POP IDOL: Pop star Mỹ Tâm will release the documentary film Người Giữ Thời Gian (The Time Keeper) about her concert tour Tri Âm (Soulmate) celebrating her 20-year journey in music. Photo courtesy of MT Entertainment

HCM CITY — Vietnamese pop idol Mỹ Tâm is working on the production of a documentary film about her concert tour Tri Âm (Soulmate) celebrating her 20-year journey in music.

The film Người Giữ Thời Gian (The Time Keeper) includes fabulous and emotional performances of Tâm, known as the Vietnamese Queen of Pop, and her friends including singer Hà Anh Tuấn, singer-songwriter Phan Mạnh Quỳnh, composer Khắc Hưng, and rapper Wowy, in front of audiences in HCM City and Hà Nội.

The work also features Tâm and her team’s challenges and difficulties when organising the two shows.

The concert in HCM City was held in April 2021 just before the fourth wave of COVID-19 in Việt Nam, while the event in Hà Nội had to be postponed twice due to the pandemic and then finally held in November 2022.

Tâm mentions in the trailer for Người Giữ Thời Gian that, “the movie is about the journey of emotions when I started to organise the Tri Âm (Soulmate) concert, and also about the magical 20 years of love between me and my soulmates”.

She said, “after all [difficulties], I believed things would not turn out the way I wanted. But there was the moment of truth. When I entered the stadium, meeting my team, then walking on the stage lift, and appearing on the stage. Right in that moment, I was being myself.”

The trailer was released on March 10, attracting more than 23,200 views.

TALENTED DUO: Mỹ Tâm performs with pop star Hà Anh Tuấn at the Tri Âm concert in Hà Nội last November. Photo courtesy of MT Entertainment

Tâm, a native of Đà Nẵng Province, studied at the HCM City Music Conservatory. She worked as a professional singer when she was at school.

In 1999, she signed an exclusive contract with Vafaco, the city’s leading music producer. Her first single album, Nhé Anh (You), became a recording phenomenon in the local market.

Her top hit, Mãi Yêu (Love Forever), helped the singer bring home the Bronze Medal at Asian Golden Singers Festival in Shanghai in 2001.

Tâm, who sings in Vietnamese and English, also works as a songwriter and music producer. She has released nine albums.

Her latest album called “Tâm 9”, which includes 13 songs of pop soul, was released in late 2017 and sold 5,000 copies in the first hour of its release. It has sold more than 20,000 copies.

The album ranked 10th on the Billboard’s World Albums chart the third week in January 2018, according to sales data compiled by Nielsen Music.

She was the first Vietnamese singer to sign a contract with the Korean entertainment company Nurimaru Pictures.

She was selected as one of "Global Pop Sensations You’ve Never Heard Of" by ABC News in the US in 2010.

She became the first Vietnamese singer to participate in the Asia Song Festival in Seoul in 2004 and received a Plaque of Appreciation and Best Contribution Award from the Korean Minister of Culture and Tourism.

Tâm was also the first Vietnamese singer to receive the Best Asian Artist at the Korean Mnet Asian Music Awards in 2012 and MTV Europe Music Award’s Best Southeast Asia Act in 2013.

She was awarded the World Music Awards’ World's Best Selling Vietnamese Artist in 2014, and the Big Apple Music Award’s Best-Selling Artist of Asia title in 2015.

Tâm has won many top prizes at the country’s leading music awards shows such as Cống Hiến (Dedication) in 2015 and 2018.

Her charity fund, Mỹ Tâm Foundation, was launched in 2008 and has supported many poor children and students.

The movie Người Giữ Thời Gian will premiere on April 8 in cinemas nationwide. — VNS