Her first break in the music world was at the age of sixteen when her parents (with mixed feelings) entered her for a singing contest in Sydney. It was organized by TVB with the winner to be offered a recording contract with one of the big music companies in Hong Kong. She won the competition and was sent back to Hong Kong and met with the TVB producers who wanted her to sign with one of the music labels. After much deliberation she finally decided that it wasn’t right for her at that time and instead returned to Australia to study at University. She pretty much just settled back into life at Uni and put aside any dreams of a music career.
After graduating from University she returned to Hong Kong in 1997 to help run her family’s accounting business and gained CPA certification. Despite her relatively settled career Susan was thinking, “is that all there is in life”. One of the students who she was teaching piano was working for a Hong Kong independent label, and she asked the boss if they wanted a singer. Susan says “I really wanted to record the English songs that I loved. We agreed to make an album and I just went into the studio feeling really relaxed with no stress or pressure and had a fun time recording my ‘Close To You’ album.” When the album came out it in 2002 it was widely acclaimed and quickly became a favourite of music stores to play and the album was soon climbing up the sales charts in countries like Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia. The four album release’s since, ‘Close To You’ have also enjoyed wide critical and commercial success establishing Susan as probably the No.1 selling English language female singer of her genre throughout S.E.Asia.
In early 2007 Susan Wong signed a new recording agreement with Hong Kong based Evolution Limited and pre-production is currently underway for her new album that will be recorded in the USA in May. As Susan explains her motivation behind the new album, “Musically I wanted a new challenge and new musical chemistry to give me a different lift and to move on to another stage. Not everyone has opportunity to work with such high calibre musicians and producers like those I’m working with on the new album”.
Someone Like You (2007)
In early 2007, Susan Wong signed a new recording agreement with Hong Kong based Evolution Limited and released her first album under Evolution in August 2007.
The first release under this agreement, Someone Like You, was recorded in Nashville, USA and was quick to win critical and commercial success throughout S. E. Asia. The success of the SACD version in particular bore testament to the fine production, vocal performance and mastering by Grammy award winning engineer Doug Sax. The album was domestically released in Japan in September 2008.
511 (2008)
In Summer 2008 a newly invigorated Susan, began working on fresh ideas for her follow-up album. In September 2008 Susan travelled to Geneva, Switzerland to work on demos with producer Adrien Z. As Susan explained “He brought my music ideas to life. He was able to transform the songs I want to sing into the styling which I dare tried.” The album recording was completed in February/March 2009.
In her blog Susan said of the album; “I guess I took a "more hands on" approach with this album, more than any of the previous ones, as I felt the need to voice out my persona, be more individualistic and independent for my work.” Susan’s bossa nova inspired version of Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean received a lot of attention and radio play and the album sold widely across the region.
Step Into My Dreams (2009)
Inspired by the positive feedback to 511, Susan was anxious to start working on her next album and within months of the release of 511 she was forming ideas for new recordings, choosing to again work with producer Adrien Zerbini and arranger Ignacio Lamas. With songs for the albums mostly coming from the late 1960’s/early 1970’s Susan and her band worked on a relaxed, natural acoustic pop feel lead by Ignacio’s skilled guitar style. With some fine performances and some radically rearranged interpretations of well known classics the new album, Step Into My Dreams soon became Susan Wong’s bestselling title and a fan’s favorite.
‘Best Recording Yet’: My LIVE Stories (2013)
After 5 years, Susan Wong returned to Nashville in June 2012 to record her next masterpiece. This masterpiece called My LIVE Stories was recorded live over two days in the world famous Ocean Way Studios in Nashville, USA which Susan described was her ‘best recording yet’. With an ensemble of top notch session musicians and a first class recording environment inside a 100 year old converted church Susan performed a selection of her favourite songs from her previous albums along with new songs.
Highlights include the bossa nova influenced Billie Jean, the blues tinged Cry Me A River, an up tempo Perfect and a spine tingling performance of Desperado. The studio recording was filmed in full HD and released in DVD and Blu-ray formats in December 2012.
