Spreading love

ASIA’S top all-girl singing group S.H.E. will be performing in Kuala Lumpur this Saturday. The Taiwanese pop act comprises Selina Jen (age 28), Hebe Tien (26) and Ella Chen (28). The group’s name is made up of the initials of their names.
In conjunction with their upcoming concert, the bubbly Taiwanese trio held a showcase recently in Kuala Lumpur and spoke animatedly about their gig here.

Well known for their casual girlie camaraderie, the three get along like a house on fire though they may be as different as can be. Known for her tomboyish sensibilities, the usually bubbly Ella just smiled and sat quietly while Hebe and Selina playfully bickered over her head about each other’s poses during the photoshoot.

“The concept for our show in Chinese is Ai Er Wei Yi (which means “love’s first”) because our group is made up of love in its many forms – our love for fans, our fans’ love for us.

“We decided to put that all together and express it during our concert. We want to invite everyone to share the love and have an enjoyable time at our show,” said Selina.

While other Mandopop singing groups come and go, S.H.E. has gone from strength to strength and remained Taiwan’s premier pop group. The energetic trio, who have regularly topped the music charts for the past eight years, say they are very thankful that fans continue to support them.

Continuing about their upcoming concert, Hebe offered: “There’s a change in our musical direction. We’ve got new arrangements for our songs.

“We’ve changed the choreography for our dance steps. And, we’ve also added some new costumes. That means we’ve something fresh in every aspect of our show. So, we’re prepared to excite your senses.”

This time around, Hong Kong designer Thomas Chan – who has designed for Hong Kong pop divas Faye Wong and Sammi Cheng – is on board to design the outfits for their show. The concert costumes have been reported to cost more than HKD1mil (RM430,200).

Since S.H.E. presented a crowd-pleasing Cantonese number during their Hong Kong show, the girls were asked whether they would attempt a Malay song at their Malaysian show.

Ella confessed that it would be a major challenge for them but delighted her audience with a greeting in Bahasa Malaysia: tuan-tuan dan puan-puan, terima kasih, aku cinta padamu (gentlemen and ladies, thank you, I love you).She even sang a few lines of Selamat Hari Jadi and Rasa Sayang.

The girls also revealed that their junior labelmate Yoga Lin, the Season One winner of Taiwanese reality TV star search One Million Star, would be the guest artiste at their show.

S.H.E. Is The One is the trio’s third world tour concert after the Fantasy Land (2004-2006) and Perfect 3 (2006-2009) world tours.

The trio kicked off their current tour with a two-day show in Kowloon, Hong Kong, in mid-October last year. Following that, they played in Shanghai, China, on Halloween’s Day which turned out to be a mega-celebration with 80,000 fans as it was also Selina’s birthday. Their Kuala Lumpur gig will be the third leg of their tour, which is set to take them to Beijing, Singapore and Taipei in the months to come.

Apart from preparations for their concert, the girls are kept busy recording songs for their next Mandarin album, shooting commercials, filming TV shows and attending promotional activities.

The girls have hosted variety shows and starred in several TV drama series with the boyish Ella being most frequently cast as the female lead in popular romantic comedies. Fans can catch her starring alongside Taiwanese heartthrob Jerry Yan in Down With Love, which airs on 8TV at 6.30pm on Saturdays.

Debuting in 2001, the group has since released nine studio albums, two live albums, two compilations, one digital album, as well as many other projects with other artistes. During their eight years in the Mandopop music industry, they have won over 130 music-related awards.

S.H.E. Is The One Live In Malaysia 2010 concert will be staged at Bukit Jalil National Stadium (Outdoor) this Saturday at 8pm. The concert is organised by Galaxy Entertainment.Concert tickets are selling at RM398, RM348, RM268, RM198, RM138 and RM98 (free seating). For ticket reservation and concert details, visit galaxy.com or call 03-2282 2020.

- Brickfields Sridaran