📌 Archive Source. I am grateful to long-time Sarah Chen fan C.Y., who shared her personal collection of magazines and newspaper clippings, from 1983 when Chen joined EMI to 1996, when she was photographed with Golden Melody Best Male Singer Jeff Chang. These clippings came primarily from Malaysia and Singapore, though some were from Taiwan, and included several hundred stories and interviews about Sarah Chen. Unfortunately, although the content of the articles was preserved, the clippings rarely included the specific newspaper or magazine from which they were taken. However, their content is highly consistent with other sources now available online, especially interviews with Sarah Chen, confirming the reliability of the archive.

Although all public information, much of what’s in the archive has become difficult to find today, especially background details on album production and contemporaneous market responses. Due to an unusual episode in Chen’s music history (the change of EMI’s partnership in Taiwan), some of her work became inaccessible in certain regions. In later promotions, credit shifted toward producers and songwriters, distorting and downplaying Chen's contributions to Mandopop and to broader social change.

📌 Lead Role. This article documents Sarah Chen’s music using rare archival materials. The most important discovery is that Chen played a leading role in shaping her own work. From Black Hair Turns White to Forever, Sarah, she played a key role in determining the direction of her music. Her leading role was most notable in the albums Forever, Talk to You, Listen to You, and Forever, Sarah. A 1989 news report showed that the concept for Talk to You, Listen to You came from Chen herself. It was Sarah Chen, not Jonathan Lee, who initiated the album concept and production. This was no accident, nor was it the only time she led the direction of her music: Sarah’s Taiwanese Songs, her R&B album Forever, and the farewell album Forever, Sarah were also her own vision.

📌 History Rewritten. When I first chanced upon Sarah Chen’s music, I only wanted to enrich her online presence with some basic, well-known facts. But over the past year, as I dived deep into her music and career, I’ve come to appreciate her contributions to Mandopop and societal shifts in Taiwan. Sarah Chen was not just a singer interpreting others’ songs, she was a musician with vision and agency, a forerunner of independent female artists in Mandopop. She may have helped others along the way, but what she realized was her own dream, one shared by both rural and urban women. Today, I rewrite Sarah Chen’s musical history for what it truly was, correcting the male-centered narrative that has obscured her legacy for over three decades.

——SCM Gatekeeper，Summer 2025

Note1: Sarah Chen began her career as a child singer, but mishaps in developing her talent led to a lengthy and frustrating early career (see her biography). This music memoir begins in 1983, when she joined EMI. By then, she had already released more than a dozen albums (see supplemental materials), but her path to stardom truly began with EMI. 

Note2: "Memoir" usually refers to a first-person account, which only partly applies here. Sarah Chen is unlikely to provide a first-person account, as her focus has shifted to advancing causes beyond her own life. In creating this "memoir," we drew closely from her interviews to approximate a first-person perspective without her direct involvement. This article is about both Chen and a cause far greater than her life story, as Chen remains an inspiration to women and girls fighting for their rights in professional and social spheres.

Sarah Chen released her first EMI album, Harmonica's Story (also known as Starry Sky) in June 1983. This was her first platinum album, selling over 50,000 copies, and fulfilled her first dream since entering the music industry. The album was a leap from her earlier work with Haishan Records, with more modern melodies and lyrics that matched Chen's Western singing style. Her public image changed with it, from a modest, gentle young woman to a more modern look.

This was the beginning of Chen's collaboration with the composer duo Tan Jian-Chang and Xiao-Xuan. Tan was Chen's most frequent collaborator, producing five exquisite albums and composing two dozen songs she performed. It was not only a productive collaboration, but also one with proper promotion, giving Sarah Chen the credit she deserved.

The album was an instant success; with EMI’s all-out promotion, including media coverage and fan outreach activities, it opened the markets of Malaysia and Singapore to Sarah Chen. The most notable songs were Harmonica's Story and Autumn Fills My Heart, though Teary Eyes also took listeners by surprise. Beautiful Remembrance was a cover of a recent Lin Hui-Ping hit, but Chen gave it a gentler interpretation, turning it into a lasting sorrow rather than a heartbreaking loss. Like A Dream may have caught the wind of Teresa Teng's ancient poetry work at the time. Every song on this album was beautiful; even Fool on the Riverbank foreshadowed Chen's later songs Rainy Season Street and Boisterous Street.

About two years later, Sarah Chen made an informal selection of her best songs from the early EMI era and was surprised to find most of them from this album. In 1995, she re-recorded two of the songs, Drifting Snow and Autumn Fills My Heart, preserving and paying tribute to the first EMI album that took her on the road to stardom.

📀 1983-6 EMI《Harmonica's Story》Tracks: 

Harmonica's Story｜Drifting Snow｜Autumn Fills My Heart｜Passing Clouds｜Night｜Fool on the Riverbank｜Teary Eyes｜Like a Dream｜Forever New Love｜Endless Thoughts about Past Life｜Starry Sky｜Beautiful Remembrance（🔗 Sarah Chen Discography； YouTube Playlist）【The Taiwan release of the album was titled 《Starry Sky》and excluded Fool on the Riverbank and Beautiful Remembrance】

Song of the Ocean was Sarah Chen's second EMI album, released three months after Starry Sky. It blended Eastern and Western influences, with half the tracks adapted from foreign melodies. The album entered the 1984 Golden Melody Awards but was eliminated in the early rounds. It was nevertheless well received, becoming Chen's first double-platinum record and solidifying her rising status in Malaysia and Singapore.

The title track, Song of the Ocean, was a rare entry in Chen's repertoire. She unleashed her full vocal power to match the ocean's might, one of the few songs where she let go of her usual vocal restraint. It remained her personal favorite for many years, and she performed it live on television multiple times. The album also contained two dream-themed songs, A Call in the Dream and Meeting in a Dream, which concealed an old soul far beyond her years. Curiously, both were covers of Tracy Huang’s songs, raising questions about why they were included.

When Chen signed with EMI, she was widely seen as the successor to the established singer Tracy Huang, who had recently left the label. Their vocal similarities were striking, as if they were voice sisters. In the early years, Chen was troubled by being cast as Huang’s replacement, struggling to step out of that shadow. Yet this album included not just one, but two, songs Huang had recorded in recent years. Perhaps the intention was to draw Huang’s former fans into Chen’s music by highlighting the similarities. Or perhaps the direct comparison was meant to reveal their differences, allowing those who knew Huang to recognize Chen’s unique style.

More than four decades later, which singer performed the songs first no longer matters. The two dream songs stand out within Song of the Ocean, reinforcing Chen’s title as the “Queen of Dreamland.” When she recorded them, Chen was only 25, with the look of a rock star, yet an old soul infused every line. The quiet helplessness of Meeting in a Dream resonates even more deeply with fans who have missed her for thirty years, especially when they hear her sing: “Easy to part, hard to reunite; only in a dream do we meet. Flowers fall, water runs away in the deep autumn; so much hope has gone away.” Years pass, and four decades later, as her songs age like fine wine, fans finally understand the old soul moving gently through each word.

Once dismissed for lacking original material, this album is now valued for how fully it reflects Sarah Chen’s style. The commanding title track, together with the two dream-themed songs, give it the unmistakable flavor of her music.

📀 1983-9 EMI《Song of the Ocean》Tracks: 

Song of the Ocean｜Locked Sadness｜Cecilia｜After Farewell｜Campus Road｜A Call In the Dream｜Return Never Declined｜Light Wind in the Fall｜What A Feeling｜Gentle Dream Home｜Rose Garden｜Meeting In A Dream（🔗 Sarah Chen's Discograph； YouTube Playlist）

Sarah Chen’s third EMI album, The Right to Sing, was released in December 1983. It was her first serious English-language album, produced by Singapore’s Reggie Verghese. Chen covered Western pop music with an array of bold, even outrageous, songs that challenged the societal norms of her culture and era. This was the beginning of Sarah Chen taking on a bold musical persona, several years before the same adaptation in her Mandopop albums. The only protection Chen had from this album was the language barrier, preventing fans unfamiliar with English from detecting her defiance. The album also fulfilled Chen’s second wish since entering the music industry.

The title track asserted her right to sing, to live, and to love, while the other songs revealed sides of her that defied expectations of young women from her culture: a jealous lover, having a badass attitude, saying crazy things while hiding away with a boy, telling her partner that she didn't care about his previous romance. Although these songs were English covers, Chen bravely accepted the challenge of performing them, with compelling results, directly contradicting her image in Mandopop as a gentle and graceful young woman.

Sarah Chen had two wishes when entering the music industry. The first, achieving platinum status, was recently fulfilled by Starry Sky and Song of the Ocean. Her second wish was to record an English album, in fond memory of the many years she performed English at hotel clubs. Before turning professional, Sarah Chen once helped her father with the interior design of a hotel in Taiwan owned by an American. In one room, a guitar caught her eye; she began playing and singing. The owner was impressed and offered her an evening singing job at the hotel. She did it for two years, earning her college tuition along the way. 

In 1978, she recorded an English cover with the help of college friends, but the record label went out of business before the album was released (this early album was recently discovered). She continued to sing in English on stage, including at the 1982 World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo, and she held onto the dream of one day making an English album. The Right to Sing was that dream coming true. Its bold, defiant image reflected the real Sarah Chen far more than her gentle image in Mandarin songs.

Chen had planned to make only one English album, but it sold unexpectedly well, exceeding 200,000 copies and becoming her best-seller for a time. The success reflected her impeccable pronunciation and her years of experience performing English songs; Reggie Verghese was also a seasoned producer.  Its popularity led to two more collaborations between Chen and Verghese in the following years, both achieving similar success.

📀 1983-12 EMI《The Right To Sing》Tracks: 

The Right to Sing｜Jealous Lover｜How Am I Supposed to Live without U｜Words｜I Knew You When｜Changes｜Heartstealer｜I Really Don't Want to Know｜Love's Got a Line on You｜Diamonds and Rust（🔗 Sarah Chen's Discography； YouTube Playlist）

Endless Love, released in June 1984, was an award-winning album that garnered Sarah Chen her first major music award, the Golden Bell Best Female Singer Award in 1985. It was Chen’s personal favorite at the time. Although not as well-known as her next album, the 1984 album had a number of beautiful songs, such as Hold Me, Sunrise, Cloud’s Home, Dream Years, and the title track Endless Love. This is also the only Sarah Chen EMI album officially preserved and still available to listeners in North America. Importantly, it fulfilled her biggest wish since entering the music industry.

