If we have a celebrity cousin like Elvin Ng, we definitely wouldn’t mind name-dropping him from time to time.
For local songwriter Joanna Phey, better known as Xiao Jiu, she thinks it’s better to keep their relationship under wraps.
Earlier this week, the 43-year-old actor took to his Instagram Stories to congratulate his “very beautiful and talented little cousin” for her recent Best Theme Song win at the Star Awards 2024 Gala Night on Monday (Apr 15).
Xiao Jiu wrote the lyrics for ‘Lai Zi Xing Ji De Feng’ (来自星际的风), the theme song for Oppa Saranghae!.
“She wants to rely on her own abilities and usually wouldn’t acknowledge me as her cousin. But when are you going to write a song for your cousin to sing?” asked Elvin in his caption.
Who knew they were related?
When 8days.sg reached out to Elvin, he chuckled: “This cousin of mine… she’s funny. I think she doesn’t want to acknowledge me.”
“The thing is, we’re quite close. She’s my mum’s sister’s daughter and she’s quite a few years younger than me so I saw her grow up,” he tells us.
“I think she doesn’t want to use me or be ‘linked’ with me ‘cos she wants to rely on herself,” he added.
Elvin also shared that Xiao Jiu is in her early 30s, though the songwriter had jokingly told him to tell us she’s 21. “If they ask,” she apparently said.
According to Elvin, the Gala wasn’t the first time he and Xiao Jiu crossed paths at a work event, but she’s never openly introduced him as her cousin.
“That night, she walked past me and didn’t acknowledge me. She shunned me. At my friend’s wedding, which she hosted, she also shunned me,” he laughed.
“Of course, after that she would come over and we would take photos, but she wouldn’t tell me ‘Oh, I’ll be hosting this event’ and things like that.”
Did Elvin have to ask Xiao Jiu for permission before he told everyone that they are related?
“I didn’t ask her and she didn’t react much (laughs) ,” he said, before lamenting that Xiao Jiu didn’t even repost his story about her.
“I thought: “Wow, this cousin so dao,” he laughed.
That said, Elvin still thinks he should “do [his] part” to tell everyone he has a “beautiful and talented cousin who can host, sing and is super good in Mandarin”.
“I just wanted to put it out there and say she’s a talent who can do more,” he added.
In fact, Elvin is so proud of Xiao Jiu he said we should hire her as a host when we get married.
“You find the host first, then you find a person to get married to,” he quipped.
In a separate post, Elvin wrote that he wishes to sing the theme song of a drama one day.
“I actually said it in a tongue in cheek manner. When we were filming Mister Flower, I thought: ‘If only I could sing the theme song’, but so far no executive producer has asked me to,” he told us.
Elvin explained that people don’t know he can sing or is “at least not tone deaf”. He now hopes new opportunities would come by since proving his singing abilities at the Gala.
“I’m game for it. I’m game for anything nowadays!” he laughed.