For Dale Wong, being thrust into the spotlight after performing as a guitarist at the Evolution Nic Live concert has also meant having her name constantly linked to Nicholas Tse Ting-fung.
The 19-year-old guitarist does not mind. As she continues touring with Tse this year, she is simply grateful that audiences have taken notice of her performances.
What she hopes for, however, is to put more of her own music into the world, allowing audiences to gradually discover the person behind the guitar — not just a guitarist, but an artist with a voice and identity of her own.
“Even when I was a guitarist, I always wanted to release my own work,” Wong said. “There are things I want to say and express. Just standing there and playing guitar isn’t enough to say everything.”
Asked about the distinction between creating music as an artist and working as a guitarist, Wong said the biggest difference lies in how much of herself she is able to bring to the music.
As a guitarist, she considers what another artist needs and shapes her playing accordingly. When creating her own music, however, she has the freedom to bring “all my thoughts” into it.
“I prefer making my own work,” she said. “It is closer to what I think, and everything comes together more naturally.”
Wong released Do I Have to Wait for the Notification to Leave? (難道要等收到通知那天我才走) in March 2026. She co-wrote the song, which explores the idea of leaving, change and the people who eventually move on from our lives.
The song takes its time. Its intro stretches for 1 minute and 23 seconds before the lyrics come in, setting a dreamy, slow-burning mood.
The idea grew out of things Wong had noticed in everyday life, including the transient nature of the people around us — friends and others we meet along the way who may not always remain in our lives.
For Wong, the “notification” in the title represents something people wait for before deciding it is time to leave.
“You don’t need to wait for a notification. You have the freedom to choose where you want to go,” Wong explained.
For her, “leaving” does not necessarily mean going somewhere. It can also mean stepping away from a group or choosing a different path. As people and relationships change, she believes we all have the freedom to decide where we want to go next.
The guitar remains central to Wong’s music, but she does not want to confine herself to a single genre. She describes her sound as a blend of rock and dreamier elements, while looking to find a space somewhere between indie and pop.
She wants to keep exploring different sounds, drawing inspiration from artists such as Radiohead, whose music resists easy categorisation.
Shoegaze is one style she hopes to explore in the future. She is drawn to its hazy textures and atmospheric quality, but also finds something personally familiar in its sense of blur — a reflection, perhaps, of the way her own thoughts and emotions can sometimes feel.
“There are some sounds that people may not normally hear in their everyday lives,” she said. “I want to use my music to introduce those sounds to them.”
Wong remains an independent musician for now, but she is open to signing with a record label. What matters to her is finding one that understands her music and gives her the space to develop it on her own terms.
She also sees challenges in Hong Kong’s indie scene, where she feels audiences can be more accustomed to familiar sounds. For musicians making something different, she believes it can take time to find people willing to listen.
But fitting in does not seem to be her priority.
Wong describes herself simply as “a person who lives in her own world” — someone with her own thoughts and her own way of doing things.
That sense of individuality is also something she hopes to pass on to her fans. She sometimes receives messages from people saying that watching her play has made them happy or helped them through difficult moments.
“You can listen to whatever you want, play the music you like, wear the clothes you like — everything,” Wong reflected.