Unlike Song of the Ocean, all songs on Endless Love were original. At the time, producing an album meant purchasing songs, and the going rate in Taiwan was around 4,000 TWD per song (unit unclear). Sarah Chen’s album was produced at much higher cost, with each song averaging 10,000. Yet despite the investment, the album’s sales were underwhelming. Some critics believed the lyrics were too layered: difficult to grasp on first listen. 

As a fan who only recently discovered this album, my first impression was that phrases like “ugly face” and “stupid waiting” ruined the experience. The human brain is highly sensitive to negative words. Songs with words like “ugly,” “fake,” “stupid,” or “outdated” are hard to accept. Had the songs not been pre-purchased, Chen herself likely would have objected and demanded that the lyrics be rewritten.

That said, aside from the lyrical issues, this album is truly outstanding. My favorite track is Hold Me, a hauntingly beautiful ballad. Chen re-recorded it in 1995 on Forever, Sarah, placing it as the last track of the album, her swan song, showing just how much she valued this album.

Fortunately, the Golden Bell Award judges accurately assessed the merit of the album. In a fiercely contested field with Julie Sue and Jeanette Wang, Sarah Chen was awarded the 1985 Golden Bell Best Female Singer Award. This award was pivotal to her career. Her talent had long been evident, but this was the first time she received recognition from her peers,  securing her position as a Mandopop diva.

📀 1984-6 EMI《Endless Love》Tracks: 

True Face｜Endless Love｜Unwise Wait｜Sunrise｜Cloud's Home｜Let It Be｜Hold Me｜Outdated Game｜If Only You Can｜Dream Years（🔗 Sarah Chen's Discography； YouTube Playlist）

Wandering the World, released around New Year 1985, broke EMI's sales record. In addition to an outstanding single (the title song), the album included several beautiful songs, such as Girl Crying in the Wind, Scattered Poems, Dream Trace, and Yellowing Bookmark. This was a melodic album, one of Sarah Chen's most exquisite works. It achieved something that even she had not dreamed of: outselling Michael Jackson's Thriller in Malaysia in 1985.

The title song, Wandering the World, was a Sarah Chen classic, recorded after her recent voyage to the Mediterranean Sea. That sense of getting lost, of being homesick, was Chen's own, and it also foreshadowed her years of drifting abroad in the early 1990s. In a 1990 interview with Liu Jie, Chen lamented that every trip away from Taiwan made her miss home even more. Similar to Song of the Ocean, Wandering the World is a fast-paced song with strong beats, in contrast to the majority of Chen's gentler songs. But her performance of both songs was compelling, showing her versatility in interpreting different styles.

Unfortunately, structural problems within EMI in later years resulted in a lack of long-term support for Chen's EMI-era songs, lowering the popularity of this album compared to her Rock Records works. But the elegance of this album is hard to surpass. Whereas Forever, Sarah will one day accompany me out of this world, Wandering the World is the sound that follows me on this earth in every journey.

📀 1984/1985 EMI《Wandering the World》Track: 

Wandering the World｜Girl Crying in the Wind｜Scattered Poem｜Unchanging｜Miss You｜Faraway Land｜Dream Trace｜Yellowing Bookmark｜Come to Me｜Heartbreaking Goodbye（🔗 Sarah Chen's Discography； YouTube Playlist）

Sarah Chen's most unique album was the 1985 Black Hair Turns White, a prelude to her farewell album Forever, Sarah recorded 10 years later. The album was produced under unusual circumstances, reflecting the challenges Chen faced at the time. It also marked the beginning of her leading the effort for her own work.

Ever since joining EMI, Chen had maintained a steady pace of releasing a Mandarin album every six months. The August 1985 album was slightly delayed; recording was to begin in February, but producer Tan Jian-Chang had to attend to a family emergency. Tan would later recall that 1985 was when personnel changes within EMI led to his departure, ending his collaboration with Chen. This was their final work together.

Before they began this album, Chen had just won the Golden Bell Best Female Singer Award in March 1985. In a broadcast a few days after the award, she disclosed two secrets to fans: her record label wanted her to open up the Northeast Asian market (i.e., Japan), while her mother wanted her to focus more on marriage. Although she indicated she could not give more details until everything was finalized, it sounded like progress had been made on both fronts, especially her marriage, as she asked for prayers. Unfortunately, things took a drastic downturn over the next several months. She ultimately did not develop in Japan, and outside interference from the music industry and media led to a painful breakup with her long-time partner. Chen would remain unmarried.

Against this backdrop, the 1985 album was deeply personal for Chen. Most tracks carried a sentiment of farewell, gratitude, and reflection on life. In 2024, advanced AI (GPT-4) identified the album as a farewell album, consistent with online discussions about Chen being on the verge of quitting music then. The singer, recently awarded, was demoralized by personal and professional losses. The media put relentless pressure on her, not only demanding the next album but also criticizing her for slowing down after the Golden Bell win.

The album was initially titled after the song Keyless Lock of a Heart, but reviews of that track were lukewarm, calling it a typical Tan composition. Chen’s personal favorite was Black Hair Turns White, but perhaps because its lyrics reminded listeners of another song, it was not initially promoted as a standout single. The album was later re-released with Black Hair Turns White as the title track, supporting Chen’s own view that it was an outstanding song. She was said to have broken down several times while recording it, her rare loss of control, likely because the song touched her broken heart. Another track, Window-Side Rain, carried the poetic sorrow of Li Qing-Zhao’s famous verse “Last night with light rain and heavy wind,” and is worth repeated listening. Years later, Chen re-recorded both Black Hair Turns White and Window-Side Rain, showing how important this album had been to her.

Of all her works, Black Hair Turns White carries the deepest farewell sentiment, an album not only about parting but also about life and death. Words often avoided in popular songs appear here: “death” in Finale, “Heaven and Hell” in Chance Meeting, “Tune ended, people left, waved good-bye to my past” in No More Dust in My Heart, and Final Good-Bye, an elegy for composer Mari Kurihara, Chen’s friend. Judging from the tracks, there is no doubt that the album reflects an ending, even the end of life. Its unique tone likely mirrored Chen’s own circumstances, and may also have been tied to Tan’s recent grief.

The most touching track is Final Good-Bye. According to the album cover, Mari was Chen’s good friend who died three years earlier in a car accident. Lyricist Lou Wen-Zhong wrote from Mari’s perspective, as if comforting her loved ones. Chen’s connection to Mari is unclear. Reports indicate Chen had an adopted father (or godfather in Western terms), a doctor in Japan. She met him because of her striking physical resemblance to his daughter, who had died in a car accident. Whether Mari was that daughter or not, Chen was no stranger to the family’s tragedy.

The sudden death of a loved one often brings inconsolable grief and regret. Final Good-Bye is not an easy song to interpret, yet Chen sang it with such love that one could believe it was truly Mari speaking from above. Chen’s connection to Mari no doubt played a role in her extraordinary ability to perform this song. Every word, every line she sang touched me deeply, as I wondered whether my own loved one would have said the same: “Forgive me for leaving you without a word, I didn’t want to go like this,” “Let my love, all my love, surround you forever and ever.”

Sarah Chen was only 27 at the time, still looking like a rock star. Neither her age nor her outward appearance matched the deep farewell sentiment of the album; what did match was her life situation. The media treated the album as just another release, never catching its significance. In hindsight, it was the beginning of Chen taking control of her work. She had already recorded an album reflecting her own feelings in 1985; it follows that in the next decade she would actively try to shape her music. If she had once focused on interpreting the songs of others, then after Black Hair Turns White, her focus shifted to expressing her own heart through song.

📀 1985-8 EMI《Black Hair Turns White》Tracks: 

Keyless Lock of a Heart｜Black Hair Turns White｜Night's Fairy Tale｜Window-Side Rain｜Finale｜Chance Meeting｜No More Dust In My Heart｜Please, What Is Your Name｜Rainy Season Street｜Final Good-Bye（🔗 Sarah Chen's Discography； YouTube Playlist）

Lunar New Year was a lesser-known Sarah Chen album, initially released only in Singapore and Malaysia. Although not widely popular, it featured one outstanding single, Four-Season Flowers, and its recording reflected a transitional period in Chen’s career.

As an international label, EMI operated in Taiwan through a partnership with Four-Oceans Records, with Tan Jian-Chang producing Sarah Chen’s Mandarin albums. After Black Hair Turns White, Tan left Four-Oceans, reportedly to start his own business. Around the same time, EMI ended its partnership with Four-Oceans, sparking rumors that Sarah Chen would face her longtime rival, Tracy Huang, at UFO Records. In the year that followed, Chen’s music production stalled.

EMI released Lunar New Year, produced by Zheng Jiang-Zhong, at the end of 1985. The album originally contained ten tracks, including two composed by Singaporean musicians. Press reports suggested EMI was working to open the Japanese and Hong Kong markets for Chen, including a plan for a Cantonese album, though this would partly depend on her ability to master the language. These plans, along with Chen’s sudden acceptance of concert invitations, suggested that EMI was trying to appease their top star: occupying her with two new languages, and giving her something to look forward to, while buying time to resolve her stalled music production.

Lunar New Year thus served two purposes: maintaining Chen’s release schedule and providing songs for her New Year concerts. But the album faced two problems: its recording seemed rushed, resulting in poor sound quality and music arrangements; and it contained fewer songs than similar albums on the market. Still, riding on Chen’s recent Golden Bell Award, it sold well in the regions where it was promoted, though its long-term flaws remained.

Years later, Warner Music Singapore reissued the album with two additional tracks, likely recorded earlier. The poor sound quality of the original ten songs, however, persisted, diminishing what could have been a Sarah Chen classic.

One of the added tracks, Four-Season Flowers, is among Sarah Chen's most addictive songs. A traditional MinYao dating back to the 1940s, it stunned me the first time I heard it, as Chen turned a plain old folk tune into something hauntingly beautiful. This song, along with Chen’s English cover of the Joan Baez classic Diamonds and Rust, convinced me to join the Sarah Chen fan club (if such a thing exists). As with Meeting in a Dream, Chen’s distinctive style is often most striking in her covers.

