself and agency will notice with time that being cocky will bring you nowhere.
Did she got her nose fixed?
GEM didnt say anything arrogantly in this piece of article, to be honest. Her manager may offend the press, but blame all on the girl.
For her old criticisms to some artists, she said it before she became a singer. She was a normal schoolgirl at that moment and she commented like what you are doing everyday in this forum. One day you get famous and your today criticisms are found, I wonder if you can apologize like GEM or not.
Totally agreed. There’s nothing in this article that shows GEM having a dive, rude or arrogant behavior. However, it does show the vindictive behavior of these tabloid HK newspapers doing their typical trashy reports.
Wow lucky Gem , the next pop queen what she said doesn’t matter
She went on to a singing show to launch her career? lol who cares if she tries to be a diva. Everything she does is just attracting attention to ‘launch’ her career past the entry level.
her job is to sing, who cares about anything else? does she have to apologize everyday ? are these ppl crazy or what? nobody has time everyday to address the same thing.
they should do something productive, why aren’t these old bigwigs out criticizing twins, cookies, linda chung, pseudo-actress turned singers making a farce out of hk’s music scene. what talent does do THEY have? what true vocals do they possess? these old has-beens never attack these mimes that take up space yet GEM is AMAZING at what she does but criticized for the wrong things. no wonder their industry sucks. GEM is legit enough to pass any music judgements, but these other ppl talking about her? step down the stool already. god help you all.
Because she is new and she or her management is making so much demands that someone as new as her should not be making. Look at Ariana Grande. Every single day, got criticised for her behaviour which I believe. To be fair to GEM maybe she didn’t put such demands but she should really have a long talk with her PR and management and agent on what she expects. In HK media can destroy you so you want the media to be BFFs with you. She can only make such demands when she is truly HK’s huge big star.
As for ticket prices not her fault although she should exert her will at the organisers. Some stars do.
GEM explains her past mistakes and always ask for others forgiveness if she did something wrong. how is that diva behavior according to media? in the end, she conducted individual sessions to appease them. they all ask the same generic questions, she was just trying to be efficient while they are being stupid as usual.
Diva behavior is when some old lady attacks a young girl for not greeting her believing everyone that comes across her should greet her like she is the Queen.
the ones that don’t have talent are the ones that bootlick the media and crony with them for staged news and couple rumors to get onto covers. GEM doesn’t need this, she does’t need to change her behavior as she did nothing wrong.
if thats what her tickets are selling for, then its supply and demand. why on earth would she lower her tickets when she worked hard at what she does and can now command that much stage value? some ppl think its worth it to see her. thats really nothing for them to have a tick about.
total agreed with you…..thumb up
Instead of thanking her, you will see all these ego-inflated nut jobs in the HK entertainment attack the only rising singer that helped raise the bar to a decaying canto pop industry, made worse for the past decade by pseudo singers. they have no shame to drag her down further with their big time jealousy.
thumb up
She is a fantastic singer and performer.
A lot better than alot of the so call best singer in HK.
Isn’t concert price and press interview are set by the management? How does that show GEM as “diva”?
There are certain celebrities that the HK media seems to always criticize and GEM is one of them. The market determines the price of her concert tickets not her. She’s incredibly popular in China right now, and there’s no wonder why her ticket prices would shoot up. There’s demand for them.
As for her rude comments about other celebrities, that was when she was young. She wasn’t famous at the time. She just made casual comments like people here who’s calling her rude, and arrogant.
I really like her as a singer, and I could honestly care less about her personal life. She’s definitely one of the best singers in HK of her generation right now.
Wow just start to get the fame and her attitude is horrible. Yea yea, I think if she wanna become a diva with this kind of arrogant attitude, then she just a lame loser singer for me. Dun think that winning a competition is everything. Audience can become ur supporter or become ur opposition.
GEM is absolutely ARROGANT & RUDE, Jenny Tsang once commented on her as well , no respect for others ARROGANT !!! Lets see how long her popularity can last ! Never like her voice and character from the start
Jenny Tsang is rather arrogant and rude herself. The dowager empress expects bowing and genuflecting from newcomers in the business.