Mike Tsang

Mike Tsang Pei-tak (Chinese: 曾比特; born 7 November 1993), better known simply as Mike, is a Hong Kong singer, who burst onto the music scene when his debut single "I Am Not Even" (我不如) topped the charts of three of Hong Kong's five broadcasters in early 2021, a feat that very few newcomers have accomplished. Debuting under the Universal Music Hong Kong label, Tsang went on to win a number of new artist awards, including the 2021 Ultimate Song Chart Best Male Newcomer (Bronze) and the Hong Kong Gold Songs Award Presentation Ceremony 2021/2022 Best Male Newcomer (Gold), with "I Am Not Even" winning a Top 10 Gold Song Award.

Born in Shanwei City, Guangdong, China on 7 November 1993, Tsang is the youngest of three. The family moved to Hong Kong when he was around 6 and settled down in the Lower Ngau Tau Kok public housing estate, a Government housing project for low income families. With the passing of his father when Tsang was only 10 years old, his mother was forced to take on various jobs while bringing up three young children all on her own. Times were hard and Tsang has often expressed admiration for his mother's tenacity and strength, as she allowed her children to pursue their dreams despite limited means.

Tsang's growing love for music began in secondary school, when he was invited into the school choir by his music teacher. He is a self-taught pianist and guitarist, and as a student, was constantly working odd jobs to pay for his singing lessons. Upon graduation from the Hong Kong Design Institute’s Digital Music and Media programme, Tsang worked as a sound engineer as well as a part-time singing instructor, alongside singing gigs at events, restaurants, weddings and shopping malls.

Since high school, Tsang has been a regular winner in the amateur singing competition circuit, with accolades including Open Group Champion in the HKSAR 20th anniversary Galaxy Rising Star Singing Contest in 2017, as well as in the 2017 Hong Kong i-SiNG championship, whereupon he represented Hong Kong in the i-SiNG World Singing Competition (held in Yangon that year), ultimately placing fourth in the finals.

2019–2022: Initial Success

Tsang came into the public eye in the 2019 ViuTV Hong Kong reality competition show King Maker II. Despite finishing eighth, his singing and personality caught the attention of renowned music producer and composer Eric Kwok, who introduced him to sign up with Universal Music Hong Kong in 2020, and has since produced almost all of Tsang's music.On 8 January 2021, Tsang released his debut single "I Am Not Even" (我不如 aka Wo Bu Ru), which shot to No.1 in three of Hong Kong's five broadcaster charts (Commercial Radio's Ultimate Song Chart; TVB's Jade Solid Gold Song Chart and ViuTV's Chill Club Music chart), while placing second in the fourth (RTHK Chinese Gold Song chart). One year later, when Billboard launched the Hits of the World charts for Hong Kong Songs in February 2022, "I Am Not Even" (Wo Bu Ru) was still charting at No.17.

Tsang released his first studio album "MIKE" on 18 May 2022. Accumulated sales topped the Hong Kong Record Merchants Association Best Selling Album chart for 3 consecutive weeks, making him the third best selling local artist of the year, sharing the spot jointly with G.E.M and the late Leslie Cheung.

2022: Introduction to Chinese Audiences

Tsang spent 9 months of 2022 away from Hong Kong, after he was selected to participate in a major Mainland China reality singing competition Infinity and Beyond (Cantopop Season) [zh] jointly produced by Hong Kong TVB and China's Mango TV/Hunan Television. He created such an impression that Mango TV invited him to join a second programme back-to-back, their signature reality performance show Call Me by Fire (season 2). Infinity and Beyond was aired over mainstream TV in both Hong Kong and the Mainland, and by the end of 13 episodes, recorded an accumulated viewership count of 160 million people, not including online release. Call Me by Fire (season 2), broadcast online via the Mango TV platform, boasted a much wider audience reach, with Episode 1 alone recording 171 million views on the first day of upload.

• Tsang's surprise win in Episode 1 (24 April) of Infinity and Beyond, where his cover of Samantha Lam's 1984 hit "First Love" (初戀) was voted top performance among all 16 participants who included veterans George Lam, Sally Yeh, Hacken Lee, Li Jian, Miriam Yeung and Coco Lee, coupled with his lively personality; iconic afro hairstyle, and most notably his singing prowess, made him into one of the most exciting breakout stars of the series. As a result, Tsang's popularity skyrocketed in China, especially in the Cantonese-speaking regions in the south. His Weibo follower count shot up from 3,500 fans before start of show to reach 1 million fans in July 2022, three months after the first episode. "First Love" recorded 1.4 million views on the official YouTube channels within 2 weeks of posting, making it one of Mango TV's most popular stage performances of the year.
• On the contrary, Call Me by Fire (season 2) would be a greater challenge. Invited to join on the back of his previous success, Tsang had by far the least experience among all Call Me by Fire participants [zh] in the show's history, having debuted just less than 18 months when filming began in June 2022. Compared to the other seasoned musicians and performers who had been in the industry for at least 5 to 40 years, including superstars like Alex To, Richie Ren, Vanness Wu, Alec Su etc., Tsang was almost an unknown to non-Cantonese speaking audiences. In a contest where audience popularity voting was the determining factor, he was able to impress sufficiently with his few performances, and avoided elimination to reach the finals. Although he could not make the final selection, Tsang said that this had been a highly rewarding experience for him, whether in terms of personal growth or friendships with the contestants who were top tier performers and musical minds in their own right.