Apart from her later album of traditional Taiwanese songs, Chen never recorded another traditional track. She was said to be a devoted churchgoer, partly because of her love for church music. Given her superb English performances, she could have made a remarkable album of traditional holiday or Christmas classics. Just as I never imagined how beautiful she could make Four-Season Flowers, I can only wonder what she might have done with holiday songs. But she never took that step, perhaps not unrelated to her personal religious journey, which saw her eventually embrace Buddhism after earlier uncertainty. Treating religious music purely as art brings its own challenges, and this was one she did not take on. The pure enjoyment of Chen’s classic songs would have to wait until 1992, when she infused her magic into Sarah’s Taiwanese Songs.

📀 1985/1986 百代唱片《贺岁》曲目: 

New Year Celebration Gathering｜Everyone Congratulates｜Happy Year｜Congratulations｜Wish You Fortune｜Ten Thousand Years of Red｜Fortune God Has Arrived｜Spring's Morning｜New Year Celebration｜Spring Is In My Arms｜Four-Season Flowers｜New Year Happiness（🔗 Sarah Chen's Discography； YouTube Playlist）

Ever since becoming a professional singer, Sarah Chen had never gone a single year without recording. After winning the Golden Bell Award, 1986 was expected to be her most productive year. Yet it turned out to be her leanest. With Tan’s departure and the change in EMI’s Taiwan partnership, suddenly Sarah Chen became “homeless.” Her contract with EMI still had several years left, binding her to a dysfunctional label. At the peak of her skills and voice, the Golden Bell Best Female Singer spent nearly two years caught in her label’s troubles. The only album she released, with just four new songs, was the live recording of her 1986 Malaysia concert.

Early in 1986, Sarah Chen accepted Shangri-la Night Club’s invitation to perform for Lunar New Year in Malaysia. A neighboring club was hosting Hong Kong superstars Anita Mui and Leslie Cheung, and Shangri-la feared Chen alone might not compete. With Chen never having held a concert before, they were unsure that she could carry the show. They decided to invite Fei Yu-Ching, the 1984 Golden Bell Best Male Singer, pairing Chen and Fei against Mui and Cheung.

It’s unclear how Chen coordinated with Fei, but recordings and reports suggest they split the time in two halves. Fei performed solo. Chen, by contrast, brought four backing vocalists from Taiwan and six local dancers. Frequently changing glamorous outfits, she opened with the exciting Starry Sky, followed with the heartfelt Black Hair Turns White, and closed with the upbeat Wandering the World. Singing and dancing on a stage full of performers, Chen delivered a true 50-minute show. Any doubts vanished: she proved herself a first-rate entertainer, fully capable of carrying her own show.

The Malaysia concert ran for ten days, with slight variations in the setlist. On some days Chen included songs from her Lunar New Year album. Notably, she sang in Cantonese for the first time, likely the result of recent practice. In multicultural, multilingual Malaysia, Chen performed in Mandarin, Cantonese, Taiwanese, and English to connect with the diverse audience. She promised she would always remember them. The English song she sang, Say You, Say Me, later inspired her to create an album to “talk to” her fans, a wish she fulfilled three years later with her career-defining Talk to You, Listen to You.

Shortly after the concert, Chen underwent appendicitis surgery, then traveled to Japan with her mother to recover. By then, she had broken up with her partner; though geographically close to him, their hearts could not be further apart. Chen's mood turned heavy, but daily exercise and the kindness of neighbors gradually lifted her spirits.

Chen performed in Japan that year, singing Black Hair Turns White, and Rainy Night Flower. Her mother spoke fluent Japanese, and they sometimes conversed in it. Chen herself had recorded in Japanese as a child and performed in the language at the 1982 World PopCon in Tokyo. Language was no barrier, but in the mid-1980s, the Japanese market still belonged to Teresa Teng. Focused on her own unique style, Chen had little reason to step back into Teng’s shadow, and she did not further pursue the market.

By the end of 1986, EMI finally arranged for Rock Records to produce Chen’s next Mandarin album, with Niu Da-Ke as producer. But Rock Records was not her home; she now lived under another’s roof, subject to others’ whims. The past year’s struggle over music production made Chen appreciate every recording opportunity. Her path forward would be difficult, but she could not afford to be a sitting duck—she would seize every chance to shape her own music.

📀 1983-1989 EMI《Sarah Chen'86 Concert》and EMI Singles 曲目: 

Tomorrow Will Be Better｜Samsui Women｜Days Under the Sun｜Starry Sky (live) 1986｜Young Empress Cixi｜Tossing Copper Coins｜Within you'll remain｜Say you, Say me｜Rainy Night Flower (live)｜Happy Paradise｜Emperor and Princess V2（🔗 Sarah Chen's Discography； YouTube Playlist）

In 1986, EMI ended its partnership with Four-Oceans Records in Taiwan, moving first to UFO Records and then to Rock Records. By late 1986, when Sarah Chen’s music production resumed, it was with Rock Records. Waiting for the Storm, released in January 1987, was her first collaboration with Rock Records. She remained under contract with EMI, which owned the rights to her albums.

EMI was in talks with several producers, including Lo Ta-Yu, Wong Xiao-Liang, Jonathan Lee, and Chen Fu-Ming, before settling on Niu Da-Ke. This would be Niu’s first and only collaboration with Chen, though they had known each other for a decade, allowing for a smooth transition. The album incorporated new MIDI computerized arrangements, assisted by a Japanese musician; it was Chen’s first album using MIDI. She also began using computers to organize communication with fans, staying at the forefront of technology.

Like Tan Jian-Chang, Niu came from a rock band. Impressed by Chen’s past performances of rock-style and fast-tempo songs, he composed the rock-style Time Trap as the album’s lead single, hoping it would match the success of Wandering the World and Song of the Ocean. But Tan had understood Chen better. While Tan integrated rock music into her work, he placed greater value on the softer, more feminine side of her voice.

Initially titled Time Trap, the album also included three beautiful movie theme songs: Emperor and Princess, Enduring Memories, and Water Grace. Chen began working with female musicians Kay Huang, Cheng Hua-Juan, and Wang Xin-Lian, and performed her first song by Jonathan Lee, A Single Woman Like Me. The song received lukewarm reviews, with some critics calling Lee’s style a poor fit for Chen’s singing and blaming Niu for including it on the album.

In a later interview, Chen said she liked the album, noting that her work with Niu helped her find a way to sing with her most natural voice. The change was subtle, more a return to the style of her early career, as in Sunset Follows Me Home, and not the kind of “transformation” later used to describe her. Niu never used such terms either.

Despite critical acclaim and Chen’s own appreciation, sales fell short of expectations. Time Trap lagged far behind earlier standout singles, and the album was later reissued under the title Waiting for the Storm, an admission that the earlier choice of lead single was misguided. Even so, Waiting for the Storm, Chen's first Jazz-style song, failed to attract strong interest, while the softer Emperor and Princess and Water Grace enjoyed enduring popularity.

After EMI and Rock Records parted ways three years later, EMI retained the rights to Waiting for the Storm, though long-term support faded. In 1995, Chen re-recorded Water Grace, retitled All Is Well After Farewell, as a tribute to the 1987 album. After all, it had been a turning point in her career, stabilizing her music production. Her smooth collaboration with Niu, first experience with the A&R model, and discovery of a natural singing approach were all positives from this album, paving the way for her future work.

📀 1987-1 EMI《Waiting for the Storm》Tracks: 

Waiting for the Storm｜Rainy City｜Time Trap｜A Single Woman Like Me｜Leaving You｜Emperor and Princess V1｜Enduring Memories｜I Love You Deeply｜Water Grace｜Leaf Says（🔗 Sarah Chen's Discography； YouTube Playlist）

Miracle of Love, released in June 1987, was Sarah Chen's second English album with EMI, a collection of ballads filled with her magic love. The songs, however, were neither as defiant as those in her earlier The Right to Sing nor as norm-breaking as her next English album Hold Me Now. It sold well but failed to generate the same excitement as her first English release, raising questions about EMI’s strategy.

Chen’s 1983 The Right to Sing was unexpectedly successful, becoming her best seller for a time. Ever since, she was often asked when she would release another English album. She explained that because of the larger market for English music, EMI took a more cautious approach. By 1987, when her Mandarin production moved from Four-Oceans to Rock Records, Taiwan’s production capacity for English albums had improved, yet the earlier success with Singapore’s Reggie Verghese led to a second collaboration.

Planning began in early 1987. Perhaps because of the commercial success of the first album, EMI kept the same formula: a cover album of popular English songs. This approach had clear limitations. By then, although some singers still succeeded with English covers, this was rare. As an international label, EMI could have produced an original album, especially since three and a half years had passed since the first, giving ample time for long-term planning. The decision to stick with covers likely reflected EMI’s market calculation: either a lack of confidence or ambition to push an Asian singer into the global English market. If the target was mainly Asian-language regions, listeners might not mind the lack of originality and might even prefer familiar hits. Still, this limited the singer’s career potential.

Within this model, the challenge was selecting melodic, popular songs. Chen recalled that while the 1983 album drew from a small pool, mainly country music, Miracle of Love had a much broader selection of English pop, with a focus on songs originally performed by male singers, offering novelty in her gender-reversed renditions.

Although this was Chen’s personal favorite among her English albums, it missed the spark of her first, selling over 70,000 copies in its first year. The all-ballad track list lacked the defiance of The Right to Sing, and the lukewarm market response may have been an early sign that audiences were turning away from English covers. In the end, EMI never broke away from the cover model for Chen’s English-language work, and if she hoped to break into the global English-language market, EMI was unlikely up to the task.

Today, the 1987 album has long faded, with no re-release or label support. A few months ago, I was lucky to find an original cassette in Europe. The seller had bought a bag of old cassettes at a garage sale but disliked some of them. Although the sound quality of Miracle of Love was still acceptable, it was one of her least favorite, one she was happy to let go. So I became the proud owner of what may be the last surviving copy of Miracle of Love. One (wo)man’s meat is another’s poison.

📀 1987-6 EMI《Miracle of Love》Tracks: 

Miracle Of Love｜If You Ever Had A Broken Heart｜There'll Be Sad Songs(To Make You Cry)｜Every Loser Wins｜Now And Forever(You And Me) ｜Somewhere Out There｜Because I Love You｜Some Hearts Are Diamonds｜Little Girl｜Can't Help Falling In Love｜Love In Your Eyes｜Give Me Peace On Earth （🔗 Sarah Chen's Discography； YouTube Playlist）

I consider myself lucky not to have been a Sarah Chen fan at the time, knowing little about her work and thus spared the brainwashing that accompanied her album promotions. Forty years after her heyday, Time Machine transported me back to the mid-1980s, when the interviews and experiences she would later have had already become history. Looking back, the damaging effect of the 1988 Woman’s Heart was glaringly obvious.

