Sunny side up for singer Stefanie<\/p>\n
Clara Chow, The Straits Times\/ANN<\/p>\n
If music fans in Taiwan and Hong Kong understand why Singapore
\nfrowns on chewing gum and smoking, chances are they could have
\nheard the reasons from homegrown singer Stefanie Sun.<\/p>\n
On chat shows there, Singapore's most successful pop export to
\nAsia often has to field questions about such issues.<\/p>\n
\"I try to be objective and point out the pros and cons --
\nthat's why we feel safe at night and the streets are so clean,\"
\nthe petite 27-year-old tells Life! about how she responds, in an
\ninterview in Swissotel The Stamford hotel recently.<\/p>\n
She was on a whirlwind visit home from Nov. 4 to promote her
\nninth album, A Perfect Day, and flew back to her current base in
\nTaipei on Nov. 6.<\/p>\n
Released last month, it has sold 10,000 copies here and
\n150,000 in Southeast Asia so far.<\/p>\n
Sun sounds freer and edgier in her new work, something which
\nhas won praise from critics here. But some fans have been less
\nthan impressed, deeming it less catchy than her previous efforts.<\/p>\n
On this, she says: \"I always want to find a new angle in
\nmusic, to life, to love.<\/p>\n
\"I didn't change my style deliberately. It was just how I was
\nfeeling during that phase.\"<\/p>\n
She quotes the lyrics of one of the songs, Tears Forming A
\nPoem: \"My tears have been recycled and turned into rain. I've
\nalready treated your cruelty as a compliment.\"<\/p>\n
Looking wistful, she philosophizes: \"There are times when you
\nfeel a certain resentment once you're out of love. All you can do
\nis blame the other person.\"<\/p>\n
Press her on whether the lyrics reflect her love life and she
\nchecks herself.<\/p>\n
\"No, I've been ... okay,\" she says hesitantly. \"There have
\nbeen a few heartaches ... \"<\/p>\n
Then, she says firmly: \"But not a convenient time to talk
\nabout this.\"<\/p>\n
She reportedly shed silent tears when Taiwanese talk-show host
\nJacky Wu asked her about her romance with 31-year-old Singaporean
\naccountant Dennis Foo on his program recently.<\/p>\n
That prompted unconfirmed talk that her two-and-a-half-year
\nrelationship was in trouble.<\/p>\n
But her record company, Warner Music, later told the press
\nthat the tears were a reaction to the trials of being an
\nentertainer as her work schedule this year had prevented her from
\nvisiting her grandmother before the latter died.<\/p>\n
Sullen teenager<\/p>\n
One thing is for sure though -- marriage is not on the cards
\nsoon. The doting aunt to her elder sister's children -- an infant
\nniece and a year-old nephew -- says she doesn't see herself as a
\nmother just yet.<\/p>\n
Born Sng Ee Tze to a lecturer father and teacher mother, she
\ngrew up the middle child. Her two sisters are a 30-year-old who
\nworks in the banking sector and a 21-year-old medical student at
\nthe National University of Singapore.<\/p>\n
A self-confessed \"awkward kid\", she went to Raffles Girls'
\nSecondary School and St Andrew's Junior College.<\/p>\n
\"I felt that I never really fit in. I used to be sullen and
\nwould stay in my room thinking about a lot of things, although I
\ncan't remember what now.\"<\/p>\n
She admits that she would probably have made a good
\nadvertising executive if she had gone down that path after
\ngraduating with a business degree from the Nanyang Technological
\nUniversity in 1999.<\/p>\n
\"Both advertising and being a singer is about understanding
\nhuman behavior,\" she says.<\/p>\n
But, mentored by Singaporean singer-songwriter-producer Paul
\nLee Wai Shiong, she hit it big in Taiwan in May 2000 with her
\ndebut album I Am Stefanie Sun.<\/p>\n
Altogether, she has sold more than 3.1 million copies of her
