James Seah Reveals When He Wants To Hold His Wedding (And Why It's The Perfect Date)

James, 30, shares the hatchback, which he nicknamed Xiao Bai (‘small white’), with his influencer fiancée Nicole Chang Min (they are thinking of holding their wedding in 2022 on a perfect date — more on that later). Even prior to living together, sharing a car made financial sense because of the high costs and depreciation value. But like anyone who’s ever had to share anything with family member or significant other, squabbles are inevitable.

“Of course we have argued over the car. If we both need to use it, then we will lay out our schedules and see [who needs it more]. We are very open. We settle it and move on. There hasn’t been any heated argument so far, but I don’t want to jinx it. Touch wood!” he exclaims, banging the table.

What gets him really riled up, though, is when Nicole, 28, forgets to top up the cash card or petrol. Or when she leaves used tissues and facial blotters around in the car. “I’m like, can you please throw it away. It’s very e xin (gross). And I don’t want to throw it away for her,” he says.

When sounding off his driving pet peeves, our conversation drifted to women drivers and James shared a rather, um, interesting observation. “I think some of them take advantage of the fact that they are female drivers and people will give way to them. [Especially] if they know they are good looking,” says James.

Say again?

“For example, there was one incident where I was stuck in a traffic jam along Orchard Road and I was behind the yellow box waiting to turn right. Then this woman, who was driving quite a posh car, cut in front of me. Women drivers are smart in this way. They use their looks to their advantage,” he explains, adding that drivers tend to be more forgiving when it’s a woman.

He continues: “Sure, there are times where I am wondering what the driver in the car in front is doing and then when I pass it, I go, ‘Oh it is a female driver’. But I don’t think women are bad drivers. Driving comes with experience. When I just passed I was also a bad driver.”

In fact, if you ask him what he thinks of Nicole’s driving, he’d probably say she’s the better driver.

Describing it as “proper, but not efficient”, he gets annoyed when she sticks to her lane instead of overtaking the car in front, or how she has poor navigations skills. Shares James: “But usually, she is the one who cannot stand my reckless ways. Sometimes, I brake suddenly or very hard [‘cos I wasn’t paying attention to the traffic]. I would say I am the faster driver ‘cos I know the roads better and I drive faster, but Nicole is safe.”

Is this hatchback your dream car?
When I was young, I used to watch a lot of Initial D so the Mazda RX-7 was my dream car. Then recently I saw the Porsche 911. It’s a dream lah. But because of practicality, when we go on shoots we need space to store stuff and change, I’ve always gotten a sedan. I don’t want to get a brand new car because I don’t need it yet. The depreciation is too high and I don’t love a certain model so much that I want to drive it for so long. I just want to drive it for a few years then switch.

What do you like about this car?
This is a very comfortable car. Compared to my previous car, a Volkswagen Polo, this is bigger, longer, and the pick-up is slower, but it’s very comfortable. The only issue is it’s black and I didn’t want another black car for safety reasons when you drive at night so we chose this white wrap with a holographic sheen. But it’s not that obvious after polishing.

I didn’t know polishing affects the sheen.
Yes! I didn’t use the car much during the Circuit Breaker and the stains were crazy. You could see water stains all over and the door handles were black. I thought I could clean it at the car wash but it was stuck! You can only remove the stains by polishing.

Ever gotten a speeding ticket?
No, mostly just parking fines. There was once, I was at a place with poor signal so I couldn’t get through to the app to extend my parking, and I got a fine. I managed to appeal and was let off. You need to be very sincere in your appeal and have a valid reason, which I did. I am a very law-abiding driver, okay.

Did you pass your driving test on the first try?
This is a very good topic. Initially I took manual driving lessons but I stopped before taking my practical exam. Then for my first Mandarin drama, The Caregivers, the EP wanted me drive in the show so I went to take the automatic driving test instead ‘cos I assumed it is easier to pass. But I actually failed three times! Auto, you know! So I switched back to manual and I passed on my first try. I’m fated to drive manual cars.