Woman’s Heart is often seen as the start of Chen’s rise in Mandopop, an album showing the emerging independence and sensibility of women in Taiwan. In hindsight, it was the start of Chen's career slide, the moment she began losing control of her career narrative. Before this album, promotions centered on her; afterward, credit shifted to producers and songwriters. The talk of Chen being “transformed” and “made successful” began here, distorting and undermining her legacy.

In early 1987, after releasing Waiting for the Storm, EMI began planning Chen’s next Mandarin album. A key decision was to try a new producer for each of her future albums, partly to bring fresh excitement to an already established singer. They chose Jonathan Lee. Unlike Niu Da-Ke, Lee was already part of Rock Records’ leadership and would become vice-CEO the following year. When Chen first moved to Rock Records, Lee welcomed her in an official capacity, saying she should have a fresh start and Rock Records would help her. One held a position of power; the other was living under someone else’s roof. This was an unequal collaboration from the start.

Planning began in February 1987 alongside Chen’s English album Miracle of Love, but progress was slow. In later interviews, Chen admitted she was concerned by Lee’s seemingly nonchalant attitude, fearing the album might not happen. Yet, she also found him thoughtful, sometimes crossing out all 50 proposed song titles to start over the next day. The album’s concept shifted from “Ten Women’s Stories,” to “The Entire World Knows I Love You,” before settling on Woman’s Heart at release.

It was a concept album, meaning all songs revolved around a central theme. At the time, “urban women” was a popular theme. Rock Records had Sylvia Chang and Michelle Pan, while UFO Records had Julie Sue and Tracy Huang as pioneers of this concept. The new songs were no longer the poetic love ballads of the Tan Jian-Chang/Xiao-Xuan era but story-driven, closer to Western pop.

Chen was already familiar with concept albums through her English work and Black Hair Turns White, but this was her first time participating in the songwriting process for an original album. Progress was excruciatingly slow, partly because she and Lee clashed. Their personalities conflicted, schedules differed, and views of music diverged. In a 1992 interview, Chen recalled that perhaps because Lee had just become a new father, he acted like one - her polite way of saying he was heavy-handed (Chen and Lee are similar in age). Stubborn by nature, Chen pushed back. They quarreled, waged cold wars, but both cared about the album enough to reach a compromise after working on it for a full year.

When Woman’s Heart was released in February 1988, its promotion placed Lee at the center, relegating Chen to a secondary role. The album’s description read: “Jonathan Lee made Sarah Chen adopt a more mature and nuanced emotional style, which he used to shape her pure voice into one that conveyed greater individuality. It is Lee’s new singing method; it’s also Chen’s new transformation.” In other words, this was Lee’s work, not Chen's. Never before had Chen’s albums been marketed with her as an accessory, nor was this done with other singers. If Rock Records had reason to promote their own musician over Chen, EMI had no excuse for allowing their star to be thrown under the bus.

The album’s Taiwan promotion paid off quickly. That Night You Were Drunk became a hit, and within months, Woman’s Heart sold over 200,000 copies in Taiwan, Chen's bestseller at the time. But in Malaysia and Singapore, the reception was lukewarm, with critics echoing earlier concerns: some songs Lee wrote suited himself better than the gentle Chen. They asked: Was this Sarah Chen’s woman’s heart, or Jonathan Lee’s? The regional difference suggests Taiwan’s success was partly driven by heavy promotion.

Besides the opening track, another heavily promoted song was That Year I Was 25, described as poetic. It tells of a Taiwanese woman who recently moved to New York and fell for a man willing to marry her only after securing a job. With no job and money gone, her hope of getting married was dashed. It was the most depressive Sarah Chen song I have heard, even darker than her life-and-death farewell with Tan Jian-Chang. Hardly a portrait of an “independent urban woman.” If I were that woman starting fresh abroad, the last thing I’d do is tie my future to a man. Would a man do the same, waiting for a woman to marry him upon moving to New York? No. He’d pursue his own opportunities and establish a new life. So why shouldn’t women?

Whatever one thinks of the album, it’s clear Chen lost the battle over its promotion. Not skilled at self-promotion or power plays, she focused on what she could control: singing the songs. No matter how the album was promoted, it was still Chen's voice and interpretation that defined it. Songwriter Ding Xiao-Wen recalled hearing Lee singing Don’t Say Pity while composing it. Ding was stunned by Chen’s final version: it was entirely different. Men could push, even impose, but it was Woman's Heart, and Chen was the one carving hers into the songs.

Nearly four decades later, this EMI album has long faded, never reissued, and Chen didn't re-record any of its songs for her farewell album. Though it sold well at the time, its popularity has long lagged behind her early EMI works. Time has rendered its verdict on that compromise. Perhaps it was a fitting outcome for an album that did Chen no favor.

📀 1988-2 EMI《Women's Heart》Tracks: 

That Night You Were Drunk｜Don't Say Pity｜Please Let Me Love You｜That Year I was 25｜Beautiful Just for You｜Same as You｜Please Forgive Me｜Weak Woman｜You Never Make Me Worry（🔗 Sarah Chen's Discography； YouTube Playlist）

Tomorrow Will You Still Love Me (henceforth Tomorrow) was Sarah Chen's most powerful and personal album. Hidden within it were her own love experiences. Perhaps because of its personal significance, several songs, such as the title track and Boisterous Street, are emotionally devastating. Many Sarah Chen fans consider it her best album. Surprisingly, production took only two to three months, the complete opposite of the drawn-out process for Woman's Heart.

In spring 1988, after the release of Woman's Heart, EMI began planning Chen's next album. Media reports said she was to record an English album, building on the success of Miracle of Love. For her Mandarin album, Chen said they were still choosing a producer. Candidates included Jonathan Lee, the team of Shen Xing-Yuan, Zheng Hua-Juan, and Kay Huang, while her own preference was Chen Yang. After enduring the unpleasant production of Woman's Heart, Chen had little confidence in the process for her Mandarin albums, saying that although it was scheduled to start in August 1988, it could take a long time. Naturally, most expected the next release to be an English album.

By then, Chen's music production had returned to a steady rhythm, and her commercial success had eased her anxiety. But on a personal level, she had not fully recovered from her last breakup. Not only was she reluctant to invest emotionally in another relationship, she had also become more guarded with the media and the entertainment industry. Still, she couldn't escape intrusive questions about her love life, so she adopted a new strategy: she told the story of her “first love” in third grade, a boy who later moved to the U.S. and whom she encountered in New York years later, with no feelings rekindled. This obviously evasive answer left the media unsure whether to take her seriously.

It was under this backdrop that production of Tomorrow began. The producer was once again new to Sarah, Bobby Chen. Her own preferred choice, Chen Yang, assisted with production, while Kay Huang handled arrangements on some tracks. TV footage from the time shows that Bobby and Sarah had developed a rapport, enough for him to poke fun at her on air. Bobby Chen wanted to continue where Woman’s Heart left off, but this time, the stories would not be about women in general, they would be about Sarah Chen herself. In other words, he wanted to open her heart.

Ever since entering the entertainment industry against her parents’ wishes, Sarah Chen had reminded herself to avoid scandal, so as not to let them down. She had recently suffered a breakup due to interference from the entertainment industry and had tried various ways to deflect media intrusion. Opening her heart in this album was simply not an option. Yet she could not let go of the golden opportunity to weave her own experiences into songs. What she could do, much like the “third-grade first love” story, was offer small fragments, knowing Bobby Chen would dig deeper, thus integrating her feelings into the album. The final concept centered on breaking up with an uncommitted lover.

According to the 2003 documentary A Letter to Sarah, Sarah Chen revealed very little to Bobby. But as she expected, he was not so easily fooled; instead, he gained insights into parts of her emotional world she had long tried to hide. In an interview after the album’s release, Sarah Chen admitted Bobby was no stranger to her emotions: “Bobby Chen is an endearing man; he made me feel like a whole woman. He seemed to be able to see through my inner world, extracting the secrets I held deeply little by little.”

By playing this hide-and-seek game, Sarah Chen found a way to influence the album that was acceptable to her. Without disclosing her actual love affairs, she nonetheless let her feelings into the songs. Tomorrow became her most personally significant album, an intriguing one for the detectives among her fans.

This album was once my personal favorite. Even before I knew its production history, I was enthralled by multiple tracks, overwhelmed by the sheer force of emotion. Beauty and Sorrow shared its title with Chen’s 1980 album, likely by design. When the album launched, EMI focused promotion on this song, apparently one Chen herself liked, as she performed it several times on live TV. The melodically beautiful song is an emotional wreckage, a tour de force, yet its lyrics were ambiguous, even suspicious. Given the cat-and-mouse dynamic between singer and producer during production, one cannot rule out that some pranks were embedded in the album without Sarah Chen’s awareness.

The title track, Tomorrow Will You Still Love Me, is my favorite Sarah Chen song. Composed by Johnny Bug Chen, it exists in three versions. The 1988 CD version, released overseas, leaves me breathless every time I listen. Its effect is akin to Adele’s Set Fire to the Rain, devastatingly beautiful. Even if Sarah Chen had released only this one album, sung only this one song, I would still be her fan.

Perhaps due to the quick production, several tracks exist in two versions, with differences in arrangement and vocals between the Taiwan cassette and overseas CD releases. Unfortunately, after its surprise release in November 1988, it competed with Chen’s new English album, released just a month later. Promotion for both albums also fell short of that for Woman’s Heart. Though the streets of Taiwan echoed with “Arthur Penn’s four friends,” Tomorrow did not surpass the sales record of Woman’s Heart. A year later, the release of Dream to Awakening overshadowed all her past work.

In 1990, after EMI and Rock Records parted ways, Tomorrow remained under EMI’s control. Rock Records did not obtain its rights, cutting off its long-term distribution and visibility. In 1995, Chen re-recorded Tomorrow Will You Still Love Me and even filmed a beautiful MV, showing how much she cherished the album. Nearly 40 years later, several tracks from it continue to circulate through fan uploads, preserving the stunning beauty, deep emotion, and vocal power of Sarah Chen before a turning point in her life and career. After all, this was her story, her inner world.

