- Dylan Tang
Leo Wang, Freedom. The theory I always believe in/ Leo王；嚮往自由的純粹靈魂
Have you ever wondered how much freedom you have at this moment? Can you really make a choice that doesn’t go against your own will? Everyone faces many choices and dilemmas in their life, but it’s important to let go of tension and anxiety and enjoy life freely. Whenever music plays, no matter where it comes from, every rhythm and every lyric can create infinite imagination in everyone's mind. I still remember the night when Leo Wang won at the Golden Melody Awards. He stood on the stage and his every word planted the seeds of courage, accompanying us bravely into the future.
Because no matter what word, paragraph, or even article you write today, you are actually putting a memory in your mind, on paper, through every drop of ink. Therefore, here, without the melody, Leo uses words to express his pure soul and yearning for freedom purely through the power of words.
Ｑ: As a singer, how would you interpret the global pandemic?
A: I think it's like a dark global conference, spotlighting a feeling of death, dripping in the blood vessels of the global network.
Ｑ: Do you think this happened this year because of everything that humans did in the past?
A: When you say "everything", it sounds like karma haha. I don’t know anything about biological sciences, but I do feel that this looks like the end of humans’ attempts to manipulate viruses, resulting in self-immolation. I also often hear conspiracy theories, saying that biological and chemical weapons are accidentally leaked. Or that it is the world’s major powers plan to eliminate the weak and handicapped, and so on, but I really can’t prove anything by myself. All we can say is, let's keep watching. Maybe time will tell or someday something will emerge.
Ｑ: Do you think everyone on Earth is free enough?
A: For people who cannot enjoy the same freedom of speech and freedom of religion as I do in the world at this moment, I can do nothing but think of them in the distance. I imagine that from a certain angle, everyone’s heart is free. As far as I know, no one can forcibly enter another person's mind and manipulate his thoughts. However, what do I know? If I get up and think about it, I am influenced by my desires, hormones and mood changes in my body. Am I free? There are actually many levels of freedom.
Ｑ: What does freedom mean to you?
A: As I said just now, I think the word freedom has many different levels. I think the first things I would most intuitively think of include freedom of speech and freedom of movement. And in my education, this kind of freedom should be something that everyone has within them, and it will not be different because of race, gender, and the religious beliefs of each person. This is also related to equality. In my mind, these two are related.
Talking to this singer who is full of strength and who freely composes music, it is not hard to find the message behind his shy smile. Every word is powerful, and it is not difficult to understand that Leo imagines the future of freedom a lot. But without life’s past course, how can we bravely advance? As mentioned in the beginning, everything we do "now" has evolved from past experience. So, looking back at the past should also be an important thing, right?
Ｑ: Do you have the habit of looking back at the past?
A: I think it should be all the time. When thinking about things, I often go back to past pictures. Sometimes it is not a concrete picture or an abstract memory. In short, I always remember.
"The past can help us understand the present and imagine the future"
For every creator, the timeline of “past, present, future” is not just three words literally, because it depends on how you define these three elements accurately. To put it simply, Nostalgia of Liberty is actually understanding nostalgia, but the power of words is precious because they have a lot of imagination. "The past can help us understand the present and imagine the future. Nostalgia for freedom should be about the history of freedom. The universe is so big, the time has passed so long, and we are so small, so sometimes we need some context to help us. In the torrent of time, define who and where you are. If there is no history, you are just in the present, which makes people more confused!
Therefore, I think it is meaningful to study history, and knowledge and culture can also have their inheritance. It looks like human history is not long or short, and some consensus has evolved along the way. I think there is still a big consensus around freedom and equality, which are the universal values I believe in.” Leo Wang’s interpretation of this sentence seems simple. But also meaningful.
（Click cover to read the magazine）
TEXT Dylan TANG
Photography San KO
Fashion Fred FENG
MUAH Star CHEN
