Guess who is S'pore's latest sex kitten? Project Superstar female runner-up Sin Huey replaces her old look with a bold, seductive image
By Ho Lian-Yi
November 30, 2006
When she was a Project Superstar finalist, Chew Sin Huey was known as the plain Jane who lacked a sense of style. But has the girl with the knock-out vocals morphed into a sex kitten?
Her ardent fans are bound to get excited by Sin Huey's new look (above) which is said to be inspired by Japanese sex symbol Kumi Koda.
So it seems, judging from a 25-second clip of the 25-year-old singer's latest music video, From Taipei To Beijing, which was leaked onto online video site YouTube.
The video shows a noticeably slimmer Sin Huey dancing on a Taipei street and then unbuttoning her schoolgirl outfit to reveal a lacy black bra underneath.
Comments about the video on YouTube focused on her sexy image. One person wondered what her bra size was while another said she had the makings of a porn star.
Mr James Kang, marketing director of Warner Music which is distributing her debut album, Sing, laughed off the comments. 'So is a porn star good or bad? Everyone loves a porn star, right?' he said. Sing will be released tomorrow.
He plans to reinvent Sin Huey along the lines of sexy Japanese beauty Kumi Koda. Mr Kang also believes that Sin Huey and Kumi Koda are similar as they are not 'great beauties', but still look sexy by exuding boldness and confidence.
Before Sin Huey left for a week-long styling and music video filming trip to Taiwan in late September, Mr Kang said he even lent her his personal videos of Kumi Koda and Ayumi Hamasaki to help her learn the dance moves.
Definitely a far cry from her cute, homely image (above) when she was a finalist on Project Superstar.
'We did not want her to be boring, that's the biggest trap she can fall into,' he said, citing the fact that the 160cm-tall singer is neither an 'overwhelmingly good-looker' nor does she have a tall and slim look.
He particularly does not want her to look like the rest of the cutesy, sweetie pie, cookie cutter mass-marketed acts being churned out by Taiwan's pop industry. 'All that cute, smiling-at-the-camera stuff - that's not Sin Huey lah!' he said.
But the teasing sexpot in the music video probably isn't the real Sin Huey either. On the phone, Sin Huey comes across like a chatty and self-deprecating girl-next-door rather than a sexy diva.
FRIENDS SPEECHLESSShe admitted that friends who saw the clip were rendered speechless. They told her she looked nothing like in real life. 'They teased me, saying, don't worry, can bluff people,' she said in Mandarin.
No surprise since Sin Huey herself was so taken aback by the video that she had a good laugh watching it. She admitted that the clip had been edited to look more sexy than it actually was.
Sin Huey's new music video titled From Taipei to Beijing shows her unbuttoning her blouse to reveal a lacy black bra.
Her parents, at first, just went 'Wah!' But Sin Huey revealed they got worried and started asking: Was she showing too much skin? Would people complain about her wearing a school uniform, in that way?
'I said, 'Aiyah', If people complain, then we'll just see! It's already done, there's no turning back,' she said.
She said that she was concerned that her fans wouldn't be able to accept her new image. After reading the comments of viewers on YouTube, she confessed that she did have some sleepless nights. But her friends consoled her, saying that Western and Japanese music videos were a lot more raunchy.
'Maybe people are not used to it, or cannot accept it, or those who already don't like me are making use of the chance to 'arrow' me,' she said.
The shoot itself was a pretty harrowing experience, she said.
She was scheduled to shoot four music videos in Taiwan, this being the first. It was shot at 7am, during rush hour when people were going to work, and she said she had to stand at a busy junction, opening and closing her top. Everyone was staring.
'I told myself, forget it! Nobody recognises me anyway.' she said.
She readily admits she is not photogenic and that her looks are 'not trendy'.
But she's refused to diet because she's a food-lover, even though she's dropped her weight from 52kg to 45kg - mostly through exercise.
Sin Huey also said she has resisted advice from stylists and makeup artists to get plastic surgery or even botox injections.
'My looks come from my parents - they still prefer that I look like them,' she said.
But does she want to be seen as a sex symbol in the first place?
'Of course. But I must hit the gym first,' she said.
'Let's just say if a magazine asks me to shoot in a swimsuit, I'll reject, because I cannot wear a bikini. I don't even wear bikinis in private.
'Give me one more year, let me get more toned, then shoot!'
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