Taiwanese singing sensation Lin Yu-chun (林育群) sang I Will Always Love You on the NBC talent scout show America’s Got Talent on Wednesday, winning a standing ovation from the audience and judges, who said he sounded better than the original singer, Whitney Houston.
Nick Cannon, host of the show, described Lin’s live performance as astonishing, while Sharon Osbourne, one of the judges, said Lin put a lot of emotion into his singing, so much so that it moved the audience to tears.
Lin, who arrived in Los Angeles on Monday for the show’s appearance, said he was nervous about singing in English in front of foreigners, comparing the situation to a foreigner singing a Taiwanese song in Taiwan.
On Tuesday, Lin met with Grammy Award-winning record producer-songwriter Walter Afanasieff, who has worked with some of the biggest pop music names in the past decades, most notably Mariah Carey. Afanasieff said Lin had successfully learned his vocal skills from an older generation of outstanding pop singers, a feat that distinguishes him from many younger singers who have to rely on computerized acoustic technologies when recording.
According to Afanasieff, Lin should more confidently convey to his fans “this is me” through his captivating singing.
Lin vaulted to fame in April with his rendition of the Whitney Houston version of I Will Always Love You on a Taiwanese talent show.
Lin signed a record deal with Sony Music in mid-May and his first album is scheduled to be released this fall.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai