SA2022 Top 10 Most Popular Male Artiste Marcus Chin Says The “Lover” He Thanked In His Speech Must Remain Secret Because He’s “Not 30 Years Old”
When Marcus Chin took to the stage to say his Thank-Yous after winning the Top 10 Most Popular Award for the second consecutive year last night, he once again schooled us all with a lesson about presenting the most inspired, eloquent speech.
Drawing inspiration from a Classical Chinese Poem by Li Yu titled “Yu Mei Ren”, which can be translated to Lady Yu the Royal Concubine, Marcus tells 8days.sg about his process behind preparing such an eloquent, cheem speech.
But first, the speech in question:
Seasons of spring flowers and autumn moon, when will they ever end?
(Chun hua qiu yue he shi liao)
[What do I] know about the Top 10
(Shi da zhi duo shao)
Last night, to my loft, came the east wind once more
(Xiao lou zuo ye you dong feng)
The second award has finally landed in my hands
(Er zuo jiang xiang zhong yu luo zai wo shou zhong)
Jade steps and carved railings may always remain
(Diao lan yu qi ying you zai)
Next year, I will come again
(Ming nian wo yi ding zai lai)
How many grave sorrows can I have
(Wen jun neng you ji duo chou)
I still have eight awards left to ascend to the ranks of All-Time Favourite Artiste
(Wo hai you ba zuo jiu shang shen lou)
For those who aren’t familiar with Chinese poems – the 68-year-old multi-hyphenate basically took every other verse of the Chinese poem to match it with a following verse that rhymed.
Safe to say, we were impressed – again. Considering the fact that Marcus managed to spin an equally inspiring speech last year on the fly (he said that he did not prep anything at all), we were curious to find out if he did indeed prepare his speech this year.
Marcus with his Love 972 morning show Co-hosts, Mark Lee and Dennis Chew
8DAYS: You’ve impressed us with another great speech this year! Did you prep it in advance this time?
MARCUS CHIN: I did. I was thinking, I have some confidence in myself, because Love 97.2FM has a large audience that supports me, as do the Golden Age Talentime viewers. This time round, I also had plenty of friends who were passionately supporting me, so I prepared my speech two weeks ago. [The speech] is something I took time to think about, so when the inspiration came to me suddenly, I immediately noted it down.
Where did you get your inspiration from? Books?
Yeah. But I can’t copy the whole thing, so I take inspiration from the first half then I come up with the second part myself.
For this (referring to getting the award), you really need the support of fans, and I will need mine to support me for the next eight years. This will be a long drawn-out eight year ‘battle’, so I will continue. So… in eight years I will be 77 years old.
That’s a lucky number!
Yes (laughs), I want to be the first artiste to ascend to All-Time Favourites at 77 years-old, so I must win consecutively for the next eight years.
When you presented the Evergreen award, you said that you could be part of that category too. Is that an award that you want?
The one I want to get the most is still the Top 10. Because I feel that it is a more comprehensive award that rewards all aspects. The [Love 972 morning show] won the radio show award; a Top 10 award covers a wider blanket of things, so that award is more important to me.
He's won two for two
You thanked your ‘ai ren’ (lover) in your speech just now. Were you referring to your daughter?
That’s a secret. Lover means lover. It wouldn’t be my daughter. But I will keep my love affairs private because I’m already old. If I were 30 years old, okay, I would let everyone know. But I’m almost 70 so I don’t want that. Maybe she also doesn’t want me to publicise who she is.
I just feel like I need to thank her from my heart.
(For those not in the know, Marcus married Taiwanese singer Murong Ying in 1987, but split from her after he was exposed dating his personal assistant, Eileen Cheah. The two however, separated a year after Eileen gave birth to their daughter Elise in 2010. He has since kept a low profile about his personal relationships.)
Can we expect you to up your Thank-you speech game next Star Awards?
It will be even cooler. Because I must get the award again next year. So, I will continue my activities and be seen. For example, this year I took up another long-form drama, which will be airing next year, so you will be able to see me in a drama next year. My other projects will continue as well so I feel that I can maintain my popularity and will continue working towards my goal.
Watch Marcus' winning moment here:
Photos: Mediacorp/ Photo Studio
