Mandopop star Wang Leehom’s agency has set the record straight over recent rumours regarding the piano used in the music video for his new song.

The 48-year-old dropped a 30-second teaser on social media on April 10, before releasing at midnight on April 11 the official music video for I’m Alive, in which he is seen playing a piano that goes up in flames.

“Can you tell I re-sang the first line?” he wrote in English and Chinese on April 11. “It’s a little different from the studio single… wanted it to hit just right for this moment.”

The Taiwanese-American singer added: “Please let me know what you think. It was worth it to burn that piano, right?”

Wang released another clip on Instagram on April 11, in which he shared images of the burnt piano and his face, which showed signs of burns.

“My piano was really burned,” he said. “I feel so sad, not for my face, but for my piano, which has turned into ‘glue’. It was a real piano, but now it has been burned like this.”

He wrote in the post: “The burning piano is a symbol of the fiery trials that purify faith (by the way, the scar on my face is just make-up).”

The videos sparked much speculation online, with some netizens claiming the piano was a rare antique worth millions of yuan.

Wang’s agency swiftly took to Chinese social media platform Weibo on April 12 to debunk the rumours.

“The piano used in the shooting of the music video was a prop piano with an actual price of 2,200 yuan (S$400),” the agency wrote in Chinese. “The piano was a modern mass-produced model and not an antique collector’s item.”

The agency also shared a receipt of the prop piano, which showed that the order was made on Dec 23, 2024, with the prop ready for shipment the next day. It also shared two photos of the prop before and after the music video shoot.

“The team confirmed that the continuous shot from the initial flame to the complete destruction of the piano could not be done through special effects,” the agency said.

”The entire shooting process strictly abided by safety regulations, with professional firefighting teams, first responders and isolation facilities equipped on-site to ensure that there were no injuries and secondary disaster risks.”

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news...