Jolin Tsai

Jolin Tsai (Chinese: 蔡依林; pinyin: Cài Yīlín; Wade-Giles: Ts'ai I-lin) is a Golden Melody Award winning Taiwanese Mandopop singer. To date, Tsai is one of the most successful and popular singers in the Mandarin music market.

1 Early life
2 Musical career
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Early life

Though Tsai was introverted and shy as a child, her mother realized early on that she was of scholarly material, so her mother brought her to attend Japanese-style mathematics lessons, which she completed more rapidly than anyone expected she would. During her primary school years, she constantly scored 100 points and ranked top three of her class. ^[1] There was only once she failed to rank in the top three of her class and was placed tenth.^[2] Eventually, her scholastic abilities enabled her to enroll at Jingmei Girls' High School and later, Fu Jen Catholic University. ^[3]

Tsai devoted her youth to studying the English language, self-studying English in her primary school years. She eventually majored in English Literature at Fu Jen Catholic University, a Taiwanese university that is popular for its English culture. Fu Jen Catholic University is regarded for its Department of English Language and Literature and includes in its ranks of alumni a number of Taiwanese entertainers.

During her childhood years, Tsai developed an interest in singing and experimented with different vocal techniques after listening to the songs of popular female divas such as Teresa Teng and Faye Wong.

[edit] Musical career

See also: Jolin Tsai discography and List of Jolin Tsai awards

[edit] 1998-2001: Universal Music

Tsai first started out by taking part in an MTV singing competition at the age of 18. She won the top prize at the competition with her rendition of Whitney Houston's #1 hit "Greatest Love of All". She was then signed by Universal Music.

On July 1999, her first single "Living With the World" (和世界做鄰居) was released. It was sold in convenience stores and was a tremendous success,^[4] which led to the release of her first album, Jolin 1019, on September 1999. At that time, she was packaged as "The Girl Next Door," and was an instant hit with teenagers, earning her the title "Teenage Boy Killer". Jolin 1019 ended up selling more than 400,000 copies in Asia. With the success of her first album, she released her anticipated second album in May 2000, Don't Stop. Many of the hits from that album were well known throughout Asia and the album was also a tremendous success.^{[citation needed]} She also released her first photobook with pictures mainly taken in Hawaii.

Tsai's image changed for her third album, Show Your Love. Nearing the age of 21, she released an album that was much more mature and soothing. However, the album did not sell as well as her last two albums. Her fourth album, Lucky Number, was not able to bring her back to the same level of popularity either. The following year, due to conflicts with her record company, Tsai did not release any albums. She did, however, release her second photo book, with photos taken in Thailand. At the end of 2001, Tsai's contract with Universal Music ended and her first greatest hits compilation, Together was released.

[edit] 2002-2006: Sony BMG

Tsai signed with Sony Music that year and got the biggest break of her whole career. The first single released was the track "Spirit Of The Knight" (騎士精神), which became a big hit and led to the highly anticipated release of her album Magic (看我72變). The album turned out to be a smashing success, topping the Taiwan album charts for three full months and selling more than 300,000 copies in Taiwan alone. The album has sold over a million copies in Asia.^[5] The album boasted many of her most well-known singles, including the hit dance song that brought Tsai back to the top of the charts "See My 72 Changes" (看我72變) and the extremely popular "Say Love You" (說愛你). The latter song and several others, including the hit "Prague Square" (布拉格廣場) were penned by fellow Taiwan mega star Jay Chou (周杰倫). The new image she presented for this album was more playful and sexy than before and her music became more dance-oriented. This transformation gave her what she needed to make a comeback to the music scene after being gone for almost a year.

Tsai's sixth album, Castle (城堡), was just as popular as its predecessor and became a top album in many Asian countries.^{[citation needed]} Just as with Magic, many songs on this album were written by Chou, her rumored boyfriend at that time. Two of these songs, the cute and playful "It's Love" (就是愛) and the moving rock ballad "Rewind" (倒帶), became two of Tsai's biggest hits. Prior to the album's release, she showcased her single "Pirates" (海盜), another song composed by Chou, at a mini-concert. She subsequently filmed one of the most expensive music videos in Chinese history for the song.^{[citation needed]} This album also featured many other hit songs including the main upbeat dance track "36 Tricks of Love" (愛情36計), the sad love ballads "The Smell of Lemon Grass" (檸檬草的味道) and "Disappearing Castle" (消失的城堡), and "Love Love Love" (Love Love Love), a Chinese cover of the Nu Virgos song "Stop Stop Stop". Tsai also wrote the lyrics to the song "The Starter" (始作俑者).

