For 9m88, the stage and the screen are not opposing territories – even if, as she readily admits, they can feel almost contradictory.
The Taiwanese singer-songwriter, whose music draws on jazz, soul and Mandarin pop, has spent recent years expanding her footprint as a screen actress. Her film “Girl” – the directorial debut of actress Shu Qi that bowed at Venice last year – screened as part of the Hong Kong Asian Film Awards program, and she sat down for an in-conversation event on the sidelines of the ceremony – one of relatively few industry forums she has attended. “I’m really approaching it as a newcomer,” she says. “I haven’t had many opportunities to participate in events like this before.”
That sense of genuine openness comes through repeatedly when she speaks. 9m88 – who studied music in New York City before returning to Asia and also carries a background in fashion design – is thoughtful and precise about the distinction between her two creative lives, even as she resists drawing hard lines between them.
“Movies are about collective creative work,” she explains. “As an actor, we immerse ourselves in a character for a period of time and learn to understand and even love that character, no matter what they do.” Songwriting, she says, demands something almost opposite. “You constantly dig into your own struggles and experiences, asking yourself who you are and what you want to say. Sometimes that process can be very energy-consuming. There are moments when you feel like you’re stepping into an abyss without knowing where it will lead.” The conclusion she draws is striking in its candor: “Even though acting and songwriting both fall under the umbrella of performing arts, in many ways they feel almost contradictory.”
She has now appeared in several screen projects, including “A Foggy Tale” and “Double Happiness” alongside “Girl.” In “Double Happiness,” she plays a wedding planner of relentless optimism – a quality she admits does not come naturally to her. “I don’t think I’m naturally that upbeat, but I felt I could learn a lot from her perspective and mindset,” she says. “Stepping into her world almost feels like wearing a different suit for a while.”
Preparing for roles set in distinct historical and emotional registers, she says, sends her back to archival research. “I read books that include letters and archival materials from that era,” she explains. “Some of those letters were written by prisoners to their wives. When you read them, you can almost feel the hopelessness through their handwriting and the way they phrased their words. Those emotional traces become important triggers for me.”
Her time studying in New York left a lasting imprint on how she thinks about collaboration across disciplines. She recalls an interdisciplinary class in which acting students worked alongside jazz and classical musicians to create short dramatic pieces and improvised performances. “That experience showed me how different artistic languages can interact with each other,” she says. “Creativity is often an experiment.” Her fashion design background reinforced the instinct. “Collaboration between different materials and elements is very natural in that world. That mindset has stayed with me.”
Live performance, she says, has shaped her approach to the camera. “The biggest lesson from performing on stage is learning to be fearless,” she says. “Audiences can easily sense when someone feels uncertain or uncomfortable.” She has also learned to embrace the unexpected – a microphone cutting out, something unusual stirring in a crowd. “I actually see those accidents as moments of creativity,” she says.
Returning to songwriting after a run of film projects has brought its own challenges. “Film is such a large medium in terms of storytelling and narrative,” she says. “Sometimes I find myself wondering how I can translate that kind of bigger picture into a three-minute song. Maybe I don’t need to think about it that way, because music and film are different mediums and they serve different purposes. But something in my perspective has definitely shifted.”
She is careful not to frame her movement between disciplines as a pivot or a departure. “I don’t really think about it as shifting career paths or choosing between music and film,” she says. “For me, it’s more about how to become a better performing artist.” Looking ahead, she says music – her “first love” – will always remain central. But cinema, she adds, has surprised her with what it has given back. “It’s competitive, but it has also helped me grow a lot as a person.”
Ideally, she says, the two will continue alongside each other. “But life often unfolds in unexpected ways, and I’m simply grateful for the opportunities that arrive when the timing feels right.”
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