Joanna Dong's Thriving Music Career

Joanna Dong’s thriving music career is the culmination of years of relentless experiments, hard work, and honest conversations with herself and her loved ones.

- Chong Seow Wei

We are in the dressing room of the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre (SCCC) with Joanna Dong. Looking suitably chic in head-to-toe Gucci, the jazz-pop singer, actress and television host is in front of the mirror adjusting the beret on her head.

“Many people see me as this wholesome character with a girl-next-door image, but that couldn’t be further from the truth,” she declares when we ask how the public Joanna differs from her private self. Her stage persona is decidedly more theatrical and feminine, marked by the bold colours and prints of her outfits. “I also smile and laugh a lot on stage because I’m genuinely enjoying myself, but sometimes in private, I may not be as confident as I publicly appear to be,” admits the 37-year-old, who became a household name when she came in third in the hugely popular Chinese reality talent show, Sing! China, in 2017.