Real Name: Lisang Pacidal Koyouan
Chinese Name: Huang Li-ling (黃麗玲)
Born: September 20, 1983
Place of Birth: Kaohsiung (Southern Taiwan)
Did You Know?
A-Lin’s love for singing comes from the influence of her family and the Amis people. Whenever there was a family gathering, there was music. Her family would sing and dance together, creating a simple yet precious emotional bond that A-Lin could never erase from her mind. At the festivals of her Amis kinfolk, there were no fancy instruments, no complex native language lyrics, and no special dance steps. There were only the men, women, old, and young of her tribe, their hand-in-hand singing and laughter.
Born in Kaohsiung and raised in Taitung, A-Lin is a member of the Amis tribe, one of Taiwan’s indigenous peoples. A-Lin loved to sing from a young age. Despite her father’s opposition to her becoming a singer, she would secretly sign up for singing competitions. She once mentioned that she often ran to Sanxiantai (三仙台) alone as a child, singing and dancing to Madonna medleys by the sea, albeit without an audience. In 1999, when she was only 16, A-Lin was discovered by a talent agent after singing “Amazing Grace” for children affected by the September 21 Jiji earthquake in Nantou. After graduating from high school, A-Lin began performing in various pubs across Taiwan. In 2005, that agent officially signed her, and A-Lin entered the music industry.
In 2006, A-Lin released her debut album “Lovelorn, Not Guilty (失戀無罪).” Because of her powerful and resonant voice, she was even considered the successor to the queen of Chinese pop music, A-Mei. The title track “Lovelorn, Not Guilty” quickly became a widely sung single in the Chinese music scene after its release. With the excellent performance of this debut work, A-Lin was nominated for the “Best New Artist” award at the 18th Golden Melody Awards. That same year, she participated in the musical “In Love with Carmen (愛上卡門)” produced by A-Mei, playing the second female lead. Her second album “Born to be a Diva (天生歌姬)” in 2008 earned A-Lin a nomination for Best Mandarin Female Singer at the 20th Golden Melody Awards.
From 2009 to 2014, A-Lin released a total of 5 albums, including “Before, After (以前 以後),” “Loneliness is not the Hardest Part (寂寞不痛),” “We Will Be Better (我們會更好的),” “Happy, Then What (幸福了 然後呢),” and “Guilt (罪惡感).” In 2015, A-Lin participated in the third season of the Chinese singing competition show “I am a Singer (我是歌手).” In her 9th performance, she even brought her father, mother, and sister, all dressed in traditional indigenous costumes, onto the stage to accompany her in singing A-Mei’s classic song “Thinking of You.” Although A-Lin ultimately didn’t win, the show made her widely recognized among Chinese audiences, and her popularity and fan base in China skyrocketed. Reflecting on her nearly four-month competition journey, A-Lin said that her proudest moment was when her father went from opposing her choice, to paying attention to, supporting, and ultimately performing on stage with her.
In 2017, A-Lin sang the Chinese-language version of the theme song to Disney’s animation “Moana,” “How Far I’ll Go.” In 2019, she sang the theme song “A Kind of Sorrow (有一種悲傷)” for the movie “More Than Blue (比悲傷更悲傷的故事),” which earned her a nomination for Best Original Film Song at the 56th Golden Horse Awards. She was subsequently invited to sing many film and television theme songs, becoming a spokesperson for film and television songs, including the theme song “Dusk Till Dawn (天亮之前)” for the drama “Port of Lies (八尺門的辯護人)” and the title theme song for the movie “The Abandoned (查無此心).”
In 2019, coinciding with the passage of same-sex marriage law in Taiwan, A-Lin released the single “Rainbow (雨後彩虹)” to express her support for the LGBTQ+ community. She said that the rainbow gave her a sense of freedom, which was the most beautiful thing. A-Lin also hoped that through this song, she could encourage everyone to live bravely as themselves.
In 2023, A-Lin won the Best Mandarin Female Singer award at the 34th Golden Melody Awards for her 9th album “LINK.” A-Lin had been nominated for the Best Mandarin Female Singer award four times in the past, and finally won the title on her fifth attempt. In her acceptance speech, she choked up and said that she had been rehearsing this journey for 16 years. In addition to thanking her tearful parents in the audience, she also thanked herself for loving to sing.