📀 1988-11 EMI《Tomorrow Will You Still Love Me》Tracks: 

Beauty and Sorrow｜Tomorrow Will You Still Love Me1-2｜Loneliness｜Heartbreaking Hotel｜Like Dreams Like Smoke｜Arthur Penn's Four Friends 1-2｜Boisterous Street 1-2｜Bonjour, Sadness 1-2｜DJ In My Life｜City Women（🔗 Sarah Chen's Discography； YouTube Playlist）

The December 1988 release of Hold Me Now was Sarah Chen's final English album. Like the first two, it was a collection of cover songs, but two features made this arguably her best English album: the norm-breaking song choices and her deeply emotive singing. Fitting Chen's career as the Queen of Dreamland, half the tracks are dream-related. Notably, the songs conveyed an intensity of love not typically accepted in Chen's culture. Some, such as the male-female duet Closer, were so intimate that the Chinese translation was self-censored upon release. Although Chen ended her English-language work here, she took one last swipe at the culture that restrained women from expressing love openly. She had to do this in English, as the outwardly conservative Chen could barely sing “Say You Love Me” in Mandarin without raising eyebrows.

And what a performance this was! Listeners unfamiliar with English may not fully appreciate her delivery. The album was recorded at the same time as Tomorrow Will You Still Love Me, when Chen's performance was at its peak. Songs on Hold Me Now, though non-personal, were performed with just as much passion. Some tracks simply could not be put down.

In the duet Somewhere in My Heart, Chen conjured her magic as she sang: “And I'm sure we're gonna find our way and we'll surely meet again one day in the arms of the Lord.” One can’t help crying out to her: please, enough of the pain, stop doing this to yourself again! Life has no solution; some things are too painful for the soul to confront, in reality or even in imagination.

Despite Chen's impressive singing, the album stuck to the old model of covering popular English songs. She had the potential to become a global superstar through original English material, but she never had the opportunity. After this album, and with her contract with EMI soon ending, she stopped performing in English altogether. Whatever her reasons for not resuming it, she made the wise decision to avoid covering more English songs. She overcame the language barrier when performing in English, but the cultural and racial divides remain significant barriers to entry, even today.

These same barriers also prevented the original singers of the English songs from dominating the Asian market, leaving space for Chen's English albums. Yet they also prevented Chen's work from reaching a global audience, including her original English songs. EMI was not without reason in focusing on a regional market for Asian singers’ English albums.

Any greater ambition to break into the global English market must eventually confront a deeply ingrained feature of humans (and primates more broadly): bias toward members of the same group, the “in-group/out-group” effect. Music can help reduce conflict, but it cannot fully overcome limitations of the human mind imposed by evolution. The English songs Chen performed were already significant in bridging cultural and linguistic divides, but the theoretical limits of how much farther she, or anyone, could go remain unclear. One can only hope that, one day, music will become a universal language, transcending the boundaries of countries, cultures, and nations. The arrival of that day, I think, would also signal the end of man-made suffering, disasters, and conflicts.

📀 1988-12 EMI《Hold Me Now》Tracks: 

Cello｜Ebony Eyes｜Stay｜I Don't Remember｜Who's Leaving Who｜Sukiyaki｜Hold Me Now｜Closer｜Love Song｜Every Time You Walk In The Room｜Somewhere In My Heart｜Wings Of Love（🔗 Sarah Chen's Discography； YouTube Playlist）

Talk to You, Listen to You, released in November 1989, was Sarah Chen's most successful album. The concept of the album originated from Chen herself, but later promotions gradually weakened her credit; she was even said to have fulfilled the producer's dream. The now widely circulated male-centered narrative around this album contradicts news reports from the 1980s. Reviewing the history of the album is a critical step toward restoring Sarah Chen's musical legacy.

During Lunar New Year 1989, Sarah Chen returned to Malaysia's Shangri-La Night Club, performing two dinner shows while promoting her two recent albums, Tomorrow Will You Still Love Me and Hold Me Now. She told reporters that one of her New Year’s wishes was to record a traditional Taiwanese album, but she had not yet found a collaborator to work with her on this. This was the origin of her 1992 album Sarah’s Taiwanese Songs. In the interview, Chen also indicated that she might collaborate with Jonathan Lee again for her next Mandarin album. She wanted to produce an album that would “talk to” her fans, much like when she sang Say You, Say Me in Malaysia three years earlier.

This was the beginning of Talk to You, Listen to You. Although Chen’s previous collaboration with Lee on Woman’s Heart had been fraught with difficulties, its commercial success brought the two together again. By then, Lee had become vice CEO of Rock Records and had a busy schedule, but he had gained an appreciation for Chen’s singing through their earlier work. After Chen told Lee about her idea for an album to talk to her fans, he began working with her on it.

This time, the collaboration was smooth sailing as both had learned to trust each other. In a later interview, Chen said they had come to understand each other’s abilities and limitations, knowing when to ask for more and when to let go. Lee, she said, was more likable than before, no longer the imposing fatherly figure he had assumed a year earlier.

Lee considered Chen’s voice unmatched by other singers. To make it shine, the production used no backing singers, leaving just Chen’s voice and the instruments. The only exception was his own duet with Chen in Walk Your Own Way. But perhaps knowing that Chen’s voice was too beautiful for most male singers (including himself) to match, Lee composed the song so that the majority of the lines went to her. Chen’s career-defining album thus emerged from a smooth and balanced collaboration, as Lee, beyond highlighting her vocals, left her to decide how to sing.

To promote the album and add more “authority” to her message, Chen made a drastic change to her appearance, cutting her hair to a gender-neutral length. At the time, nearly all Taiwanese female singers wore long hair: gender-neutral looks were far from the societal ideal for women. Chen, however, had a natural advantage. She had inherited handsome features from her father, and the short-haired Chen suddenly added a touch of masculinity to her otherwise feminine looks. Her image perfectly matched her vocal quality, a blend of strength and vulnerability. Just like that, the stars lined up for the album. Chen appeared on Taiwan TV in November to perform the lead single Dream to Awakening, making it an instant and enduring Mandopop classic.

The promotion of this album was more even-handed than Woman’s Heart. In Singapore and Malaysia, EMI focused on both the singer and the producer. Within a week of release, Dream to Awakening topped the charts in Taiwan. By year’s end, the album was selling at a record-breaking pace. At the time, 50,000 copies made a platinum record, 200,000 a hit, and 300,000 the yearly bestseller. When the album sold about 150,000 copies, Chen joked with Rock Records’ sales office, saying they could have her new car if sales reached 400,000. Neither she nor her colleagues took her words seriously. Even in her wildest dreams, she had not imagined a 400,000-copy album.

By early 1990, the album had broken that record on its way to half a million sales. Chen still owned her car (she had been joking after all), but a sinking feeling came to her: how could she continue after this? Such success was historic; there was no way she could surpass it with future albums. In her career, Chen had developed a habit of always looking forward; each release drove her to strive for a better one next. This spirit had carried her through early struggles, as failures never deterred her. With that mindset, she should now focus on the next album, but clearly Talk to You, Listen to You had set a standard almost impossible to exceed.

By then, her mother’s worries had shifted to Chen’s marriage. Chen was already 30 but still only casually dating; marriage seemed as remote as ever. As her mother urged her to spend more time on her personal life rather than her next album, Chen gave her a hopeful promise: “Sure, if my next album sells over 700,000 copies, I’ll find a way to become someone’s wife!”

Talk to You, Listen to You would go on to become Taiwan’s first album to sell 1 million copies. It achieved Chen’s original aim of talking to her fans. One day, as she was crossing the street, a woman came up to hug her, telling her in tears, “You sang my heart!” Beyond that, the album sent a shock wave through Taiwan’s music industry and society. Sarah Chen became the de facto “Voice of Urban Women,” a symbol of female independence at a time when women were increasingly moving to cities to pursue their dreams. Within the music industry, Chen broke the uniformity of female singers, opening an era of independent and diversified female artists. The album also started a trend in Mandopop in which women were no longer portrayed as emotionally dependent on men.

In March 1990, EMI ended its partnership with Rock Records; the two labels had to sell remaining stock within six months and return original materials to their owners. Talk to You, Listen to You was already an extraordinary success. Rock Records bought the full rights to the album, but did not obtain the rights to the three preceding albums (Waiting for the Storm, Woman’s Heart, and Tomorrow Will You Still Love Me).

The following year, Rock Records’ new international partner, BMG, reissued the album and introduced it to mainland China. The reissue was titled after its lead single Dream to Awakening, removing Chen’s original intent ("Talk to You") while emphasizing Lee’s role as composer. This was the beginning of Sarah Chen’s market exposure in mainland China. Because her earlier albums belonged to EMI, they could not be reissued by BMG or Rock Records, leading to the misleading impression that Chen’s career began with Dream to Awakening. Unlike the balanced promotion EMI gave this album, later promotion credited producers more heavily. Over time, Talk to You, Listen to You followed the same path as Woman’s Heart. Chen’s role in conceptualizing the album vanished in the 2003 documentary A Letter to Sarah, which portrayed her as merely fulfilling the producer’s dream. Only the yellowing news reports from 1989, now rediscovered, told the true story of how this album came about.

After this album, Chen’s contract with EMI ended, allowing her to sign with other labels. She met with several rivals, but believing she was unlikely to achieve the same success elsewhere, Chen signed with Rock Records. After all, she had carved her heart into her work there for the past three years.

A new beginning is supposed to bring new opportunities. But just as Chen had not dreamed of achieving such extraordinary success, neither did she foresee the nightmare that would engulf her next.

📀 1989-11 EMI/Rock Records《Talk to You, Listen to You》Tracks: 

Dream to Awakening｜Walk Your Own Way｜Pride and Prejudice｜Love Is the Only Reason｜Cloud's Disturbance｜Silent Expression｜Still Miss You｜Love Passes Summer Street｜I Could（🔗 Sarah Chen's Discography； YouTube Playlist）

A Lifetime of Waiting, released one year after Talk to You, Listen to You, was one of Sarah Chen's most beautiful albums, meeting the unreasonably high expectations set by its predecessor. But the MV for the album, showing an increasingly gaunt figure, also captured the nightmare she was about to live through, as a major health crisis set her career and life on a completely different trajectory.

