Stomp Video - March/April 07

one of the very few english interviews - promo for 逆光. Enjoy!

Stefanie Sun Yanzi & LWSSOM

TODAYonline: Sunny side up

Sunny side up

Rich, successful, charitable, caring, humble and happy all the time? How does Stefanie Sun do it?

Friday • November 23, 2007

Stefanie Sun is terribly annoying. Not in a simpering, high-maintenance princess way. No, that would make it easy to hate her. Stefanie Sun is annoying because she's just so darn … happy. All the time.

Maybe it's jealousy or jaded cynicism, but show us a person who's always cheerful, and we'll show you a medicated crackpot. How many people can honestly claim to be happy and satisfied with their lives and not have their noses grow a couple of inches? Well, apparently, Stefanie can. Even her name is spelt with a "happie" "ie", not a gloomy "y".

We're talking a singer who's got 10 hit albums under her belt, numerous music awards on her mantle, and enough earnings from her various endorsements — from SK Jewellery to New Moon Premium Fragrant Rice — to last her a lifetime, we bet. In fact, Sun was back in town last month to renew her New Moon endorsement contract for a second year. Funnily enough, rice was what spawned the idea for Dick Lee's theme song for the recent Asean summit, Rise, which was — even more funnily enough — sung by Sun at the event last Tuesday.

We're talking about a pop star who takes time off to work with World Vision to raise awareness about the world's underprivileged children. We're talking about a recording artiste who has won so many local music awards, she has announced she no longer wants to squirrel away any more. According to Sun, she made the decision to give younger singers a chance and not occupy a slot that they would otherwise have. "I look at the new artistes, and it can be such a struggle — they don't get the chance or the opportunity," she told Today.

Now, if anybody else had said that, they might have come across as arrogant. Not Sun. In fact, talking to her is like talking to some long lost friend — you want to call her "Stef" even though you've never met. Hearing it from her, she just sounded so sincere and nice that you almost applaud her generosity. And that's what many have said about her — that she's just too nice. And it works in her favour.

We all love to hear a sob story, or read about the tragic difficulties of a struggling artiste, or report about a star's fall from grace. But it's the kind of thing you read about Carina Lau — not that nice girl, Stef.

Seriously. "Singer found drunk in stairway: Says the public just want to s*** on me". Does that sound like something you'd read about her? No. Sun has cleverly managed to sidestep all that tabloid sensationalism. How does she do it?

By not living in paparazzi-hungry places like Hong Kong or Taiwan, for one. While she still makes promotional trips and appearances around the region, her home is still Singapore. "I think it's quite sad that some artistes in Hong Kong (have) their curtains perpetually drawn," she said. "I'm so glad I live in Singapore! It's very sad that their lives are reduced to that. People like Sammi (Cheng) — every small thing is turned into a big thing."

And even when Sun is involved in a "big thing", the truth is you don't want to associate anything remotely negative with her. Take that incident in Egypt in February this year when it was reported that some unsavoury characters threatened and extorted money from her for four days — at gunpoint, no less. Didn't you think: Really? That sort of thing doesn't happen to Stefanie, does it? The word on the lips of sceptics was "marketing". "I'm sure there are people who thought it was a great marketing ploy. I'm sorry, it wasn't my intention," she said, her dark eyes lighting up. "

The true story is that we had an unpleasant encounter and it was unfortunately blown out of proportion. I mean all the accusations (about what happened in Egypt) were all true. It was unfortunate. And maybe the record company also thought it was a fantastic idea to tell everyone. Did the media try to blow it up? I think so. I just say, sh** happens. That's life. Sometimes you can clean up the sh**, sometimes you can't. "So yeah, it happened, let's just get on with life. I don't know what else to say," she said.

You know what else bugs her? Hawkers. "I think the hardest part is that people tend to be judgemental and magnify the things you do," she said sighing. "For example, I like to eat bak chor mee, but when I go to hawker centres to buy it, people go like, "Eh, I thought she earn a lot of money, still want to come here?" What kind of logic is that? They probably think I can get it delivered to my house or whatever, but I like going to the hawker centre!" Great.