Between Castle and her next studio album, Tsai released a CD of remixes called J9 New + Party Collection. This remix album featured two new songs including the hit song "Signature Pose" and remixes of Tsai's most popular dance songs. A medley of her dance hits was also included on the album.

On April 25, 2005, Tsai seventh album J-Game was released, also topping charts throughout Asia and making her extremely popular in Hong Kong, Mainland China, Malaysia, and Singapore. Not only did the album become the longest running album on the Taiwanese album charts in 2005, it also sold over 1 million copies throughout Asia in just a little over a month.^[6] The album featured many more hip-hop influenced tracks than before, though it retained the dance pop and love ballads that made her famous. Though she supposedly broke up with Chou around the time the album was recorded, Tsai was able to find many other writers and producers for this album, including another huge pop star, Lee-Hom Wang. One of the songs he penned for Jolin, "Exclusive Myth" (獨佔神話), was included on the album. The first single of the album "Barbaric Game" (野蠻遊戲) was a huge hit across Asia and it was followed by several other strong singles including "The Greek Girl Next To The Wishing Pond" (許願池的希臘少女) (composed by rising Hong Kong singer Ivana Wong), "Sky" (天空), "Repeat Signs" (反覆記號), "I Really Miss You" (好想你) and "Eyes Half Shut" (睜一隻眼閉一隻眼). The music video of the latter song presented a much sexier image of Tsai than ever seen before. During this time, Tsai also rapped on a smash duet with her good friend Show Luo called "The Real Chosen One".

Late in 2005, Tsai released her J1 Live Concert DVD, featuring performances from a concert she did in Taipei in late 2004. Her biggest hits from her first two albums with Sony are performed. Luo makes a guest appearance in the performance of "Prove It". The concert also had a guest appearance by Chou, in which he danced together with Jolin, however this portion was not included in the DVD. It was later placed in the DVD for her greatest hits compilation, J-Top.

In early 2006 it was announced that Tsai would be leaving Sony BMG, the record company that helped elevate her to superstar status, and joining EMI Capitol.^[7] Since her debut and through her years at Sony, Tsai progressed very quickly in becoming an excellent dancer and performer. To prepare for her new album, Tsai worked very hard to perfect her dancing and change up her style yet again. This was evident at the 2006 MTV Asia Awards where she performed her hot new single "Dancing Diva" (舞孃) with elements of yoga and using various props including a ball and a ribbon. She also won the Style Award during the ceremony, demonstrating the influence she has in Asia.^[8]

In May, 2006, Sony released a greatest hits compilation album called J-Top, which included two CDs and a DVD with new and previously unreleased music videos and a 70 minute documentary on Tsai's time at Sony. The compilation featured many of the best songs from the albums she released under Sony. There were two new songs included on the album, one of which featured a music video where Tsai looks back on all her old music videos.

[edit] 2006-present: Capitol Records

Jolin Tsai became the online game spokeswoman of "We Dancing Online" after the CD album release of "Dancing Forever".

After the release of J-Top, her first album with Capitol, Dancing Diva was released on May 12, 2006. This album became Tsai's biggest album yet, selling over 2 million copies in Asia.^[9] The album featured some of her most popular and sexiest dance songs ever, including the aforementioned title track "Dancing Diva" (舞孃), "Pulchritude" (玩美), "Mr.Q" (the music video for this song shows a very sexy Tsai getting intimate with Hong Kong pop star Edison Chen), and the bonus track "Attraction of Sexy Lips"(唇唇欲動) (a song she did as part of an endorsement deal with MaxFactor which is almost close to Anita Mui's song "Hot Red Lips"). The album also featured two of the biggest hits in Asia during the year: the fun and upbeat "A Wonder in Madrid" (馬德里不思議)and the touching love ballad "Pretence" (假裝). She collaborated with good friend and labelmate Stanley Huang on the song "Nice Guy" (乖乖牌), which he also helped to write. Tsai also had some writing duties on the album, writing the lyrics for the song "The Prologue" (開場白), which many speculate was written about Chou. The album was re-released in July as the "Perfect Celebration Edition" with a DVD featuring music videos of all eleven of the songs on the album. She has done the same thing for Magic, Castle, and J-Game as well.

