Tanya Chua won't do 'old people exercises', is learning gymnastics at 49

When Singaporean singer Tanya Chua first told her friends she is learning gymnastics and loving it, they couldn't believe her.

"They felt that it was unbelievable because why would I be learning backflips, forward somersaults and handstands at my age? Shouldn't I be doing exercises that old people would do now? Such as those that are safer for joints," the 49-year-old told AsiaOne recently in an interview for the new Taiwanese drama Imperfect Us.

Despite that, Tanya, who is based in Taiwan, explained it was because she has a "rebellious spirit" in her.

"Everyone is doing yoga and weight training… As long as it's something most people are doing, I will not do it. I want to do things that people are not doing, because I know that's my own choice and not because it's trendy and I am following them.

"When you follow someone because of trends, it's actually difficult for you to get to know yourself," she said.

So what is the gymnastic move that Tanya likes best?

"I love doing handstands!" she shared.

Tanya said that people are normally used to standing up straight and being supported upright, so when doing handstands, it's a totally different experience.

She said: "When you have to use your arms as your legs, your perception of space is completely different.

"You have to find a new feeling of having your hands stand on the ground instead of your feet. It changes the way you think and helps you to get to know your body again, and that is very interesting to me."

Through this experience, she found out that a handstand requires mainly the shoulders and pelvis to support her weight.

"I think doing handstands is something that needs constant training, because our body condition is different every day… so it has been a very interesting learning experience for me," Tanya shared.

Similarly, Tanya seeks to constantly step out of her comfort zone when composing music.

She is promoting the new drama Imperfect Us, which centres around two women, Jian Qingfen (Ariel Lin) and Rebecca Zhang (Tiffany Hsu), whose birthdays fall on the same day. Besides having the same taste in clothes, they also become love rivals when they fall in love with the same man He Ruizhe (Mike He).

Stalking each other's Facebook posts for a decade, Qingfen and Rebecca become jealous of each other's life, fantasising how the other party is leading a better life than themselves. In the process, Rebecca also forms a friendship with an engineer Yu Xiangli (Kai Ko).

This drama marks Tanya's debut as an official music director. Besides writing a song for each of the four protagonists, she also composed the opening and ending songs in the series.

She shared that the opportunity is a dream come true for her.

"It feels like the universe is peeking into my inner thoughts and listening to what my heart desires to do," she laughed.

Tanya said that during the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a period of time where she was unmotivated in composing music. She spent a lot of time watching documentaries and movies and became interested in their soundtracks, paying attention to how the music fitted into the scenes.

She aspired to become a music director one day, however, it remained only as a wish as she didn't have any experience.

Between mid-September and early October 2022, Tanya's wish came true when her manager told her that director-screenwriter Mag Hsu wanted her to compose the soundtracks for Imperfect Us.

"At that moment, it felt unbelievable for me," Tanya shared.

She added that she was able to relate to the storyline and characters well and the inspirations for its soundtracks came quickly to her.

Tanya said: "I read the script once and understood it… and was able to compose music quickly, to the extent that after reading each episode, I could go into my recording studio at home and play the piano or guitar and a draft would be out.

"That surprised me because usually how fast I write a song depends on whether I can find a starting point, such as a word or an emotion. I felt that all the characters in this drama are very detailed and I could get into the plot quickly.

"Even the director was shocked… It was a very smooth creating process."

Imperfect Us premieres on Viu on April 6 with two new episodes every Saturday.

ALSO READ: 'I should spend more time creating my own stories': Tanya Chua, Ariel Lin, Tiffany Hsu on times they got envious of others' online lives

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