When Sammi Cheng (also affectionately known as Mi) returned to the Cantopop scene in 2007 with a brand new concert themed “Show Mi”, everyone was wowed by her explosive power. She had acknowledged she struggled with depression in her absence from the music scene and the industry watched with skepticism if it was just another marketing gimmick.
Sure enough, 2 years later, she reaffirmed her status with another concert themed “Love Mi”. It was part of a grander project titled “Faith.Hope.Love”, Faith being the name of her new faith-based album, Hope being the collectible and Love being the concert. Along with this came the publication of a book written by her, detailing her struggle with depression.
The “slogan” then was “Do my best and let God handle the rest”.
Although I’m not affiliated to any religion, it was an inspiring mojo nonetheless. It speaks of doing everything within my scope of influence to achieve my goals. There’s no externalisation of blame and if things still do not go well, adjust the plans and march on.
Fast forward 7 years, and Mi is back with the 2nd instalment of her new-themed concert “Touch Mi 2”; Since the launch of the uber-loved Touch Mi World Tour at Hong Kong, Mi had traveled the globe (even to new places like London’s Wembley Stadium) to showcase her concert, and it was with this zeal that she chose to re-stage Touch Mi at Hong Kong as a closing for the world tour.
Although this was unlike Love Mi, which was part of a greater scheme of things, the great improvement from the original Touch Mi was evident of her resolve not to stage just another Touch Mi.
To many, it was providence that she lost her voice just before the premiere of TM2. Despite the fact that her concert is always rich with music arrangement and stage design (lighting was also a focus for Touch Mi), her voice IS still the pillar of the concert. It was no wonder everyone watched with anticipation if she could recover in time.
She didn’t.
She did her best to stage a spectacular concert (everything was a step up from Touch Mi) but apparently, God handled the rest by taking her voice.
It was embarrasing, but she pressed on. Perhaps she had accumulated enough “karma” with the media for the last 10 years, so they focused on the other aspects of the concert.
By the 2nd show, her fans were singing along with her, substituting her voice. She was so touched that she coined a new slogan after 7 years: 有多少, 给多少 (Give my best).
“Do my best” speaks of attaining personal best; it is ego-centric but encourages one to spur on.
“Give my best” is exo-ego-centric. It’s about not saving anything for oneself. It’s one step up from “Do my best”.
I attended the 6th show of Touch Mi 2 and she had yet to recover. However, the momentum built up from the previous shows was overwhelming. In the past, there were many people (admittedly only fans) who sang along, humming or with gust. This time round, everyone was singing aloud. It was not just a mass KTV session; It almost felt like a cult.
It should be.
For many years, Mi lent her voice to many, when they first fell in love, fell out of love, found love again, finding strength to work out life’s difficulties etc. She was ubiquitous to our journey of growing up.
On that very night, when she lost her voice, everyone else lent theirs to make the concert memorable. It was giving and receiving at its best. If she had not touched anybody in her years as an entertainer, no one would have lent his voice to her when she needed it.
In a world of pragmatism, people justify their selfishness by stating that the return on giving is fruitless. To win is to kill everybody else.
I believe in collaborative success. You win by helping others to win, so that when they succeed, they’ll remember your kindness and reach out, when you are down or when you just need that final push to conquer higher grounds. Some may burn bridges and run away when they are doing better. But we should not just stop helping just because of that disgraceful few.
“Give my best” is the basis of collaborative success.
