Ming Lo:  How have people reacted to your music?

Vienna Teng:  Hearing people’s reaction to my music is amazing, the idea that somebody would buy two copies of my CD so that they could give one of them to a friend and say, “you have to hear this.” That’s just an amazing feeling.  That’s really how I’ve gotten any success so far. 

Some of my favorite emails are interpretations of my songs that I hadn’t imagined.   People are so creative with the way that they incorporate music into their lives and that’s just endlessly fascinating to me. 

About the Music

Ming Lo:  How would you  describe your style?

Vienna Teng:  Some people would describe my music as chamber folk because it’s played with classical instruments but it’s sort of folk, pop, music. 

Ming Lo:  Looking back, would you say that your albums had a theme, a message, something you were trying to express?

Vienna Teng:  My first album Waking Hour has a blue cover and it’s very introspective, very diary like, and that seems to fit somehow.  My second album is more of a white cover, and it’s a little more sunny, I guess, there’s more exploration of other people’s lives, it’s more extroverted. 

Ming Lo:  Any preliminary thoughts about your third album?

Vienna Teng:  This third album is interesting.  I’m 27 years old but I’m already thinking ahead to when I’ll be 45.  A lot of them will be written from the perspective of middle age, the idea of what happens when all the fireworks and the romance and the adventures are over, what kind of interesting stuff happens when you have the house, when you have the family, what do you think about that then, and I’ve become really interested in that lately, a lot of the songs come out of that. 

Ming Lo:  Is there something you want to achieve, have you thought about where you want to go from here? 

Vienna Teng:  I’ve been pretty lucky so far. I really have the life that I want.  I get to pursue something creative and try to be as good as I can at it and miraculously I can still pay the rent, and that’s all you can ask for. 

Epilogue

Ming Lo:  That’s great.  Is there anything else you want to say?

Vienna Teng:  No, I think those were definitely better questions than average [she laughs].