For 9M88, stage and screen are not mutually exclusive realms – even if, as she readily admits, they can feel almost contradictory.
The Taiwanese singer-songwriter, whose music draws on jazz, soul and Mandarin pop, has expanded her footprint as a screen actress in recent years. Her film “Girl” – actress Shu Qi’s directorial debut, which premiered in Venice last year – was screened as part of the Hong Kong Asian Film Awards program, and she sat down for a conversation on the sidelines of the ceremony – one of the relatively few industry forums she has participated in. “I’m really looking at it as a newcomer,” she says. “I haven’t had many opportunities to participate in events like this before.”
A sense of genuine openness comes through again and again when she speaks. 9M88 – who studied music in New York City before returning to Asia and also has a background in fashion design – is thoughtful and precise about the differences between her two creative lives, even if she resists drawing hard lines between them.
“Movies are about collective creative work,” she explains. “As an actor, we immerse ourselves in a character for a period of time and learn to understand and even love that character, no matter what they do.” Songwriting, she says, demands almost the opposite thing. “You’re constantly digging into your struggles and experiences, asking yourself who you are and what you want to say. Sometimes this process can be very energy-consuming. There are moments when you feel as if you’re walking into an abyss without knowing where it will lead.” The conclusion she draws is striking in its candor: “Even though acting and songwriting both fall under the performing arts, in many ways they seem almost contradictory.”
She has now appeared in several screen projects, including “Girl” along with “A Foggy Tale” and “Double Happiness”. In “Double Happiness”, she plays a wedding planner with tireless optimism – a quality she admits does not come naturally to her. “I don’t think I’m naturally that excited, but I felt like I could learn a lot from their perspective and mindset,” she says. “Stepping into her world almost feels like wearing a different suit for a while.”
Preparing for roles set in different historical and emotional registers, she says, draws her back to archival research. “I read books that include letters and archival materials from that era,” she explains. “Some of those letters were written by prisoners to their wives. When you read them, you can almost feel the despair through their handwriting and the way they phrased their words. Those emotional scars become important triggers for me.”
While studying in New York, she left a lasting impression on how she thought about collaboration across disciplines. She recalls an interdisciplinary class in which acting students collaborated with jazz and classical musicians to create short dramatic pieces and improvised performances. “That experience showed me how different artistic languages can interact with each other,” she says. “Creativity is often an experiment.” Her fashion design background strengthened her instincts. “Collaboration between different materials and elements is very natural in that world. That mentality has stayed with me.”
She says that live performance has shaped her approach to the camera. “The biggest lesson of performing on stage is learning to be fearless,” she says. “The audience can easily sense when someone feels unsure or uncomfortable.” He has also learned to accept the unexpected – the microphone cutting out, some unusual movement in the crowd. “I really look at those accidents as moments of creativity,” she says.
Returning to songwriting after several film projects has brought its challenges. “Film is a bigger medium in terms of storytelling and narrative,” she says. “Sometimes I wonder how I can translate that kind of big picture into a three-minute song. Maybe I don’t need to think about it that way, because music and film are different mediums and they serve different purposes. But something has definitely changed in my approach.”
She is careful not to frame her movement as a pivot or departure between subjects. “I don’t really think about it in terms of changing career paths or choosing between music and film,” she says. “For me, it’s about becoming a better performing artist.” Looking ahead, she says that music – her “first love” – will always be central. But she has been amazed by what cinema has given back, she says. “It’s competitive, but it’s also helped me grow a lot as a person.”
Ideally, she says, the two will remain with each other. “But life often unfolds in unexpected ways, and I’m grateful for the opportunities that come when the time is right.”
