No matter when or where, Vivian Hsu always tries to be "perfect."  Perhaps you think we are kissing up with this weird introduction?  Before this interview we only sense Vivian's charm and popularity through TV in a "simulated" manner, but more than once we worked closely with her and finally I completely understand how she is different from everyone else.

The first time we met Vivian was at her agency.  We brought clothes that Vivian might wear on the day of the photoshoot so she can choose the ones she wanted.  We started out relaxed but the moment we saw her we all became nervous automatically, like a teenage boy upon meeting a long-time crush.  Vivian wore sunglasses but once she saw us waiting for her she took them off.  She had on a small pink tanktop and wore no make up.  The skin on her face was fair and smooth to the point of impossibility.  Due to the nature of our work we often see celebrities without make up on; in reality most celebrities have dark circles under their eyes and sport acne and allergies from wearing make up all the time.  However, Vivian not only did not show any of the above symptoms, her complexion was frighteningly good.

After a polite greeting to us Vivian started to look through the clothes.  Because Vivian lived in Japan for years, her sensitivity to fashion is well-trained.  When she saw clothes she didn't like she politely yet firmly communicated her thoughts.  As someone who counts as a superstar in Asia, it was amazing that in private Vivian still maintains such a perfect and impressive image.  All I can say is that Vivian Hsu is absolutely a natural born star.

She is perfect in front of the camera.

On the day of the photoshoot, Vivian again reconfirmed with our staff the concept we wanted for the Jasmine magazine cover and how we wanted to express it through fashion design.  Because it happened to be lunchtime, like a good little child she took a bowl of dumpling soup and sat eating next to her make up artist from Japan.  As she ate she continually exclaimed, "as always Taiwanese snacks are the most delicious, everything is delicious in Taiwan!"  The whole time she also kept on asking her make up artist in Japanese, "isn't it delicious? I didn't lie to you, right?"  No matter if Vivian is doing a photoshoot or participating in a TV show in Japan or any other Asian country, Vivian brings her own team to design her make up and hair.  She said, "It's not that I only believe in the working abilities of the Japanese, but after comparison, I truly feel that Japanese are super-picky and super-responsible toward their work.  When we are doing a photoshoot in Japan, you'll never see any worker sitting down and resting.  The person in charge of make up, the person in charge of hair, and the person in charge of clothing are all tightly monitoring whatever they are responsible for, so the end result will always be elegant."

Vivian's small face is framed with long hair.  Even though Vivian has a small frame, where there should be curves nothing is missing.  Vivian's perfect shape is yet another point that all females are jealous of.  Because of this no matter what pose or what expression Vivian displays in front of the camera, the result can only be described as "perfect."  By habit Vivian always brings with her 20 or 30 CDs.  According to different clothing and style of the photoshoot, she changes music to create the right mood.  During the break when the photographer changed film, Vivian was still lively and making cute faces at people, or singing and dancing to the music she was playing.  Even away from the camera Vivian is obviously someone who finds happiness within herself and kawaii (cute) to everyone.  Without knowing it, you will soon feel as I do that Vivian's cuteness is a matter of course; not a mask she put on for performance.  In fact, she is naturally cute.

She wasn't perfect twelve years ago.

Vivian Hsu has been working in entertainment for 12 years.  Before she entered the business, Vivian once worked as a telephone receptionist and a janitor at a restaurant. Vivian was even forced to move more than 30 times due to family reasons.  When Vivian started working in entertainment, from her shy Shou Nu Duey (Girl Group) period to the time when she participated in photobooks, she never walked a smooth path.  However, the reason that Vivian Hsu can become the Vivian Hsu we see today is definitely not due to her angelic looks only.  "The first few years when I worked in Japan, sometimes I didn't even know contents or pay for the contract and my agency just told me to go on shows.  I was ignorant plus I didn't speak the language, so I really had so much, so much pressure.  Often I'd run to the mirror alone and cry..."  Vivian told us, "once I went on this TV show and was preparing backstage, a well-known Japanese make up artist about age 40s started to pick on me in front of me. At that time I still didn't know too much Japanese, but it was that expression of looking down at me that was the most hurtful."  That was the time when Vivian felt the most hurt, but she didn't stop trying because of this experience or to start hating others.

"In this circle, it definitely is not easy for a newcomer to succeed.  I always tell myself, forget bad things and bad people, but if someone helped me or gave me support, that can always become my motivation to succeed and help them back."  After that incident, Vivian always learned everything with patience and carefully observed everybody's emotions.  Slowly she found that she became a better person and more people were kind to her.  Her imperfect self 12 years ago became more and more perfect due to her hardworking nature.

Twelve years later, she is perfect in every way.

Actually Vivian started writing lyrics a long time ago, but only after she wrote lyrics for Jay Chow's song "Cute Woman" that her talent was officially confirmed.  Recently she wrote lyrics to two songs on Vanness Wu's debut album, both of which received good reviews.  Vivian's lyrics are not particularly difficult in phrases or vocabulary, but what touches people is how the writer releases ordinary yet true emotions through sensitive thoughts accumulated from everyday life.

Vivian will be in Taiwan and China during August and September in order to promote gaming software Gamania.  In November Vivian will return to Japan to work on her newest Japanese album.  To describe Vivian as a total artist (translator's note: an artist in all aspects) would not be exaggerating.  However, no matter how busy Vivian Hsu is, she remains confident and happy with herself and her career.  This "disguised angel" will be 30 years-old in 3 years.  We believe that with the current Vivian Hsu, it's perfect to describe her as perfect.

By the way, I had to take a LOT of liberties while translating this article.  In general I have no problems translating Vivian's conversation and when I do, you can assume that I practically translate word by word what Vivian said.  However, this article was mostly written from the reporter's point of view and he/she used difficult Chinese language, often with poetic or literary phrasing.  I ended up almost rewriting the translation; if I leave it as a word-by-word translation it'd be meaningless.