Lifestyle Exclusive: Girls’ Generation’s Tiffany On Guilty Pleasures & Going Solo Fresh from the release of her first solo album and single "Heartbreak Hotel", the California-born K-pop starlet gives us the deets. by Yoyo Cao |

When you’ve been part of a larger entity for close to a decade, it can be hard to carve out an identity for yourself. Girls’ Generation’s Tiffany doesn’t seem to have a problem with that though. Fresh from her solo debut – that’s one mini album, one single and millions of views, by the way, all in just a matter of months – the California-born K-pop entertainer recently made her way to Singapore for the launch of Pandora’s glitzy yet delicate Fall/Winter 2016 collection at ION Sky. Tiffany’s schedule was jam-packed, as expected, but we managed to meet up with her for a quick five minutes to ask her about going solo, guilty pleasures and everything in-between – a whole tub of chili crabs included. And for those of you who are wondering? Yes, she is as bubbly and animated as you’d expect her to be.

Welcome to Singapore! How have you been?

It’s my first time here alone actually! But I love it. I haven’t been able to go to a lot of places, but being here and not having to perform onstage, it feels kind of different. Feels like a vacation actually, and I’m having so much fun.

So, congratulations on your solo debut. What was the fastest time you took to pen a song?

The fastest time I took was six hours. That’s pretty good, right? It was actually pretty recent and the song’s not out yet. I was working with the team, and they really kind of helped me brainstorm and structure the song very well. So, once we hit the keyword in, say, a verse or the chorus, we just went straight to it. And of course, it was about love. [Laughs] Everything’s about love. Life is about love. I feel that love is the most important element.

How do you want people to see your music? Chill, sultry, bubbly, fun, or all of the above?

All of the above, because I love all of the above. But for this album, I really wanted it to be chill, because Girls’ Generation is a lot of, you know, fun. There’s a lot of glitter on Girls’ Generation’s productions and music. I wanted my first album to be about music. It doesn’t need to have any type of visual or video, you can just listen to it and tell, “Wow, this is a good song.”

You’ve come a long way since your first appearance with Girls’ Generation. If you could talk to that girl, that teenaged version of yourself, what would you say to her?

This is really good question. [Laughs] I’d say, “Hang in there, really good things are coming. REALLY good things.”

K-pop artistes have seriously crazy schedules. What guilty pleasures do you indulge in to forget about the insanity?

I had a whole tub of chili crab last night, that’s why I’m kind of swollen. [Laughs] My guilty pleasures are good food, good wine and good champagne.

Well, we hear you’re a Game of Thrones fan.

YES! Are you?!

No, not yet. [Laughs]

I love good entertainment, I love watching films, I love watching dramas, I love music videos. I’m a huge fan of putting productions together as well. I love film, and hopefully…well, being in one is one of my dreams, and being able to put my music videos together is one way to get that out of my system.

Do you watch South Korean dramas?

You know, people have been asking me if I want to pursue acting, and if I get the chance then, yeah, that’d be awesome. These days, the South Korea movie industry is amazing. I’m so proud to be Korean in that sense. I mean, K-pop has been such a big part of Asian culture and I hope that Korean movies will be too in the future.

We’ve heard that you’re a major beauty junkie.

I’m a brow and lips kind of girl. These days there are so many brow products, like primers, for example. I’m from LA, so I’m very into the Jenner-Kardashian beauty thing as well. I’m really big on shaping the eyebrows these days, and lipsticks – I just can’t get enough. I used to be very into lip tints, but these days it’s matte cream lipsticks or oil-infused lip products.

And you’re from South Korea, so there’s so much more to choose from there.

I know! I have so many, but I keep buying. Girls gotta have their lipsticks.

So, we’ve heard that you’re quite the foodie and you mentioned you had chili crab yesterday. What else are you desperate to try?

I actually Googled before I came here. I did have the satay! They say, “Always have the satay.” I’ve heard the coffee and the Singaporean toast is famous, so I really want to try that.

I know you’re friends with Aimee Song, and she was just here last week. I actually brought her around to try local food too.

Yes! I didn’t know you know her! She and I should come back and we should hang out here together. What was her favourite dish?

Laksa! It’s kind of like a coconut-based, gravy noodle. She said it reminded her of Korean Spaghetti.

Oh cool! Korean spaghetti. Okay I want to try that. Coconut soup noodle, time to get on it.

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