Singer-songwriter with everything in the world

Qu Wanting says she worries that her fame will deprive her from enjoying life, from which she draws inspiration for songs. [Photo by Zou Hong/China Daily]

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With her debut album, Everything in the World, which achieved multi-platinum status in China within weeks after its release in 2012, singer-songwriter Qu Wanting now has almost everything in a musician's world: a big fan base, a clutch of awards and a promising future in the music industry.

She has appeared at various shows, music festivals and held concerts across Asia. The fact that she was invited to perform at the CCTV Spring Festival Gala early this year also confirmed her popularity.

However, the 30-year-old Vancouver-based artist dislikes the outcome of her fame.

"Sometimes I hate the popularity I've achieved," says Qu. "Mentally and physically, I was almost gone after the first album.

"You know what I worry most with all the fame I've got?" she asks. "It's whether I have time to live my life. My life equals inspiration and songs. If I don't have time to live my life, I will have less inspiration and songs, which is terrible."

She repeatedly emphasizes that she is a singer-songwriter, instead of a singer because for Qu, a singer's main instrument is their voice but she is beyond that.

"I sing, I write songs and I play instruments, which are inseparable," she says firmly.

That attitude explains why she filed a lawsuit against The Voice of China, a popular reality talent show on Zhejiang Satellite Television, in which contestant Li Daimo sang You Exist in My Song.

The copyright lawsuit stirred an online attack on her. "I am the victim but I became the bad guy," she adds.

With a full schedule across the Asian and North American markets, she works like a machine. But what upsets her most is that everywhere she performs in China, she is asked to sing You Exist in My Song, her Chinese single, which has been downloaded more than 100 million times since it was released last year.