Lotus Wang (王彩桦, pinyin: Wáng Cǎihuà) returned to the top of the G Music album charts with her record, 有唱有保庇 (untranslatable into English, so just called BoBee). The album had almost 20 percent of sales for the week 7 to 13 January, marking it’s second time in the top position (it was also number one three weeks ago).The Taiwanese entertainer is an unlikely pop success story. It comes after 25 years in show business, where she started out singing in dance halls and hotels before moving on to TV hosting and acting. Then last year, at the age of 41 years, she decided to record an album, which must make her one of the oldest artists to release a debut pop record. 2010 turned out to be a year of new beginnings for Wang – she also published her first book in July.
Wang's initial plan was to release a cover of Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance, but copyright restrictions put paid to that idea. Instead she looked closer to home and Korean girl group T ara, covering their catchy dance tune Bo Peep Bo Peep. Wang’s Taiwanese version, the title track of her album, has proved to be just as infectious as the original. A barrage of promotional appearances in the last month or so helped propel Bobee, with its mix of Taiwanese and Mandarin language songs, to the top position on the music sales chart.
She's not a household name, she's not a pretty-as-a-model
ReplyDeletechanteuse, her voice has seen better times, and she's over the hill,
as far as pop music divas go.
But 41-year-old ''Lotus'' Wang -- her Taiwanese-English nickname name
-- is headed for the stars, and the future is looking good.
Yes, Chiai-hwa Wang was picked by CNN's 15-minutes-of-fame-maker Phil
Han to be the network's ''Best Viral Video of the Week'' pick, and her
music video, complete with
dancing Taoists gods and quirky choreography went viral. Over a
million hits so far and counting,
Wang's techno hit, titled "Bobee" [保庇], is a catchy tune that asks the
local deities in Taiwan for protection, stock market success, health
and good luck, and it already has engendered a number of copycat
videos as well.
In the video, shot in Taiwan, Wang is accompanied by three dancing
deities and there's no stopping it now. A star is born.
But who is this self-described "B-grade entertainer"? It's been an
uphill climb in the real world of her real life, and most people here
never heard of her before CNN annointed her.
Call it Cinderella comes to Taiwan: Lotus grew up poor, knew lots of
gloom and doom as a child, and as one pundit put, she had has nore
down than ups in her life -- until now that is.
Thanks to YouTube, social network sites such as Twitter and Facebook
and Plurk, not to mention CNN's global reach, Lotus is looking at
stardowm with a golden lining. SHe's already
making a few TV commericals endorsing all kinds of local products, and
no doubt she will publish a book soon, too.
Her Cinderella life? Her mum died of cancer when she was still in
diapers, and her dad was businessman who never made any business deals
that caught fire.
Her teen years were spent waiting tables at a sidewalk noodle shop,
and through the help of some friends, "singing" in dance halls,
burlesque venues and other gangster-controlled joints.
It's not something she likes to talk about today, but the CNN
spotlight has turned this once-ungly duckling into a glittering queen,
and she is not about to let this inernet-fuled
opporunity get away from her.
But Lotus Wang has a winning personality, it turns out, and internet
fame suits her fine. Her self-depreacting humor is for real, but at
the same time, she's been down so long,
it's looks like up to her now.
She has already released her first CD and several of the tracks on it,
in addition to ''Bobee'' have been well-received. According to local
news reports, one of her tunes, titled "Mother", is about
saying sayonara to the dearly departed, and Taiwan's funeral parlor
industry has decided to use it as its theme song.
Although some bloggers have compared her to Ayumi Hamasaki, the
Japanese pop singer (who recently married her Austrian boyfriend in
Hollywood) and America's dancing queen Beyonce, Lotus Wang will have
none of that.
"I'm just a nice Taiwanese girl with a dream," she told reporters.
Now it's a dream fueled by the ethersphere and social media, and watch
"Bobe" hit the 2 million mark soon. There's no stopping a girl named
Lotus.
Thanks Dan for all the background info - very informative. And that published book you predicted, it's already happened!
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