TAIWAN: Taiwan's singing sensation Jolin Tsai aims for the silver screen

Jolin Tsai, Taiwan pop phenomenon and famous dancer-singer throughout East Asia, is now planning to launch an acting career. Tsai, 27, who won the latest Golden Melody Award as Best Female Singer and who was also voted as the favorite female singer of the year, said the award opened doors for more opportunities in the dance music genre. "For me, winning the award was not an end, it is a recognition to my past achievements, but the future is still unknown, so I need to continue with the effort," Tsai told Reuters in an interview at her Taipei recording company office. Tsai recorded a duet with Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue for Minogue's new album due out next month, but for now the singer wants to secure the Chinese market. "Everyone has unique characteristics. I think that I am able to occupy a good place in the dance music market, of course I wish to improve, especially when there is relatively fewer dance songs in the Chinese-speaking world," said Tsai. Tsai, who has no film experience, said she was looking to star in light-hearted movies with a dance theme to capitalize on her strong fan base in China, Taiwan and Chinese-speaking Southeast Asia as well as ethnic Chinese elsewhere in the world. Scenic areas such as the lakes and mountains of Jiuzhaigou in the western province of Sichuan were her location of choice for her films, she said. She has performed in China more times than she can count and sold many of her millions of album copies there. "To sing each song in the album, you may need an entirely different music expression such as a change in the vocal aspect. The same applies to acting, sometimes you may act as someone who lives a life very different from yours. I have yet to explore the movies, but if I meet a director who is willing to coach, then I think it will be fun," said Tsai. The show might not stop in China. Taiwan-born Tsai's break into movies could generate recognition outside the Chinese-speaking world, where other local pop singers often fail because of differing music tastes and language barriers. Tsai first made a name in 1999 by winning first place in an MTV singing competition with a cover of the Whitney Houston song "The Greatest Love of All." Her first album, Jolin 1019, came out a year later and sold more than 400,000 copies in Asia. She has released nine albums altogether. The most successful, Dancing Diva, sold more than one million copies following its release last year. Her latest album, Agent, has sold more than 150,000 copies since its release in September this year.

ITN Source | October 31, 2007

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