Mickey and Friends — Glenn Yong, Tasha Low and Tommy Hilfiger’s Disney X Tommy Collection
In L’OFFICIEL SINGAPORE’s June digital cover story, the local entertainers speak to us about what they’ve been up to.
Homegrown stars Glenn Yong and Tasha Low embrace their fun side with Tommy Hilfiger’s new Disney X Tommy Collection, which celebrates 100 years of Disney — featuring illustrations of Mickey and friends on the American designer’s signature preppy silhouettes. In L’OFFICIEL SINGAPORE’s June digital cover story, the local entertainers speak to us about what they’ve been up to.
Tasha Low’s Calling
Hi Tasha! You picked up your first Top 10 Most Popular Female Artistes award at this year's Star Awards. Congratulations. Now that two months have passed, how are you feeling about the accomplishment?
I still can’t believe that it happened and that I got the award. I feel that I am still quite new to the local industry. I don’t have a lot of shows out and I am just thankful that people support me enough. I feel like I have to live up to a lot of the expectations. There are so many people out there who are more established so this came as a surprise to me. I feel loved and this gives me more motivation to put up better work for the people who support me.
What can we expect from you in the coming months?
I recently have a new management team, WILD. It has been six months and we will be focusing on my music, which is my first passion. I am aware that [the] music [industry] is not huge in Singapore, but I just want to go back to my roots. I’m working on a single and I hope it will be out in July.
You've been in the entertainment industry for over a decade now. If you could pick three moments that you're the proudest of so far, what would they be?
The most heartwarming moment would be when Skarf came back with a showcase. Then there’s the fan meet as we did not expect that many people to turn up. Just feeling the support from family and friends rooting for us makes me feel proud. And of course, the Star Awards.
Is there anything new you'd love to try next?
I would really love to do [something] behind-the-scenes as I’ve always been interested in videography and photography. I have a lot of respect for people working behind-the-scenes and it makes me want to create images.
How would you like to spend the rest of your 2023?
I am someone who cannot take breaks as I will feel unproductive. While my last acting project was in November, I’ve also worked on fashion campaigns. The accomplishment from being a performer is what drives me. I’ll spend the rest of the year honing my craft more, and being a passionate actress, musician and dancer.
Glenn Yong’s Heating Things Up
Hi Glenn! What have you been busy with in the first half of this year?
I spent my first quarter mainly focusing on my movie promo (The King of Musang King), and I’m really happy to hear that it’s Singapore’s top grossing Asian film as of May 2023. I’ll be filming a new movie, I Not Stupid 3 this month and another movie in October.
I’ve been diligently writing new songs as well — I released one in February called “Break Out” and I’ve a duet out this month with a Malaysian singer. There will be three or four songs that will be released in the second half of this year so do look out for them! They’ll be of different genres that might surprise the crowd.
I’ve also been active in my activism work with youths and with the Cancer Society. I spent time meeting volunteers and cancer patients to encourage them and I had the honour of performing at the National Stadium for one of their biggest fundraising events of the year, Relay for Life 2023. My team and I make sure we carve out time to give back and we enjoy giving talks at schools to empower and inspire students to dream and find their purpose in life. We have sessions where we listen to youths share about their dreams, struggles and aspirations, and provide a safe space for them to express themselves. We also touch on the importance of mental health and self-care with them. Currently, we’re in talks with the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth to work with youths at risk.
It has been about three years since you entered the entertainment industry. During this time, what would you say is the biggest lesson you've learnt?
To always have the humility to respect people and treat them with kindness no matter their status may be or what value they can bring to you. It’s interesting because some of the opportunities I’ve had were given by people who I interacted with way back before any of us were “somebody” or had any achievements. They told me the reason they wanted to work with me was because, even though we couldn’t bring “value” to each other, I treated them with respect. You never know if the person you’re talking to or working with today might become your boss in the future so just treat people with kindness and respect. It may be ironic for me to say this as an artiste, but the mindset to live by is to put others before self — the nature of my work is very self-focused so when it comes to the people around me, I want to make sure I look out for them.
Is there anything new you'd love to try next?
As an actor, I would love to be a part of overseas film projects. As for my music, I hope to reach a more international audience and perform at festivals one day. Of course, as a Singaporean, it would be a dream to perform at National Day one day, when they feel I’m ready for it! Now that I’ve ventured into the content creation world (on social media and YouTube), I’ve started to document my life and do travelogues, so it’ll be cool to film a travel series.
Have you been doing anything differently this year?
This year has had a rather slow start compared to last year. I took on less jobs and focused on spending more time with my family and friends; something I missed out on last year. Recently, I took my entire family to Japan for a holiday for the first time, and it was really a memorable trip for all of us. For me, 2023 is all about quality over quantity, so I’m focusing on the goals that I’m prioritising and building my own team. I’ve been pretty low key about it, and it’s only in the initial stages, but I started my own company called GYG (Glenn Yong Group) this year, to manage and develop my career as an artiste. I also aspire to build this as a brand and venture into more businesses in the future. The little-big dream is to put Singapore entertainment on the world map.
You're known for having a really supportive fan base…
Hang Bao Bao, and to the friends and folks who may not identify themselves as fans but have been following my journey, I just want to say I’m grateful to have you in my life. Thank you for the love, the time, the energy and the encouragement you’ve given me all these years. I hope I made your life better through my works, be it adding joy and strength when you’re feeling down, or helping to find purpose and a dream to live for through my journey. You mean the world to me.
Words Ian Lee
Photography Joel Low
Styling Donson Chan
Tasha's hair Gary Low / Passion Hair Salon
Tasha's makeup Kim using Chanel Beauty
Glenn's hair Christvian Wu using Revlon Professional
Glenn's makeup Zoel Tee using Bobbi Brown
Photography assistant Eddie Teo
Digital agency Beast Corp
