Renowned composer a shy debutant

Lin Tian'ai is composing for a Broadway Musical that will likely open in New York in 2015. Photo provided to China Daily

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At 17, she had her first song published, which was titled Careful Love and performed by Hong Kong pop duo, Twins. In 2010, she was invited by Walt Disney Studios to write music for a Chinese version of the American film, High School Musical, a teen hit.

Lin took a yearlong break from work to study composing at the Royal Academy of Music in London in 2008. Her composition of an eight-minute symphonic work also won her a full scholarship.

Lin spends most of her days at home, writing music. She doesn't need to use instruments as she is able to work out the process of songwriting inside her head, Lin says. She records the rhythms and lyrics she thinks up on a smartphone.

"The more we collaborated, the more I realized that she really enjoys focusing on songwriting and listening to other singers interpret her works," says Keith Chan Siu-kei, a renowned Hong Kong lyricist and music producer, who has worked with Cantonese and Mandarin pop stars like Anita Mui and Alan Tam.

But some people, even those who have worked with her, may have doubted her abilities as a songwriter. That's also because many of the established Chinese songwriters are relatively older and they tend to be viewed as being intense, Lin says.

"I don't look like a songwriter. What I could do was to show them my works," she says. "My motto is 'always wear your invisible crown', which directs me toward what I want to do."