Malaysian singer-songwriters 方泂镔 (Hafiz), 林宇中, and 陈威全 will be joining forces on September 16th, Malaysia Day, for the "Equatorial Love Songs" concert at the Genting World Arena of Stars. The three of them attended a press conference on Thursday to promote the event—their first time singing together on stage—where they playfully teased each other and filled the air with laughter. 林宇中 started by calling 方泂镔 and 陈威全 his "seniors," to which 陈威全 immediately protested: "We were all nominated as Best New Artists at the 2006 Yu Xie Awards!" He also joked that 方泂镔 is a "time-traveling singer," saying, "A-Bin is a ‘senior’ who has sung from cassette tapes to streaming platforms!" 方泂镔 then shouted with a laugh, "I'm only one year older than Yuzhong!" and added, "We're actually peers who grew up listening to each other's songs."
陈威全 was the driving force behind the "Equatorial Love Songs" concert. He explained that the initial aim of organizing this concert was to promote Malaysian original music to a wider audience. This time, bringing together himself from Sabah, 林宇中 from Sarawak, and 方泂镔 from Penang, they span both East and West Malaysia. "That’s what makes this concert especially meaningful," he said.
林宇中 also joked, "These two are both seniors and both do songwriting. I thought it sounded fun, so I agreed to take part." To this, 陈威全 quickly replied, "We were, after all, all winners of the Newcomer Award at the 2006 Yu Xie Awards. You won Gold, I won Bronze!" He then continued teasing 方泂镔 by saying, "The real senior is definitely A-Bin, who has sung from the cassette tape era to the streaming platform era!" 陈威全 also laughed that he is the "most prolific songwriter" of the three, "because I have three sons. I’m probably the only Chinese songwriter with three kids!"
林宇中 revealed that he attended signing sessions by the others when he was in secondary school. "At that time, I thought they were amazing, and their music was great—especially A-Bin’s unique voice. He was my childhood idol." Upon hearing this, 方泂镔 laughed and shouted, "I’m only one year older than him!" and 陈威全 chimed in, "I even shook A-Bin's hand when I was in primary school!" The two kept teasing, saying what an honor it is to perform on the same stage as a "childhood idol" and with someone whose hand they shook as a kid. "Malaysia is a place full of love. We take good care of our 'seniors'," they joked, prompting 方泂镔 to reiterate, "We're actually peers who grew up listening to each other's music." The host then playfully "comforted" him that he had only "debuted earlier, with more years under his belt."
This concert will center around Malaysian weather as its main theme, weaving together the trio’s musical journeys to showcase the unique emotions and vitality of the equatorial nation. In addition to performing their own signature works, there will be duets and crossover segments, and there are also plans to have a song request segment for audience interaction. 林宇中 joked, "Feel free to make any requests! We may or may not be able to fulfill them all!"