profile

gallery

fan

links

bbs

"Ever since I went to work in Japan alone, I feel that I have become strong and brave. The me before really loved to cry!" Does the crybaby remember what was the most recent thing she cried about? The sensitive Vivian thought carefully for half a minute, then said that it was the January of this year. "I re-watched the movie "Shine." The most moving moment was when the pianist came out from the mental institution and returned to the stage. The audience gave him a standing ovation. I thought back to all the hardship he went through before, so I cried."

As I observe Vivian working hard at making all sorts of poses and expressions, I can tell that she truly cares about her work. On that day, all of us were moved by Vivian's earnestness. The photographer particularly could not sing enough praises about her, because she was practically having a love affair with the camera. When she shot a movie in Turkey, she made all the local children sing along with her and made the whole crew laugh. She was simply born with charisma. "I really like children, so whenever I see children I become just like them. It's great! When I'm working, I always like to make sure that the atmosphere is light and relaxed. Because all of my jobs are short, it's destiny how everyone gets a chance to work together. I really want to take the shortest time to become familiar with everyone that I'm working with, just like friends. That is why I always feel sad whenever one of my jobs ends."

Her Earnestness

Acting in the movie "Accidental Spy" gave Vivian a chance to try a brand new character: a drug addict named A-Yuong. "This was the hardest movie I've ever worked in, because I was in such pathetic condition in the movie. The most difficult scene was where I was attacked by my addiction. I was supposed to have a runny nose so I tried sucking water up my nose, then letting it run. But water dried up too fast, so I tried baby oil instead. I sucked baby oil up my nose and it really felt painful. Also it ended up running into my mouth. But exactly because it was so uncomfortable that I played the role so well." Wasn't she afraid of ruining her image? "Not at all! Everyone knew it was just acting! Therefore, it's more fun to play a role that's totally unlike me. The best part about acting is that you can try things that you will usually never do in real life." That is why Vivian Hsu has a first rate attitude towards work. You can always find within her above average things. Once the photo shoot started, she requested that we turn up the music so that she could move her body along with the emotions induced by the melodies.

Her Music

When Vivian is working, she likes to bring with her a bag full of CDs. During the interview, she kept on playing songs by her favorite artist, Jane Birkin. It turned out that Vivian is a super-fan of Jane Birkin and she chatted happily about her idol: "Jane Birkin is my favorite singer. She's British but sings in French. She's in her 50s now. When she toured in Japan, I especially went to her concert. I cried four times! Whoa! I have never liked any artist so much, so much that I cried!" Probably Vivian noticed that I look confused, because Vivian started to hum "L'aquoiboniste," while saying that I must have heard of the tune. "Vanessa Paradis is French. Like Jane Birkin, she has a gap between her front teeth so there are lots of air sounds in her songs. Very cute!" Vivian rummaged through her CD bag and continued to talk to us: "I love the way that they sing with straightforward emotion. I don't like something that is too packaged. For example, Janis Joplin. Even though she drugged herself so much that her voice went hoarse, it didn't matter. From her voice, you know that she sang with every cell in her body. I'm moved." Don't call me superficial, but from Vivian's appearance I have never thought that she listened to this type of music. Besides, it's not even just listening casually, but rather with depth. Vivian even sighed, "Beatles are dead!"

Her Creativity

Vivian has worked in Japan for 5, 6 years now. A large part of that time she was with Black Biscuit. Now that everyone's separated, does she feel sad? "In the beginning I did feel like I lost something. We worked together for more than four years and I learned so much from everyone. However, I feel that it's the end of a phase. We all need to grow up. When I first arrived in Japan I only sang slow songs because my Japanese wasn't too good. After I became part of Black Biscuit, I talked Japanese a lot more. When my Japanese became better I started trying to sing fast songs and even rap."  Vivian has just released her first book, "Earth Riceball," in Japan. The book is full of recordings of little things that happened to her and what Vivian thought about them. In Vivian's newest Mandarin album she wrote lyrics to eight of the songs. A sensitive heart is talent that someone creative cannot do without. Ideas are everywhere and it only depends on whether you are able to capture them. "It's all very sudden. Maybe after we finish talking I'll get an idea and start writing something. All the sounds, air, animals, people and emotions around me are sources of ideas. I am a very sensitive person and when I'm writing, I really get weird."

Her Cuteness

So many people like Vivian Hsu. In addition to her looks, I think it's probably also the fact that her personality is always a little offbeat. "My room had ghosts!" While talking about shooting the movie "Accidental Spy" in Turkey, Vivian suddenly said, "I'm really afraid of ghosts, especially ghosts in hotels, they are so scary! A ghost laid on top of me for about thirty minutes before I was even able to open my eyes. Then I immediately took out a pair of used panties. Because did you know, Taiwanese people believe that unwashed underwear gets rid of the supernatural. I immediately taped a photo of Buddha on my forehead and hung my unwashed underwear next to the bed. The ghost must be scared, ha ha ha! Afterwards I was fine for two days. However, around midnight of the third day, I was writing songs on my bed and my bed started to shake really badly. I was frightened and ran to the room of my agent, saying that the ghosts have returned to my room. Then they told me, 'No, that was an earthquake, the whole hotel was shaking.'" Vivian's logic is special. Once her mother refused to let her keep pets, because they would go to the bathroom everywhere in the house, so she kept a snake thinking that it would be perfect for her mother. She also figured that cats are always chasing rats, so she kept rats and chicks in a same cage. You can probably guess what happened later!

Epilogue

Vivian Hsu was late to the interview for about two hours. When she came, more than a dozen people came with her to record the interview process on video. I really felt worried at the time, thinking, "Oh no! How can the interview go well?" However, at the end I received very pleasant surprises. By the end of the interview, we laughed, cried, and Vivian was exhausted. I have never asked to take pictures with any celebrities, but Vivian Hsu was an exception.

Note by the Webmistress: Big thanks to Hawkbit for contributing the great magazine scans.  The narrator is obviously a reporter from Amy Magazine, but his/her name was unclear on the magazine scans I received, it only said "Amy."