Dong Of A New Era

So what if she’s been called an auntie on national TV? Homegrown crooner JOANNA DONG has come a long way from her Singapore Idol days and now embraces her inner auntie with aplomb.

- Cheryl Ong

In June, Nathan Hartono exhorted his 116K Instagram followers to catch the new season of Sing! China. “Who knows, maybe Singapore will have a new contestant out there to fly our flag?” the singer wrote. Enter Joanna Dong, 2017’s answer to Nathan and Singapore’s newest singing ambassador.

During a blind audition on the first episode of this season’s popular reality TV show, the 35-year-old jazz singer impressed the judges — Jay Chou, Eason Chan, Na Ying and Chinese songwriter Liu Huan — with not only her nuanced jazzy rendition of ‘80s Chinese classic ‘Love Song 1990’ but also a vocal trumpet solo. Three of them — Jay, Eason and Liu Huan — came forward for her. We must mention that Jay was the first to hit the buzzer and slide forward, merely a minute into Joanna’s performance. No wonder, just like Nathan, who emerged first runner-up in the previous season, Joanna choose to be on #TeamJayChou. And just like her predecessor, Joanna’s fame has also increased exponentially — her performance on the show has racked up over 400k views (and counting) on YouTube.

Joanna, who is also a theatre actress and TV host, has been singing jazz for over a decade now and has performed at countless local festivals. She’s married to theatre practitioner, Zachary Ho.