E-Junkies: How Amber Liu embraces her femininity without putting on a dress

From making her debut with K-pop girl group f(x) as a teenager to currently being on her solo No More Sad Songs tour, one thing has remained constant for Amber Liu.

She has rarely strayed from her signature androgynous style throughout her career.

AsiaOne recently asked the 31-year-old if she had worries in the early days of being made to change her style by dressing more feminine.

"Going into every single album, you never know what the concept is," she said. "And, at the time, and since I was also really young, I just didn't have the confidence.

"I think I was very self-conscious as well and very insecure with, 'If I change up my style, would I like it? How would people look and view me as?'"

Thankfully, Amber said that none of the album concepts during her time with f(x) ever crossed a huge line where she thought: "This is not my style".

Over the years, she has also learnt to "embrace her femininity as a woman" dressing how she likes.

"If Amber puts on a dress or something feminine, it's going to get more likes in the viral sense, but I don't need that," she added. "I really just want to be who I am.

"What makes me comfortable is what I'm going to do, and when I want to challenge myself, I'll challenge myself as well."

Amber added that her days in K-pop exposed her to "a lot of different types of styles". She said she "wouldn't wear any colours" back in those days, but she does now — before looking down and realising she was in a neutral beige.

Nevertheless, Amber said: "In the end, fashion is just a way of expressing yourself, so if I feel like wearing something really pretty and nice, I'll wear something pretty and nice.

"If I wanna be in my sweats and my tee, I'll be in my sweats and my tee."

Amber made her debut with f(x) in 2009 alongside Krystal, Luna, Victoria and Sulli. Though the group has never officially disbanded, Sulli left in 2015 before her death in 2019, and f(x)'s last album release was in 2016.

After Amber, Krystal and Luna reunited for a performance in 2019, there have been no further updates on whether they will make a comeback.

"You can't predict the future," Amber said of the possibility of a reunion. "I think, right now, we're all just really focused on our solo stuff and, I guess when the time is right, maybe. But I can't promise anything as well."

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However, she said that the bond between the group members goes "beyond music" as friends and sisters.

Singapore marks Amber's last stop on her No More Sad Songs world tour, where she'll perform on March 20 at The Theatre at Mediacorp.

She asked concertgoers to also bring all of their "work stress or school stress" to the show, which takes place on a Wednesday, and dance it out with her.

"I'm really excited to meet the fans in Singapore and rock out with them," she added.

When it comes to future plans, Amber told us: "I'm already working on my next project, that's something I'm really excited about."

She's even been playing some demos of her upcoming works during her concerts, though she added that there's no guarantee the songs will make the final cut.

For our full interview, including Amber's experience collaborating with her bandmate Krystal's older sister Jessica Jung, check out our latest episode of E-Junkies.

Get your tickets to Amber's concert in Singapore here. 

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drimac@asiaone.com

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