Local teen singer Abbey Lee follows Taylor Swift's lead

What happens when an 11-year-old is uprooted from home and thrust into a foreign boarding school? For Hong Kong singer-songwriter Abbey Lee Yan-tung, the crushing weight of homesickness became the force that created diamonds.

The now 17-year-old channeled her raw emotions of loneliness into her debut single Exit Signs and celebrated its release with a sold-out mini concert that marked her arrival on the music scene.

“It has always been my dream to release a song when I was 16,” Lee said. The dream took root as her all-time music idol, Taylor Swift, released her debut album at 16.

Lee was deeply influenced by parents who love music and always played songs of different genres during her childhood. She started receiving singing lessons at the age of four and explored a diverse selection of instruments, including flute, violin, and piano. During the pandemic, she picked up the guitar and started writing music and doing more music-related activities. It was also during that period that she wrote Exit Signs two years ago, with lyrics drawn from her diary entries expressing homesickness at boarding school in England.

The writing process was surprisingly quick – around half an hour. However, she sat on the song for about two years before reaching her 17th birthday, the deadline she’d set to achieve her dream of releasing an original song at age 16. Lee managed to record the vocals over the summer and sent the final draft in September, ultimately releasing it on her birthday in November.

Recalling the challenges along the way, she said the toughest moment was actually letting the song go – sharing lyrics that were so deeply personal while wondering how the world would react.

+1

Despite being very young as a newcomer to the industry, Lee has already built a clear mindset for handling outside voices. “If there are any people who don’t give you good feedback, that’s just one of many other people who support you, and you just hone in on the good and the positive,” she said.

On December 18, Lee hosted her first mini concert to celebrate the release of Exit Signs, where she performed four original songs and eight covers at the Fringe Club. The intimate show was also a charity event, as all ticket sales were donated to St Paul’s Church. With the performance live-streamed on her Instagram, it reached thousands of viewers online.

Lee encouraged everyone to never give up on their dreams. She believes there’s always a unique plan laid out for each person, and that trusting your instincts while embracing the process will eventually turn dreams into reality.

The young, ambitious artist wants more than just musical growth. Her ultimate dream is to become a meaningful Asian representative on the global stage.

“I just hope that, one day, a little girl can look up to me and say, ‘Oh, I look like her and I can do it too,’” she said.