Taiwanese singer-songwriter 9m88 is carving out a parallel path in cinema, stepping into the spotlight as an actress in Girl, the directorial debut of Shu Qi.
The film, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival last year, recently screened as part of the Hong Kong Asian Film Awards programme, where 9m88 appeared for an in-conversation session—one of her first industry-facing appearances in film. “I’m really approaching it as a newcomer,” she says. “I haven’t had many opportunities to participate in events like this before.”
Best known for her genre-blending music spanning jazz, soul and Mandarin pop, 9m88 has in recent years expanded into screen acting, navigating what she describes as two creatively distinct, and at times opposing, disciplines.
“Movies are about collective creative work,” she explains. “As an actor, we immerse ourselves in a character for a period of time and learn to understand and even love that character, no matter what they do.” Songwriting, she says, demands something almost opposite.
“You constantly dig into your own struggles and experiences, asking yourself who you are and what you want to say. Sometimes that process can be very energy-consuming. There are moments when you feel like you’re stepping into an abyss without knowing where it will lead.”
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The conclusion she draws is striking in its candor: “Even though acting and songwriting both fall under the umbrella of performing arts, in many ways they feel almost contradictory.”
Her screen credits now include A Foggy Tale and Double Happiness, alongside Girl. In the latter, she plays an irrepressibly optimistic wedding planner—a personality she admits is far removed from her own. “I don’t think I’m naturally that upbeat, but I felt I could learn a lot from her perspective and mindset,” she says. “Stepping into her world almost feels like wearing a different suit for a while.”
Preparation for roles often involves deep archival research. “I read books that include letters and archival materials from that era,” she explains. “Some of those letters were written by prisoners to their wives.
When you read them, you can almost feel the hopelessness through their handwriting and the way they phrased their words. Those emotional traces become important triggers for me.”
Her interdisciplinary approach is rooted in her time studying in New York, where she explored collaboration across artistic forms. “That experience showed me how different artistic languages can interact with each other,” she says. “Creativity is often an experiment.”
Her background in fashion design further shaped that mindset. “Collaboration between different materials and elements is very natural in that world. That mindset has stayed with me.”
Live performance, she adds, continues to inform her acting. “The biggest lesson from performing on stage is learning to be fearless,” she says. “Audiences can easily sense when someone feels uncertain or uncomfortable.”
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Unexpected moments—technical glitches or audience reactions—have become part of her creative toolkit. “I actually see those accidents as moments of creativity,” she says.
Returning to songwriting after working in film has also shifted her perspective. “Film is such a large medium in terms of storytelling and narrative,” she says.
“Sometimes I find myself wondering how I can translate that kind of bigger picture into a three-minute song. Maybe I don’t need to think about it that way, because music and film are different mediums and they serve different purposes. But something in my perspective has definitely shifted.”
Still, 9m88 resists framing her move into acting as a career pivot. “I don’t really think about it as shifting career paths or choosing between music and film,” she says. “For me, it’s more about how to become a better performing artist.”
Music, she emphasises, remains her “first love,” but cinema has offered unexpected growth. “It’s competitive, but it has also helped me grow a lot as a person.”
Looking ahead, she hopes to continue working across both mediums. “But life often unfolds in unexpected ways, and I’m simply grateful for the opportunities that arrive when the timing feels right.”