Chen’s preceding album, Talk to You, Listen to You, brought crushing pressure. Media and the music industry increasingly depicted her as someone transformed, or in need of transformation, as if she were a butterfly constantly reinventing herself in a cruel environment where idol stars flew quickly through a revolving door. Facing unrelenting pressure, Chen was compelled to do two things: record ever-more popular songs while maintaining her glamorous looks. The pressure on her marriage prospects continued to mount on all fronts, a topic she could not avoid whenever interviewed. A Lifetime of Waiting, produced by Johnny “Bug” Chen, emerged from this pressure.

Bug had worked with Sarah on Tomorrow Will You Still Love Me (he was the composer) and had admired her perfect integration of Western and Eastern musical influences. Always wanting to write songs for her, Bug now had the chance to produce her next album. He composed one of her most beautiful songs, Gate of Love, highlighting that perfect blend of gentleness and strength in her voice. The song would later become the theme for a kung fu film, one of several martial-arts-themed songs Chen performed, earning her the nickname “half-martial-arts, half-ballad” singer.

The most outstanding single on this album, however, was Chen’s massive hit Red Dust. Composed by Lo Ta-Yu as the theme for the film Red Dust, the song captured a tragic love story set in the 1940s during China’s political turmoil. The film, written by Sanmao, was adapted from the life of writer Eileen Chang. With deep roots in Chinese culture and literature, the song was difficult to perform, as the subtle depth of emotion could easily be lost. Lo had originally planned to record a male-female duet with Chen, not realizing that male vocals could hardly match hers. They recorded both a duet and a Chen solo; the solo far exceeded the duet. As Lo later admitted his foolishness in trying to sing alongside her, he wisely promoted Chen’s solo, which appeared in the film and went on to become a stand-alone Mandopop classic. As much as I love Tomorrow Will You Still Love Me, there’s no denying it: Red Dust, a song I had treasured for years without knowing who the singer was, was Chen's best. Its deep cultural roots and nuanced emotion were a reflection of the singer herself.

A Lifetime of Waiting earned Chen her second “Best Female Singer” award in Taiwan, this time at the 1991 Golden Melody Awards. From the perspective of meeting the standard set by her previous album, this one achieved it in quality if not in commercial success. It should have eased the pressure from her earlier triumph. What Chen could not diffuse, however, was the damage that relentless pressure had inflicted on her body.

Around the time of this album’s release, Chen was poisoned. She had been taking a type of traditional Chinese medicine for weight control, not realizing it had been tampered with a dangerous substance. She lost weight rapidly in a short period while becoming severely anemic. By the time she realized something was wrong, it was already too late, she had sustained significant, life-threatening damage to her health.

Blaming herself for what had happened, Chen initially kept her illness private, seeking treatment with her mother outside Taiwan. In physical and mental anguish, she fought death for 10 months, surviving only through her mother’s care. Countless sleepless nights, endless tears, spoonful after spoonful of soup, her mother pulled her back from the brink of death. The experience changed Chen.

Sarah Chen was not the first singer to suffer from dangerous weight-control practices, nor would she be the last. Although her specific case was difficult to foresee, the system in which she worked made such an outcome all but inevitable. After her recovery, Chen bravely spoke out about her ordeal, believing it was her duty to warn the public about the dangers of tampered medicine. The individual responsible also lost their license.

But what truly needs fixing is the system that pushes female artists to the brink of death. The system is artificial, yet fixing it is fraught with challenges. In the end, Sarah Chen chose to cut herself off completely from the entertainment industry. Music was no longer art, no longer her refuge; it was the culprit that had nearly killed her.

📀 1990-11 Rock Records《A Lifetime of Waiting》Tracks: 

Gate of Love｜A Lifetime of Waiting｜Don't Casually Say Bye Bye｜Autumn Afternoon｜Tightly Hug Friends｜Red Dust｜Friends from the East｜Red Chamber Dream｜Spring Comes and Goes（🔗 Sarah Chen's Discography； YouTube Playlist）

Be Wise, Be Easy was a special album recorded during Sarah Chen’s illness in 1991, when she spent much of her time overseas. Perhaps because she was facing an existential crisis, or perhaps because her perspective on life had changed, the songs she performed during this time revealed more with each listen: subtle emotions like drips of water, like dancing lights. The title track, literally translated as “smart yet muddled heart,” was a friendly admonition from her composer friend Cheng Hua-Juan. Its philosophical undertones earned the song many fans.

The album was released in December 1991. A month earlier, in November, Chen had won the Golden Melody Award for Best Female Singer for her album A Lifetime of Waiting. Despite the length of her illness, she had not fully recovered, leaving the awards ceremony before her win was announced. News reports from 1991 indicated that she had made a partial recovery, but doctors advised against her becoming overexcited. Believing the result, whether win or loss, would be emotionally overwhelming for her, her colleagues persuaded her to leave before the announcement.

Reports at the time described Chen’s recovery as painful and drawn out. It was a miracle she managed to complete Be Wise, Be Easy under the circumstances. The process was punishing. Before her illness, Chen could begin recording a song after humming it a few times; now she could no longer focus long enough to get through a song in one sitting. Recording a single track could take days. Feeling terrible for wasting the producers’ time, Chen apologized as she struggled, but her colleagues cared more about her health. In a later interview, Chen thanked Jonathan Lee for the support he showed while she was recording a song for a Hong Kong film.

Upon the album’s release, Chen appeared on Taiwan TV to promote it, singing several songs impromptu and thanking her fans for being her “clothes and food parents.” She had largely recovered, though the illness had slightly dimmed her typically cheerful spirit. News reports from Malaysia made no mention of this album, suggesting she did not promote it there. Her label also seemed to take a backseat, perhaps to avoid the sensitive context surrounding it. In mainland China, Be Wise, Be Easy was a fresh release from Chen right after she had opened that market. Despite the lack of promotion, the album was well received, with the title track and Is It Right to Love You becoming hits.

To say Chen made this album with her blood and sweat is no exaggeration. While the songs were not directly related to her illness, they carried traces of her difficult recovery and her determination to go on. The illness had given her time and space to reconsider her life and career. In interviews after her recovery, Chen said that singing was her love, and if she had to choose again, she would still become a singer. But she had already exceeded her own, and anyone’s, expectations. By now, music was no longer compatible with her life. Before leaving it behind, she had a few remaining wishes to fulfill.

📀 1991-12 Rock Records《Be Wise, Be Easy》Tracks: 

Have You Changed｜Is It Right to Love You1 ｜Be Wise, Be Easy｜Love Come In｜Night Stroll｜Love Comes Again｜The One Who Misses You Has Not Slept｜When I See You｜Light's Staircase｜Did You Dream About Me｜Is It Right to Love You2｜Love's Whisper（🔗 Sarah Chen's Discography； YouTube Playlist）

The first thing Sarah Chen did after recovering from her illness was to record Sarah's Taiwanese Songs, fulfilling her long-held wish to communicate with her Taiwanese-speaking grandmother and contribute to the preservation of traditional Taiwanese songs. Chen had expressed this wish as early as Spring 1989. At the time, she was focused on producing Talk to You, Listen to You, and she had not yet found the right condition, namely, using modern musical style to interpret traditional Taiwanese songs. The plan was set aside and her later illness delayed it further.

 In 1992, she finally recovered enough to pursue it. She collaborated once again with Jonathan Lee, likely because she had discussed the idea with him back in 1989. Reports from 1992 confirmed that the concept came from Chen. Lee did not treat the album as anything particularly special, just a project to complete. From Woman's Heart, to Talk to You, Listen to You, to Sarah's Taiwanese Songs, Lee's influence diminished, while Chen's grew stronger.

I don't understand Taiwanese, and even after reading the lyrics, I could only vaguely grasp what she was singing. Perhaps because of that, the beauty of her singing came through even more. Her performance was breathtaking: every song on this album met the high bar set by Teresa Teng's famous Taiwanese albums from a decade ago. My favorite track is Autumn Wind, Night Rain, a song I could listen to on repeat for days .

Although many singers have recorded Taiwanese albums later in their careers (such as Julie Sue and Mai Meng), Chen did hers relatively early, while still at the peak of her vocal powers. Around the same time, she was releasing hugely popular songs like So Transparent Is My Heart. Sarah's Taiwanese Songs wasn't a nostalgic passion project. It was a carefully planned gift from a diva still at the height of her career.

📀 1992-6 Rock Records《Sarah's Taiwanese Songs》Tracks: 

Moon Night Sorrow｜White Peony｜I Don't Know｜Autumn Wind Night Rain｜Rotating Lantern｜Thinking Of｜Spring Dream on the Riverside｜East Taiwanese｜Mending Broken Net｜Lonely Love Flower（🔗Sarah Chen's Discography； YouTube Playlist）

The Dearest of Sarah, released in January 1994, was a compilation album with six new songs and six old ones, representing, in Sarah Chen’s own view, the best of her work from the Rock Records era. It also fulfilled important wishes, such as paying tribute to the late Sanmao, whose classic screenplay Red Dust was tied to Chen’s own greatest song.

Chen did not release any new albums in 1993, the first time this had happened in her career, but she had not yet disengaged from the music industry. After her 1992 Taiwanese album, her main focus was helping to open the vast mainland Chinese market. She took part in Rock Records’ concerts in Beijing and Shanghai in August 1992, performed at the 1993 Asian Olympics, and met the famed Chinese women’s volleyball team. Chen also recorded popular movie themes such as The Mundane World, Dancing Light, and A Whole New World. Her stardom in China rose rapidly; her songs filled every music store, and her promotional work, more than any new album, cemented her status in China.

The six new songs on the 1994 album all became classics. The small number only heightened Chen’s value, as she turned stone into gold with each track. No one could surpass her in making The Mundane World philosophical, Question dignified, Dreamland warm and full of hope, and Dancing Light seductive. Her performance of The Mundane World, the theme for the formidable Kung Fu character the Invincible East, led many fans to see Chen herself as the Invincible East of 1980s–1990s Mandopop.

