Taiwan Today

It used to be that being American sold. Several years ago, it was much easier for Chinese­ Americans to launch a singing career in Taiwan. But today the pop music industry is no longer infatuated with only American singers, and English is no longer the lingua franca of the musical airwaves. According to Michael Yao (姚鳳崗) a record producer at Soundsweet Productions, "Stateside no longer sells in the industry." In a society that is becoming increasingly interna­tionalized, a singer's Americanness is not as unique nor as appealing as it used to be.

U.S.-born singer Tsou Hai-ying (鄒海音), a.k.a. Jennifer is a new artist vying for recognition and record sales. "You can be American to the extent that it sets you apart, but you can't be too direct." Tsou's first album, Lonely Struggles (寂寞戰爭), was released in November 1990. The album featured original love songs, and Tsou sings them gently but with confident clarity.

Tsou thinks being Chinese­ American is both an advantage and a dis­advantage. Compared to other Chinese female performers, the long, wavy­ haired singer laughs a little louder on TV, and is more straightforward in inter­ views. She is aware that these charac­teristics, often associated with her Amer­ican background, can make Taiwan audi­ences uncomfortable. "But it works for me," she says, "because then I am dis­tinguished from the hundreds of new art­ists who are coming out with similar­ sounding songs. A lot of people remem­ber I'm from the States."

Another overseas Chinese singer and songwriter, David Wong, who is more popularly known as Wong Ta-wei (黃大煒), feels that being different in behavior and attitude has helped his image. "I really don't conform to what they expect of an entertainer in Taipei," he says. Wong's live performances have an electric quality. He jumps around the stage, swinging his guitar, both body and voice emoting the music. He is quite unlike other Taiwan performers who stray only a few paces and show less gusto. Offstage, the twenty-six-year-old singer is as congenial as his stage person­ality, and he often appears for interviews dressed casually in jeans, T-shirt, and baseball cap.

The decision whether or not to emphasize a performer's background is usually made by the singer's production company. Tsou's producer, Michael Yao, says: "We don't actively bring up that she's American." Tsou will mention in interviews that she is from the United States when she is asked to describe her­ self. But, as Yao stresses, it is not the central focus of promotion, and her American background is not the basis by which customers decide to purchase her album. Yao thinks that many of the people who like Jennifer Tsou's singing are hardly aware that she is Chinese­ American until they hear an interview or when she speaks during a performance. She gestures freely, and her Mandarin sometimes betrays an American twang.

The bottom line, after all, is the sing­er's ability to carry a tune. Tsou first attracted some attention in Taipei in the summer of 1988 when she won first place in a folk-singing contest jointly sponsored by a restaurant and Rock Records, a major record company. She returned to the U.S. to complete her final year at the University of Penn sylva­nia, only to come back to Taipei deter­mined to become a singer. "They didn't know what to do with me," Tsou says. "They said, 'She sings well, she's Chi­nese, but she's American and she doesn't know very much about Taiwan.' I think I was a risk for any record compa­ny." But one company decided to try her. In late 1989, she signed a contract as a solo artist with Soundsweet Produc­tions, an affiliate of Rock Records.

One of the first decisions Sound­ sweet had to make was the language Tsou would sing in. The production company had originally planned for her to sing with the all-foreign band MIT (Made in Taiwan), which performs pri­marily in English. But after Jonathan Lee (李宗盛), one of Taiwan's better­ known producers, heard her sing, he agreed to take the responsibility for producing a solo album. He also decided that Tsou should sing in Mandarin. A first album in English might have pegged the new singer as only able to do English songs. And singing in Mandarin would win her a much bigger following in Taiwan as well as in other Chinese­ speaking markets.

Wong Ta-wei went the opposite route. After performing with a band in Hawaii for several years, he signed a con­tract with one of Taiwan's largest and most successful record companies, UFO Records, and came to Taipei in late 1987. His first album, Lady Murasaki, was completely in English, the music and lyrics written by Wong himself. His producer's decision to do his first album in English surprised him. "There had never been a new, original album in Eng­lish out of Taipei," Wong says. "I thought he was crazy. Everyone here lis­tens to Mandarin." The album was re­leased in 1988 and sold about 45,000 copies, just breaking even. (The number-one English album at that time was Stories, a remake of easy listening hits by a female singer from Taiwan, Chi Yu. It sold at most 90,000 copies.) Wong's rough, powerful voice and his hard rock music would have to take some getting used to.

