Whether you like or dislike Tiger Huang’s (黃小琥) music, one thing is for certain: she is always entertaining. A veteran singer in the Mando-pop industry, Huang finally became a household name a few years ago after she landed a role as a judge on the TV talent show One Million Star (超級星光大道).
This newfound fame rejuvenated what had been a sagging career. Last month, Huang released Simple, Or Not (簡單/不簡單), her first new album in eight years.
Huang will present a mini concert titled 2010 Tiger Full Throttle Not So Simple (2010琥力全開不簡單演唱會) tomorrow at Legacy Taipei to promote the album’s release. She also performs regularly on Monday nights at EZ5 Live House in Taipei.
A straightforward, take-no-prisoners kind of gal, Huang is best known as the acid-tongued judge on One Million Star who spews scathing criticism at the show’s impressionable young contestants. She was no less straightforward during a phone interview with the Taipei Times on Tuesday.
“I have a very eclectic style on this new album. It’s not just love songs anymore,” Huang says. “There is funky dance, R ’n’ B and even rock songs.”
Winning the Best New Comer gong at the 1990 Golden Melody Awards for her debut album Not Just Friends (不只是朋友) failed to propel Huang to the fore of the music world. An odd figure in a Mando-pop landscape populated with photogenic, prepackaged idols, she was mostly overlooked by the major labels and spent much of her career recording more cover albums than original releases.
Performing on the pub circuit to cultivate a fanbase earned Huang the moniker of “the Queen of Pubs” (Pub女王), a singer with a smoky voice that conveys the aura of a woman who has been places and seen things.
Despite a lack of quality original songs, Huang manages to put her personal stamp on every cover she’s interpreted with her distinctively throaty, soulful voice and jazz-infused phrasing. Her virtuosic renditions of classic tunes in both Chinese and English have endeared her to audiences in the know.
When asked how she would describe her voice, she responds somewhat tersely, “Get my CDs and listen to them. I don’t know how to describe it.”
Pressed further, she relents and answers, “It’s unique and very low. Actually my voice is husky but not low. I can sing in very high notes.”
Asked how she feels about her newfound fame as a TV talent show judge, she responds, “These are all platforms. I simply need a platform.”
When asked what oldies she intends to tackle at tomorrow’s concert in addition to her new songs, she hisses, “I can’t tell you that, and this information is of no use to you anyway.”
Asked what music projects she intends to pursue in the future, such as theater, she moans, “You’re probably too young to know this. I’ve done theater, actually, but nobody knows.”
For her highly acclaimed concert in 2008, Huang made headlines when she tackled Jolin Tsai’s (蔡依林) Dancing Diva (舞孃) and No Mercy (愛無赦), complete with all of Tsai’s dance moves. Last year, Tsai sent a gift card challenging Huang to have a go at her song Butterfly (花蝴蝶), according to media reports.
Asked which of Tsai’s songs she might consider tackling again, Huang snarls, “Whether I hold a concert or not is not related to Jolin Tsai. Jolin Tsai does not affect what songs I want to sing!”
June 23 to June 29 After capturing the walled city of Hsinchu on June 22, 1895, the Japanese hoped to quickly push south and seize control of Taiwan’s entire west coast — but their advance was stalled for more than a month. Not only did local Hakka fighters continue to cause them headaches, resistance forces even attempted to retake the city three times. “We had planned to occupy Anping (Tainan) and Takao (Kaohsiung) as soon as possible, but ever since we took Hsinchu, nearby bandits proclaiming to be ‘righteous people’ (義民) have been destroying train tracks and electrical cables, and gathering in villages
This year will go down in the history books. Taiwan faces enormous turmoil and uncertainty in the coming months. Which political parties are in a good position to handle big changes? All of the main parties are beset with challenges. Taking stock, this column examined the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) (“Huang Kuo-chang’s choking the life out of the TPP,” May 28, page 12), the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) (“Challenges amid choppy waters for the DPP,” June 14, page 12) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) (“KMT struggles to seize opportunities as ‘interesting times’ loom,” June 20, page 11). Times like these can
Dr. Y. Tony Yang, Associate Dean of Health Policy and Population Science at George Washington University, argued last week in a piece for the Taipei Times about former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) leading a student delegation to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) that, “The real question is not whether Ma’s visit helps or hurts Taiwan — it is why Taiwan lacks a sophisticated, multi-track approach to one of the most complex geopolitical relationships in the world” (“Ma’s Visit, DPP’s Blind Spot,” June 18, page 8). Yang contends that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has a blind spot: “By treating any
Swooping low over the banks of a Nile River tributary, an aid flight run by retired American military officers released a stream of food-stuffed sacks over a town emptied by fighting in South Sudan, a country wracked by conflict. Last week’s air drop was the latest in a controversial development — private contracting firms led by former US intelligence officers and military veterans delivering aid to some of the world’s deadliest conflict zones, in operations organized with governments that are combatants in the conflicts. The moves are roiling the global aid community, which warns of a more militarized, politicized and profit-seeking trend