20 January 2003

Showtime & Lifestyle

How does a newbie make a bang in Taiwan?
Try snuggling up to a popular teenybopper. Or copying one.
Failing that, break up everyone’s favourite screen couple.
It’s not a path to popularity, though.
Singaporean artistes Celest Chong, Rui En and Michelle Saram were swamped with hate mail when they ventured into Taiwan.
But, guess what? They picked up thousands of fans, too.

CHANG MAY CHOON reports

Stay away from Jay

ChouSinger Rui En, better known as the SingTel girl who sprinted across Shenton Way in the TV commercial, is also in Taipei.

She was issued a fierce warning by fanatical fans of R&B prince Jay Chou to ‘stay away from Jay, or else …’.

The singing newbie first incurred their wrath when she cosied up to Jay in his music video, fuelling speculations that they are an item.

They have signed up with the same record label, Alfa Music, in Taiwan.

Jay’s jealous fans immediately bombarded Rui En’s online message board with nasty notes like ‘You better watch your step’.

In her defence, the 22-year-old business undergrad from Nanyang Technological University clarified that she and Jay are ‘like brother and sister’.

She said: ‘Actually Jay treats me like a sister. There’s no chemistry between us.’

MISUNDERSTANDING

Now that the misunderstanding has been cleared up, many fans of Jay are keen to support Rui En as well, said Mr Tan, who is her manager as well.

He told The New Paper: ‘Many fans got to know Rui En through Jay, which is good because he has such a big fan base.

‘Initially, they scolded her because they thought she’s Jay girlfriend. But now they acknowledge that she’s a good singer.’

He added that nearly 40,000 copies of her debut album have flown off the shelves in Taiwan since December.

This is ‘very encouraging for a newcomer’, he added.

Source: The New Paper

Categorised in Rui ∑n vol. 01, The New Paper.