You managed to pass in time to shoot the scene?
Yes, but I was very kan cheong when I drove. As this was my first project, a lot of things were still new to me and the crew put additional stress on me and warned me to be careful as it’s a sponsored car. In that scene, I just had to reverse into a parking lot. When I reversed in the first take, I hit something and there was a loud bang! Turns out the bin where you burn kim zua (joss paper) was at the back of the lot and I knocked it down. And that thing rolled down the slope and was damaged. This was my first show and my first time driving after I got my license, so I literally started with a bang. Fortunately, the car was fine.

That’s hilarious. Thankfully you didn’t get into an accident.
I almost got into an accident recently when I was driving home after a long day of filming in Pasir Panjang or Woodlands. There was a traffic jam on the way and I dozed off behind the wheel and almost crashed. Luckily this car has a safety system whereby the alarm will sound if you get too close [to an obstacle] and will help you to brake as well. I was travelling on the highway and approaching at quite a fast speed. It wasn’t even late, around 8 or 9pm, but I was just very tired, ‘cos I started my day very early.

Have you ever encountered road rage?
There was once where I had the right of way, or in lane, and there was an obstruction in front of the car in the next lane and he tried to speed up to cut in front of me. Obviously there was not enough time for him to do so but he ngeh ngeh squeeze in. He got in AND gave me the finger. Do you need to do that? If there is no time, just wait for your turn. There is a very defensive nature to the whole driving mentality here.

Will you be using this as your wedding car?
It will depend on the theme of the wedding. Nicole wanted to do something with fairy lights, something very romantic and fairytale-like, so I will let her decide. I appreciate the time spent with the guests more, but for her it’s the aesthetics. But we haven’t found a suitable place that we like. We want an indoor venue, something more fun, intimate, and informal, so it’s more comfortable for everyone. We looked around but there aren’t many fun locations so we thought maybe we should to start our own thing, our own location which we can rent out to other people to use. But that’s a whole other business idea.

But you know when your wedding will be?
We wanted to hold the wedding in 2022 and one of the ideas was to do it on May 1. We came up with this punny hashtag for the wedding 完美下场, which sounds like ‘One May Seah Chang’ (perfect ending in Chinese). It’s interesting and sounds good, but now with COVID-19, we haven’t found a location. We will hold our plans until Phase 3 when we have a clearer idea of the restrictions for social gatherings. We don’t want the restrictions to dampen the whole experience. We will have around 150 to 200 guests and we want them to be able to mingle around. So for now, we will push back the wedding, but it will definitely be before I get my flat [in 2023 or 2024].

We saw a video of Nicole trying wedding gowns so we thought it would be happening soon.
No lah, there were brands reaching out to her asking if she wanted to try their gowns, so she thought it would be fun to do a video. It was just for content. I was dragged along for a fitting and she asked me to choose my favourite gown but they all looked the same. Guys do not have much opinion when it comes to things like that.

Keep scrolling to see the interesting things we found in James’ car.

"The boot is like a partial wardrobe and it always has remnants of what we shot last, like Nicole’s hats and shoes. We would just leave it there until it gets too messy then we’ll pack it. I keep my workout shoes, a pair of boots and a football in the car, just in case I want to go for a run or kick around. I used to play soccer a lot so I would have a ball in my car, but not so much now ‘cos I am afraid of getting injured. There was once I was quite badly injured and was limping, but had to try to walk normally on screen."

"These are my petrol station cards and receipts. I keep them here so I can keep track of my finances. I use the car most of the time so I will pay for petrol. If Nicole does use it, then we will split accordingly at the end of the month."

"Ang pows are very important ‘cos you never know when you need them. Sometimes we attend weddings and we realise we forgot to prepare the ang pow or when we are out, people invite us to their house warming party or baby shower, so it’s good to keep some in the car."

"The car just feels cleaner and I can breathe better with the dehumidifier around. It’s less humid. Sometimes when you have damp items in the car like an umbrella, the air con will have a stale smell, so this prevents that."

This slim compartment is for my shades. I think someone gave it to me. Cool right? It fits nicely in the slot and matches the interior of the car. I can easily reach for my shades when I am driving."

Photos: Alvin Teo

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