Tribute to Female Vocal: Woman In Love (2014) & SusanWongVEVO
From the time when My LIVE Stories was being recorded, the idea for Woman In Love was already in conception. 2 ½ years in the making, recorded over 8 studios in 3 continents – Woman In Love was released worldwide December 1st, 2014. Woman In Love is Susan’s tribute to great women singers before her who made their fame with sensuous and endearing love songs. The album features romantic love songs old and new from Olivia Newton-John’s I Honestly Love You, Barbra Streisand’s classic Woman in Love to Rihanna’s hit Stay and Adele’s Make You Feel My Love.
For Woman In Love, Susan crafted a rare original song Can’t You See (I’m Falling In Love) to be included in the album.
Susan took her rendition of Mary Macgregor’s Torn Between Two Lovers to the big screen where the music video was released in full HD live on SusanWongVEVO. Susan Wong’s VEVO channel now holds a dear collection of Susan Wong’s best and most popular music.
Just The Way You Are
Susan Wong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You never let me down before,
Don't imagine, you're too familiar,
And I don't see you anymore.
I would not leave you, in times of trouble,
We never could have come this far,
I took the good times, I'll take the bad times,
Don't go trying, some new fashion,
Don't change the colour of your hair,
You always have my, unspoken passion,
Although I might not seem to care.
I don't want clever, conversation,
I never want to work that hard,
I just want someone, that I can talk to,
I want you just the way you are.
I need to know that you will always be
The same old someone that I knew,
What will it take till you believe in me,
The way that I believe in you?
I said I love you, and that's forever,
And this I promise from the heart,
I couldn't love you, any better,
I love you just the way you are.
I don't want clever, conversation,
I never want to work that hard,
I just want someone, that I can talk to,
I want you just the way you are.
The lyrics of "Just The Way You Are" by Susan Wong are about unconditional acceptance and love. The singer is telling their partner that they don't need them to change or be something they're not in order to please them. They acknowledge that they've never been let down before and they've been through both good and bad times together. The singer doesn't want their partner to become someone they're not or feel pressure to conform to a certain standard. They value their partner for who they are and simply want someone to talk to and share their life with.
Line by Line Meaning
Don't go changing, to try and please me,
I don't want you to change yourself just to impress me or make me happy.
You never let me down before,
You have always been reliable and never disappointed me.
Don't imagine, you're too familiar,
Don't assume that I don't appreciate you just because I am used to having you around.
And I don't see you anymore.
I still see you as the same person I fell in love with, despite being so familiar with you.
I would not leave you, in times of trouble,
I will never abandon you, especially when things get tough for us.
We never could have come this far,
We have made it this far together because we have always had each other’s backs.
I took the good times, I'll take the bad times,
I accept both the good and the bad times that come our way in this relationship.
I'll take you just the way you are.
I love you for exactly who you are, and nothing will ever change that.
Don't go trying, some new fashion,
I don’t care about your appearance or clothes, and I don’t want you to try and impress me by changing them.
Don't change the colour of your hair,
You don’t need to change your hair color or style to make me love you more.
You always have my, unspoken passion,
I always have a deep love for you even if I don’t show it or express it all the time.
Although I might not seem to care.
Even if it seems like I am indifferent, in reality, I do care about you always.
I don't want clever, conversation,
I don’t care about having deep conversations or trying to impress each other with our intellectual abilities.
I never want to work that hard,
I don’t want our relationship to be difficult. I just want to spend time together and enjoy being in each other’s presence.
I just want someone, that I can talk to,
I want to be with someone who I can have a simple conversation with about anything, and it would still be enough for me.
I want you just the way you are.
I want you to be yourself and not try to change for me because I love exactly who you are.
I need to know that you will always be
It’s important to me that you stay true to yourself and not change into someone else because of me.
The same old someone that I knew,
I want you to always be the same person I fell in love with when we first met.
What will it take till you believe in me,
I hope that you trust me and have faith in our relationship as much as I do.
The way that I believe in you?
I believe in us and our love, and I hope you feel the same about us.
I said I love you, and that's forever,
My love for you is eternal and will be with you always.
And this I promise from the heart,
I promise you this without reservation and sincerely from my heart.
I couldn't love you, any better,
My love for you is already at its fullest and cannot be any deeper or stronger.
I love you just the way you are.
I love you for who you are and never want you to change or pretend to be someone else for my sake.
Contributed by Asher G. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Anonymous
on Imagine
Imagine - Susan Wong - Lyrics
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
Musical Interlude
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
Nothing to kill or stifle
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one