Vietnam"s Vu cát Tuong talks about the challenge of translating her emotions into English for her first bilingual album, "Inner Me."
Singer, songwriter and music producer Vu cát Tuong — one of the most famous names in Vietnam’s music industry today — possesses a powerful voice và has the ability khổng lồ write & compose songs in styles from R&B to lớn soul, blues và electropop, alongside emotional pop ballads.
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Her two previous albums, “Gi?i Mã (Decode)” and “Stardom,” received many accolades from both her fans và peers in the music industry. She has already won two prestigious Vietnamese music awards and was honored in Forbes Vietnam‘s đứng đầu 30 Under 30.
If that isn’t enough, she has also successfully organized two of her own sold-out concerts: 2017’s Birthday Concert và Stardom Concert the following year. And, to lớn close out 2019, she sold out another night with her most-recent third concert, Inner Me, marking the release of her third album of the same name.
Released in November 2019, Inner Me is her first bilingual album & took a lot of effort to lớn get it right. This milestone in her songwriting displays an ability to lớn write and perform for an international audience.
If her second album, Stardom, was meant lớn be gutsy, bold & strong, Inner Me reveals a softer, more vulnerable side. The eight songs on the album were carefully selected from a menu of 30 songs. “The Old You,” “Ticket For Two” and “Yours” are entirely in English.
“Singing in English is difficult; writing English music is even harder,” she shared. For the album’s five songs in Vietnamese, she recalled past emotions & memories.
Along with the difficulty of translating her emotions into English, she admitted that she knew nothing about working with a foreign production team: “Benjamin James và Michael Choi (the album’s producers) had to lớn hold my hand & guide me on how to sing in English và to reflect my emotions into it at the same time. I was concerned that my pronunciation might not be clearly heard và understood.
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“I had khổng lồ keep trying khổng lồ get it right and at least to lớn have a good first step where I have tried my best. From here on, I will have to lớn keep trying if I want lớn continue to lớn reach out lớn an international audience.”
The recording of Inner Me marked another “first” of many milestones for Vu mèo Tuong. It was recorded both in Vietnam và Los Angeles, at the United Recording studio where many legends such as Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra & The Red Hot Chili Peppers have recorded.
She credits producer Michael Choi, who worked on both Inner Me và 2018’s Stardom. “After the album Stardom,Michael realized that I had not reached my limit yet, and that I could go further if given the opportunity, so he got me started on writing & singing in English, & then to lớn record the album in the U.S.
“As a young artist like me, & when presented with such an opportunity, I knew I had lớn accept the challenge, & to push myself lớn deliver, khổng lồ prove lớn myself that I could bởi vì it. Michael set me up khổng lồ work with an amazing crew of the most professional musicians, who helped và guided me every step of the way.
“Sure, there were difficulties và countless retakes. But I chose and decided I wanted to vị this, khổng lồ break out of my comfort zone & to work with this amazing crew khổng lồ deliver the best sản phẩm I could ever deliver.”
Vu cat Tuong once shared that she wanted to be lượt thích a “free prince” in her very own world, and Inner Me a land of ambition, recklessness and full of new things for her khổng lồ learn và experience, a land of new travels & adventures.
She spent more time and effort than ever before khổng lồ create the album, because she wanted lớn take the first step khổng lồ reach an international audience with good songs that she wrote herself, that would get the attention of this new audience & hopefully start to lớn build a new fanbase outside Vietnam.
She shared that Inner Me is not her comfort zone. “I am a creative beast, & each of my creations must have a sense of purpose, or be able to lớn sympathize with a certain community,” she explained. “As ‘Leader’ (the lead single from Stardom) was a different step for me, but lớn me, I wanted to lớn show that I embrace change to lớn forge a different path.
“That path has now brought me here, where I am able to lớn embark on a new journey with a bilingual album where I have a lot of new plans for this album. Therefore, this is not a ‘safe zone’ for me which I could have taken, but a new step into uncharted territory, of which I am very excited to take.”
