'Campus Superstar' season 1 winner Ng Chee Yang takes to Instagram to call out haters, starting new journey called 'Passport to Joy'

Ng Chee Yang, 35, is the winner of the first season of "Campus Superstar".

Ng goes by the pronouns "they/ them".

Ng took to Instagram to announce that they would be going on a mission of self-discovery.

This was after the artiste from Singapore faced backlash and was judged to be "fat, Queer and Asian", but Ng is not letting such comments bring them down.

"Campus Superstar" winner

"Campus Superstar" was a Singapore talent search competition programme, which aired from 2006 to 2014.

It ran for four seasons.

The concept of the series was to search for aspiring and talented singers studying in various schools in Singapore.

Contestants comprised students from secondary schools, junior colleges and institutes of technical education.

Ng the winner of season one

Ng is a singer-songwriter currently based in New York City and Los Angeles.

After winning the first season of "Campus Superstar", Ng flew to Taiwan to participate in another singing competition, "Taiwan Superstar Avenue", in 2009.

Ng enrolled in Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, and graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree in 2013.

In May 2019, Ng also completed a Masters of Fine Arts at New York University’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Programme.

They have also performed globally, sharing the stage with Jason Robert Brown at Carnegie Hall, New York and with Carole King at Lincoln Centre, New York.

They also made history as the first Singaporean to headline concerts at both Joe’s Pub and the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage, Washington D.C.

Received hurtful comments and backlash

However, Ng received a number of hurtful comments and faced backlash on their appearance and sexual orientation.

Ng wrote:

"I grew up in the public eye: Fat. Queer. Asian. The world watched and judged."

Ng said in their Instagram post that a user on TikTok had made a video on them growing up and they thought it was "beautiful" until they went to the comments section.

They said they had been called "too fat, too queer" and was "misgendered".

"Passport to Joy"

In spite of this, Ng said in their latest Instagram post that they would not be put down by such comments.

They said that even after all the hurtful comments, they "didn't disappear" and they chose to continue singing and "leaping into the unknown".

They did not give up and met people who accepted them for who they are, and stayed by their side.

They also announced that they are starting "a new journey" called "Passport to Joy" and are looking to find themselves again.

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Cheeyang Ng • 黄智阳 (@cheeyangmusic)

Mediacorp artistes showed support

Several Mediacorp artistes have also took to the comments section to support Ng.

"Campus Superstar" concept

In each season, after several rounds of auditions, 10 male and 10 female finalists were selected and underwent three elimination rounds in the live shows.

Contestants who progressed to the next round were chosen by combining scores from the panel of judges and Short Message Service (SMS) votes by viewers.

The winners from the first four seasons were Ng Chee Yang, Shawn Tok, Jarod Lee, and Bonnie Loo.

Top photos via mewatch, Ng Chee Yang