Phan Thị Mỹ Tâm (born 16 January 1981) is a Vietnamese singer and songwriter.Dale C. Olsen Popular Music of Vietnam Routledge 2008 "Mỹ Tâm" p57-64, 229-232 Dubbed the Queen of V-pop, Mỹ Tâm was certified as the best-selling artist in the territory by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) in 2014, and won the World Music Award for "Best-Selling Artist in the Territory".
Life and career Early life Mỹ Tâm was born in Da Nang, Vietnam, in 1981. She started ballet at the age of six, and continued for three years. She then tried guitar and organ. She enjoyed singing, and did not regard it as a future career. She won first prize in her secondary school's singing competition, and the Gold Award at Beautiful Voice Spring, the city's solo singing competition. She was chosen for the Military School of Art in Hanoi; because of her family situation, she enrolled in Ho Chi Minh City Conservatory where she studied vocal training.
1999–2002: Debut Mỹ Tâm signed with Vafaco Record in 1999 and participated in singing bands. She received awards in singing competitions. Her first demo song was "Nhé anh" (Please, Dear), written by Nguyen Ha, who helped her build image at the start of her career. She co-wrote a soft ballad, "Mãi yêu" (Love, Always), with Nguyen Quang.These two songs would later be included in her debut album Endless Love.
After her contract with Vafaco ended in 2000, she had her hair cut short and colored to a yellow-brown "Korean style". In 2000, she worked at the Music Center in Ho Chi Minh City. She entered the Asia New Singer Competition that was held in Shanghai, China, and won a bronze medal, which she considered pivotal to becoming a singer. She graduated in 2001 as a top student. - Vy Oanh mentions that My Tam was a valedictorian at the Conservatory.
In 2001, Mỹ Tâm released her debut album Mãi Yêu (Love, Always). Her first audio single, "Cây Đàn Sinh Viên" (The Guitar of Students), became an popular song among university students of the 2000s .
2003–2005: Queen of V-Pop In 2003, Mỹ Tâm released her third studio album, Yesterday & Now. It contained two of her biggest hits: "Ước gì" (I Wish) and "Họa Mi Tóc Nâu" (Brown-Haired Nightingale). The other hits from the album included "Mùa hè thương yêu" (Summer of Love), "Tình Em Còn Mãi", and "Niềm tin chiến thắng" (Belief of Victory). "Mùa hè thương yêu" described a student's feeling before the summer holiday period, that she was going to miss her friends, and regretted that summer came too quickly. "Họa mi tóc nâu" was a reference to her earlier song "Tóc nâu môi trầm" (Brown hair Dark lips), while the older song was a dance track about an independent girl who feels how promising her love and her life is, "Nightingale" portrayed a young, innocent, and dedicated girl who is naive about love. In response to the gaffes she committed during her interviews for the first two albums, she changed her image for the third album, and grew her hair longer than before. "Niềm tin chiến thắng" was a ballad that became a rally song for the Vietnamese team in the SEA Games. It is about a person who strongly believes in a day of victory, despite all the difficulties of the life around him.
2006–2008: Vút Bay (Fly), Thời Gian và Tôi (Time and Myself project) In 2006, Mỹ Tâm worked with Korean Record Narimaru Pictures for her fifth album, Fly. She stated that she was unsatisfied with Vietnamese recording and studio techniques. She took more vocal training, dance lessons, and expanded her music genres. Instead of her usual pop and ballad style, she added uptempo R&B, hip-hop, and soul songs. Fly was released in December 2006.
In 2008, as part of her project Thời Gian và Tôi (The Time and Myself),The project "Melodies of Time" has also been translated as "The Time and Me" and "The Time and Myself" She created her own company named Mỹ Mỹ Tâm Entertainment (MT Entertainment). "Time and Myself"'s project has been planned to have five albums and a live show, and "is about those who always look back to the past to live a better future". She released her sixth album, Trở Lại (Come Back), on 17 April. Unlike Fly, the Korean producers were only in charge of recording and mastering the record. All the tracks were composed and handled by Vietnamese producers, including Mỹ Tâm, who produced "Như em dợi anh" (Like I'm Waiting For You). The album title expresses her return to the pop ballad genre with slow-jam and emotional feeling, and has a similar sound to her third album, with the Korean influence. Come Back brought Mỹ Tâm to a new level in her career: a more professional voice, improved English, and more skilled singing techniques (especially on the R&B track, "Và Em Có Anh" (And I Have You).
On 1 September, she released her seventh album, Nhịp Đập (To the Beat), which was also produced in Korea. She said that the songs have uptempo beats that "make you want to move and shake when you first hear it." She promoted this album and Come Back with a concert tour titled "Sóng Đa Tần" (To The Beat). She started the tour with a concert in Tao Dan stadium, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. She won the "Singer of the year 2008" prize in the Devotion Award held by The Thao & Van Hoa (Sport & Culture) newspaper with participation and voting of 97 reporters. She would later release the concert DVD for Sóng Đa Tần (To The Beat).
2009–2011: Melodies of Time project, Television and film activity In April 2010, Mỹ Tâm released her compilation album, named after her project, Những Giai Điệu Của Thời Gian (Melodies of Time) project. In a slideshow article by ABC News (America) in August, she was listed among 12 "ABC's Global Pop Sensations You've Never Heard Of".
She participated as a judge on the fourth season of Sao Mai Điểm Hẹn, a biannual reality-television singing competition by VTV3.Sao Mai Điểm Hẹn is held every two years on the even year, starting in 2004. There is another Sao Mai competition that is held every odd year. She judged alongside music producers Tuấn Khanh and Hồ Hoài Anh. She was noted for her frank and hard-hitting remarks, but displayed a sense of humor, and gave constructive feedback to the contestants. She received positive publicity for her fashion choices during the series as she matched her outfits to each theme in the competition.
