'She banished suicidal thoughts after watching my show': Liu Lingling explains her passion for her work

She may be an entertainer, but her impact is more than just entertainment.

Local getai singer and actress Liu Lingling recently reminisced about an occasion when she realised how much her performances can mean to her audience.

The 60-year-old told 8world in an interview published today (Oct 18): "An artiste can bring laughter to others. I remember a woman telling me that she banished suicidal thoughts after watching my show.

"That was when I found out that entertainers can have such charisma and impact, so I was determined to bring more joy and laughter to my audiences."

Lingling is currently working on the 2024 Chinese New Year movie King of Hawkers, and her new musical drama series The Landlady Singer has also just telecast.

In the eight-episode series produced by Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) and mm2 Entertainment, she acts as landlady Ying Jie who rents out the empty rooms in her home in order to raise money to visit her son in the UK.

Her new tenants are Jie Xi (Xenia Tan) and Ah Wei (Wang Weiliang). Ying Jie's nephew Uncle Jian (Wang Yuqing) also moves in due to renovations at his own home. However, unaccustomed to the chaos of having new tenants, she tries to chase them out.

Despite her best efforts, they grow on Ying Jie and their shared passion for music eventually leads them to form a four-person band for a singing competition.

While she has no interest in being a landlord in real life - wanting to perform for the rest of her life and not have any side incomes - Lingling has her fair share of stories to share about them.

When she was young, her family of five could only rent a single room and had to move four times due to poverty.

"When we lived with an old couple, we saw them smoke opium in secret, and I was young and didn't know it was illegal," she said.

"They often suspect us of eating the food in the fridge, and would beat us up and punish us, so we felt wronged. But there were times when they were kind and would give us treats."

'I wanted to cry when I heard it, but I couldn't'

While shooting The Landlady Singer, Lingling almost teared up when a scene hit too close to home.

"In the show, my nephew Uncle Jian told me he has cancer, and his line was, 'I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to worry', which is similar to what my sister (fellow getai singer Angie Lau) told me," she revealed.

"I wanted to cry when I heard it, but I couldn't because that was not the emotion my character should have then."

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Angie revealed in March this year that she suffered a cancer relapse, which affected her throat, heart and lungs. In June, she expressed that chemotherapy has brought about mental and physical afflictions like hoarseness of her voice, which makes it difficult for her to work and earn income.

In August, it was revealed that her cancer cells have spread to her lymph nodes, lungs, throat, bones and brain.

Not only did Lingling hold back her tears during filming, she did not release them afterwards on set either.

She explained: "Everybody knows about Angie's condition but they don't know my pain. They were still chatting away and I continued suppressing my feelings. If I cried, it would affect everybody and delay our filming."

The Landlady Singer is showing on Channel 8 every Tuesday at 8pm, and the first episode is accessible on meWATCH. The first four episodes are also available on Gov.sg's YouTube channel from Oct 20.

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jolynn.chia@asiaone.com