During the fall of 2006, Tsai began her Dancing Forever World Tour, performing concerts to sellout crowds in Asia. The huge opening concert in Hong Kong, which took place on her birthday, featured many special guests, including one of Hong Kong's top male artists Eason Chan, Taiwan's rising pop princess Rainie Yang, and Luo. Luo and Huang also made surprise appearances in other stops of her tour, however, the most shocking moment was when she kissed fellow Taiwanese diva Elva Hsiao on the lips during one of her concerts. Tsai made guest appearances at her friend Stefanie Sun's concerts, while she and popular Singaporean male artist JJ Lin took turns appearing at each other's concerts.

Tsai released another album, Dancing Forever (唯舞獨尊) in October 2006. It features two CDs and a DVD. The first disc is comprised of all-new material, including the title track and theme for her tour: "Dancing Forever". Covers of songs by Chinese divas Sandy Lam and Faye Wong and a duet called "Marry Me Today" (今天你要嫁給我)she recorded with her idol and mentor David Tao, are also included. Furthermore, she experiments with two other dialects - Taiwanese and Cantonese (the Canto version of "Pretence" is on the album). Up to this point, she has only released music in Mandarin and English. The second disc features remixes of three dance hits from Dancing Diva, while the DVD features the LUX sponsored mini-concert she performed in the summer in Kaohsiung. It features Huang and Taiwanese guy group Energy.

A month later, Sony released another 2 CD compilation album called Jolin Favorite Live Concert Music Selection. This album consists of remixes of popular songs Jolin recorded under Sony, as well as rare live tracks.

Tsai ended 2006 on a high note, performing hits like "Mr.Q", "A Wonder in Madrid", "Pretence" and "Dancing Diva" at several New Year countdown parties in Taiwan. Furthermore, according to g-music, Dancing Diva became the biggest selling album of the year in Taiwan, while Dancing Forever reached #15 on the year-end album sales charts.^[10] Dancing Diva accounted for 4.26% of all Mandarin album sales in Taiwan for the year, ahead of Jay Chou's Still Fantasy, which placed second and accounted for 3.50%. Tsai's singles also topped year-end charts,^[11] particularly her extremely popular duet with David Tao, which is considered by many lists to be the #1 song of the year in Taiwan. Singles like "Dancing Diva," "Pretence," and "A Wonder in Madrid" were also the winners of many song awards at the end of 2006 and the start of 2007.

Tsai released The Acquired Talent (地才) (DVD, photobook and poster) on June 8, 2007, which featured performances from her latest world tour and documented her hard work and perseverance in preparing for the tour. The DVD shows footage of her performing dance sequences with concert guests Luo, Huang, and Hsiao. The DVD opened at the top of the Taiwanese audio/video charts and stayed there for thirteen weeks.^[12] It is said that her new album will be coming out in mid-August or September.

On June 16, Tsai finally won at the most prestigious music awards show in Taiwan. She received the Most Favorite Female Artist and the Best Female Singer awards at the 18th Annual Golden Melody Awards.^[13]^[14] Furthermore, her duet with David Tao won the Best Song award. Tsai's win for Best Female Singer has drawn some criticisms from netizens and industry critics due to her voice not being as strong as the other nominees (A-mei, Sandy, Angela Chang, and Penny Tai). However, many say that she won due to her all-round talent, hard work, and universal pop appeal.^[15] Regardless of the controversy surrounding this award, her other award for Most Favorite Female Artist shows the immense popularity she has around the world as the award was voted on by the fans for a couple of months prior to the awards show. She beat out many other huge pop stars like S.H.E, Fish Leong, Sun, Hsiao, Twins, A-mei, Yang, and others.

