(China Daily) Yuan Yawei, also known as Tia, was in Beijing recently to introduce her second studio album, Tiara.
For pop diva Yuan Yawei, performing at a live show means that "each cell is stimulated" by the sounds from the band around her.
She can hit very high notes - powerful or pillowy - and add a few twists while lowering her tone.
"When I perform live with my band, there is no disguise. I am totally in the zone and I am true to myself. My voice is controlled by the chemistry produced between me and my band," says Yuan.
Also known by her stage name Tia, Yuan was in Beijing recently to introduce her second studio album, titled Tiara.
At the press conference, the singer-songwriter lets the music speak for herself by performing three songs from the new album, including Don't Speak, Love From Afar and I Will Always Love You.
It has been four years since Yuan released her debut self-titled album, which was full of jazzy and soulful music.
On Tiara, Yuan has co-written seven of the 12 songs, including an English song, titled Pink Power.
She also continues to display her versatile voice - interpreting soul music, which is not considered as a mainstream music genre when compared with pop.
In June, she will launch a national tour and the first stop will be Chengdu, in Sichuan province, on June 2.
Veteran Chinese singer-songwriter, Liu Huan, is a fan and when Yuan showed up at the popular reality TV show China Star, aired by Dragon TV in 2015, Liu said: "For years, there weren't many soul and jazz singers on the local music scene, but Tia came along and blew us away with her fresh and free music."
Despite having been in the music industry for more than a decade, Yuan, who is in her early 30s, doesn't keep a high profile, instead, trying to enjoy her creative space and tempo.
Speaking about her work, she says: "Writing a song is not like making a cake. There is no mapped-out logical plan. A lot of it is spontaneous experimentation. I just live my life and get inspired."
to ask her to sing every night in the dormitory after the lights were out.
And while she listened to lots of music from Hong Kong and Taiwan as a teenager, she fell in love with soul and jazz when she watched a live show at a Beijing bar.
"It was the first time that I watched a live performance, which totally changed my idea about music.
The American singer, named Big Mama, performed with a wireless microphone and walked through the audience downstairs and upstairs. It was so cool," says Yuan.
At 18, she started to sing at five-star hotels in Beijing and she used the name Tia Ray to introduce herself, in honor of soul legend Ray Charles.
Her new album, which was recorded in China and the United States, brings together international musicians, including Grammy-winning songwriter-producer Oak Felder and August Rigo, who wrote and produced for Justin Bieber and Chris Brown.
Speaking about the album, Felder, who produced four songs for Yuan's new album, says: "I didn't really have any expectations. I didn't really know what to expect.
"But one thing I didn't expect was for her to understand the R&B culture as well as she does. Felder said that he thought that there was going to be more of an explanation process but it wasn't. She just knew what to do right off the bat.
"But I'm not surprised. She's very talented. Extremely talented. I'm fortunate to have worked with her," he says.
Separately, Rigo, who produced a song titled Lucky Rain - featuring Hong Kong-born and South Korea-based rapper Jackson Wang - for Yuan's new album, says: "She's got an amazing voice. And I really like her energy. You can tell that she knows what she's doing. But there's like a humble confidence about her."
As for Yuan, she insists that despite the current music scene, which sees only new singles come out, she still wants to release a full-length album because she is confident about her music.
"I am not in a hurry to become famous overnight because of one particular song. I want people to digest the whole album for weeks, months or years," she says.
Source: By Chen Nan | China Daily