Lin Yuan. [File Photo: ent.sina.com]

Hello and welcome to another edition of  China Beat here on "China Radio International". This is Zhong Qiu.

"Hello 大家好 我是林苑 This is Gia Lin

Lin Yuan,or Gia Lin, may not be a new name to movie lovers. She has already cooperated with many well-known artists, such as Andy Lau and Eric Tseng.. However not many Mando-pop fans know much about her and her debut album, 'Only Want to Be Moved', which was released in Hong Kong in 2005.

"Music has been an inseparable part in my life. My mother was a music teacher. Under her influence, I started to love music at an early age and began to participate in some singing competitions from the age of six. After receiving professional singing training in Chong Qing, I signed a record company contract in Hong Kong and started my career there."

After excelling in the film industry, Gia Lin has returned to music with her newly released EP. 'I'm not Happy'. In today's program, we'll introduce this EP and together discover a different Gia from the actress we've come to know on screen.

"This EP is a joint effort of many staff in my record company. Although it only includes five songs, each of them has its own characteristics. But through all these songs, we want to express the real Gia to the listeners, a strong-minded but also fragile girl.

(Song track I'm not Happy)
The title track of this EP, 'I'm not Happy' is a pop rock composition. Gia says it's her first time to try a rock style, and the results surprised her very much.

"Before I recorded it, I was very doubtful that I could sing rock. However I've come to love this style. You can think this song as an outlet; it's talking about facing those daily troubles bravely but not trying to ignore them."

(Song track 'I'm not Happy')
Gia has a penetrating voice, which makes her fast songs even more powerful. This is also true of her slow numbers, for example on the second track, 'A Sudden Interlude'. However to touch the listeners, besides having a gifted voice, a singer should also present a song with full emotion. That's also the challenging part of for Gia when recorded this song.

"When I first got the demo, I thought this song won't be so difficult for me. However after recording it several times, my producer still said that I was not in the right mood to present it. And I finally made it after 5 or 6 times, I even cried in the studio.

(Song track 'A Sudden Interlude')
Gia takes her singing very seriously and is very strict with her self. That's also one of the reasons that top musician Yuan Weiren wanted to produce this EP. And he also wrote a song for the EP, called 'A Happy Scene'. The music arrangement for this love ballad is very simple, but Gia's emotional interpretation gives this song a melancholy charm.

(Song track 'A Happy Scene')
(Song Track 'Cigarette butt')

The song you are listening to is 'Cigarette Butt'. It tells the story of a girl who just broke up a relationship and reflects on her lost love after seeing a cigarette butt he left behind. As a sad story, this middle-tempo ballad has quite a lively melody. And Gia's voice is very strong in reaching the high notes, which fully expresses the lyric's sadness.

"As the current Mando-pop scene is full of R&B or Hip hop or rock, this song is very special, as it has some folk elements. I learnt a lot of singing skills when I record this song."

(Song Track 'Cigarette butt')
(Song Track 'To be More Stronger')

From the prelude, it's very hard to recognize that this is singer Zhao Chuan's representative song, 勇敢一点,or 'To Be More Stronger'. Although Zhao Chuan's version is familiar to the public, Gia's rendition ejects a fresh exotic flavor into this song.

"At first I wasn't very confident to attempt this well-known song because the original version by Zhao Chuan is such a classic. However we made some modifications to his version, including the flamingo element that we added. And now I really love it and hope the listeners can also enjoy it".

(Song Track 'To be More Stronger')
From these five songs, we've come to know a beautiful voice, a serious singer and a strong-minded girl. Gia will release her new album very soon, and we also expect more wonderful music from this promising singer. With this track, we come to the end of this edition of  China Beat on 'China Radio International'. If you have any comments or suggestions, you can email us at Chinabeat@cri.com.cn or log on to our website at crienglish.com, find  China Beat and leave your message. This is Zhong Qiu in Beijing. Bye for now.

(Song Track 'To be More Stronger')