'The most masculine band' in Vietnamese showbiz: Men without money, who listens?

Le Hoang and Tien Dung - members of the band The Men.

Masculine or feminine is fine!

- The Men announced their return with live shows in 2 nearby cities, is it too sudden?

Le Hoang: When we knew Dung would return to the country, we came up with the idea of organizing 2 live shows to respond to the audience's expectations. So the two brothers started working on everything in just 1 month.

I bought some brand new songs from Dong Thien Duc and Thanh Hung. When we recorded these songs, we chose a new way of performing them.

It's still The Men but the singing style is more modern, more up-to-date, not as "flowing" as before. (laughs) Back then, The Men sang "flowing" and was so cheesy, I didn't even dare listen to it again.

- How do The Men rate their current image?

Le Hoang: We cannot compare with the young and beautiful 9X and 10X generation, but in our 50s, we still look good.

- I'm talking about style. The current audience's taste is for sleek, polished male idols in the Kpop style. You two wearing suits like The Men is out of date...

Le Hoang: The market always has many trends but the masculine image or vest is never out of date. We understand the audience's taste but do not intend to change anything. The majority of the audience likes the Korean handsome male style, there will still be an audience that likes the style like The Men.

If we try to be so polished, we might lose our old audience! Well, the few might be able to stand out.

- How do you perceive the feminization trend and the concept of masculinity that you preserve?

Le Hoang: I think it's normal, no problem. To me, masculinity is not tattoos or being rough. There are LGBT people who live responsibly and take care of their loved ones, I think they are very manly. Since its establishment, The Men has been just like that, never having to prove masculinity.

Shocked because young people quoted prices of several hundred million

- After many years of absence, how do you two work with contemporaries?

Le Hoang: When I first returned to the market, I was confused about many things. My company often organized events, inviting popular young people, but when I heard the price quote, I was shocked. I asked myself: "Only 5 years, why is inflation so high?".

But I work very clearly. When buying new songs, I pay whatever you quote. The cost to buy 7 new songs is several hundred million VND, the arrangement is 15-20 million/song, the mix/master is also 15-20 million/song. Recently, I accidentally found out that Dong Thien Duc sold songs to me at an extremely preferential price.

Le Hoang and Tien Dung at the meeting with reporters.

The same goes for MV filming, we don’t dare spend billions. Back then, The Men’s best MV cost less than 200 million. We have the money now, but asking to spend 3-4 billion on an MV might as well just do a show.

Tien Dung: The Men has the advantage of splitting everything in half, from income to expenses.

- The scale of the concert marking The Men's return was only 600 spectators, could it be understood that you were afraid of... tickets not selling out?

Le Hoang: When measuring the market, I estimate that with a fanpage of 4 million followers, the number of ticket buyers can range from 600 - 1,000.

At first, I was scared but that feeling disappeared after 3 weeks when the ticket sales were very good. It turned out that I still had the audience's support!

Standard tickets (VND 1 million) and VIP tickets (VND 4 million) are sold out while the price is quite high compared to the market. We are confident that the old audience is fixed, if possible, we will approach new audiences.

I don’t feel any pressure, on the contrary, the longer I haven’t been on stage, the more excited I am. After 2 years of focusing on business, I have been updating the market regularly ever since.

However, in front of the overly dynamic post-2000 generation, our generation will more or less feel old.

The Men practice singing a new song

Tien Dung: We will feel pressured if we have to stand on the same stage with young people. However, this is our own stage.

If so, I would have been under more pressure. The first three years in the US, I barely touched music . Then, when I updated the market, I was surprised and overwhelmed by the huge change, even thinking: "Should I go back to singing?"

It was only when I saw the audience's enthusiastic reaction to the announcement of The Men's return that I stopped feeling self-conscious and had the motivation to hold the mic like before.

Le Hoang: This is an opportunity because Dung dances very well. Singing in The Men group has held back Dung's dancing ability. In the upcoming live show, Dung will dance solo, doing things he hasn't been able to show for a long time.

The biggest regret

- How have you guys changed after years of "disappearance"?

Le Hoang: In the past 5 years, I have had things that I did not have in 10 years of singing. Before, we were like money-making machines, repeating the same routine of going to shows and going home every day; there was no time to look back and reflect on music and life.

Tien Dung: We went into the studio but didn't even know what song to sing, so we just picked up the music and recorded it and walked out.

Le Hoang: Only now have we analyzed the song, edited the lyrics, discussed the way we sing... After 5 years of slowing down, our way of singing is also much different from before.

- No longer naive singers, these two current businessmen must be calculating every loophole in their show?

Le Hoang: These two shows will definitely lose money, even if all tickets are sold out. We accept it, and we will consider the next concerts if there are any.

- Is this the strong statement of a rich person?

Le Hoang: It's the same for everyone! In the past, we sang for the money. Now that life has stabilized, singing again is much more enjoyable. Artists are happiest when they can only focus on music, without having to calculate ticket sales or profits and losses.

I believe that a man must have both money and family happiness. If he doesn’t have money, who will listen? But an unhappy family is also not acceptable.

16 years of singing, they have certain regrets.

- I heard that Le Hoang was once invited to compete in "Brother overcomes thousand obstacles"?

Le Hoang: I couldn't participate because Dung was still in the US at that time. Think about it, after the program, without Dung, I would still have to stay home.

Depending on Dung, I couldn't do anything. My thinking before didn't have Le Hoang, only The Men. When I was so discouraged, I was about to buy a solo song, then Dung came back.

- What do you regret?

Le Hoang: The Men has an audience, has hits, and makes a lot of money. But the biggest mistake is not building and developing the group's brand in a professional and systematic way.

Back then, we sang for money, not for fame; for example, we chose to sing at events instead of TV shows because the pay was low.

As I got older, I realized and regretted it. If I could go back, I would build The Men in a different location.

If It Were You - The Men

The Men's comeback live show Emotions is scheduled to take place on the evening of July 19 at Capital Theatre (District 3, HCMC) and August 8 at Bai Chay Lighthouse, Ha Long City, Quang Ninh .

Singer Tien Dung earns half a billion dong a month just by doing nothing . Singer Tien Dung - a member of The Men group - currently resides in the US, his main income comes from house rental services. Every month, he earns more than 20,000 USD (524 million VND).

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/the-men-dan-ong-khong-co-tien-noi-ai-nghe-2418433.html