Sunday, June 06, 2004
Blithe SPIRIT - JUNE 7, 2004
Blithe SPIRIT
Despite her talk of spiritual gurus and goddesses, Jolin Tsai is still pretty much the pop princess with the teenybopper clothes and bubblegum appeal
By Jill Alphonso
SINCE appearing on the Mandarin pop scene five years ago, Taiwanese pop star Jolin Tsai has gone through a couple of incarnations.
Photos -- STEVEN LEE
She first made her name on her girl-next-door image, and became the poster girl of many an NSman.
Two years ago, she ditched that for a hipper J-pop look, dying her hair blonde and donning clothes bought in Tokyo's trendy Shibuya and Harajuku districts.
But here's one side to her you may not know about - she takes stock in spirits and gurus, and even believes that she is an incarnation of Hi'iaka, the younger sister of Pele, a Hawaiian goddess of fire.
In an interview in a suite at the Hyatt Hotel last Saturday, Tsai, 24, revealed that a year ago, during a performance in Taiwan, part of the set behind her caught fire.
'I didn't know about the fire till later because it happened as I sang the last song. It happened just as I was walking off the stage,' said Tsai, who was in town for four days to promote her latest album.
She later consulted her 'spiritual guru', a psychic whom she looked up on a friend's recommendation, and whom she has been seeing for several years, about the accident.
He told her that the fire could have been related to the spirit of fire, which apparently protects Tsai, shielding her from the bad intentions of evil spirits.
She had visited Hawaii in her teens, and had been struck by how comfortable she had felt on the islands.
'It just seems to make sense,' she says, when asked why she thinks she is an incarnation of Hi'iaka.
If that seems a loose conjecture, she adds that the deity is also known to love dancing and singing, and is the patron goddess of hula dancing.
Although one is tempted to think that she is about to go down the road that performers like Jewel and Prince have, going all gung-ho spiritual on their fans, know that Tsai is more down-to-earth than that.
She wears the teenybopper clothes that one has come to expect from her - a pink, floaty creation paired with green patent leather heels.
But her attitude is business-like at first when choosing clothes for an earlier photo shoot. She quickly dismisses several pieces as being 'to sedate' or 'too short'.
But she banters easily with her make-up artist in Mandarin, laughing at inside jokes.
During the 25-minute interview with Life!, she speaks in Mandarin although questions are posed to her in English, relying on her manager to translate her answers.
And if she looked tired earlier during the photo shoot, hiding the occasional yawn behind her hands, she is alert when you speak to her.
TSAI SAYS...
Cool fizz
'It was cool to work with nine other artists. There were no egos involved, and everyone was very committed to doing their best. But we didn't hang out that much as a group'
- On filming a Pepsi commercial with artists like Jay Chou (above left) and Edison Chen (centre)
My princess past
'In each life, we learn new skills and get more and more educated on life. I believe I was an Indian princess in my past life'
- On reincarnation
Me Ayumi?
'I can't be compared to her. She's incomparable'
- On J-pop queen Ayumi Hamasaki, after whom she is reportedly styled
She listens intently to questions and faces you with her large-eyed, earnest look, registering your reactions as her manager translates for her.
When asked for more details about her guru, she reveals that she first began consulting him several years ago, when her career was flagging. She now sees him for psychological and mental support.
While she believes in reincarnation, she says she does not put all her faith in any one religion.
'But everyone should have something to believe in,' she says. 'Otherwise, you feel a little lost.'
The younger daughter of a human resource consultant and a housewife, she entered the Mandopop scene at the age of 18 after winning an MTV singing competition in Taiwan.
Her debut album, 1019, was released in 1999, a year after she was discovered. Her girl-next-door appeal won her many a teenage fan, and led to her being called a 'teenage boy-killer'.
But she has gone through her dark periods - weathering everything from a career nosedive as her initial appeal began to wear off, to tabloid scandals and legal squabbles with her ex-manager over alleged misappropriation of her income.