She starred in the musical television drama Cho Một Tình Yêu (For a Love), which was produced by BHD film studio, and directed by Nguyễn Tranh of Lê Hóa. She also served as the musical director, where she composed some original songs, and mixed in others. She would later release a single of the title track with eight different versions, each of which involved a different instrument, including guitar, piano, trombone and trumpet.
The series premiered on VTV3 on 7 October, and ran for 37 episodes. It was the first to star contemporary Vietnamese singers including herself, Tuấn Hưng, Quang Dũng, Minh Thuận, and Minh Tú. After the first episode aired, Mỹ Tam's fans uploaded her songs which generated 50,000 hits overnight. While the series received mixed reviews from critics regarding the plot and acting, the musical scenes were praised for their originality and congruousness.
2012–2015: Vietnam Idol, Mỹ Tâm and The Voice of Vietnam In May 2012, Mỹ Tâm performed at the MTV EXIT concert alongside Simple Plan at the Mỹ Đình National Stadium in Hanoi for the purpose of advocacy against human trafficking. She was appointed MTV EXIT's representative in Vietnam. On 29 May 2012, Mỹ Tâm was announced to be replacing Siu Black as a judge for the fourth season of Vietnam Idol"Vietnam Idol begins 4th year ", Viet Nam News, 31 May 2012 alongside remaining judges Quốc Trung and Nguyễn Quang Dũng. The season aired in August 2012. Throughout the competition, Mỹ Tâm praised Hương Giang, a top-16 contestant and a transgender woman."Transgender contestant enters Vietnam Idol's top 16 ", Tuoi Tre News, 10 September 2012 "The thing that surprises me is not your voice, it's your effort," she said. "Your singing is not absolutely excellent, but your effort makes us want to see how you can improve." The contestant had previously competed as a male, and the sex change gave her a second chance to compete.
On 24 August 2013, Mỹ Tâm set up an acoustic-styled music show called "Send to My Love" in Ho Chi Minh City. She continued to bring the show to Hanoi on 26 October, before hosting a charity event in Da Nang on 16 January 2014. Mỹ Tâm confirmed her return to Vietnam Idol for its fifth season on 21 September. In the celebration ceremony of 2 years MTV Europe Music Award's establishment on 27 September 2013, My Tam became the first representative of Vietnam to be nominated for the "Best Worldwide Act" award. After lost to Li Yuchun from China, she received the "Outstanding Southeast Asian Artist" trophy from MTV Vietnam representative on the Vietnam Idol stage on 23 March 2014. On 22 October 2013, Mỹ Tâm released a music video for the song "Em phải làm sao", which received 200,000 views on the day of its publication. After Vietnam Idol wrapped up its fifth season in May 2014, Mỹ Tâm guest judged Your Face Sounds Familiar for a week's performance show which was broadcast on 7 June. Mỹ Tâm won a VTV Award for the "Outstanding Artist" category on 5 September.
On 28 September 2014, Mỹ Tâm announced her first concert after 10 years- "Heartbeat", taking place in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, with free ticket. The two concerts attracted approximately 40,000 people at the Military Zone 7 Stadium in Ho Chi Minh City; and about 25,000 audiences at Hang Day Stadium in Hanoi. Her tour brought her a nomination for the 2015 "Tour of the Year" category of the Devotion Award. A DVD which recorded the showcase of Heartbeat in Ho Chi Minh City on 20 April 2015, before the release of the two live shows in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi on 22 and 26 April 2015 respectively, to recreate the atmosphere of "Heartbeat" with highlight performances throughout the two shows, had sold 3,600 copies in four hours of debut. The DVD gathered more than 1 billion and 80 million VND and reached the milestone of 10,000 copies in a month.
On 12 April 2015, Mỹ Tâm was the last to confirm to become a coach on the third season of The Voice of Vietnam alongside Thu Phương, Tuấn Hưng and Đàm Vĩnh Hưng. Her final contestant, Đức Phúc was crowned the winner on the finale broadcast on 20 September, making Mỹ Tâm the winning coach on her first attempt as a coach. Mỹ Tâm did not return to The Voice for its fourth season and was replaced by Tóc Tiên. At the VTV Award 2015 took place on 6 September, Mỹ Tâm won the "Artist of the Year" category for the second consecutive time.
2016–: Tâm 9 album and First Love concert From 2016 to 2017, Mỹ Tâm focused on producing her ninth studio album and released a few music videos, including “Đôi mắt màu xanh”, “Hãy về với nhau”, and “Cuộc tình không may”. On 3 December 2017, Mỹ Mỹ Tâm released her ninth studio pop soul album, Tâm 9. In the first day release, 5,000 copies of Tâm 9 was sold out in one hour. More than 20,000 CD were sold in Vietnam and became the "best selling album in Vietnam". In January 2018, Tâm 9 climbed to number 10 on the Billboard World Albums Chart, making Mỹ Mỹ Tâm the first Vietnamese artist to reach the chart’s top ten. "Tâm 9" was listed as "best selling album" on ITunes and Amazon. In March 2018, Mỹ Tâm was honored with the titles of "Singer of the Year" and "Album of the year" (Tam 9) at the Devotion Music Awards 2018.
On 20 October 2018, Mỹ Tâm's concert, titled "My Tam, First Love", was held at the Jangchung Gymnasium in the central of Seoul. The concert marked one of her overseas performances, as it was held in a venue in Seoul, South Korea. There were 4000 people attended. After that, she became the first Southeast Asia singer to hold a concert in Jangchung Gymnasium.
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