Pop singer Valen Hsu is no A-Mei or Coco Lee, but she has a following and a nice sales record -- and she's doing very well in the music industry, thank you. All during the month of September, her new song True Love was everywhere, with radio play and video spin every 10 minutes, or so it seemed. The haunting refrain, "the city is so empty," rendered in English, filled the island's airwaves so often that some people began to get sick of it. But why that phrase: "the city is so empty"?
One of Off the Beat's research assistants reports:
"The song was written by a well-known composer, who has often given songs for Valen Hsu to record. His name is Lee Zong-sheng, around 40 years old. Used to be a pop singer himself. On a recent trip to Hong Kong, Lee and his girlfriend (now his wife) Lin Yi-lian -- also a pop singer -- were seeing the sights and having a romantic holiday. But early one morning, Lin received an urgent call to go to Japan for some studio work. Not wanting to wake up her husband, Lin left a note to say goodbye and flew to Tokyo. Feeling that Hong Kong had suddenly become `so empty,' Lee began writing the lyrics that would later become Valen Hsu's new hit True Love."
Hsu -- who just turned 25 -- answers to four names: Valen Hsu is her English stage name; Hsu Cung-hui is her Mandarin stage name; Hsu Hong-hsiu is her real name; and her nickname is Xiu-Xiu.
How did Valen Hsu get her English name? Is it a Taiwanese take on Valentine? If any readers or music moguls know, please e-mail us the answer at
offthebeat@taipeitimes.com
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