She has also been romantically linked to singer Jay Chou, with whom she shot a Pepsi commercial last month, along with seven other artists.
Chou, 25, wrote and produced two songs on Castle, her latest album. Both have denied all rumours of a romance, saying that they are just 'very close friends'.
There are no plans yet for him to collaborate with her on her next album. 'We'll work together again if the melodies he comes up with are good,' she says cheekily.
She adds that he was easy and pleasant to work with, given that they are good friends.
While rumours of her romantic connection with Chou amuse her, stories of her having plastic surgery to trim fat off her previously round face are not quite as funny.
'False reports can be hurtful,' she says, her tone carefully neutral.
She has denied all rumours of going under the knife, attributing her new look to naturally shedding teenage puppy-fat.
Despite the scandals, life has picked up for her since her record label switch from Universal Music to Sony two years ago.
Her look was revamped under Sony, which hired stylists to turn her into an Ayumi Hamasaki lookalike.
Magic, her sixth album which was released last year, was her first under Sony. It sold over 300,000 copies in Taiwan, and about 45,000 copies in Singapore.
Her current album, Castle, stayed at the No. 1 spot on Taiwan's pop charts for four consecutive weeks in February, and has sold 40,000 copies since its release here in April.
Around 8,000 fans flocked to each of her autograph signing sessions at Funan IT Mall on Friday and at Faber House on Saturday.
Tsai, an English literature graduate from Taiwan's Fu Jen University, also translated three out of five of Madonna's children's books into Chinese last year.
This may lead to her writing a book in the future, she says, perhaps even in English.
Although there are no concrete plans, she says she is currently working on the structure for a short novel for teenagers.
For now, she will stick to penning lyrics, and is working on songs for her next album.
When asked if she is dating, she lets out a laugh and says: 'I wish I had someone. My schedule is too hectic.'
She plans to visit Japan on holiday with friends at the end of the year.
She says with a wink: 'I intend to shop, and maybe meet some handsome Japanese guys while I'm there.'
Blithe SPIRIT
Despite her talk of spiritual gurus and goddesses, Jolin Tsai is still pretty much the pop princess with the teenybopper clothes and bubblegum appeal
By Jill Alphonso
SINCE appearing on the Mandarin pop scene five years ago, Taiwanese pop star Jolin Tsai has gone through a couple of incarnations.
Photos -- STEVEN LEE
She first made her name on her girl-next-door image, and became the poster girl of many an NSman.
Two years ago, she ditched that for a hipper J-pop look, dying her hair blonde and donning clothes bought in Tokyo's trendy Shibuya and Harajuku districts.
But here's one side to her you may not know about - she takes stock in spirits and gurus, and even believes that she is an incarnation of Hi'iaka, the younger sister of Pele, a Hawaiian goddess of fire.
In an interview in a suite at the Hyatt Hotel last Saturday, Tsai, 24, revealed that a year ago, during a performance in Taiwan, part of the set behind her caught fire.
'I didn't know about the fire till later because it happened as I sang the last song. It happened just as I was walking off the stage,' said Tsai, who was in town for four days to promote her latest album.
She later consulted her 'spiritual guru', a psychic whom she looked up on a friend's recommendation, and whom she has been seeing for several years, about the accident.
He told her that the fire could have been related to the spirit of fire, which apparently protects Tsai, shielding her from the bad intentions of evil spirits.
She had visited Hawaii in her teens, and had been struck by how comfortable she had felt on the islands.
'It just seems to make sense,' she says, when asked why she thinks she is an incarnation of Hi'iaka.
If that seems a loose conjecture, she adds that the deity is also known to love dancing and singing, and is the patron goddess of hula dancing.
Although one is tempted to think that she is about to go down the road that performers like Jewel and Prince have, going all gung-ho spiritual on their fans, know that Tsai is more down-to-earth than that.
She wears the teenybopper clothes that one has come to expect from her - a pink, floaty creation paired with green patent leather heels.
