Profile | Who is Marf, the 22-year-old Cantopop artist supporting Coldplay’s Hong Kong gigs in 2025?

Marf from girl group Collar will support Coldplay at their four Hong Kong shows in April 2025, part of their Music of the Spheres tour

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Coldplay are playing four nights in Hong Kong in 2025, supported by Marf (above), from Hong Kong girl group Collar. Photo: Instagram / @collar.weare

Published: 4:45pm, 12 Dec 2024Updated: 4:06pm, 16 Dec 2024

Joining British band Coldplay’s four sold-out April 2025 shows in Hong Kong will be 22-year-old singer and dancer Marf – real name Marife Yau Yin-tung – of local girl group Collar.

“I have the honour to support the legend by this incredible chance. I’ma give my best,” the artist wrote on her Instagram page following the announcement on December 11. Yau performed as part of South Korean girl group 2NE1’s show in Hong Kong on December 8.

She is a relative newcomer to the music scene, having in 2021 joined the fourth season of ViuTV’s competition reality show King Maker – which was advertised as a casting call for a girl group – and won first prize. Aged 19 at the time, Yau was encouraged to apply for the competition by her dance teacher.

Following a live audition in which Yau performed the 1992 song “Weak” by American R&B group SWV, judge and mentor Alfred Hui immediately approved of her singing. “I like you. You’re a very natural performer,” he said. But it was her high-energy dance routine to Missy Elliot’s “Pass That Dutch” – revealing Yau as an accomplished contemporary and hip-hop dancer – that sealed her place in the competition.

Her passion for dance, and her dance training, started in secondary school. After studying at the HKICC Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity, Yau worked full-time for a year as a veterinary nurse, during which time she also worked as a model and dancer.

Following her win on King Maker, in January 2022 Marf was confirmed as one of the seven members of newly formed Cantopop group Collar, who debuted with the single “Call My Name”.

The song made an impression on various Hong Kong and East Asian music charts and its music video has garnered four million views on YouTube and its dance version 1.1 million views.