m t Essays - SM Town, My Tam, S.E.S., Shinhwa,

Phan Thi M T?m was born in the city of Da Nang in 1981. She started learning ballet for 3 years from the age of 6 before moving to learning instruments such as guitar and organ. She enjoyed singing, but was never aware of her ability, and also never regarded singing as a career. She got the first ward in her secondary school's singing competition and was chosen for the municipal competition. She got the first award for the city's solo singing competition and then the Gold Award for Beautiful Voice Spring 1997. She was chosen for the Military School of Art in Hanoi. However, due to her family's condition, she decided to enter Ho Chi Minh City Conservatory for a 4 year course, learning vocal training. She graduated as a top student from the course. [edit]Career [edit]1999 - 2000: Career debut She quickly got a contract with Vafaco record company in 1999 and participted in many singing teams. My Tam has gained many awards in various singing competitions. At the start of 1999, My Tam made her first demo for the song "Please, baby" by Nguyen Ha, an important person in building the image of My Tam at the sarting point of her career. After that, she composed the song "Love Forever", a soft ballad, together with Nguyen Quang. The two songs were later included in her debut "Love Forever" album. After her contract with Vafaco ended in 2000, My Tam began to attract attention when she cut her long hair typical of female students and colour her hair yellowish-brown in a Korean style. She also changed the way she clothed in a more sexually attractive way. Following this period, she attained the bronze medal at the "Asian Music Festival" held in Shanghai at the end of 2000 when she was working in the Music Center in Ho Chi Minh City. This was a very significant achievement for her. She graduated in 2001 and became active in the music market. [edit]2001 - 2002: Early success In these two years, My Tam released 2 albums: "Love Forever" and "Not Only Me", 1 VCD Single "Sing With the River", 2 CDs Single "Dawn of Love (Japanese song)" and "The Guitar of Students". Her first major hit Toc nau moi tram (Brown Hair Dark Lips), an uptempo dance record from her first album "Love Forever", was to impact the fashion trend with many young girls changing their hair to dark yellow to look like My Tam. Her self-composed title song of the first album "Love forever" established her as a young songwriter. Two other hits "My love Candle" and "Foolish live" were significantly popular in Karaoke during the period. Her next big hit "Twenty", was a present from her long time musician Quoc Bao in celebration of her twentieth birthday. The song was about the youthful energy that a 20-year-old girl could dedicate to life and became young women's anthem. It was an important song from her first album, as many young female students in university at that time performed the song in various public occasions. Together with Brown Hair Dark Lips, Twenty made My Tam a new influence in Vietnamese music industry. Another hit "Please, baby/ Nhe Anh" was also a success, accompan ied by a popular music video. However, the success of "Please, baby" was hampered by copyright issue, a major concern in the industry. "Love Forever" sold 5.400 copies. Her first CD single "The Student Guitar", became an instant success due to its appeal to My Tam's original audience, the students in their 20s. The song quickly became the ionic song of early 2000s and tied her to the tertiary level students as her greatest fan base. This served as the basis for her 2004 tour around various universities across the country. Up to now, "The Student Guitar" was used frequently in the media to portray the lives of students as warm, romantic and artistic. The song firmly established My Tam as a pop icon, propelled her to become the number one rising star in the industry. It remained her signature song. "The Student Guitar" was also included as the second track in her first VCD single "Sing with the River" released on May 2002 to capture its success.