The first champ of One Million Star Yoga Lin is the Ambassador of Campus SuperStar 2009. Get tips and advice from one of the newest singing exports from Taiwan!

It’s almost one in the morning and Yoga Lin has had a long day of meeting fans, recording TV trailers and performing at the Singapore Hit Awards last Saturday Oct 25. He has one last interview to do before he calls it a night and thankfully for us, the champion of the Taiwanese singing competition One Million Star Season 1 is on a high from winning three awards that night – Outstanding Newcomer; POTP Artiste with Most Chart Hits; and Most Acclaimed Artiste of the Year. His debut album Mystery (Shen Mi Jia Bin) also won Best Album Producer.

We wait for him outside his hotel room; he comes out and apologises for keeping us waiting: he just had to write something down before he forgets it. Was it inspiration for a new song, we asked. He keeps quiet.

Not the best time for small talk, we quickly enter into our interview with Yoga, the new Ambassador for Campus SuperStar.

Yoga Lin: I know there are a lot of students who love singing and I met some today who have just finished their singing competition. Hopefully, everyone will emerge from these competitions as singers or bands and join us on stage to meet the public through music, and I hope that they would still be doing their music truthfully and earnestly. If at that time I have to chance to meet the Campus SuperStar contestants, I would be very honoured.

I joined a few organized within the school itself and they were very small-scaled and simple; like every class will send one representative to take part. The first time was an English singing competition in junior high (equivalent of Singapore’s secondary school) and I won first place *grins*.

And when I was in senior high, I took part in another and got through to the finals. When I knew I had to compete with students from other schools, I just gave up.

Every person’s intention for joining a singing competition isn’t the same and it doesn’t have to be, but I believe that since you are taking part and you love music so much, you would hope that your music will have a strong influencing power, so I think everyone would believe that the music you love is really fantastic and not just something to win you fame and money.

I don’t have any tips but I can share something with you. You may be young now but you won’t always be so. One day you’ll be old and you’ll die. Instead of always going after the perfect technique or an even more powerful level, why not believe in yourself and your life. Affirm yourself and do what you can already achieve. Everyone is special so just be yourself.

They should never break the law, hurt others or scheme… but it shouldn’t be that terrible, right?

Just sing what you really want to sing. Don’t treat the song like a weapon; you should build a relationship with it and it’ll be very exciting when you sing it that way, and you’ll be very satisfied.

If you feel that you really like it and want it, then that’s your point of view. Even if nobody else likes your interpretation of the song, it only means that your ‘sense’ is different from other. So that’s why you should never regard a song like a weapon; that’s very bad, I don’t like it.

I don’t but it doesn’t mean that you are narcissistic if you do. It was only after I joined One Million Star and saw myself on television that I realized I have a very bad habit and that I have to, very literally, keep my mouth shut. Once, I watched an episode with some friends and they told me that when I’m listening to the other contestants sing, I’d have this expression… *demonstrating to us, eyes dazed and mouth gaping*. They said I look hao dai, which means…

My grandmother used to tell me not to look like that; but I feel you have to go out and experience it. If you put your heart into the competition, you’ll be able to learn a lot of things too.

So it was through looking at myself competing that I found out how I can look better. I don’t mean when I’m singing, because when you are performing, you should take note of your emotions and what you want to convey. When you’re on stage and you feel that you’re not being pretentious, then you are able to convey your emotions.

One of the judges Phil Chang said something which shocked me. At that time, the rest of the judges were talking about rhythm and beat, and then he turned and told me not to bother too much about techniques because he felt that if I already have it in my blood, then I should sing with all my heart. I couldn’t understand what he meant at that time, I only thought that it was a form of praise.

But now, I think it meant that I have to believe in myself. It’s not being stubborn; like to ignore what others say, but if it comes to a time when it’s tough to make a choice, you should believe in yourself.

Trust your own judgment. Sometimes, when I trust my own judgment, I’m actually believing the people around me. I believe in myself when I’m singing.

I used to wish that my voice was very magnetic and hold a lot of emotions when I sing; you of course can be like that too. Many people may not be able to differentiate what’s real and what’s not, but if you put a lot of effort into it, after a while, you’ll be able to tell apart what’s learnt, what’s performed and what’s real.

I think you shouldn’t excoriate yourself too much in the beginning. Just perform well and sing the way you want to sing. Something that you think is fantastic would surely draw the same response from others, because I believe most people expect more from themselves that what others expect from them. So if you are so touched by your singing that you cry, there’s no problem already, though I’m not saying that you have to cry every time you sing an emotional song.

If you are satisfied, then there shouldn’t be any problem.

Yes I do encourage! Not just my supporters but anyone who loves singing. Competitions need a bit of luck and perhaps my luck was all centred in that single competition (One Million Star) that I joined. If you don’t have any better way, then you should join the competition.