Just a few days before the release of Tsai's new album at Capitol Records, Sony released another compilation album, Jolin's Final Wonderland. This collection is the most comprehensive, featuring almost all the songs Tsai released during her time at Sony. The album includes three CDs (songs are separated into dance songs, cute songs, and love ballads), as well as a DVD with 22 music videos and a 52-page photo book.

Tsai's second album with Capitol Records, titled Agent J (特務J), was released on September 21, 2007. The album features eleven new tracks and the bonus track "Let's Move It," which was used as a promotional track in commercials for Toyota. The deluxe version of the album features a 3-part 70-minute music movie filmed in France, London, and Bangkok. The movie, costing NT 50 million to film, stars Tsai as the leather-clad Agent J and features popular Korean actor Kim Jae Won and Hong Kong stars Stephen Fung and Carl Ng.^[16]^[17] During the filming of the movie, Tsai had to learn two new forms of dance in 10 days: aerial silk dancing and poledancing, almost paralyzing her right arm and causing her to faint in the process.^[18] Hits from the album include the title track "Agent J", the ballads "Alone" and "Fear Free", and the dance tracks "Bravo Lover" (best known for its dance steps) and "Tacit Violence".

According to g-music Taiwan, the album accounted for 45% of album sales and over 65% of Mandarin album sales in Taiwan in its first week of release. Since its release, the album had stayed at the #1 position for two weeks.^[19] For the first time, Tsai released two more versions of the album: the Champion Special Edition (featuring 10 music videos, 4 dance instruction music videos, and a remix of Bravo Lover) and the No. 1 Special Celebration Edition (featuring the "Let's Move It" music video and her "Agent J" celebration concert featuring the best male artist at the Golden Melody Awards, Nicky Lee from Taiwanese hip-hop group Machi).

Tsai then collaborated with western pop queen, Kylie Minogue in a song called "In My Arms", which would be included in the Asian version of Kylie's album X. Tsai was invited to the world premiere of Kylie's movie 'White Diamond', where Tsai presented Kylie with her newest album and a jade bracelet which she personally picked for her.

Soon after, Tsai traveled to Hong Kong for Christmas, attending various functions and performing and winning three awards at the 2007 Metro Showbiz Music Awards, before returning to Taiwan. Once again, Tsai ended off the year performing hits in Taiwan to celebrate the end of 2007. For the second year in a row, Tsai had the best-selling album in Taiwan. According to g-music, sales of Agent J accounted for 3.08% of all album sales in Taiwan and 5.96% of Chinese albums for the year, even higher than the numbers for Dancing Diva a year ago. ^[20] Agent J also topped the year-end album charts according to Five Music, while The Acquired Talent was the best-selling music DVD of the year. ^[21]^[22]^[23]

Like the previous year, Tsai also topped the Hito Top 100 Singles chart for the year. This time her song "Sun Will Never Set" was voted to be the top song of the year by over 340,000 voters. ^[24]

In April 2008, Tsai incorporated newly-learnt skills such as flying rings and pipe dance in addition to her usual multi-style dances in her concert in Beijing's Workers' Gymnasium.

Tsai released her English book entitled Love Exercise (愛的練習語) on 7th March 2008. ^[25] ^[26]

[edit] Fundraising

After the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, Tsai was one of the first few artists to contribute to the Earthquake Relief Fund. She, together Jay Chou, S.H.E., Jiang Hui and over 100 celebrities appeared in the “Send Out Your Love” fundraising disaster relief show on the 18th of May to help raise more funds to help the victims. ^[27]

[edit] Links with Edison Chen

Edison Chen has collaborated with Tsai on various projects, and has been a rumoured love interest.

During February 2008, Tsai was drawn into the Edison Chen photo scandal. Some images of a Tsai lookalikes have previously appeared. Then there was further speculation following police revelations of more compromising photographs of unnamed celebrities. In an effort to contain the damage to her reputation, Tsai issued a statement through her agent that she had "never been involved with Chen". She issued a "reward" of TWD100 million defying anyone to come forward with legally authenticated photographs, and also threatened to seek full redress from any parties for the "smears".^[28]