Guess it's Dawn Yeo and not Yang after all....
SINGAPORE'S most famous celebrity
bloggers have done much to attract notice.
Smile, you're on camera - soon. Singapore's hottest blogger Dawn
Yeo (above) has just been signed on by Tinsel Management, which
also manages MTV VJ Utt.
Some post semi-nude pictures of themselves online.
Others pen socio-political commentary.
Yet others indulge in controversial musings on loos for the
handicapped.
All blogger babe Dawn Yeo - better known as clapbangkiss - needs to
do is upload drop-dead gorgeous photographs of herself and the
eyeballs follow.
She is currently No 1 on hottestblogger.com - an online 'beauty
pageant' which ranks local female bloggers according to looks - and
her year-old website www.xanga.com/clapbangkiss has registered over
200,000 hits.
She is also possibly the first Singaporean blogger to score an
artiste management contract.
Tinsel Management, which handles stars such as Utt and Denise
Keller (see other report), has just signed her up.
Within the next year, it plans to groom her for acting, singing and
advertising opportunities in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China.
Judging by the pictures, this girl is a knockout.
With her manga-heroine eyes and sweetie-pie sex appeal, Dawn -
whose grandparents have Thai and Dutch blood - is a pan-Asian
hybrid in the style of Fiona Xie and Vivian Hsu.
In person, the 21-year-old student is sweet, shy and understandably
reserved for her first-ever media interview.
Yes, her long eyelashes and hazel peepers are fake, but at least
she doesn't have a fake ang moh accent.
She seems self-deprecating and even nonchalant about her stunning
looks ('I'm flattered when people compliment me, but I don't want
to be known as a 'hot blogger' ').
Yet, the 1.66m-tall, 47kg girl turned surprisingly overly-critical
of some less-than-flattering shots taken by our photographer and
pleaded with us not to publish them.
But don't hate her because she's beautiful.
Local blogger Wendy Cheng aka xiaxue told The New Paper huffily:
'She's not a real blogger. She's just a pretty girl who happens to
have a blog.'
While Benjamin Lee aka Mr Miyagi has 'no impression' of Dawn's
blog, he has certainly heard of her cyber reputation as a
beauty.
When Ms Melissa Lam, director of Tinsel Management, visited Dawn's
blog for the first time after countless recommendations, 'the
captivation factor became clear'.
'She was an ordinary girl with an extraordinary face,' said Ms Lam,
who believes that the next wave of stars will come from the
Internet.
'She has that girl-next-door quality that the Taiwanese will like.
Although she's still a bit of an introvert, the blog is a way to
see another side of her that's not that sweet!'
But Ms Lam added that 'a lot of honing and polishing' is
needed.
Dawn will get intensive singing, dancing, Mandarin and even
Japanese lessons till she becomes 'idol drama material' and a
'well-rounded artiste'.
Ms Lam said: 'We can only support her with the resources to groom
her for the industry. Whether or not she will make it to the top
will depend on her own hard work and, of course, the right
timing.'
Dawn herself is a mixture of nerves, excitement and eagerness as
she attempts to break into the entertainment industry.
She said: 'Every kid has dreamt of becoming a singer or actor and
it was a fantasy I never thought of pursuing. But since the
opportunity has presented itself, I might as well give it my
best.'
BOYFRIEND
Dawn admitted to having a Singaporean boyfriend - until Ms Lam
jumped in and advised her to keep a 'single status' for the sake of
her career.
She also seems well-prepared for the criticism that comes with the
territory.
Her good looks have inspired much jealousy.
'In school, someone started weird rumours about how I got into a
catfight with another girl. People also accuse me of having plastic
surgery, but what can I do?' she shrugged helplessly.
Pictures of her clubbing with celeb pals such as Fiona Xie and Alex
Polstra on her blog have led to Dawn being labelled a 'laidback
airhead' who leads a 'dazzling decadent lifestyle'.
But Dawn was a straight-A student who attended Singapore Chinese
Girls' School and Raffles Junior College.
She spent a year at the Singapore Management University (SMU) but
left for the US on a scholarship to study business and
communications at the University Of Southern California.
She has also been called a 'rich spoilt brat' because she writes
about driving an SLK Mercedes - but in the US, it is 'really cheap
at US$15,000'.
Dawn revealed that she is 'well-to-do but not loaded', and that her
family - comprising her retiree dad, HR manager mum and 16-year-old
younger sis - lives in a semi-detached house in Bukit Timah.
She said in her calm, soft voice: 'I guess when you get more known,
you will always get haters.'
Which is why Dawn avoids turning her blog into a 'social-political
commentary' or shooting her mouth off on controversial issues -
although she feels the handicap toilet debacle surrounding Wendy
has been 'blown out of proportion'.
She said: 'If I need to express my opinions, I usually post my
comments on other people's blogs.
'My blog is for my own personal enjoyment, for my friends and
family. I never blogged for an audience.'
That will change next month when Dawn's supporters can look forward
to her online journal, which will chronicle her journey to becoming
a star.
Blogger Benjamin frowns on such a 'passe' publicity gimmick as it
has been 'done to death with so many reality TV programmes'.
But Sandra Ng aka Sandralicious has voiced her support of Dawn,
adding: 'It's a cool idea. People will be fascinated by its
novelty. It'll feel a bit more personal, bring her closer to the
public.'
Izzy aka Sarong Party Girl also feels that the diary will succeed
provided it is well-written and easy to identify with.
'Everyone loves a Cinderella story. And even the 'zero to zero'
plot works in modern culture, especially if she can turn a failed
career into a touching story of burnt hope and how it is so
difficult to be an artiste in Singapore. I'm sure people would buy
that.'
Taken from The Newpaper
website.