On 22 April 2022, "I'd Thought" (我以為)* was released ahead of the broadcast of Infinity and Beyond, and took the top spot in the RTHK Chinese Gold Song chart in Hong Kong, as well as Music FM Radio Guangdong Cantopop weekly chart and the Chinese Music chart in the Mainland. On 29 April, one week later, "Run On!" (奔跑吧！)* was re-released in Mandarin and reached No.1 on the nation-wide Music Pioneer chart in China. On 19 and 27 August 2022 respectively, Tsang held his first ever solo concerts "Mike 2022 MULTIFACETED" (曾比特2022點亮多面精彩音樂會)* at live houses in Guangzhou and Foshan, opening to full houses each night.

On 10 September 2022, Tsang was invited to perform in 2 separate events on China Central Television (CCTV) to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, namely, the annual CMG Mid-Autumn Festival Gala (the Mid-Autumn equivalent to the Spring Festival Gala), as well as the China Movie Channel (CCTV-6) Mid-Autumn Online Gala show (「明月知我」閩江之心中秋電影雲歌會)*. This was a huge honour for the young singer who had only started out in the Mainland less than five months before.

2023 to Present: Rise in Prominence

Tsang returned to Hong Kong in November 2022 and promptly released his new single, the slow swing "Hello Again" (重見)* on 2 December. This song became his second Hong Kong triple chart-topper after "I Am Not Even" (我不如), while reaching the No.1 spot in the Music FM Radio Guangdong's Cantopop weekly chart and the Chinese Music chart in the Mainland as well. Tsang has indicated that going forward he will focus equally on both Cantonese and Mandarin songs to cater to the needs of fans from different locations.

Despite a prolonged physical absence from the Hong Kong music scene in 2022, many TVB viewers who watched the Hong Kong broadcast of Infinity and Beyond came to know Tsang favourably for the first time. Viewership count for the TVB broadcast averaged 1.18 million per episode and Tsang was able to expand his listener base as a result. Tsang won the Buzz New Male Singer Award in the 2022 Yahoo! Asia Multiverse Buzz Awards, as well as Best Breakthrough Singer in the year-end Metro Radio Hits Music Awards 2022, while "I'd Thought" (我以為)* bagged the Top 10 Hit Songs of the Year award.

As a tribute to honour the legacy of Hong Kong superstar Leslie Cheung on the 20th anniversary of his passing, Universal Music Hong Kong published the cover album Remembering Leslie in March 2023. The album contained some of the late singer's most well-known songs sung by young artists across different recording labels. Some of the tracks were released weeks ahead, including Tsang's cover of "Awareness" (有誰共鳴). On 1 April, "Awareness" became the album's first broadcaster chart-topper when it took the No.1 spot in TVB's Jade Solid Gold Song Chart, and todate, is the only one to make it into two of the five broadcaster charts, by placing second on RTHK's Chinese Gold Song chart as well.

On 17 March 2023, Tsang was once again invited by China Central Television to perform on the 2023 Sail Away Greater Bay Area Gala (2023揚帆遠航大灣區音樂會)*, his fourth appearance on a CCTV music gala since the Hong Kong SAR 25th Anniversary Commemorative Online Gala (庆祝香港回归祖国25周年云歌会)* on 28 June 2022.

In June 2023, Tsang embarked on his first livehouse tour in China. Spanning over an estimated 6 months, "Mike on shuttle Concert Tour" (曾比特穿梭巡迴音樂會)* is scheduled for several cities, starting with Guangzhou and Foshan in the Greater Bay Area. Tickets for the first stop in Guangzhou were sold out within hours and all stops to date have been fully sold out.

Tsang emerged on the Hong Kong music scene at a time of unprecedented social unrest and a polarised society where businesses, media, and even artistes were often discerned according to presumed rather than actual affiliations. Young locals generally associated ViuTV with social activism and a stance against establishment, which in turn, they deemed was historically represented by TVB. As a finalist of ViuTV's King Maker II, Tsang was attacked by netizens for appearing on both TV stations. Despite having been passed over by ViuTV before joining Universal Music Hong Kong and thereby not a ViuTV artist, he was accused of "double dipping" and "betrayal" by ViuTV supporters, and, as a newcomer, was the main target of criticism, amid the many singers who also appear on both stations and in the Mainland. When he was selected in the Infinity and Beyond auditions, young netizens further turned their wrath on him for performing in the Mainland and filled his social media with politically fuelled attacks.

When asked to respond to the criticism, the young artiste said, "As a singer, my goal is to touch people with my music, to let them know what type of person Mike Tsang is. And what I can do is, to use whatever platform there is to tell people about my work. I think that's good enough for me. (When asked about reappearing on ViuTV) I'd take any opportunity given to me, as long as it's fun."

Both ViuTV and TVB are indirect Chinese state investments (ViuTV of China Unicom via PCCW, and TVB of China Media Capital).

Albums

Singles

As Main Artist

Compilations

Collaborations

• "-" denotes a recording that did not chart
• "x" denotes a recording that was not released to the station

Solo Concerts

Other Major Concerts / Galas

(*) Transliteration used in the absence of a formal English name