Tomorrow is the last chance to catch the Taiwan leg of A-mei’s (張惠妹) world tour as her alter-ego A-mit (阿密特).
Subverting her ballad queen image, Mando-pop’s reigning diva has reinvented herself as a high-octane rock goddess under her Aboriginal name.
Performing as A-mit, the star has forsaken the frequent costume changes, elaborate stage effects and flashy dance routines that characterized her past concerts. Instead, she presents an unadulterated rock concert and lets the music speak for itself. Image-wise, an A-mit concert displays A-mei at her edgiest. Last weekend at Taipei Arena (台北小巨蛋), she made her entrance in a black-and-white warrior outfit with a skeleton design and ravishing feather wings for a three-hour, 31-song concert.
She changed costumes only twice during the entire show: to that of a seductress (in a leopard-print dress under a black leather jacket), then a dominatrix (in black lingerie with a red leather jacket complete with whip in hand).
To open the concert A-mei sang the song A-mit (阿密特) in the Bunun Aboriginal language.
In her seductress dress, she purred the lyrics of her song Victoria’s Secret (維多利亞的秘密) while posing provocatively.
In the dominatrix outfit, she flicked the whip and railed, “Your lies are my after-meal recreation. It’s bullshit!” lyrics from the song Dog Eats Dog (黑吃黑).
A-mei’s transformation has not been limited to fashion. Gone are household hits such as Listen to the Sea (聽海) and Captive (人質). In their place she sings less well-known songs that fit the A-mit tour’s rebellious theme, each one rearranged with a rock tinge.
An early highlight at last weekend’s concert came when A-mei donned a cape and showed off her vocal range singing Puccini’s aria Nessun Dorma, complete with every turning melisma and swirling high note.
Another high point was a guest appearance by Little S (小S), otherwise known as Dee Hsu (徐熙娣). The popular TV hostess hopped on stage at A-mei’s insistence and tried to bust a few moves of her own.
“My poor sister doesn’t understand the difference between rock and pornography (色情)!” A-mei quipped.
Little S grabbed A-mei’s half-exposed bossom and retorted, “And what is this?! My husband was watching the show and he suddenly said, ‘What’s that? A bust!”
In addition to playing a warrior, a modern woman asserting her own sexuality and an angst-ridden lover, A-mei also broke new ground with political commentary. Before delivering a heart-felt rendition of the new ballad Rainbow (彩虹), she remarked, “We should all appreciate love, whether it’s between a man and a man or a woman and a woman. We should all appreciate a world full of love.”
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