Whoever said that you couldn't have it all has never met David Yong. The CEO and lawyer has added another name to his ever-growing list of titles. This time, it's 'K-pop star'.
While David isn't Korean or even from Korea, he isn't letting his nationality and ethnicity get in the way of him achieving his dreams. In fact, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, David Yong moved to South Korea, because that was how serious he was about his music career.
All of his hard work paid off when he was signed by Rainbowbridge World (RBW), the same agency that manages Mamamoo, a girl group consisting of Solar, Moonbyul, and Hwasa. Evergreen Group has also signed a partnership with RBW on Southeast Asia business collaborations.
His latest single, 'In My Pocket', dropped in July 2022 and has spurred dance covers on TikTok - which is how you know it's catchy and addictive. The hip-hop single was co-produced by a former member of 4Minute, a K-pop girl group. Jeon Ji-yoon is no stranger to producing hits and with Kid Milli on the single, it has truly garnered a number of views on Youtube, 10 million to be exact.
His success in breaking into the K-pop scene isn't keeping him from fulfilling his duties as an entrepreneur. David says that, "I commit about three to four days a week now to vocal and dance lessons in which the rest of the time he has spent devoting to growing his business empire.
Mr. Yong's dedication to his trade only plays a small part in his grand scheme of things. Being a scion of a timber tycoon, David Yong has great plans to elevate the entertainment industry at home: Singapore and the Southeast Asia region.
"I'm not trying to be an idol," David Yong explains, "My aim is to co-create with them and expand my network of partners. I want to know the good practices of K-pop so I can apply it across the region successfully. It's hard to do entertainment from the outside. It helps to do it from the inside and understand it through the lens of an artiste, rather than just an entrepreneur."
Being a K-pop star was just one way for him to venture into establishing content ownership, distribution businesses & training academies all over South-East Asia, Singapore included.
But that's not to deny that "In My Pocket" is a catchy hit song that plays on the ideals of being able to achieve the impossible, such as being ostentatiously rich, with a line that says, " cars worth upwards of 200 million krw and I are in front of your house". It is a fun song for sure, and despite being 35 years old David Yong is still looking every bit a K-pop artiste and still manages to make an impact in the scene.
