Angela (her) and Demons

Taiwanese singer ANGELA CHANG, in town recently to promote her new album, may have been plagued by domestic disputes in the past few years, but she’s back now and stronger than before.

- 

Angela Chang, 34, looks like she hasn’t aged a day. When we caught up with the Taiwanese singer for a chat after the press conference for her new album and upcoming world tour, we were surprised to see that she still has the enviably youthful mien of an early twenty-something-year-old, and the glass-half-full optimism of someone like Kimmy Schmidt. We were surprised not ’cos it’s been nine years since her last visit here, but ’cos of what she’s been through in recent years. Since 2009, the singer has been plagued by career-crushing rumours (generated by those close to her, believe it or not), one of which is that she’s a drug abuser [see box story]. But the erstwhile pop princess (she counts Elva Hsiao and Jolin Tsai as her peers) has risen like a phoenix from the ashes of bad press. She tells us that she now wants to “live life on my own terms”. And she means it. Though we were told by her management to avoid asking questions relating to the scandals, the singer, with a little prodding from us, was more than happy to chat about them.

8 DAYS: Your latest album is titled Head Over Heels. Is that an emotional state you often find yourself in?