But her attitude is business-like at first when choosing clothes for an earlier photo shoot. She quickly dismisses several pieces as being 'to sedate' or 'too short'.
But she banters easily with her make-up artist in Mandarin, laughing at inside jokes.
During the 25-minute interview with Life!, she speaks in Mandarin although questions are posed to her in English, relying on her manager to translate her answers.
And if she looked tired earlier during the photo shoot, hiding the occasional yawn behind her hands, she is alert when you speak to her.
TSAI SAYS...
Cool fizz
'It was cool to work with nine other artists. There were no egos involved, and everyone was very committed to doing their best. But we didn't hang out that much as a group'
- On filming a Pepsi commercial with artists like Jay Chou (above left) and Edison Chen (centre)
My princess past
'In each life, we learn new skills and get more and more educated on life. I believe I was an Indian princess in my past life'
- On reincarnation
Me Ayumi?
'I can't be compared to her. She's incomparable'
- On J-pop queen Ayumi Hamasaki, after whom she is reportedly styled
She listens intently to questions and faces you with her large-eyed, earnest look, registering your reactions as her manager translates for her.
When asked for more details about her guru, she reveals that she first began consulting him several years ago, when her career was flagging. She now sees him for psychological and mental support.
While she believes in reincarnation, she says she does not put all her faith in any one religion.
'But everyone should have something to believe in,' she says. 'Otherwise, you feel a little lost.'
The younger daughter of a human resource consultant and a housewife, she entered the Mandopop scene at the age of 18 after winning an MTV singing competition in Taiwan.
Her debut album, 1019, was released in 1999, a year after she was discovered. Her girl-next-door appeal won her many a teenage fan, and led to her being called a 'teenage boy-killer'.
But she has gone through her dark periods - weathering everything from a career nosedive as her initial appeal began to wear off, to tabloid scandals and legal squabbles with her ex-manager over alleged misappropriation of her income.
She has also been romantically linked to singer Jay Chou, with whom she shot a Pepsi commercial last month, along with seven other artists.
Chou, 25, wrote and produced two songs on Castle, her latest album. Both have denied all rumours of a romance, saying that they are just 'very close friends'.
There are no plans yet for him to collaborate with her on her next album. 'We'll work together again if the melodies he comes up with are good,' she says cheekily.
She adds that he was easy and pleasant to work with, given that they are good friends.
While rumours of her romantic connection with Chou amuse her, stories of her having plastic surgery to trim fat off her previously round face are not quite as funny.
'False reports can be hurtful,' she says, her tone carefully neutral.
She has denied all rumours of going under the knife, attributing her new look to naturally shedding teenage puppy-fat.
Despite the scandals, life has picked up for her since her record label switch from Universal Music to Sony two years ago.
Her look was revamped under Sony, which hired stylists to turn her into an Ayumi Hamasaki lookalike.
Magic, her sixth album which was released last year, was her first under Sony. It sold over 300,000 copies in Taiwan, and about 45,000 copies in Singapore.
Her current album, Castle, stayed at the No. 1 spot on Taiwan's pop charts for four consecutive weeks in February, and has sold 40,000 copies since its release here in April.
Around 8,000 fans flocked to each of her autograph signing sessions at Funan IT Mall on Friday and at Faber House on Saturday.
Tsai, an English literature graduate from Taiwan's Fu Jen University, also translated three out of five of Madonna's children's books into Chinese last year.
This may lead to her writing a book in the future, she says, perhaps even in English.
Although there are no concrete plans, she says she is currently working on the structure for a short novel for teenagers.
For now, she will stick to penning lyrics, and is working on songs for her next album.
When asked if she is dating, she lets out a laugh and says: 'I wish I had someone. My schedule is too hectic.'
She plans to visit Japan on holiday with friends at the end of the year.
She says with a wink: 'I intend to shop, and maybe meet some handsome Japanese guys while I'm there.'