English and Mandarin songs make very different demands on the singer. English songs require that the accent be placed on the correct syllable, but do not demand as much clarity in pronunciation. Mandarin songs, however, require that the words are clearly enunciated. Be­cause tone is important in communicat­ing the correct meaning of the words but is difficult to manage in song, often even native speakers of Mandarin do not im­mediately grasp the lines.

"I think my singing in Mandarin has improved a hundredfold over three years ago," says Tsou. Having immersed herself in Mandarin songs over the last year, she has become comfortable in the language and there are only slight traces, if any at all, of an American accent when she sings. But Tsou makes a distinction in delivery. She says, "I wouldn't belt out a song in Mandarin like I would an English song. It just wouldn't be in the character of Mandarin songs."

Wong also sees Mandarin songs in a different light. "I don't think Mandarin fits rock "n' roll. It should be mellow or a touch jazzy. It does better with love bal­ lads because Mandarin is a very romantic language." Wong also feels that his voice is not as well-suited to Mandarin as it is to English. "I think I have a really weird voice for Mandarin," he says. "It's very thick. I'm from the hard knocks school of vocals." He is often told to try to thin out his voice, to make the notes sound cleaner.

In Wong's second album, Breaking Everyone's Heart (讓每一個人都心碎), only half the songs are in English, some of them with occasional lines or refrains in Mandarin. There are people in the in­dustry who have been critical of combin­ing the two languages in one album, but as Wong sees it, why shouldn't he sing in English the songs he writes in Eng­lish? He also doubles his market, appeal­ing at the same time to the Eng­lish-language and Mandarin markets. At present, Wong has hit singles in both Mandarin and English. He also wants to make a point "A lot of people who lis­ten to English songs, even the Chinese, don't think that there is a Chinese guy out there who can properly sing in Eng­lish. They have to change their way of thinking."

Wong's second album, which was re­leased in 1990, has gained him both respect and popularity as a singer of Eng­lish and Mandarin songs. And he is decidedly pleased with himself. "This is the only album I know among the top ten albums that has not been released in conjunction with a movie, a commercial, or a television event, " he says.

It was by no means an easy accom­plishment. Wong wrote all the music, and all the lyrics were originally in Eng­lish. He then worked on finding compati­ble Chinese lyrics with songwriters from Coden, his recording studio. "They were the only company that would let me produce my own record," he says. The Chinese lyrics are not direct transla­tions, but rather a synthesis of Wong's explanation of what the music intended to say and his feelings while he was writ­ing the song. It took many attempts before the music was finally matched with the right lyrics. The English songs on the album are the ones for which no Chinese lyrics seemed suited.

The right image is also important in establishing a singer. When Yao first heard Jennifer Tsou, he thought she had a good voice but a strange style. "It's been a long time since I saw such a young person with an old-fashioned, seventies style," he says. So one of the first things Soundsweet had to do before putting out the album was to build an image for Tsou that was more appealing to her prospective audience. Tsou realized that as a beginner she would have little say in her packaging.

The first stop was the design compa­ny Artistree. At that time, Yao was fo­cusing on a teenage audience. Artistree worked to create an image that teenagers would find attractive, but would still be in line with Tsou's natural personality. She seemed more mature than her twenty-three years, perhaps because she exuded an easy confidence rather than the coquettish charm of ruffles and bows that is typical of Taiwan's young women stars. The design company experimented with different styles in dress and hair, but in the end Soundsweet realized that Tsou could never become a teenage idol. As one designer put it, "It's still about making money. Even if the image looks good, if it doesn't sell, forget it."

A month before the album was to be released, Soundsweet hired image designer Judy Lin (林葉亭). By this time Yao had made up his mind that Tsou had a better chance of success with an older market, college girls and young women on their first jobs. The concept was called "Lonely Struggles," and it was aimed at young women and dwelt on their feelings of loneliness and aliena­tion. Lin turned to darker colors con­trasted with bright touches. She picked out a distinctive dress style, but one that was not too unconventional. To add a feeling of vitality and youthfulness, some lively promotion shots of Tsou working out were taken and also included in the cassette tape inserts. Lin sums up her work: "Because Jennifer is Amer­ican, her new image comes out as natu­ral. If she were Taiwanese, it would be pretentious." Tsou likes what she sees. "I'm lucky," she says, "because they took the time to think again and create something more like myself. My new image is closer to who I am."

