Vivacious Janice

By SETO KIT YAN
skyseto@thestar.com.my

RISING Hong Kong pop star Janice Vidal, known in Cantonese as Wei Lan, was visibly excited at the thought of having her first concert in Malaysia. “Every time I come here, I get very excited. I feel like I’m on holiday.

“I feel very lucky because when I arrived here, I was welcomed by a bunch of fans wearing T-shirts with the words ‘Just Janice’. I just had to have my picture taken with them,” enthused the lively young singer at a press conference last week.

The exuberant lass was constantly making cute faces and occasionally flashing her pearly whites. What an interesting picture she painted, with a nose stud and a tongue piercing and even a tiny tattoo on her ankle. It appears there’s more to the popster than meets the eye.

“I’m definitely excited about it yet a little worried because it’s going to be very hot here in Malaysia at an outdoor venue.”

Would her show here have any new elements? “Yeah, there’s a lot that’s going to be different: costumes, rundown, choreography and musical instruments. I’ll be singing some 30 songs in English, Cantonese and Mandarin. It’s very challenging because I’ve got to learn all the songs by heart as I cannot read Chinese. But my Chinese is much better now compared to when I first started. My colleagues tell me that I’ve improved a lot.”

Janice has put herself through quite a gruelling schedule to gear herself for a sensational performance. “It’s been quite tiring as I’ve been training for the concert plus recording songs for my album. I’ve been putting in hours of practice and working out daily, too.

“To boost my energy and increase my stamina, I’ve been drinking traditional Chinese herbal preparations.”

On her guest performers, the bubbly singer declined to tell. “I’d rather not say because I want it to be a surprise. If I give away too much, it wouldn’t be fun any more.”

Pressed further, she said she would have a female and a male guest, refusing to confirm whether it would be her twin sister Jill, and Michael Wong, with whom she dueted on the Cantonese number Tong Meng (Childhood Dreams) and the Mandarin version Yi Ge Ren Zou (Walking Alone).

The singer, who turned 26 last Sunday, revealed that she was not in the habit of celebrating her birthday. “I just want to focus on preparations for my concert. These days, I don’t even get to go home for Christmas. I’ve gotten used to that.”

Hong Kong-born, Janice was raised by her Filipino father while her Korean-Chinese mother resides in Seoul. Her twin sister Jill (known as Wei Si) is a singer with R&B inclinations.

Discovered by renowned Hong Kong musician Mark Lui who has produced all her albums to date, Janice is currently recording the songs for her fourth album.

In the spring of 2005, she cut her first record Day & Night, comprising covers of Hong Kong Heavenly King Leon Lai’s songs. It was quickly followed by her second album My Love in the autumn. That winter, she made a clean sweep of all the newcomer awards at Hong Kong’s major music awards show. Her third album Do U Know was released a year later, in November 2006.

Last year was another exciting one for the pop princess. A popularity poll titled “Your Celebrity of Choice This Summer” by Madame Tussauds Hong Kong resulted in a waxwork figure of Janice being unveiled in July last year.

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