Dear Gossips, 

The twist that shocked me the most, personally, during the season four finale of Hacks last week wasn’t a plot point but a song. So big love to the show’s music supervisor, Matt Biffa, for the inclusion of a classic banger… but maybe not the one you think. 

 

It plays during Deborah and Ava’s party fun times montage in Singapore – and most westerners, when they heard the first bars, if they weren’t watching with subtitles, probably thought it was the original, “Dreams” by The Cranberries. Until of course the vocals came in, and the lyrics were not in English but in Cantonese, because the song is actually Faye Wong’s cover, released in 1994, “Dream Lover”. Cinephiles will remember that “Dream Lover” was included on the soundtrack to Wong Kar Wai’s Chungking Express, “one of the defining works of 1990s cinema and the film that made Wong Kar Wai an instant icon”. Faye co-stars in the film alongside three legends of cinema: Tony Leung, Takeshi Kaneshiro, and Brigitte Lin. 

 

“Dream Lover” is not a direct translation of “Dreams”. Faye wrote the Chinese lyrics herself to tell a different story and her version was so big that it actually introduced many Asian listeners to The Cranberries who heard Faye’s song before the OG. And of course it makes total sense, given the setting, that Hacks chose “Dream Lover” for this episode. During the montage, Deborah and Ava are seen singing it at karaoke… so big love also to the writers and producers for nailing it on the accuracy because, well, I cannot tell you how many f-cking times I have chosen this track at KTV. For many of us who grew up in the 90s and 2000s, shaped in part by Hong Kong pop culture, hearing Faye’s voice on Hacks was a goddamn thrill. For a few years there, she was my entire personality. 

 

Because Faye Wong is the Queen of Cantopop, the Guinness World Record holder as the best-selling female artist of Cantopop who, in 1996, became the first female Chinese singer to cover TIME Magazine. 

 

I can’t stress enough how not like the others Faye Wong was in the Hong Kong music scene in the 90s. Her sound, her attitude, her romances, her style. Every international fashion house wanted to dress her – and some successfully did. That Dior newspaper dress that Sarah Jessica Parker is always credited with in an episode of Sex and The City in October 2000 (that Jenna Ortega recently paid tribute to)? Faye wore it at the same time when she dropped her album, Fable, that same month, and she’s wearing it on the album cover. 

Here’s more on Faye’s fashion influence: 

@wesleybreed

Faye Wong: Cantopop queen turned fashion favorite #fashion #womensfashion #fayewong #archivefashion #styleinspo #asianfashion #chinesefashion

♬ original sound - Wesley Breed
 

Faye Wong is one of China’s most elusive celebrities. In the mid-2000s she took an extended break and even though they threw money at her, she refused to return on someone else’s time and dime. She was an enigma back then and she remains an enigma now. This past January she made a surprise appearance for a Lunar New Year broadcast – this is Faye at 55: 

@cgtneurope

The 2025 Spring Festival Gala teams up with the legendary Faye Wong to release a special single, My Gifts from the World, on Chinese New Year's Eve. Filled with heartfelt blessings, the song reflects the beauty found after life's ups and downs. #chinesenewyear #newyear #yearofthesnake

♬ original sound - CGTN Europe - CGTN Europe
 

But, of course, ever unpredictable, the biggest surprise was Faye and Hacks. 

Yours in gossip, 

Lainey 

Photo credits: ZUMA Press Wire/ Shutterstock

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