Tanya Chua Opens Up About Moving To Taipei In 2006 With Only 3 Months Worth Of Rental Money

Think of Singaporean singers who’ve done well for themselves beyond our shores, and names like Stefanie Sun, JJ Lin, and Tanya Chua immediately come to mind. For Tanya, 50, it’s been almost 20 years since she called Taiwan home.

Appearing as a guest on a recent episode of Bowie Tsang’s talk show, Let’s Go Home, Tanya spoke about her decision to move to Taipei, and how moving there in 2006 turned out to be the one of the best things she did for herself.

“I had no choice. In my life, I’ve always had to make decisions after being forced into a corner. I was at my lowest when I was with my previous record label and agency in Singapore,” said Tanya.

“It was also at that time when I won my first Golden Melody Award. Someone I really trusted told me ‘no one wants you anymore, why are you still so insistent on singing the songs you wrote?’” she continued: “ That’s when I began singing songs that were written by other people because I was encouraged to do it, I was told people liked listening to KTV songs.”

Tanya began thinking about her purpose for doing music, adding that she did not have a natural affinity with singing, but instead, fell in love with music when she began penning her own lyrics.

“When faced with that situation, I told myself ‘Tanya, you either give up on music right now, or you move to Taiwan’. I only had three months worth of rental money, and with my guitar and suitcase, I told my mum I was leaving,” said the singer, who moved to a rented apartment in Taipei.

She did not have an agency or a record label, and started from scratch after the big move.

Tanya, who made her debut in 1997, went on to explain: “At that point, I had already been singing for quite a few years, but no one thought of the process [of what I had to go through]. They would think ‘Oh, you already got an award, everything must be going smoothly’. But that was not the case. I felt like I had hit rock bottom.”

She did not expect that she would go on to stay in Taipei for 20 years after, calling it fate’s arrangement.

“Taiwan is really a place where I experienced the most growth, changed the most, and been through the most phases to become the version of myself I love the most today. So I’m very thankful to Taiwan,” she added.

Tanya, who has since bagged three more Golden Melody Awards for Best Mandarin Female Singer after moving to Taipei, later revealed: “Since I was young, I always felt a bit like a vagabond, without a home that belonged to me. I did not fit in anywhere, and in fact, I did not feel like I fit in even after debut.

“Instead, it was in Taiwan where I experienced plenty of affirmation, and it made me feel more certain of myself when those around me shared that same certainty. [Taiwan] is a place where I became sure of myself, and this is home.”