Dad's the word

Dad's the word

To record her third and latest album, Save As..., Canace Wu Yi-fan, 35, had to dodge questions and sneak out of the house. At a recording session for her previous album, Restart... (2012), her father Wu Ting-hung, 64, a popular aboriginal singer and producer himself, had been overenthusiastic about commenting on her singing.

"I think as long as he's alive, he will always have this way of thinking," says the daughter. "But on this album, I completely didn't let him have the chance to know that I was going to record."

On a recent promotional trip to Singapore, the Taiwanese singer recounts her father's persistence in finding out about her new disc. "Every time I went out, he would ask, 'Where are you going? What are you recording?' I would say, 'I don't know', then take my things and leave," she says in an interview.

After promotion for the CD began, her father became even more anxious, asking her, "Has your CD been released yet?" whenever he heard her songs on the radio.

As the CD was still in production, she could only reply exasperatedly: "Have you seen me with the CD? I don't even have the CD yet." Wu senior's desire to know about her work was only satisfied when she presented him with a copy of the CD, along with the words written on the cover: "To Teacher Wu, I would appreciate your comments".

His verdict?

With a smile, she says her younger brother told her that her father thinks the new album, which was released in November last year, is better than her previous one and that her singing style has improved.

Her father has kept the CD on his office desk since then, and particularly likes her first recorded Taiwanese song, Heavy Rain, she adds. He has even taught her three-year-old nephew how to sing her song, Tears Collapse, the closing theme of hit Chinese period drama Empresses In The Palace.

Wu, who released her debut album My Music - Bravely Roaming The World in 2003, won Taiwanese singing contest Golden Melody Superstar in 2010. The win reignited her recording career.

She still lives with her close-knit family, who belong to the Atayal tribe. And with three singers at home - her brother, Wu Yi-wei, is also a singer - it can get a little noisy at times, she reveals.

She says: "My dad keeps teaching my nephew how to sing his songs. Every time I ask my nephew, 'Can you sing for me?', he would sing my dad's songs. So I would say, 'I don't want to listen to this song'."

She adds, in mock horror: "I always wonder, 'Wow, how can it be so noisy?'"

There are benefits to living with family, however. She was inspired to write Yawiy, a lullaby, watching her nephew grow up. The song title is her nephew's Atayal tribe name.

The song is one of two the first-time songwriter wrote for the new album. The other, Roll, is a pop-rock song.

Wu, who is single, jokes: "Many people think I have a split personality because the two songs I wrote have such different styles."

More seriously, she adds: "Since I could write Yawiy and Roll, I feel that I can write anything, that I should not restrict myself. This is my philosophy on life too. To dare to try anything, because you know if you can do it only after you've tried."


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