'Scary but exciting': Twice’s Tzuyu opens up about solo career, unexpected collaboration and what’s next

New: You can now listen to articles.

This audio is generated by an AI tool.

As many fans will know, the words “Twice” and “rest” rarely go together. And Tzuyu, the youngest member of the K-pop juggernaut, is taking that a step further.

Following the end of Twice’s record-breaking This Is For world tour, the Taiwanese singer is now hard at work expanding her solo career, taking on a diverse range of projects.

These include a hosting gig at this year’s Asia Artist Awards and, perhaps more unexpectedly, a collaboration involving the Atlassian Williams F1 team and the award-winning anime, Dan Da Dan.

The collab will see Tzuyu singing its theme song, set for release early next year. A music video will also be released alongside it.

CNA Lifestyle recently spoke with Tzuyu and executives from the brands involved at a press conference in Singapore on Friday (Oct 9), where they expanded on the collaboration, including how it came about.

This month, Tzuyu and her fellow Twice groupmates will celebrate the 11th year of their debut, but despite her numerous achievements, the 27-year-old is still keen on challenging herself.

Acknowledging that the collaboration was a “unique mix of different works” from different fields, she said: “What they share is a spirit of creativity, passion and courage, which are values I truly believe in and love.

“As a singer, I love trying different things and exploring more exciting and creative projects – projects that can surprise and inspire both my fans and me. That’s the reason I wanted to be a part of this collaboration.”

When pressed on the nature of the song, Tzuyu told us that its concept would be “speed meets the supernatural” – themes linked to the F1 sport and Dan Da Dan, respectively.

While more information will be released in the coming months, what we do know is that the song is expected to be out before the Japanese Grand Prix in April 2027.

Luke Timmins, merchandise and licensing director of the Atlassian Williams F1 team, told CNA Lifestyle that the collaboration stemmed from a meeting with Sayako Niimi, director of lead global partnerships at fan platform Sector Zero, during the Singapore Grand Prix two years ago.

They had observed that Formula 1 was moving into a space which “has gone beyond motorsport and into pop culture”.

“We’ve seen Formula 1 do fashion, we’ve seen it in a lot of spaces, so anime felt natural as something that is a globally loved passion and product that we wanted to be a part of,” said Timmins.

As the two teams worked together, the idea of bringing Tzuyu on board came, and within “a couple of conversations, it just felt right”.

Although the status of Tzuyu’s contract with longtime agency JYP Entertainment has yet to be officially announced, the Taiwanese singer is clearly wasting no time in making her mark as a solo artiste.

We asked her what it has been like to pave her solo path, to which she responded: “I’ve had to do a lot of things on my own, and that comes with a lot of challenges. It can be scary, but it’s also exciting. I think it’s a process of discovering what I’m good at.”

For now, Tzuyu continues to be racing on with her endeavours, hinting to us that more projects are in the works.

When asked if she had a new album or concert lined up, she coyly said: “I’m always working on what’s next, so I hope you’ll continue to look forward to my upcoming activities and stay tuned. You won’t miss a thing.”