Meet Donnie Yen and Cissy Wang’s daughter Jasmine Yen: the Taylor Swift fan sealed a record deal with Sony’s RCA in between school at Berklee and just released her latest single ‘Forever 19’ – interview

Mar 27 , 2024

Jasmine Yen, Donnie Yen and Cissy Wang’s daughter, pictured, is ready for her big break in music. Photo: @jasmineyen/Instagram

The Ip Man star’s daughter gave her first performance singing ‘You Belong With Me’ at age nine, and later received a scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music

The musician, who turns 20 this year and calls herself an ‘old soul’, is also inspired by Aretha Franklin, Beyoncé – her ‘idol’ – Backstreet Boys and Aaron Carter

Like many young women who came of age in the past decade or so, Hong Kong-based singer-songwriter Jasmine Yen is a huge fan of Taylor Swift.

“What gave me the confidence to do my first [large-scale] performance ... was singing ‘You Belong With Me’ for a school assembly,” Yen says. “And then, when I was nine, [I performed] in front of more than 2,000 people at my aunt’s wedding. Taylor Swift gave me the confidence.”

Along with tens of thousands of other fans, the young rising star sang her heart out at Swift’s recent record-breaking Eras Tour stop in Singapore.

Far from your typical Swiftie though, Yen is also an accomplished singer-songwriter in her own right, and just so happens to be the daughter of one of Hong Kong’s most prominent power couples, actor Donnie Yen and beauty queen Cissy Wang. She’s received a scholarship to study at the prestigious Berklee College of Music, sealed a record deal with Sony Music’s RCA Records during her gap year, and recently began promoting her latest single “Forever 19” – all before the age of 20.

Jasmine Yen pictured with father Donnie Yen of Ip Man fame (bottom). Photo: @jasmineyen/Instagram

“‘Forever 19’ is, for the first time, quite personal to me,” says Yen, who recently unveiled the new single and its accompanying music video at an intimate showcase performance in Hong Kong. “Most of my music is different stories I created in my head, where I could become different characters.”

The young singer was visibly moved when revealing this latest project to the world, shedding tears before and after taking the stage. Her famous parents played your typical proud mum and dad for the day, snapping pictures from the front row. “‘Forever 19’ felt like a passion project. My friends being involved, [and] finally seeing the whole product come together for everyone to see, it was really emotional,” she added.

That was also how I felt as an audience member attending Yen’s debut showcase. Despite having no personal connection to the project, the singer’s nostalgia for her youth and anticipation for the future in equal measure was contagious, and I can picture the faces of my own friends in place of hers in the music video. Yen says this feeling – not unlike how Swift has captured the hearts of millions of admirers over the years with her deeply detailed lyricism and personal POV – was intentional.