Chen's reduced output, however, signaled a gradual withdrawal from music. Since her illness in 1991, she had rarely spent time in Taiwan, and she no longer held media or fan events in Singapore and Malaysia, places she had once frequented. She studied English in California (likely at Cal State Fullerton), concealing her identity as much as possible to immerse herself in the classroom. The year-long illness, followed by several years drifting abroad, gave her much to reflect on. Her exit from music was already hinted at in the title of the 1994 album: The Dearest of Sarah. Only one or two wishes remained on her musical bucket list before the Invincible East would leave the dreamland she had built.

📀 1994-1 Rock Records《The Dearest of Sarah》曲目: 

Progression of Love｜Dreamland｜Question｜A Whole New World｜Dancing Light｜The Mundane World｜Dream to Awakening｜Is It Right to Love You｜Red Dust｜Gate of Love｜Silent Expression｜Be Wise Be Easy（🔗 Sarah Chen's Discography； YouTube Playlist）

One of Sarah Chen's most significant works was the 1995 Forever, widely considered Taiwan's first R&B album. Upon its release in June 1995, Chen, who had mostly withdrawn from public life by then, went on a media blitz in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Malaysia, showing how much this album meant to her. Fans familiar with Chen's earlier Mandopop might not take to it immediately, as its musical style was so different. But the album would grow on them with each repeated listening. 

The ten songs on the album reflected Chen's past five years of experience as a singer, drifter, patient, and student. Her active engagement with the media left the mistaken impression that she was back with a new genre of music. But instead of blossoming, as the literal translation of the album title suggested, Chen quit music entirely just a few months later. Perhaps her cheerful public appearances then reflected the achievement of something significant, the fulfillment of an important wish.

This album was Chen's own creation. Having spent the last few years in the U.S. and listening to all kinds of music, she became interested in R&B and wanted to bring it to Mandopop. A big challenge, she said, was that Mandarin words were all monosyllabic with a uniform duration; their pronunciation was too abrupt for adaptation to R&B. Songwriters needed to carefully choose the right phonemes, and the singer had to make significant adjustments to deliver R&B style in Mandarin.

Chen was up to the challenge, but she also needed a concept for the album. On a trip to a friend's house during the latter's mental crisis, she noticed that all the music they listened to was somber, giving her the idea to make an album that would uplift the soul. The Chinese title, Sarah Blossom, along with a cheerful image of Chen, set the tone for the album.

At her insistence, Rock Records brought in David Tao, who had studied R&B in the U.S., and Wang Zhi-Ping, who had previously worked with her in 1990. They sifted through over 100 songs to select the final ten. Recording took place in 1994 and lasted about five months, a long period by Chen's usual fast-paced standards. She and Tao had to resolve disagreements about the musical direction. In the end, Tao didn’t consider it a prototypical R&B album, but it was marketed and received as such.

The album's production was not only time-consuming but also costly. With email not yet widely available and tools like Zoom still science fiction, coordination between Rock Records in Taiwan and the U.S. studio relied on people flying back and forth. Since Chen had initiated the project, she was grateful for Rock Records' strong backing. This, along with uncertainty about its market reception, led her to go all out in promoting the album.

The album's release, however, was delayed. A severe respiratory illness struck Chen during Lunar New Year 1995. She spent five days unconscious in a hospital bed, this time sicker than she had ever been. Snatching her daughter from the jaws of death for a second time, Chen's mother was done with her sufferings. “Sarah had won many awards,” she would later tell a reporter pressing Chen on her next ambition, "she has no regrets."

The album was finally released in June 1995 after Chen made a full recovery. She threw herself into promotion, knowing how much the project meant to her, and not wanting Rock Records to lose money. Within two weeks of its release, the album sold 210,000 copies, more than enough to cover its expenses.

The summer 1995 promotion campaign would be Sarah Chen's last large-scale media appearance. She gave many interviews, speaking candidly about her views on life, fate, music, and love. She expressed one remaining wish: to hold a pan-Asian concert tour, but admitted she might not be up to the task due to a lack of physical stamina.

That wish remains unfulfilled. It may have been Chen's only true regret in music, as she had kept this dream for many years. Ever since participating in the Tokyo PopCon in 1982, she had attended many concerts with the hope of holding a high-quality concert herself. Her concert in Malaysia in 1986 fulfilled part of that dream, but the scale was not what she had envisioned. Chen would find another way to hold a farewell concert, one without an audience, in her next album. Even so, before leaving the music industry, she had fulfilled many of her musical wishes, and Forever was one of the most important.

📀 1995-6 Rock Records《Forever》Tracks: 

Say You Love Me｜Deep Love｜Magic｜Dateline of Love｜Smart People Forget｜Hunch｜Neither Lover Nor Friend｜Love Won't Come Again｜Tug of War｜Kiss & Tell ｜Always in My Heart（🔗 Sarah Chen's Discography； YouTube Playlist）

Forever, Sarah, released in December 1995, earned Sarah Chen another Golden Melody Best Female Singer Award. Officially her penultimate album, it may in fact have been her final recording, her carefully planned farewell.

Chen had wanted to make this album back in 1990, after the overwhelming success of Talk to You, Listen to You. She had hoped to re-record some of her old songs, partly to ease the pressure of constantly producing new work, and partly to reinterpret her earlier hits with the maturity she had since gained. But at that time, her contract with EMI had just ended, and EMI had ended its partnership with Rock Records, creating complicated rights issues around re-recording her EMI-era songs. The plan was further delayed by her illness, until now, when she reimagined it as her farewell concert.

Unlike the earlier album Forever, Chen did not participate in the promotion of Forever, Sarah; she wasn’t even present to receive the Golden Melody Award in 1996. She appeared to have told no one of her plan, as her colleagues seemed unaware of the album’s significance. Rock Records focused promotion on her duet with Leslie Cheung, even mistaking her new song The Girl Has Grown Up for one of the reinterpreted old hits. Even producer Johnny Bug Chen later told a fellow musician that he hadn’t realized their work together would be Sarah's last. Perhaps, when they made this album, Sarah had only reminded him of her earlier wish, without revealing that the songs were meant to be her final goodbye to music.

Every song on the album carried personal significance for Chen over the course of her illustrious yet challenging career. I have mentioned each one in earlier chapters. But the most meaningful was perhaps The Girl Has Grown Up, which closed the chapter opened by her early-career song Story of a Child. Warm and touching, it was Chen’s gift to her mother, the one who had accompanied her every step of the way, taken the blame for her refusal to date within the music industry, and fought for her life. “Mom is my best friend, and my best work partner,” Chen said in a 1992 interview, and she was her mother’s brightest light.

Only one wish remained: to hold a concert. But the severe respiratory illness she suffered in 1995 left her too weak. Without the stamina for a live performance, she recorded the songs she would have sung at her farewell concert, now without an audience. For me, this is the most valuable album in my collection. If Chen had held that concert, there might never have been a recording, and new fans like me would never have heard these songs. Now I can play Autumn Farewell, The Girl Has Grown Up, and Hold Me on repeat. There is no noise from a live audience; only Chen, completely focused, pouring thirty years of experience, a lifelong passion for music, deep love for her mother, and gratitude for her colleagues into a dozen songs, as she said goodbye to a part of herself.

Forever, Sarah is my favorite Sarah Chen album. It may not be as popular as Talk to You, Listen to You, as powerful as Tomorrow Will You Still Love Me, as elegant as Wandering the World, or as innocent as Sunset Follows Me Home, but it is her final work, her gift to her fans, and the album that best represents her music.

One day, on my way out of this world, this album will accompany me. And perhaps, in the next life, I will step into the world of Chen’s final song, Hold Me, where my shadow will become flying birds, shining snowflakes, peaceful autumn rain, and endless dreams.

📀 1995-12 Rock Records《Forever, Sarah》Tracks: 

Good to Be Faithful｜Everlasting Love｜Tomorrow Will You Still Love Me｜Drifting Snow｜Black Hair Turns White｜Autumn Fills My Heart｜Red Chamber Dream｜Autumn Farewell｜The Girl Has Grown Up｜Window-Side Rain｜All Is Well After Farewell｜Hold Me（🔗 Sarah Chen's Discography； YouTube Playlist）

Officially Sarah Chen's final album, Paradise Lost was released in January 1998, but Chen had made few public appearances since 1996. There is virtually no record about this album beyond online discussions about its delayed release. It was likely recorded around the same time as her other R&B album, Forever. Reportedly, concerns from her record label about possible poor sales, along with the delayed production of the film for which the title track was a theme, pushed its release to after her farewell album. The songs on Paradise Lost were less melodic than those on her first R&B album. With only the title track standing out as an outstanding single, the final memory many fans had of Chen was the cold loneliness of Paradise Lost. Combined with Chen’s painful loss of her mother in 1998, her departure left thick clouds of sadness that still linger in the hearts of her fans today.

Perhaps this reflects the peak-end effect: the way the ending of an event often shapes how people perceive the entire experience. Maybe this was something Sarah Chen did not fully anticipate as she planned her exit. She intended to close her career with Forever, Sarah, even winning another Best Female Singer award on her way out, leaving fans with the peaceful music scene of her final song Hold Me. She could not have foreseen the delay in Paradise Lost’s release, her mother’s sudden passing, or the fact that her colleagues would produce A Letter to Sarah, a documentary that both praised her beautiful vocals and diminished her legacy as a trailblazer for social change through music. The end of her career, unfortunately, became defined by the deep sorrow of Paradise Lost and the misguided narrative of Chen as a transformed singer fulfilling someone else’s dream. This was not who Sarah Chen was; nor was Paradise Lost the true conclusion of her career.

What we have done is to rewrite that history: resetting the ending of Chen’s career to her farewell album Forever, Sarah, and redefining her legacy based on the facts uncovered in the yellowing newspapers from the 1980s and 1990s.

Bless Sarah Chen, her Dreamland, and her fans.

📀 1998 Rock Records《Paradise Lost》Tracks: 

Paradise Lost｜Call Nobody｜When Love Comes｜Let Me Know｜Don't Think About It｜Punishment｜Fish｜Half Half｜Too Noisy｜Autumn Is Still Early（🔗 Sarah Chen's Discography； YouTube Playlist）

These are the first 10 albums Sarah Chen released, before fame. Description about her early career can be found on her biography page. YouTube playlists are linked below.

Worth mentioning is album #10, Road Home, Chen's first album in the 1980s. With melodic songs, the album stabilized Chen's career. Some colleagues consider the song A Child's Story to be Chen's best early-career song, performed with deep love for her mother. Autumn Farewell, a song she re-recorded in her 1995 farewell album, showed how much Chen's singing had evolved over a span of 15 years, as she developed an unmistakable Sarah Chen style that remains inimitable today. 

