Sandee Chan’s (陳珊妮) image as an ice queen is set to melt tomorrow when she ditches her goth-punk guise to unveil a new persona, that of spring goddess.
As a prelude to the summer release of an as yet untitled spring-themed album, the singer, songwriter and producer is holding a concert, dubbed Spring Goddess Cometh (春神來了), at Legacy Taipei tomorrow for which she will perform classic hits and new songs from the upcoming CD.
“This new album is modern, retro, simple, youthful and laid-back,” Chan said in a phone interview with the Taipei Times last week. “It’s not as heavy as my previous works.”
Chan won plaudits as the songstress of hits for heavyweight stars including Sammi Cheng (鄭秀文), Tony Leung (梁朝偉) and Faith Yang (楊乃文).
Her career reached a new apogee in 2005 when she beat Jay Chou
(周杰倫) to pick up the coveted Best Album Producer and the Best Mandarin-Language Album awards at the Golden Melody Awards for the extravagant love opus When We All Wept in Silence (後來我們都哭了).
In 2006 the eponymous debut album from the group Miss Gold Digger (拜金小姐) (a band Chan formed with Hong Kong musician Veronica Lee
(李端嫻) and Taiwanese illustrator Cola King (可樂王)) took the Best Group Award at the Golden Melody Awards.
“These days, computers allow everyone to produce professional music,” said Chan. “I’m always listening to new music on the Internet and looking for chances to explore new ideas or collaborate with new musicians.”
Two years later Chan won the Best Female Singer Award at the Golden Melody Awards with the pop-meets-orchestra If There Is Something Important (如果有一件事是重要的).
Her fans and friends call her “princess” (公主), a nickname that befits Chan’s commanding and majestic stage presence, and she has a reputation as a tough operator.
Asked what defines good music, Chan said: “I don’t think there is such a thing as good music.”
“Music is such a strange thing because it’s all tied to your emotional experiences,” she said. “We all have music from our high school or college years that we are emotionally attached to. Whatever music you respond to is good music.”
Over the past few years, Chan’s media profile has skyrocketed with her turn as an acid-tongued judge on the TV talent show Super Idol (超級偶像).
“There are already so many singers out there launched by TV talent shows. I wonder how many more we can accommodate,” Chan said. “The talent show can give you instant recognition. After that, you still need to face whatever challenges come up.”
In addition to music, Chan published the award-winning illustrated book Gloomy Sunday Rosy (short-listed in the Most Beautiful Books in the World category at the Leipzig Book Fair) in 2005 and displayed her photographs in an exhibition titled Little by Little in 2007.
In 2000 she penned the theme song performed by superstar Tony Leung for Wong Kar Wai’s (王家衛) In the Mood for Love (花樣年華), and she wrote and produced the whole sound track for the blockbuster Taiwanese movie Monga (艋舺), which was released in February.
Asked if she would like to push the envelope further by tackling acting, Chan laughed: “We actually talked about having me play a gangster boss’ mistress during the filming of Monga. But that didn’t pan out.”
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