What are the chances of two people with the same initials (AS) and surname (Sng) meeting? Perhaps one in a million — since “Sng” isn’t exactly a common surname. Moreover, what are the chances the said two people will actually want to be friends with each other? Both Ayden Sng and Alfred Sng beat the odds and found they share many similarities — from their careers in entertainment to their love for The Sound of Music’s “Sixteen Going On Seventeen”.
Ayden initiated the chance meeting with Alfred via Instagram back in 2018 because he was researching on how to “get game” on the social media and wanted to seek advice from Alfred.
Keeping in close contact ever since, the recent collaboration with Men’s Folio was the first time the two friends worked together professionally. Here, Men’s Folio caught up with the two friends and “forced” them to have a conversation about work (which they claim to not talk about).
—
Alfred, how is the experience of We Are Young different from the others that you have competed in?
Alfred Sng: Very different because it’s a reality television and everything is filmed 24/7 — even in the studios. We don’t get to go out at all so for 24/7, it’s basically living in the same space, to the studio and back to the hotel. That was quite tough, stressful and also we were not allowed our mobile phones.
Ayden Sng: It’s like prison.
Alfred Sng: Dieting was very tough for me.
—
How long was the duration of We Are Young?
Alfred Sng: Six and a half months. I lost seven kg; it was tough and stressful, especially with the food situation. I’m very picky with my food so I don’t take vegetable and spicy [food], every meal is the same and we don’t get to order anything; we don’t get to go out so it’s either you eat or you don’t.
The whole experience was fun, it’s a very concise training — you’re forced to grow in ways that you’d never imagine, be it your singing, dancing skills or your mental strength. It was very enriching.
—
Ayden, how do you feel about Alfred being the oldest competitor?
Ayden Sng: I think it’s a very courageous thing. Everywhere with idol competitions, they make their storylines based on labelling you or typecasting you. So in the whole show — no matter who watches the show — they will always know [Alfred] not for singing, not dancing but being the oldest guy. If I were him, I can’t imagine how much mental stress he has to go through, which is why I have a lot of respect for him to still do this at this age when you have a lot of naysayers.
Even though I’m not in such an isolated high-stress environment, I also think about being compared to the other younger artiste in this very small Singapore market. I’m 27 this year but there are actors entering the industry who are only 20, they have 7 years more time to shine. I’ve only been in the industry for two years and people have been telling me, “When are you going to stop and go back to a normal job? When are you going to stop being selfish and indulgent in pursuing your dreams?”
—
Alfred, how do you feel about the entertainment industry defining you with age?
Alfred Sng: I guess it’s like what [Ayden] said, I used to think it’s a bad thing before I went over. When I’m there and surrounded by people who have the same goals, who are courageous, so they will say this type of thing is an advantage.
—
Do you think experience comes with age?
Alfred Sng: I guess it’s an advantage because when you’re older, you’ve been through enough to know exactly what you want, what is it that you can achieve and what you can’t. So you’re more realistic when it comes to choosing to continue doing this because you know you have the ability to and you know for sure you want to do it.
Ayden Sng: There’s a conviction, there isn’t so much second-guessing because you’ve already decided what you want to do. This question is something I struggle with all the time because there’s just some things you can’t compensate with experience outside of your craft. You can’t get a non-dancer to go for a competition for six months and suddenly start dancing better than someone who has danced for six years.
So I think when you want to — with very limited experience — choose to join an industry that relies heavily on certain skill sets, it’s a risk you will have to take. If you believe you have the talent, the tenacity and you are willing to put in the hard work and the hours to overcome that — even by just a little bit — then you can give it a try but there are certain things that just doesn’t work this way.
—
Do you think there’s a formula for success in this industry then; is having passion as your job the path to success?
Alfred: It’s having the courage and I feel you need to be mentally very strong. Someone told me when I was in the show that when you care too much for what other people think, you will never make it — the higher you climb the further you’re away from these voices and your goal is up there, you just have to keep looking in front and keep climbing. If you’re too concerned with everything then you’re just always going to be stuck near to all these naysayers.
Ayden: There’s definitely ways to expedite things in this industry but it also comes with the acceptance of the reality where a lot of things are outside of your control, and whether you truly make it big is something you really have no control over. But that expediting only takes you to a certain level.
I believe it’s very important to constantly have work that is out there. A lot of people advise to spend time honing your craft but that is all fancy talk to me. There’s not much substance to it, what I need to see you do is release stuff so people can critique it. If something doesn’t go out on social media or TV, there is no audience that can critique whether or not you’re doing well.
So my formula is quantity. Of course, focus on the quality and make sure that every single thing you do and release you’re proud of, but you must constantly have things that are released. If you don’t do that, you’re giving yourself a very convenient excuse of I’m honing my craft but nobody can measure that. So [quantity] is a rule that I use to push myself.
—
What about skills and talent in that equation?
Alfred Sng: I feel that skill and talent at this time is already expected of you. [The audience] aren’t really comparing who dance better but more of you as a person and the kind of opportunity you have.
I used to be very concerned about whether I do this better then I realised people who don’t dance better than me are doing better. I also realised the artiste has a package, so I personally overlook the skill and talent. You just have to keep improving but you can’t expect it to propel you.
Ayden Sng: I think his opinion is unique to someone who has been to a bigger market like China. When you’re in a talent competition environment where everyone is equally talented, a good amount of them have equal skills and talent. Then all things being equal, it’s about opportunity, which artiste management you belong to and whether they have money or resources to spend on you.
If you’re talking about a smaller environment like Singapore, then I think skill and talents matter a lot more because in a smaller market everything is magnified where the supply of talents is just not that many. I think you’ve to be strategic when it comes to which market you want to enter.
I think that it should be a two-prong approach — one is what you’re strong at, what is your USP; you must constantly hone that and ensure that people have visibility on that. The second thing is that you need to be smart about building your ammunition to ensure that even when no one is looking, you’re putting in the hours to acquire a new skill that one day you can [impress people with].
If you look at the top artiste that we have regionally like Jackson Wang and Lay Zhang, they’re not one-dimensional artiste who have taken the multi-hyphenate thing to a whole new level. Behind skill and talent, there is a lot of strategy and hard work.
—
Do you guys exchange critique of each other’s works?
Alfred Sng: No~ I don’t think I’m in any position to critique his work. The only comment I made was, “Wow your pictures are very professionally taken”. I guess our friendship is more simple, childlike.
Ayden Sng: I don’t think he has watched any of my shows. I think we have very different styles, so there was never a point of friction between the two of us even though we’re pursuing similar things.
We don’t really talk much about work. Strangely, I usually talk about work with most people and it’s very rare that like I have someone who is in the same line of work as me and yet we don’t have talk about work and there’s no sense of competition. I feel he’s been going regional whereas everything I’ve done is very singapore-based — even though our paths are similar but we don’t really cross paths.
—
Can a potential collaboration be expected soon?
Ayden Sng: I think so. I’m trying to get him to record a new Chinese cover that talks about youth. It’s a birthday thing because our birthdays are one day apart in mid-November, so it’s very soon. I don’t know if he’s down to do it.
Alfred Sng: I still need to find out more.
—
If you’re done with this story, click here to catch up with our February 2021 issue.
RELATED ARTICLES
