‘Red People’ prove critics wrong with first CNY album

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(From left) Miri Housing Group of Companies chief operations officer John Teo, Jimmy Tan, Charles Tan, May Ng, Michiyo Ho, Wong Xiao Le and Bintang Megamall senior event executive Allen Wong.

MIRI: Despite criticism and negative comments, 16 young talented ‘Red People’ have defied all obstacles to release their very first CNY album entitled ‘Red Red People, Red Red Year’ to welcome the Lunar New Year.

The Red People comprising Joyce Chu, Charles Tee, Crystal Yap, Wong Xiao Le, Diorlynn Ong, Kevin Tan, Yiky Kho, Shee Su Hui, Rumiko, Stella Chen, Jimmy Tan, May Ng, Michiyo Ho and Strawberry Lim, had jointly released the album which included three CNY songs along with 15 videos with a variety of entertaining content.

Speaking to a press conference yesterday, event manager Austin Woo said the album, which made its debut more than a month ago, has surprisingly received an overwhelmingly positive response from Malaysians.

“It was undeniable that these young talents began with much hardship, and worse, with dissenters criticising every detail, which hit them hard. However, the release and the sales of ‘Red Red People’ have proven that determination, patience and hard work eventually bear fruit,” he said.

“In fact, these artistes, whose age range from 17 to 23 years old, are already well-known online (YouTube) personalities and were recruited by the Red People Production company in late 2013, before being trained professionally to hone their talents.

“Moreover, we tried to find more opportunities for them to perform, regardless of the pay or how big the job is.

“More importantly, they were willing to work hard to prove themselves,” Woo added.

Within three weeks after the album’s release, he disclosed that the online and local sales of the album reached between 40,000 and 50,000 copies.

“Right after we uploaded our new videos to our official channel on YouTube, the views hit over 40,000. That record is a great encouragement for us,” he said.

Currently, he said the 16 young artistes are trained and monitored by controversial artiste NameWee, who is also Red People’s brand director.

Last year, these young artists stirred controversy with their single ‘You’re not Famous’.

Asked on their ‘transformation’, they noted the harsh criticism from ‘haters’.

“Before being officially recruited by the Red People production company, every one of our videos hit views of at least a hundred thousand. Like us or not, they

are the ones who got us to where we are, giving us the opportunity to be discovered by talent scouts.

“We grew to become more responsible of our actions and ethical behaviour, as we are public figures,” they said.

Jimmy Tan, Charles Tee, May Ng, Michiyo Ho and Wong Xiao Le, representing Red People, were in Miri yesterday to meet their fans – the third leg of the Sarawak state promotional tour.

Previously, they visited Kuching and Bintulu.

They will be in Sibu today (Sunday) for a meet-the-fans and album signing session.