‘Relationships are my priority now’: Kit Chan opens her heart ahead of Indoor Stadium concert

SINGAPORE – For those heading to Kit Chan’s Sept 19 concert at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, expect to be taken on a journey that is not only elaborate, but also emotional.

After all, the show is part of the Singaporean singer’s Atrium Live Tour, and “atrium” in this context refers to the entryway to one’s heart.

It kicked off in Guangzhou in May 2026 and has travelled to other Chinese cities such as Shanghai, Hangzhou and Chengdu.

Over the phone on June 30, the 53-year-old shared with The Straits Times that an “atrium” is a symbolic chamber where one’s deepest secrets, joys and unspoken pain reside, which “can be raging with storms or be quiet and meditative”.

She chose this central idea because at her current stage of life, relationships – both personal and professional – and matters of the heart are her priority.

She said: “How I relate to another person now is extremely important. When I was younger, I might have felt forced to do something, or work with certain people, because I felt I had no choice. But now, I must be around people I have good relationships with.”

For example, among her back-up singers are Chen Diya and Carrie Yeo from Singapore duo The Freshman, her long-time collaborators and pals. She hangs out with them outside of work, and was also a guest singer during their 2021 gig at Esplanade Concert Hall.

This will be Chan’s first Singapore Indoor Stadium concert in a decade, after previous solo concerts at the venue in 2001 and 2016.

Compared with the intimate performances she held at the smaller Sands Theatre in 2021 and 2023, it will be bigger and more elaborate.

Apart from familiar favourites such as Worries (1995), Like You (1996) and Home (1998), expect to also hear the Nanyang-flavoured Echoes Of Petals (2024) from local blockbuster drama Emerald Hill – The Little Nyonya Story (2025), which won Best Original Song at the Star Awards in April 2026.

She said: “With a stadium show, everything can be amped up – more lights, more projections – so you are able to heighten certain emotions and let the audience feel immersed, like they are part of it.”

However, she assured that the larger scale will not take away from the sense of closeness she aims to foster with her fans – and it is all thanks to her production team.

She said: “Like the concept of negative space in fine art (where empty spaces on the canvas are as important as the main elements of a composition), they created enough breathing (room) so that the show is not full-on all the way.

“It takes courage to (take such an approach), as sometimes, people just want to fill every second with something.

“But if you know when to be quiet, it can be extremely powerful. During the other stops (on the tour), I think this has turned out very well.”

During and in the run-up to the Atrium Live Tour, two of her closest friends have supported her.

One is Hong Kong actress Sheren Tang, 60, the guest star at Chan’s Shanghai concert on May 30, where they performed the Cantonese version of the ballad If There Are Seasons (2002) together.

On Tang’s appearance, Chan said: “We wanted to let people know how important friendship is. Sheren and I became friends in 2015, and both of us are now over 50. Some people say you cannot make good friends once you are a grown-up, and that is very sad and not true.

“As long as you are willing to be vulnerable and take the first step, you still have a chance to make a really good friend late in life.”

Her other buddy is Taiwanese songwriter Tom Pan, whom she duetted with on the 1995 track Changed Heart. She has known the 60-year-old, the elder brother of Taiwanese singer Pan Mei-chen, for 32 years, since Chan moved to Taiwan in the 1990s for her music career.

She recalled: “When I first went to Taiwan, I was really a ‘goondu’ (Singlish for ‘fool’). He was very kind to me, and took very good care of me. I always call him my Peter ‘Pan’. With him, I feel so carefree, like I am in this Neverland.

“He is so pure, and our friendship so special. No matter how long we have not seen each other, we are still as close as ever.”

She continued: “I know many people who see a man and woman together might assume they are romantically involved, but I have many male platonic friends.”

For example, on a road trip to Italy in late 2025, she went with a male friend.

She said: “The trip was a really interesting and fun experience. We went out of our way to stay in the most unusual and amazing accommodations.

“More importantly, we both felt very proud to have kept this friendship for more than 30 years, and the trip allowed me to see how kind life has been to me.

“Right now, friendship is so precious to me, and I am proud to say I have kept my friendships.”

Emotionally, Chan has gone through much over the last few years, such as the death of her mother in May 2025. The 82-year-old battled dementia for eight years.

“Even though she is gone, I continue to see her legacy and contributions,” Chan said.

“She was really the pillar in our family, bringing us up to be optimistic, positive and grateful for everything we have.”

The family has been coping well, continued Chan, the third of four daughters. “When I recall happy memories about her, I smile, and there is laughter alongside the tears. Joy and grief are not mutually exclusive.”

A silver lining is that the loss has brought her family members closer together, including her father, an 86-year-old retired businessman.

“To be honest, I was not close to him in the past, because my mother was such a strong figure in my life. It was only as she faded away that he rose to the foreground.

“He was a really good caregiver to her, and this made me respect and love him a lot more than I ever did,” she said, adding that her father and sisters attended her Chengdu concert on June 27.

Although she is not currently dating anyone, Chan wrote an Instagram post on Valentine’s Day in 2026 saying she was “quietly waiting for the next spring to come”.

She told ST: “The key word is ‘waiting’. I am neither pursuing nor in a hurry. Rather, for me, agape (a non-sexual, selfless type of love) has always been the most important thing to me because it is the foundation of all relationships.”

* To mark the 10th anniversary of Kit Chan’s 2016 Spellbound Homecoming concert at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, a digital album with some of the live recordings from that show will be released in August on Spotify, Apple Music, KKBox and YouTube Music.

Book It/ 2026 Kit Chan Atrium Live Tour

Where: Singapore Indoor Stadium, 2 Stadium Walk
When: Sept 19, 8pm
Admission: $128 to $288 via BookMyShow (bookmyshow.sg or 6591-8871, eligible for SG Culture Pass)