Hong Kong star Joey Wong Ho Yee, better known as JW, won the Outstanding Pop Singer Award at the 45th Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Awards last Sunday (Jun 23), but her win has been overshadowed by her “unprofessional” performance at the ceremony.
The 34-year-old has been criticised for looking at lyrics written on her hand while performing her single ‘13岁的天堂’, loosely translated as ‘Paradise at 13’.
According to reports, JW glanced down at her palm “around seven times in two minutes”.
Netizens ridiculed the singer for being unfamiliar with her own song, which was released eight months ago, and resorting to a “cheat sheet”, while others questioned her professionalism.
“Reading lyrics during a performance brings down the quality of the show. If you are not prepared, one can opt out [of the performance],” wrote one netizen, while another remarked: “JW used to be fine, but this is completely unprofessional.”
There were also comments that she was “off-key”.
JW later admitted to checking the lyrics and posted a snap of her “cheat sheet” on Instagram: “Yes guilty. I’m sorry, my brain has been memorising a zillion songs this month. Max capped (sic).”
She later apologised in separate post, saying she just didn’t have the mental capacity to memorise the lyrics after performing 15 shows of Broadway’s The Sound of Music as well as concerts.
“Sorry! After memorising the stage play, then 30 songs, and then the dance steps for four more songs, my goldfish brain really couldn’t remember everything. Next time, I will definitely memorise it all!” she wrote.