Mando-pop songstress Hsu Chia-ying (徐佳瑩), aka Lala, the sole singer/songwriter to emerge from the TV talent show One Million Star (超級星光大道), made her solo debut performance at Legacy Taipei (傳音樂展演空間) on Friday in what turned out to be a riveting show.
Dressed in a peach blouse, Hsu kicked off the evening with the title track of her most recent album, Extreme (極限), one of two elegantly crafted folk pop outings she released after winning the TV competition, and then moved on to deliver two heartbreakers: Decapitated Love (殘愛) and Disco (迪斯可).
While appearing on One Million Star, Hsu’s co-contestant Born Lee (李伯恩) professed his admiration for her live on TV and the pair went on to date for two years before splitting up.
Photo Courtesy Of Aais Muse
“When I became single, I couldn’t sleep and didn’t eat for a week. Everywhere I went, I saw his shadow,” Hsu told the audience at Legacy Taipei. “No matter how many times you hear this experience described in pop songs, when it happens to you, you think ‘my god!’”
Hsu went on to perform more exuberant numbers such as Waltz (圓舞曲) and Humming a Love Song (哼情歌) from her debut album, the latter song a bittersweet ode to love.
Hsu elicited laughs by changing into pajamas halfway through the concert, which was titled Come Hear Me Sing in My Home (去我家唱歌給你聽).
Highlights of the show included cover songs, and a guest appearance by rapper Soft Lipa (蛋堡), who performed a duet with Hsu of Classic (經典), a hip-hop number that saw the folk singer exploring unfamiliar territory.
The climax came when Hsu covered Lady Gaga’s Telephone, starting off in a bossa nova groove and then switching to high-octane rock.
Surprisingly, Hsu pulled off this radical reinterpretation of Gaga’s hit.
Although Hsu is widely acclaimed as a songwriter of pensive and folksy numbers, she is also an accomplished interpreter of other performers’ songs — the night’s most lively moments came when she delivered uplifting covers.
Hsu ended the evening with her recent hit Fear of Height (懼高症), and performed Oasis (綠洲) as an encore.
The charismatic songstress’ debut performance was supremely confident. Her riveting delivery of cover songs proves she is capable of taking on other genres.
As mega K-pop group BTS returns to the stage after a hiatus of more than three years, one major market is conspicuously missing from its 12-month world tour: China. The omission of one of the group’s biggest fan bases comes as no surprise. In fact, just the opposite would have been huge news. China has blocked most South Korean entertainment since 2016 under an unofficial ban that also restricts movies and the country’s popular TV dramas. For some Chinese, that means flying to Seoul to see their favorite groups perform — as many were expected to do for three shows opening
A recent report from the Environmental Management Administration of the Ministry of Environment highlights a perennial problem: illegal dumping of construction waste. In Taoyuan’s Yangmei District (楊梅) and Hsinchu’s Longtan District (龍潭) criminals leased 10,000 square meters of farmland, saying they were going to engage in horticulture. They then accepted between 40,000 and 50,000 cubic meters of construction waste from sites in northern Taiwan, charging less than the going rate for disposal, and dumped the waste concrete, tile, metal and glass onto the leased land. Taoyuan District prosecutors charged 33 individuals from seven companies with numerous violations of the law. This
Taiwan’s semiconductor industry consumes electricity at rates that would strain most national grids. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) alone accounted for more than 9 percent, or 2,590 megawatts (MW), of the nation’s power demand last year. The factories that produce chips for the world’s phones and servers run around the clock. They cannot tolerate blackouts. Yet Taiwan imports 97 percent of its energy, with liquefied natural gas reserves measured in days. Underground, Taiwan has options. Studies from National Taiwan University estimate recoverable geothermal resources at more than 33,000 MW. Current installed capacity stands below 10 MW. OBSTACLES Despite Taiwan’s significant geothermal potential, the
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chair Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) returned from her trip to meet People’s Republic of China (PRC) dictator Xi Jinping (習近平) bearing “a gift” for the people of Taiwan: 10 measures the PRC proposed to “facilitate the peaceful development of cross-strait relations.” “China on Sunday unveiled 10 new incentive measures for Taiwan,” wrote Reuters, wrongly. The PRC’s longstanding habit with Taiwan relations is to repackage already extant or once-existing policies and declare that they are “new.” The list forwarded by Cheng reflects that practice. NEW MEASURES? Note the first item: establishing regular communication mechanisms between the Chinese Communist Party
RSS