Lala Hsu is a Taiwanese singer-songwriter. Hsu was born in Hualien County, Taiwan, and grew up in Taichung. Hsu was a contestant in the third season of CTV's One Million Star in 2008. She won the contest with a self-composed and written song on 15 August of that year. She released her self-titled debut album on 29 May 2009. She has since published five albums to date; Lala Hsu in 2009, Limits in 2010, Ideal Life in 2012, Missing in 2014 and The Inner Me in 2017. In 2010, Hsu won the Best New Artist award at the 21st Golden Melody Awards for her eponymously named album, Lala Hsu, becoming the first One Million Star alumni to win a Golden Melody Award. In 2015, she was nominated in six categories at the 26th Golden Melody Awards for the albumMissing. In 2016, Hsu was a participant of the fourth season of I Am a Singer which gained her wider attention in mainland China. A significant rise in popularity lead to numerous invitations to perform the theme songs of film and television works. In 2018, Hsu was named Best Mandarin Female Singer at the 29th Golden Melody Awards.
Hsu won second place in a singing competition held by her high school. In junior college, she was the drummer and conductor of her school's Orchestra Club. She also served as an intern at the Affiliated Hospital of Chung Shan Medical College and worked in Taichung Veterans General Hospital. During university, Lala participated in the "Campus Golden Melody Award" competition, winning awards in the "Girl's Individual Singing Group" and the "Semantic Creation Group". She participated in four "Campus Golden Melody" compilations. Hsu took part in the third season of One Million Star singing contest in 2008, and performed well. Hsu stated that her aim in participating the contest was to set up a "Starlight Chicken Restaurant" with the prize money, and she had already written a song for the restaurant. In the sixth episode, her performance of the song "Riding a White Horse" scored 25 points, making her the fastest contestant to reach the full score since the launch of One Million Star. On 15 August 2008, she won the finals with an average score of 21.47 points, paving the way for her to become a professional singer.
Career
Hsu is the protégée of composer Su Tongda. "Riding a White Horse" was a collaboration between Hsu and Su. On 29 May 2009, Hsu released her debut album Lala Hsu. The album was up for six awards at the 21st Golden Melody Awards. This include Song of the Year, Best Mandarin Album, Best Composer, Best New Artist, Best Arranger and Best Single Producer. On 26 June 2010, Hsu was awarded the Best New Artist at the 21st Golden Melody Awards. On 3 September of the same year, Hsu released her second Mandarin studio album, Limits. On 6 June 2012, she released her third Mandarin studio album, Ideal Life. The album won several awards at home and abroad including the 2012 Top Ten Albums, and Albums and Singles of the Year at the Annual Association of Chinese Musicians Awards. In 2013, Hsu was nominated for Best Mandarin Female Singerfor the first time at the 24th Golden Melody Awards. On 13 June 2014, Hsu released her fourth Mandarin album Missing. On 21 March 2015, she held the "Total Eclipse" concert in Taipei Arena. It was her first concert in the Arena. In the same year, she was nominated for six awards at the 26th Golden Melody Awards, including Song of the Year, Best Mandarin Album, Best Mandarin Female Singer, Best Composer, Best Lyricist and Best Arranger. In January 2016, she participated in the fourth season of Hunan TVI Am a Singer. Her performance of "Lost Desert" scored her first place in the first episode. Subsequently, she was invited to perform the theme songs for several film and television works. In July 2016, she held her "Total Eclipse" concert tour in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. On 22 April 2017, Hsu debuted her "You Made My Day" concert tour at Taipei Arena. In May of the same year, she held the tour in Kaohsiung, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Malaysia. On 27 December 2017, she released her fifth Mandarin studio album The Inner Me.
Musical style
Hsu's music is known for its subtle, unique narrative lyrical composition style, integrating elements of Taiwanese opera into her songs. Using the Mandarin language and the linguistic flexiblity of Hokkien, the logic of the two different languages is put together naturally and smoothly. The rhythm of the main song is usually fast, while the chorus is mostly clear, lyrical, and easy to memorize. In the accompaniment and harmony, she tries to create a unique approach to chord progression, which is different than other pop music.
Personal life
Hsu married Taiwanese director Bill Chia in August 2018.
