If you didn’t know by now, Stefanie Sun’s a big fan of surprises. Like holding-a-surprise-Facebook-Live-session-to-celebrate-her-20th-anniversary-kinda-big.

Which is also why the singer's latest single, a song titled 'What Remains', was unveiled to the world in a surprise announcement on January 29.

'What Remains', just like her 2002 song, ‘Someone’, is a self-produced and composed track. But that’s just about where the similarities end, as Stefanie shared in an online group interview with Singapore media on Monday (Feb 1).

“When I did ‘Someone’, I was very very green, and full of angst, I wanted to sing like my idol, Alanis Morissette, and I think it's obviously very different [from 'What Remains'],” she said, going on to explain that the lyrics of 'What Remains' are essentially the embodiment of one’s feelings and thoughts that are “not very forthcoming”, or easy to talk about.

“You have to reach a certain age to write something like that,” Stefanie, 42, concluded.

And just like everyone else, the COVID-19 pandemic was a huge bummer for Stefanie, with work plans cancelled left right and centre. What was most aggravating, however, was the fact that 2020 was initially set to be the year Stef would go on a concert tour around the world, as a way to celebrate her 20th year in showbiz.

“Right now, I should be touring every possible city for my 20th anniversary concert tour,” she said, adding: “It has been very disruptive, but fortunately for me, I feel like [my team] tried to think out the box, and engaged with fans in a different format, with an online concert. And I also had a period where I just wanted to start composing and writing lyrics, which is how ‘What Remains’ came about.”

Despite all these setbacks, however, 2020 still remains a positive in the eyes of Stefanie.

“I feel very thankful that we found different avenues to just create content. We started doing video logs, which we post in China, and online concerts too. One was in my office, the other was in a power plant [where my parents first met]. I'm not thankful for this crazy period, but I'm thankful that we found ways to move on.” she said to 8days.sg.

For someone who has achieved superstar status, Stefanie remains unfailingly resilient and forward-thinking.

“My team does get a bit worried, and wonder if we're doing something wrong [whenever the video ratings dip]. But I’ll say to them, ‘Don't worry, we’ll just move on, and just do what we can. [If] this one didn't work, it's okay. There's so many reasons something doesn't work, but the important thing is to continue [fighting],” she said.

Another unexpected bonus that 2020 has brought Stef, who is married to Dutch-Indonesian businessman Nadim van der Ros, is the opportunity to spend more time with her family in Singapore… and work on her hairdressing skills, as she’d previously showcased.

But now, apart from testing her skills on herself, or her assistant, she’s turned to snipping the locks of her kids, particularly her eight-year-old son, who's known to the public only as Na Xiao Zi.

“ My kids are definitely one of my regulars,” she laughed, when we ask about her hairdressing endeavours. “So much so, that my son has taken to cutting his own hair. Yeah, it's a disaster, [but] I think hairdressing is in our blood,” added Stef, whose daughter turns three in July.

Unfortunately, it appears that little Na Xiao Zi isn’t as gifted as his mama when it comes to giving haircuts, resulting in a less-than-perfect 'do… which kinda works out well, if you ever want to spot the kid in a crowd.

“If you [ever] see a boy with two holes in his hair, that's my son,” laughed Stefanie.

Photos: MAKE / MUSIC, Stefanie Sun/Instagram