Sarah Chen Album 1｜Love's Sun 1973

Sarah Chen Album 2｜Farewell, My Love 1976

Sarah Chen Album 3｜Cold Rain Songs 1977

Sarah Chen Album 4｜Quietly Saying Good-Bye 1977

Sarah Chen Album 5｜Flying Clouds, Wilting Flowers, Love 1978

Sarah Chen Album 6｜Sarah Chen's English Songs 1978

Sarah Chen Album 7｜Early Career Singles

Sarah Chen Album 8｜The Statue of Liberty Cried 1979  

Sarah Chen Album 9｜Calm Ocean 1979

Sarah Chen Album 10｜Road Home 1980

In early years, Sarah Chen's voice was like a musical instrument: as crisp as a piano, as elastic as a guitar, and as gentle as a violin. That rich timbre, combined with her affectionate singing, made her the most lovely and expressive "instrument" in the orchestra. Her second album of the 1980s, Beauty and Sorrow, is a clear demonstration of that special vocal quality.

This album included a theme song for the film Beauty and Sorrow, a song composed by Chen's frequent collaborator, Tony Wong. Another song, Engagement, also appeared in the film. Chen's first album with melodic songs, this album is beautiful to listen to. Songs like Night Whisper, The One, and Engagement are hard to put down. The fast tempo of Happy Gathering, the unique musical arrangement of Ode to the Galaxy, also added flavor to the album. Unfortunately, Chen recorded another, more famous song titled Beauty and Sorrow in 1988, overshadowing the 1980 album.

📀 1980 Haishan Records《Beauty and Sorrow》track list with approximate English translation: 

Beauty and Sorrow ｜Happy Gathering｜I came from Faraway｜The One｜Shapeless Humming｜Follow You｜Ode to the Galaxy｜Dating in a Dream｜Good-Bye, Spring Flowers｜Engagement｜Night Whisper （🔗 Sarah Chen Discography； YouTube Playlist）

By 1981, when Sarah Chen released Spring Comes Again, she had already mastered her singing and needed just one hit song to break through. Spring Comes Again was also a movie theme album, containing multiple tracks written by Joseph Ye. However, the album failed to sell, resulting in a lack of recording opportunities for the next year. With her singing career stalling, Sarah Chen made plans to attend college in Oregon. Just as she was about to leave Taiwan, the producers of her next album, Sunset Follows Me Home, knocked on her door, thus sustaining her music career.

Light Wind, Light Rain on this album was our choice to show Chen's work during her Haishan period. Written by Liu Chia-Chang and Sun Yi, the song, though not one of Haishan's best-known, was highly representative. Our Secret was an early male-female duet, and Sarah Chen’s part was especially beautiful. Ocean Stroll With Me was also a track worth repeated listening. The most famous song on the album was perhaps Joseph Ye’s Shy Flowers, in line with the Taiwan MinYao trend at the time. Sarah Chen once performed this song live on a TV show with Pan An-Bang, revealing her early public image as a gentle and graceful young woman.

The album cover showed a congenial yet slightly shy Sarah Chen. When the record was released, a reporter from Singapore and EMI manager Betty spotted the cover while browsing music shops in Taiwan. The reporter found Chen somewhat old-fashioned, but Betty said, “It’s rare to find such a delicate and charming young woman.” Perhaps it was then that Sarah Chen first came to EMI’s attention.

📀 1981 Haishan Records《Spring Comes Again》Tracks: 

Spring Comes Again ｜Our Secrets｜Shy Flower｜Autumn Anticipation｜Light Wind, Light Rain｜Umbrella's Galaxy｜Homecoming Love｜Ocean Stroll With Me｜Surround You（🔗 Sarah Chen's Discography； YouTube Playlist）

Sarah Chen's first career breakthrough came from a best-seller, Sunset Follows Me Home, released in February 1982 and produced by Zhong Guang-Rong. The title song, a cheerful tune about returning home at sunset, was later popularized by Pan An-Bang's cover, which further boosted Chen as its original singer. My favorite track from this album is Moon Carries My Love, one of Chen's best songs from the Haishan era.

Sarah Chen's personal favorite was Red Chamber Dream, a song she re-recorded twice in later years. Despite sharing a title with the Chinese classic, the song was unrelated: it was about a red school building connected to the songwriter Wang Tai-Cheng, who was reportedly a high school student. According to Chen, the song was included in the album after winning a composition contest, but she never met Wang nor knew what became of him. In a 1992 interview with Gui Ya-Lei, Chen said she liked the song. To be honest, after listening to Chen's music for so long, I still have trouble distinguishing the three versions of Red Chamber Dream. Her voice in this song feels timeless.

The album also included several beautiful classics, such as Liu Chia-Chang's Drizzle and Sunset, Luo Yi-Rong's Moon Carries My Love, and Joseph Ye's Last Time Holding Hands. In addition, Affection As Always was the first time Chen performed a song written by the Tan Jian-Chang and Xiao-Xuan duo. This album had at least five or six tracks that could have been lead singles, yet curiously, it didn’t reach platinum sales. A 1983 report stated that Starry Sky was Chen’s first platinum-selling album.

Although she broke through, Sarah Chen didn't become a sensation, unlike Chyi Yu (Olive Tree) or Julie Sue (Papa, Can You Hear Me Sing) from the same period. So what was missing? Chen couldn’t have sung any better, and no one could have interpreted these songs more effectively, but that lingering sense of being caught in between, neither hot nor cold, remained. Was it the melodies? The lyrics? Or Chen’s gentle singing style?

Perhaps, as the Singaporean reporter had noted earlier, Chen’s Haishan era songs were too modest, lacking the emotional punch of Sanmao or Lo Ta-Yu’s work.

📀 1982-2 Haishan Records《Sunset Follows Me Home》Tracks: 

Don't Leave So Quickly ｜Little Girl｜Affection As Always｜Four-Season Song｜Don't Love Just A Little｜Drizzle and Sunset｜Sunset Follows Me Home｜Red Chamber Dream｜Moon Carries My Love｜Last Time Holding Hands（🔗 Sarah Chen's Discography； YouTube Playlist）

Sarah Chen's last album with Haishan Records, Her Name Is Love, was a follow-up to Sunset Follows Me Home, with the same producer and similar songwriters. Perhaps because it was released between two best-selling albums, its songs received less attention than they deserved. The album contained several beautiful tracks: Seven-Mile Fragrance, Autumn Night Whisper, Fog, and Red Brick Road. But aside from Seven-Mile Fragrance, the others seemed to leave little trace.

When the album was first released, it promoted Gentle Restraint, a song written by Hong Xiao-Qiao. A decade earlier, when Sarah Chen performed Intersecting Lines on the TV show Golden Melody Award, Hong, who was the host, had helped introduce her to the world of pop music. Hong’s other composition on this album, originally titled Woman, Her Name Is Love, was a tribute to women’s contributions. Like Sarah’s later and more widely known song Question, both are songs about women, but with completely different tones. The woman in Her Name Is Love is a pillar of home and society; the woman in Question is deeply entangled with a man, yet tries to remain forever naive. It doesn't take a genius to figure out which one was written by a woman. 

My favorite songs on this album are Autumn Night Whisper and Fog, both worth listening to on repeat. Fog was surprisingly modern, reminding me of Night Stroll, which Chen recorded a decade later. Even as early as 1982, Sarah Chen had already mastered what I call “Sarah’s Secret”: her singing was colorless and shapeless, her style evasive, with airy highs and soothing lows, gentle in touch, yet striking right at your heart. These two songs, in particular, carried Sarah Chen's magically soothing power.

In late October 1982, Sarah Chen made a strong impression at the 13th World Popular Song Festival in Japan. Shortly afterward, she signed with EMI. Her time at Haishan came to a close, and a new chapter in her music career began.

📀 1982-6 Haishan Records《Her Name Is Love》Tracks: 

Gentle Restraint ｜Her Name Is Love｜Seven-Mile Fragrance｜Autumn Night Whisper｜Fog｜Since You Left｜Quietly Missing You｜Rice Wine｜Red Brick Road｜Pleasant Surprise｜Still Hurrying｜Give Me Love（🔗 Sarah Chen's Discography； YouTube Playlist）

Sarah Chen frequently appeared in singing contests and charity events while signed with Haishan. Nearly all of these songs are live recordings, often of poor sound quality, yet they remain precious. Among the singles not otherwise included in her albums, the most important is the live recording of the 1982 World Popular Song Festival (PopCon) in Tokyo, Promise Me Tonight.

Chen considered the 1982 PopCon a pivotal moment in her career. Her contract with Haishan Record had just ended, and her outstanding performance there opened doors with new record labels. She faced an audience of 40,000, many times larger than any she had encountered before. Although nervous at first, she entered a flow as soon as she stepped on stage, delivering her best in Promise Me Tonight. Chen was one of 16 finalists after passing the early stage of competition. Her song was not among the 10 award-winning entries and was therefore excluded from the cassette release of that year’s PopCon. (Since many awards were unrelated to this song, its final placement remains unclear.) We were able to rediscover this song more than forty years later, preserving an important moment in Sarah Chen’s musical history.

The Tokyo PopCon was a career-changing moment for Chen. The contest proved she was a world-class singer and set a new benchmark, an international standard, for her future work. In later years, Chen traveled to many countries, attended concerts of international singers, and listened to songs from other languages and cultures. She also recorded three formal English albums with EMI, adding depth and diversity to her music.

Chen likewise embraced Western professional values. Her dedication to music was unmatched: music was her life for her entire time in the industry, not a casual pursuit. She saw music as a lifelong career rather than one that would end at age 30, as was common for most Taiwanese female singers at the time. However, she did not carry on her career in later years or hold a concert, as a devastating health crisis and other challenges compelled her to leave music while still at her peak.

📀 1979-1982 Haishan Singles: 

High Expectations ｜Warm March｜Mind-Wandering｜Let Us Chase the Clouds｜Too Much Too Little Too Late｜Free Messenger｜My Home Land｜Tribute to Parents （“Quiet Agreement”'s melody）｜Promise Me Tonight｜Water Love Flower｜Love Is Courage｜Beautiful Pair（🔗 Sarah Chen's Discography； YouTube Playlist）