Pop Stop

This week Pop Stop is scooping the competition with news that Jay Chou (周杰倫) is looking West to develop his career and conquer the world of entertainment. Taiwan, Hong Kong, China and even Japan are all in the grip of Chou-mania after the success of last year's seminal album of "chinked-out music," November's Chopin and his movie Initial D.

Our spies in Beijing (where Chou is making a video and said to be pub crawling) have picked up an interesting posting in the online edition of That's Beijing magazine. In the help-wanted section there is an ad for an English teacher from "yida86."

"For those that don't know, Jay Zhou [sic] is a very famous singer from Taiwan" and wants "to find a part-time tutor that can help him improve his oral English."

Requirements for the job include being a native English speaker, "preferably female and with a good sense of humor" who speaks some Mandarin. "This is a great [opportunity] for someone to meet with and teach a famous celeb and get paid in the process."

Those who have met "The Chairman" report that his English is currently pretty poor, so it looks like a long-term project. Perhaps he was inspired by the example of South Korea's Rain, who has an English tutor trailing him around at all times for impromptu lessons?

It could be that she's desperate to plug her latest album, but A-mei (張惠妹, 阿妹) has been revealing more of herself than we have ever seen before. Two cup sizes more, to be precise. According to a breathless report in a local Chinese-language rag, A-mei appeared at a press conference for a cold tea drink on the weekend in a low-cut blouse that revealed significant cleavage. The Puyuma princess usually appears to be a B or C cup, the writer said, but with the help of a "magic bra" she looked more like a D. Possibly probing for a reason why the attractive singer cannot seem to find a boyfriend, the journalist went on to say that her album I Want Happiness? had been a big hit in the homosexual community. Would she consider holding a gay party? A-mei was asked. Sure, the Aboriginal singer replied, missing the barb.

TANK is the newest boy on the block, hitting the number one spot in G-Music's local pop chart with the album The Way to Survive (生存之道). Readers will no doubt be gratified to learn that the singer earned his stripes the hard way on the restaurant/bar circuit -- which is a long way from glamour town. On one occasion, the Liberty Times reported, his inability to sing in Taiwanese got him into trouble with some gangsters who had asked him to sing a traditional local tune. One of them even pulled a knife. The singer, who was born with a heart defect, managed to mollify the gangster by warbling another request and was rewarded to the tune of NT$1,000.

Tomorrow, TANK should earn a little more for his scheduled appearance at Luxy with Mojo.