Hailed as one of the best-selling artistes in Taiwan, Tsai I-lin (蔡依林), otherwise more fondly known as Jolin Tsai to her legions of fans, is a singer, songwriter, dancer, actress, and entrepreneur.
Famed for constantly reinventing both her music and image, and she played a huge role in popularising dance music as mainstream music in Greater China. Often referred to as the “Queen of C-pop”, “Asia’s Dancing Queen”, and “Asian Madonna”, she has achieved monumental popularity in regional Chinese-speaking countries, thanks to her commercially and critically successful albums, and has a dedicated fanbase worldwide.
When Jolin was 18 years old, she emerged champion at an MTV singing competition where she sang a rendition of Whitney Houston’s “Greatest Love of All”.
Note: Jolin joined the competition for a record of an extracurricular activity she performed in order to help her apply for colleges.
It was an accidental win that kickstarted her singing career and paved the way to her journey in becoming a teen idol. Her debut album, “1019”, was released in 1999 under Universal Music and it went on to sell more than 400,000 copies in Taiwan alone. But her real big success came when she released her 7th studio album, “Dancing Diva”, in 2006.
Regarded as one of her biggest successes to date, the album reached #1 in Taiwan, selling more than 260,000 copies in Taiwan alone and 2.5 million copies in Asia. “Dancing Diva” was honoured with 2 Golden Melody Awards for “Best Mandarin Female Singer” and “Most Popular Female Singer”.
Her 13th studio album, “Play”, which reflected a change in her image, was released in November 2014. The album garnered critical acclaim and was declared it as “easily the best album of the year”.
So far, Jolin has sold more than 23 million records in Asia, and her hard work has earned her numerous awards and accolades including 6 Golden Melody Awards, an MTV Asia Award, and an MTV Video Music Award. She has also been acclaimed as an entrepreneur, particularly after she founded her own music production and management company Eternal in 2009. Forbes reported that she is one of the highest paid Chinese celebrities, with the estimated net worth of NT$2 billion in 2014.
In a few weeks, Jolin will join a panel of esteemed speakers at the 2016 edition of IMS Asia-Pacific in Shanghai, China. 2016’s IMS Asia-Pacific will bridge the gap between East and West and provide unique first hand insight into the artistes, businesses and events that are making Asia Pacific one of the most exciting and rapidly growing electronic music markets in the world.
IMS Asia-Pacific will feature a Market Focus on Japan, a region which has trail blazed electronic music in the region for 30 years and remains the technological home of innovation for the genre.
Jolin will be joined by the likes of Skrillex, IMS founder Pete Tong, Alesso, leading underground Thai DJ Nakadia, ATM Artists CEO Amy Thomson, and many more as they come together to explore the growing influence of electronic music and the issues, challenges and opportunities that face the industry globally and in Asia.
Interested? Get your IMS Asia-Pacific badges here. Meanwhile, more details for this year’s speakers will be announced in the coming weeks.
For more information on IMS Asia-Pacific, visit their website or Facebook page.
Featured image: Vogue.
