Joyce Cheng’s Powerful Message to Women in “Goddess”
Joyce Cheng’s (鄭欣宜) powerful message in her new song “Goddess” <女神> is really what we all need right now.
The 28-year-old Canadian pop singer, also daughter of Adam Cheng (鄭少秋) and the late Lydia Shum (沈殿霞), released her latest plug “Goddess” earlier this week. On Tuesday, Joyce gave her fans a first glimpse of the music video on Facebook. The video attracted nearly 600,000 clicks on the first day it was posted—the first Hong Kong MV of 2016 to attain such a number.
In the song “Goddess”, written by Wyman Wong (黃偉文) and Pong Nan (藍奕邦), Joyce sends a message of empowerment to women, urging them to accept their bodies and love themselves for who they are, and to not pressure themselves to fit into society’s ideals.
“Do not lower your head, for the halo will fall. You are a goddess. Don’t hold back your colors for the mundane,” she sings.
Joyce, who also directed the MV for “Goddess”, invited ten women of different ages, shapes, and sizes to star in the music video. Among the ten are four beautiful magazine models, two older women, and one deaf woman. In the MV, Joyce makes a crown from scratch and puts it on each of the women, telling them that they are all goddesses in their own right. The video, shot entirely in black and white, was filmed by Joyce’s own friends.
The MV was a huge success when it was first uploaded to Facebook, peaking to over 600,000 views on the first day—a huge number for a local Hong Kong artist. Numerous celebrities, such as Charmaine Sheh (佘詩曼) and Janet Chow (周家蔚), forwarded the video to their own social media accounts. A netizen said she even cried while watching it.
Joyce said she is very thankful and touched by everyone’s support. “I wanted to say that, whether or not you meet society’s standards of beauty, we are all equally as beautiful. Self-confidence comes from knowing and believing in that. Many people see being deaf or fat as an imperfection, but that shouldn’t stop anyone in releasing their own rays of light. How others see you shouldn’t matter; it’s how you see yourself that counts. They are all beautiful and perfect goddesses.”
Source: IHKTV
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
Am surprised by her gain of weight after so much hard work in reducing. I know she is embracing her body but she seems bigger than the last time I saw her pictures.
@funnlim She can’t help it – it’s in her genes. Just like how some people eat like a horse but don’t gain weight, yet on the other hand there are people who eat like a bird but still pile on the kilos.
@funnlim that’s because it’s always easy to lose weight but it’s maintaining it that is the hardest part.
Nice message in the song, and a surprisingly effective video. The casting of the real models was a little out of place (I enjoyed seeing the normal ladies), but I suppose the message is that even beautiful people are subject to insecurities too.
@sasamii I think it’s because as model, they are always require to be a certain size.. even though they are skinny, they may be consider fat in the model world. sad but true.
@happybi
Didn’t the French fashion industry boycott skinny models? There was grave concern about the unhealthy anorexic appearance of most models.
@msxie0714 i believe they did. Recently a victoria secret model quit because she was told to lose weight. She tried and just couldn’t drop anymore weight so it was enough for her. Just crazy for sure.
I was actually quite moved watching the MV — nice message, powerful, and also love Joyce’s singing. After everything that she’s had to endure over the years (including harsh criticism of her weight), I’m happy to see how well Joyce has pulled through and the maturity with which she has handled all matters, whether related to her personal life or career. I’m definitely proud of her as I’m sure her mother Lydia would’ve been if she were still alive today. Great job, Joyce!
This is why I like Joyce. She doesn’t succumb to the asian beauty standards, she just does her and allow others to do them. There are a lot western celebrities who openly talks about the topic body shaming, but not many asian celebs do, so it’s nice and refreshing to see it from Joyce. Well done her!
Good song.
If Joyce lives in the US, she probably won’t go through as much body shamming as in Asia. As Asia have this warp sense of what is considered beautiful. Lollipop looks are very much in over there. Some girls look so fragile that they look like wind can blow them away. But I guess as long as they are healthy then all is good. People come in different size and once people accept that, then girls or boys don’t need to feel they need to have a certain look.
Best of luck to her. For others.. don’t aim for a certain size.. just aim for what makes you happy. Show confidence and work hard toward your goal!
Good luck to Joyce for trying to change and embrace women’s body perspective in Asia. That is an Olympic & Herculean feat. It’s so deeply ingrained to be judgmental in patriarchal Asian societies regarding bodies that I don’t know if there’s any hope. But at least it’s a start.
That’s why its different for asian ppl that are born and raise in US ppl here don’t reject and eyeball ppl differently by there weight dress looks and etc but the ppl that are citizens in Hong Taiwan Korea do they criticize what you wear the way you look and what brand name clothes your wearing i could go on and on……..Im not saying all ppl are like that overseas but most of them are if you live and work in certain areas
Im happy for Joyce as long as she see beauty in herself then good for her In fact i think she’s gorgeous!!!
I almost cried watching this MV. Good job Joyce! She’s a beautiful person just like her mother.
Btw, I know a lot of people got body shamed because of their weight, and this issue has been addressed more and more but what about people got criticized for being short? I rarely see anyone stood up for short people and trust me I’m one of the short girls so I know how it feels. I feel short people also got bullied and body shamed very often too.
The crowning part was very touching and I teared up.