Tanya Chua: I'm not crying my eyes out because I don't have a boyfriend

Home-grown singer Tanya Chua is used to being asked if she has found Mr Right.

"Ah, that old question," she said with mock exasperation, speaking to the local media ahead of her 90-minute showcase yesterday evening at local nightspot Shanghai Dolly.

When asked by The New Paper on Sunday if she intends to follow in the footsteps of her peers Kit Chan and Stefanie Sun, who have both tied the knot, the 40-year-old responded jovially.

"Just because my friends are doing it, doesn't mean that I have to do it. If it happens, good for me, I will definitely shout it across the continent to let everyone know!

"Right now, it seems that it's not happening for me... There's too much work. I was just telling my hairstylist that I wish I had a boyfriend, but even if I had one right now, I wouldn't have time for him, and I'd feel really bad."

She added: "I'm not sitting at home and crying my eyes out because I don't have a boyfriend. That's not how women are supposed to be represented - there are other things we can do to feel worthwhile."

Chua previously dated Austrian musician-producer Bernhard "Lupo" Groinig and her last known boyfriend was Singaporean composer-producer Eric Ng, whom she broke up with in 2004.

During her live performance, Chua even joked about her single status with the 400-strong audience, saying in Mandarin: "It's too bad there's no one to love me... but at least you guys do!"

Dressed in a smart black and white trouser suit with gold stilettos, Chua performed an intimate acoustic set to an audience of over 400, with just herself on acoustic guitar, an electric guitarist and drummer. It was organised by Singtel's local music streaming service AMPed.

Fans were eager to see Chua, as her last live performance here was in 2012 to promote her English album Just Say So.

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New album

Since then, she has been busy as a judge on Chinese reality talent show Sing My Song, and has also been working on a new album due next year.

"It will be an experimental album because I need to break out of my comfort zone of just singing ballads. The market is oversaturated with ballads, so people tend to tune them out."

Still, Chua's ballads proved to be her most popular songs of the night, judging by how the crowd sang along to her hit tunes Bottomless Pit and Beautiful Love.

AMPed, which also organised a Stefanie Sun fan meet last year, is looking to showcase more Asian and local artistes.

"Tanya Chua was a natural choice for us as a home-grown company, especially since it's SG50," said Mr Cheong Hai Thoo, head of digital mobile at Singtel. "We usually give Singapore artists opportunities, but all the more this year because it's a special year for the country."

This article was first published on July 05, 2015.
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