Feelin' groovy
Mando-pop star A-Lin lives in the shadow of her mentor A-Mei, but she remains a rare talent, writes David Frazier
In the galaxy of Chinese pop, A-Lin's star is rising. Just four years ago, she could barely attract fans to an autograph signing in her native Taipei. But by 2011, she was filling back-to-back shows at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, and has now graduated to stadium status. Following a concert for 13,000 in Taipei last month, she will try to match that turnout here when she brings her "Feel Lin" concert to the Hong Kong Coliseum on June 29.
A-Lin, born Huang Li-ling, is billed as the "natural born diva" but, even after six albums, she is still considered by many to be merely the "next A-Mei". There are reasons that the shadow of Mando-pop's biggest star has been difficult to escape. Both A-Lin and A-Mei come from Taiwan's least populated county, the isolated east coast region of Taidong. Both are aboriginals, though of different tribes. They are similarly known for strong, emotive voices, and both wear extremely tall heels - A-Lin showed up in eight-inch spikes for her Hong Kong press conference last month, and A-Mei's ankle problems after more than a dozen years dancing in pumps are well known.
Though a generation lies between them, A-Mei was there from early on to help her "little sister". Within a year of A-Lin's debut, the 2006 album , A-Mei hand-picked the younger singer as the second lead for the musical , in which she starred. The two spent weeks together preparing for performances in Taipei's largest indoor stadium. A-Lin has frequently declared her appreciation of the mentoring, on more than one occasion referring to A-Mei as her role model. But if A-Mei was known for re-energising Mandarin pop by shattering the ice princess image and inserting genuine booty shaking into the genre, A-Lin feels like something of a throwback.
A-Lin, who is 29 and has just released her sixth album, is celebrated mainly for heartsick ballads and Mando-pop slow jams such as , and .
She sings over piano ballads with synthesised string fills, as if Mando-pop were still in the 1990s. Her designation as an R'n'B singer seems purely pro forma, because really, are there any Taiwanese pop singers under 30 who are not advertised as R'n'B?
Also, unlike A-Mei, A-Lin has never played up her aboriginal identity. Even if she is a little more natural or genuine than her Han counterparts, she is still a good girl who defers to elder entertainers (on television talk shows, for example). Much of this image has to do with her production team at Avex, a major factory for Mandarin pop. But it is undeniable that A-Lin is a natural talent with prodigious vocal range.
As legend has it, A-Lin was very nearly discovered as a teenager. After Taiwan's devastating 2001 earthquake, she volunteered for relief efforts. Amid the rubble, agent Huang Chen-hsuan heard her teaching displaced children to sing the American gospel classic . But before A-Lin could give Huang her number, he had wandered off.
She became a pub singer, and four years later, while singing at a music pub in Taipei, Huang happened to be in the audience. He approached her after her set. "I had forgotten about him," A-Lin said in recent television interview. But once Huang brought up their first encounter, she shot back, "Why did you make me wait so long?"
In some ways, A-Lin is still waiting for true stardom to hit. In the Golden Melody Awards, Taiwan's version of the Grammy's, she has been nominated for best female singer in three of the past four years, but has yet to take home the prize. But now she is showing she can fill stadiums. It may not be long before she goes from natural born diva to a bone fide queen of pop.