Wong had no such luck. There was no image-building, promotion, or marketing for his first album. "Since no one said anything, I just went the way I was," he says. Wong's manager and producer abandoned the project early on, and the album was left to fate and Wong's own efforts. That the Eng­lish-language station played his songs is a testament to the strength of Wong's singing and songwriting abilities.

Wong did not have an image de­ signer to turn to, but he has created a successful image by simply relying on his naturally outgoing, offbeat personality. In fact, Wong is quite an attraction. He is restless and animated, and has a performing and interview style all his own. His shoulder-length hair and headband have become his trademark. And next to the clean-cut student look of other popular stars, Wong is a rebel hippy rocker. And this, Wong says, is what makes him stand out in a market that churns out what he calls "factory, corporate pop."

And then there's television. Tsou's selling point was her lucid, emotive voice; but in a medium where program hosts emphasize pretty and sweet, Tsou was in trouble. "Singing seems second­ary here," she says. "I'm a singer, but the last thing I'm asked to do is to sing." Michael Yao is therefore concentrating on live concerts, and uses radio and print for promotions. He forges along, al­though it is disconcerting that concert venues are limited in number and size, and a live performance can draw a maxi­mum of 1,000 people, while television can draw a viewing audience of 300,000. He is nevertheless optimistic that as Tsou's schedule for live performances fill up, her opportunities to appear on television will expand.

Wong's experience encourages opti­mism. When his second album was re­leased, Wong was completely ignored by television. But he was on over seventy radio shows that first month. Soon he was swamped with press interviews, and television had to come around. Recently he went to Singapore where he did a total of eight television shows on the English and Mandarin channels. His abil­ity to sing in two languages is only just beginning to payoff.

Both Jennifer Tsou and Wong Ta-wei see their future in the rapidly growing Mandarin market. But to suc­ceed, they have to first establish a faith­ful following in Taiwan. Wong would like to gain more admirers in central and southern Taiwan, and that means more promotions and more concerts outside of Taipei. But Michael Yao, Tsou's producer, is cautious about expanding outside of Taiwan. He first wants to im­prove the quality of Tsou's music and build a local audience before moving into other markets. And he admits that the lyrics on Tsou's first album are not as good as they could have been.

Lyrics are probably the most dismal aspect of popular music in Mandarin. They might be catchy, but they are also repetitive, bland, and talk of little else but heartsick love and stressful heart­ aches. Wong says, "If you want a num­ber one hit, you have to write a song that after the first line, everybody can jump in and sing along. I want to do more thought-provoking songs." He is not alone in his criticism of formulaic music and lyrics. Tsou says, "I want to branch out into songs that deal with topics other than love and separation." But until their success allows them to be more un­conventional, both singers will toe the line so that they can appeal to the teenag­ers and to the people in their early twen­ties who make up the bulk of the music market.

Wong thinks he will make it. He sees the market moving toward a more original music-oriented direction, and perhaps even an increased demand for live performances. There have so far been few opportunities to sing outside of a recording studio. Wong feels he sings best on stage, and he went ahead to become the first Taiwan artist to perform at the island's largest disco. Previous performers at the disco include interna­tional big names such as the Jetts, Tommy Page, and Samantha Fox.

But persistence might serve the two singers well. The opportunities to suc­ceed both in Taiwan and overseas are there, as music from Taiwan is becoming more competitive all over Asia. Wong Ta-wei's Breaking Everyone's Heart is selling well in Singapore and Malaysia, and he has hopes as well of breaking into the Mainland and Japanese markets. And then, of course, there is the huge Chinese community in the United States. Jennifer Tsou looks forward to expanding into Southeast Asia and to Shanghai, her family's original home. And if Wong Ta-wei and Jennifer Tsou have anything to say about it, the performers Taiwan will offer to the ex­panding Mandarin market will be as orig­inal and as good as they come.