South Korea has BTS, the UK has (well, had) One Direction, and here in Hong Kong? We have Mirror, the most popular boy band in the local music industry today. The group has a legion of screaming fangirls and obsessed housewives (and angry husbands). Their faces are plastered everywhere in the city, from countless billboards, public advertisements, and even public transport. Love them or hate them, there’s no denying that Mirror marks a new era for Cantopop. But what makes them so special? For all the newbies out there, get yourself acquainted with the boy band with our list of seven things you need to know about Mirror.
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Mirror is a Cantopop boy band that debuted on November 3, 2018. There are 12 members in the group – Alton Wong, Anson Kong, Anson Lo, Edan Lui, Frankie Chan, Ian Chan, Jer Lau, Jeremy Lee, Keung To, Lokman Yeung, Stanley Yau, and Tiger Yau – who each possess a special skill in vocals, dance, or rap.
All 12 members of the group were once contestants on the first season of ViuTV’s music competition show, Good Night Show - King Maker. Keung To was crowned the winner, while Ian Chan and Lokman Yeung took second and third place respectively. Although there was only one winner in the end, these talents gained a huge following for the duration of the show.
It may sound deeper when explained in Cantonese but the group's name represents the mirrors that the members look into every day to find their ‘true selves’. When there’s more than one mirror facing each other – like what their band logo suggests – countless reflections can be seen going in an infinite loop, echoing the infinite possibilities of what they can achieve, not just as individuals but also as a group.
Easy. Each member has their own representative colour – Alton Wong (bright orange), Anson Kong (dark green), Anson Lo (pink), Edan Lui (grey), Frankie Chan (grey-blue), Ian Chan (ocean blue), Jer Lau (ice blue), Jeremy Lee (Venetian red), Keung To (navy blue), Lokman Yeung (olive green), Stanley Yau (green), and Tiger Yau (purple).
Mirror debuted in 2018 with the song (roughly translated) One Moment In Time, but their songs Warrior and Ignited have been their biggest hits so far. The band also released a new song in June 2021 called Boss, which has already garnered more than 2.4 million views on YouTube (as of writing). Many of the band members also have their own solo music which you can check out on the official Mirror YouTube channel.
Apart from singing and dancing, many of the band members also dabble in acting. Group leader Lokman starred in the local blockbuster The Way We Dance (2013) before entering the show, while many other members have also played various roles in local movies and TV dramas, with the most recent one being Ossan's Love, starring Edan, Anson Lo, and Stanley.
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Would a McDonald’s meal named after Keung To convince you of how popular he and his group is? On top of the countless advertisements that seem to be everywhere these days, the band members are adored by their fans. For Keung To’s 22nd birthday, his fans crowdfunded money to place an advertisement that covered a tram with birthday greetings and photos of the star.
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Other fans have also dedicated billboards and LED screens for other members of the group in celebration of their birthday. Anson Lo received a cruise ship LED light display that read birthday greetings as well as a huge billboard by the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront that attracted hoards of fans who lined up to take photos.
The band’s popularity has skyrocketed so much that there’s even a Facebook group called ‘My wife married Mirror and left my marriage in ruins concern group’, which currently has 304.7K members (as of writing). The group was created for husbands or boyfriends of Mirror fans to express their frustration towards their other half’s obsession with the boy band.
Mirror actually has a brother group called Error – call them a parody band if you will. The four members of the group were also contestants of the show, however, they didn’t quite make the cut, and as a result, Error was formed. Though they do not have as big of a fandom as Mirror, the group often appear on variety shows and are loved by many for their hilarious, wacky, and outrageous antics.
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