\neight albums, including a compilation CD and an English-language
\ncovers project.<\/p>\n
Even a year-long hiatus in 2003 did not cause a dent in her
\npopularity. A comeback album, Stefanie, released last November,
\nsold 100,000 copies in Asia, and 25,000 here in a month.<\/p>\n
In September, she held two concerts at the Hong Kong Coliseum
\nwith tickets selling out in three hours.<\/p>\n
And at the 12th Singapore Hit Awards at Suntec City recently,
\nshe won four awards, including Best Performing Regional Female
\nArtiste and Song Of The Year (for Same Kind).<\/p>\n
Sun exposure<\/p>\n
Such triumphs keep her in the news.<\/p>\n
Asked if she saw her recent publicity stunt of spending 24
\nhours in a glass house outside Taipei 101, the world's tallest
\nbuilding, to promote her new album as a metaphor for her life in
\nshowbiz, she agrees.<\/p>\n
\"In Taiwan, the paparazzi would camp outside my house. But I'm
\nnot a very wild person. I'm sure they are very confused sometimes
\nas to whether they should follow me or not.\"<\/p>\n
It is only back home, where she has bought a Bukit Timah
\nlanded property and lives with her retired parents and sisters,
\nthat she enjoys a certain degree of anonymity and privacy.<\/p>\n
Is it because Singaporeans are not proud about their own
\nmusical successes? Sun flashes a knowing smile and says: \"It's
\ngetting a lot better. But it took some time.<\/p>\n
\"Initially, you could feel the skepticism, like 'Aw, really?
\nWho is she?' But after I won some awards, people started to
\nrecognize me. It's such a pity it has to be this way because we
\nhave good musicians here.\"<\/p>\n
Not that she is now completely free of detractors, who are
\nmiffed perhaps by her seemingly smooth ascendancy to pop stardom.<\/p>\n
But music-industry insiders here feel that she is maintaining
\nher position as pop princess well.<\/p>\n
Lim Sek, chief executive of entertainment company Music &
\nMovement, observes: \"Although there are changes here and there,
\nshe is always going in the right direction -- staying within pop,
\nwhich is what she does best.\"<\/p>\n
He adds: \"She has got a sunshine disposition and it's
\nreflected in her songs. And she's always open to new styles and
\nmaking them her own.\"<\/p>\n
Songwriter Eric Ng, who has worked with Sun on her past two
\nalbums, pins her appeal down to her voice and girl-next-door
\nimage.<\/p>\n
\"She's got a unique tone -- not technically perfect, but the
\nright mixture of prowess and emotion. She doesn't put on airs,
\nand that's important for the success of any artiste.\"<\/p>\n
Many of her fans agree. Designer Wu Yen Yen, 28, says: \"It
\nsounds cheesy, but when I think of her, it feels like home.\"<\/p>\n
Danny Yeo, a former DJ and now media studies lecturer at Ngee
\nAnn Polytechnic, notes: \"She is more confident now and also has
\nthe bargaining power to explore beyond commercial genres. From
\nher third album on, she has been slipping in more alternative
\nsongs into her albums.\"<\/p>\n
So what does Sun make of her lofty position and standing with
\nindustry folks and fans?<\/p>\n
Maybe she's a wiser pro now because she says matter-of-factly:
\n\"I never want to measure these things. Like, look, I sold how
\nmany copies of my album.<\/p>\n
\"It's just doing a job. When I finish it, it's in the past.\"<\/p>\n
You ask her what she would want to be doing when she turns 30,
\n40 and 50. She thinks long and hard before replying: \"By 30,
\nmaybe I'll have the impulse to get married.<\/p>\n
\"By 40, I'll be very comfortable. The Desperate Housewives are
\nin their 40s, right? I'll probably be like them, going for Botox.
\n\"And by 50, dunno lah. But I must age gracefully. Like my
\nmother.\"<\/p>",
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