Follow us on Telegram for the latest updates: https://t.me/mothershipsg
There's been a rumour that Singaporean actor-singer Glenn Yong is in a relationship recently — all because he's been uploading photos taken in the same place as a Malaysian influencer.
Known better by her moniker Ms Kuan, Christinna Kuan and her two siblings are all in the influencer space. Their father is an entrepreneur named Dato Jefri Kuan.
Photo from Jefri Kuan's Instagram
Now, we're not saying that the speculation is completely unfounded. After all, why would two people spend a lot of time together if they aren't close, right?
Yes, but also, no.
Just friends
Yong told Mothership that they're not in a relationship, and are just "really good friends".
After meeting her at a work event last September, Yong has found her to be someone he's comfortable hanging out with, and have similar interests such as fashion and the type of content they like to create.
He acknowledges that she has appeared quite often in his social media updates, and attributed it to the fact that he typically doesn't post about his other friendships.
"Maybe that's why people naturally assumed that there was something going on," he stated.
Yong continued:
"My life mainly revolves around work, so I don't really have a lot of time where I go out to socialise or gather with people. So I guess it's more convenient to film content together because we happen to be at the same events."
Among the events they've been spotted together at are at Milan Fashion Week in February:
Along with this recent trip to Japan, where she posted similar content:
She was also featured in his dating series:
The song
Sometime in January this year, they happened to discuss the possibility of working on a song together.
In February, questions about the nature of their relationship surfaced after they were spotted at Milan Fashion Week together.
They decided to respond to these questions with the duet, which is aptly titled "Dear Friend".
Yong co-wrote the lyrics of "Dear Friend", and also contributed to the melody.
You can listen to the full track here.
While the upbeat track does raise eyebrows with lines that translate to something to the effect of:
- "I push you away but turn back to look at you; saying things like 'I'll always be around you'."
- "Saranghae (Korean for 'I love you') my dearest friend"
The TL;DR is while they're really close, they're just friends.
At least for now.
"I don't even know what's going to happen tomorrow," Yong explained with a shrug. "I'm not saying it's not a possibility, but I'm also not saying that it'll happen. So yeah, we'll see."
He added that while he's not closed off to the idea of being in a relationship — with anyone, by the way — his focus is on his family and his career for now.
Yong tells us how "work is also very important to [Kuan]" and how she is "professional and focused on her career".
The year ahead
And while Yong has no concrete plans for his love life, he does have a lot in mind for his career.
Apart from filming "I Not Stupid 3" in the coming weeks, he's also looking at overseas projects which he can't quite discuss yet.
What he could share is that he has a number of songs that he is planning to release in the coming months.
He mused:
"I see my songs as an extension of myself. Songwriting is a way to express things from my heart, and on my mind. I feel like my music is a way of me telling my story through my songs.
I'm also doing this because I felt like I didn't really have the opportunity to share more about myself before. So this is the year where I want people to know about Glenn Yong as a person, and as an artiste."
On the table are also collaborations with overseas artistes, along with solo songs that are a bit different from his first two singles, which are rap tracks.
He'll also be performing at a number of music festivals this year, and hopes to hold a showcase of his own before we head into 2024.
With so many things on his plate, one might wonder where Yong sees himself going career-wise.
He shared:
"I started off in my career as an actor. I wasn't a YouTuber nor an influencer — I started off with acting and music, so that will always be the core of who I am.
Most of my core audience are people who got to know me through these two avenues, and that's what I'll be focusing on in Singapore.
But one thing I realised is that — because one of my goals is to become an international artiste — acting and singing can't be the only outlets I produce work with. These days, artistes produce content on various platforms, be it YouTube or TikTok, to keep their fans engaged.
Recently, I started vlogging and I see it as an extension of myself as an artiste, rather than it diluting who I am at my core."
Top photos from Glenn Yong Group & Glenn Yong's TikTok