Hsien Ching.
Notes From The Underground.
Twenty-two-year-old Taiwanese singer Hsien Ching is hesitant to label herself. ‘I feel like I haven’t become a musician yet,’ she laughs. ‘For me I just wanted to do my best, living my life as a human and experiencing feelings and emotions before doing anything.’ Ultimately, she explains, ‘I want to be a great person.’ Hsien Ching falls into a rare musical sub-category: female Taiwanese rappers. ‘So when a new female rapper emerges, it is easy to be in the spotlight. But ultimately it still depends on their work.’
When reminiscing about her earliest memories of music, she recalls: ‘My grandfather loves to sing karaoke at home, and he taught me how to sing in native Taiwanese. I have some early recordings when I was one or two years old. In the company of the elderly, I seemed to develop a liking for performance even then.’
The past year has brought with it an abundance of struggles, but also life lessons. For musicians – not that she calls herself one – it has put a momentous amount of pressure on them, forcing them to evaluate how one works and continues to create. ‘I am lucky that Taiwan is handling the pandemic very well, so I can still function as usual. The only restriction is on travelling to other countries or staying out too long. But because of this, I got to spend more time with my friends and family and cherished them more.’
When it comes to honest self-appraisal, she has no hesitations. ‘I’m lazy in every way,’ she admits. ‘There are a lot of moments where I just don’t feel like doing anything: I just want to stay still comfortably. But later I will realise that I am only lazy about the action of having to do something. For example, I don’t like to “go” and take a shower, but I like showering. Or I don’t like to “go” out, but I love hanging outdoors. So my laziness is when I think of the action of doing something, I just don’t feel like moving. But I do enjoy the event. Just like making friends – I prefer being straightforward rather than indirect; that is my kind of laziness.’ And yet despite her self-confessed laziness, she has somehow managed to acquire over one million views on YouTube for her latest song ‘Call In’. She confesses that she didn’t feel particularly enthralled to making it past this audience milestone. ‘I just happened to realise it had surpassed one million views one day, and was very grateful that everyone is willing to listen to it.’
For this inaugural issue of Perfect, which features Hsien Ching as our first cover star, the singer admits, ‘I don’t have much experience in photoshoots, so I found it really interesting. I follow Zhong Lin on Instagram, so I knew who she was when she approached me. I just wanted to step out of my comfort zone and give it a try. I don’t think my 10-year-old-self would have any idea about all of this. Just like now!’ she jokes. ‘But if I were to think how my 10- year-old self would react, she would probably say: “Really?! That is so cool!”’
