Singer Hương Tràm seen at the launching ceremony of her newest MV Đong Tình (Flirting) in California, US on June 5.

HÀ NỘI — Two years after leaving Vietnamese showbiz to head to the US to study, singer Hương Tràm has surprised her fans by releasing a music video Đong Tình (Flirting) touching on LGBT issues.

A project with songwriter Tú Dưa, a former member of the once-famous boyband Quả Dưa Hấu (The Watermelon), the video is about a love triangle between a woman and two men.

On the conception of the video, the singer said that since she was a child, she felt she was more sensitive than her peers.

“I could recognise some friends who had different and extremely sensitive hearts. To this day, they are still my best friends and my loyal audience, who are always by my side,” she said.

“My video depicts the pain and sacrifice of people who still haven’t been accepted widely by the whole of society,” Tràm said.

Aiming to present a message that “love is among any of us and regardless of gender and social class”, the video is for music lovers as well as anyone who supports equality, she said.

“The music video has premiered in Pride Month, after two years without any music product, I hope it would not make my audience disappointed,” Hương Tràm said.

A scene in the MV Đong Tình (Flirting) presenting the triangle love of a young woman and two guys who are LGBT people. — Photos courtesy of the artist

In the video, the singer plays the role of a wife who learns her husband is in love with a male colleague. The video features her pain and the experience of the two men and the pain they feel at having to keep their love hidden.

The video took the singer and her English-speaking team three days to film.

"The biggest challenge for me during the filming process was probably the language barrier. I've been in the US for two years. Everything is new for me, including the language. I couldn't have done the shooting without the help of young friends I met here in the US,” the singer said.

According to songwriter Tú Dưa, the recording process faced several obstacles due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the geographical distance between Việt Nam and the US.

“The pop ballad song was recorded when Hương Tràm flew back to Việt Nam. The recording was given to four different musicians for arrangement. The singer then selected the best version to bring to the US for mastering,” Tú Dưa revealed.

Before working on this project, in 2018, the songwriter also composed the hit Duyên Mình Lỡ (Hopeless Love) for Hương Tràm.

His ballads presenting delicate and romantic lyrics have helped his former Quả Dưa Hấu bandmate Tuấn Hưng have a solid reputation in Việt Nam’s contemporary music scene.

He also composed the song Giữ Lại Hạnh Phúc (Hold Back the Happiness) for singer Thu Phương.

Born in 1995 in Vinh City in the central province of Nghệ An, Hương Tràm won the first season of The Voice Vietnam in 2012. A year later, in 2013, she bagged the Việt Nam’s Devotion Music Award for 'The New Artist of the Year'.

Her video Em Gái Mưa (The Rainy Girl) brought the singer the second Devotion Award for 'The MV of the Year' in 2018. In the same year, she was given the Best Asian Artist Vietnam title at the Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) 2018 in Hong Kong. — VNS