So on top of being successful, charitable and caring, she's humble, too. She doesn't flash her wealth. In fact, she dismisses talk that she's one of the richest young Singaporeans. "You know, they always exaggerate! You really have to discount a lot of things you read nowadays, lah. I don't think I'm in the top 10. Maybe like top 1,000 or something. "

What people don't know is that when I started out, I couldn't (command) good rates, and that went on for years." Still, Sun said she's "very comfortable". "I do admit that I have a few perks, lah!" she admitted with a laugh. So, Sun may be living the good life now, but, she said, things weren't always like that. "The first seven albums were very hectic. I was pretty much like a factory. Then, there was a highly-publicised sabbatical, but since then, it's been a lot easier to breathe, a lot easier to rethink … what you stand for, what you like. That's the most simple and important thing for an artiste. "

I've been lucky. These seven years, I've had a lot of opportunities, I've met a lot of right people, and I've worked really hard. Maybe that's the formula to success: Meet the right people and work hard. "

But life is unpredictable. Seven years ago, I wouldn't have thought that I'd be where I am, doing what I'm doing. I thought I would be married by the time I was 25, but I'm 29 now … What you wanted 10 years ago might not be what you want now. "I don't know where I'll be. You just never know … "

Maybe that's the secret to being truly happy and contented. It's either that or a whole lot of premium fragrant rice.

Stefanie Sun: Rise - Asean Theme Song

It's been airing on tv lately. So here's a download for both the MV as well as the mp3.

Download here (MP3)

Download here (MV)

2007-11-10 同一首歌唱响赣州

著名歌星孙燕姿在与台下歌迷互动。(图片来源:江西网-赣州网)

11月8日晚，中国钨业百年庆典“钨都之夜”文艺晚会在赣州市体育中心举行。中央电视台《同一首歌》栏目组携由孙燕姿、孙楠、赵薇、羽泉、陈楚生、毛宁、毛阿敏等组成的强大明星阵容，给现场观众奉献了一台精彩的演出。晚会不仅有明星参与，同时也融入了本土元素，其中赣南采茶戏、革命歌曲等陆续登场。

伴随着优美的乐曲，主持人梁永斌、曾宝仪带着灿烂的微笑缓步走上舞台，顿时体育场内掌声不断，观众的热情一浪高过一浪。孙燕姿是第一个出场的明星，她唱起动感十足的《第一天》，随着奔放热烈的歌声，彩灯闪烁，火焰熊熊，绚烂礼花腾空而起，如天女散花，盛会之夜的赣州体育中心霎时如同白昼。随即，欢呼声如潮水般响起，无数支荧光棒在挥舞，万名观众沸腾了！

Yanzi's reply to post in EMI Forum

1. Topic was: 轉自[姿stelva軒]燕姿2008全新大碟--{遠行}

Her reply : "rubbish" (as of abv)

The topic was about the tracks in yanzi's new album next year, which obviously was too crappy to be true.


2. Topic was: "yanzi你現在在哪里呢？"



Her reply: "i am unashamedly... in your heart ;)" (as of abv)

2005-01-08 Recording For Yuan Dian (原点) with Tanya

Playable by Real Player. (RM format)

Download here.

Early 2007: Yanzi photo shoot for ELLE Magazine

She's good with her posing. An abstract of her speaking in the video..

"就是说很多时候在舞台上，我觉得很多人都看的..就是往上看...然后都看到很多灯光都打在我身上...可是我都觉得其实我身边给我很多力量的人..像个谜啊..工作人员啊..他们才是给我光芒的人..所以我会觉得这首歌有主打很开心..对我来觉得是蛮有意义的歌曲.."

Playable by Windows Media Player. Download here.

逆光任务

During the promotion of her album 逆光, on what are the most regularly used msn emotions. She's so cute right? Playable by Windows Media Player.

Download here.

Singapore Hit Awards on Channel U TODAY!

Singapore Hit Awards 2007 新加坡金曲奖2007 (首播) Saturday 3 November, 7.30pm on Channel U.

Singapore's most popular music award is back! This year's special guests and celebrities include Stefanie Sun, Angela Chang, Fahrenheit, Tank, William So, Sky Wu, Kelvin Tan Weilian, Milubing and many more!

Love will keep us alive

MP3 format. Rendition of the Eagles - Love will keep us alive by Yanzi and Lee Wei Song (who's also playing the Piano) during President Stars Charity 2006. Enjoy!

Download here.