 |
| Jess Lee Makes Powerful Comeback on Singer 2025 Following Work in Property Sector |
Jess Lee Kar Wei’s star power is back — and how!
The Malaysian-Chinese singer, best known for her powerhouse pipes, has shaken up the Chinese entertainment scene after making a jaw-dropping return on Singer 2025. But it wasn’t just her vocals that had netizens in tears — it was her self-introduction that truly floored everyone:
“The closest I’ve come to being a diva was being the real estate diva.”
Fifteen years in the industry, yet Jess Lee’s career was brutally stalled by the pandemic. Back in 2020, she had parted ways with her old agency and struggled to find proper singing gigs.
Her manager even suggested she try performing in bars and live houses, just to keep going. Jess agreed, determined to seize any chance — but even that couldn’t fully pay the bills.
So she did what she had to do to survive. Quietly, Jess took up work as a real estate agent, slipping on a face mask and adopting the name Li Kaiwei to hide her true identity. The media eventually exposed her “career switch”, painting the once-shimmering star as someone who’d “fallen”.
 |
Jess Lee, now 37, confessed she fell into real despair when the story broke. It wasn’t because she disrespected the job — in fact, she admired the work — but she couldn’t bear the idea of people remembering her as an estate agent instead of a confident, dazzling performer.
Fast-forward to 2025, and what a turnaround. Jess Lee showed up as a challenger on Singer 2025, choosing to belt out “Tian Hou” — a song loaded with symbolic meaning — instead of her breakout hit “Suffering”. Her flawless live vocals blew the roof off, winning her a spot on the programme and sending social media into meltdown.
She rocketed straight to number one on the Chinese hot search, as fans and first-time viewers alike were moved by her resilience. Jess even repeated her tongue-in-cheek introduction, reminding the world that yes, she had been “the diva selling houses”, but now she’s determined to reclaim the true diva crown.
And judging by the sheer power of her voice on that stage, she’s done exactly that.