THE definition of a good song is simple to Tsai Chin.

"If you remove all the musical accompaniment from a song, and it still sounds good when you sing it acappella, that's a good song," declared the Taiwanese diva.

Here recently for a promotional tour for her concert here tomorrow, she said with no trace of boastfulness that "practically every song at this concert can stand up to this test".

Spoken by a lesser artiste, the words would have come off as bravado. But this is Tsai, a veteran who has been wowing audiences since the late 1970s.

The 50-year-old, who last performed here to a rapturous sold-out crowd at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in 2005, will return to the same venue tomorrow.

She will be singing oldies and classics from 1930s/40s Shanghai, 1950s/60s Hong Kong, 1970s Taiwan and her own hits from the 1980s.

As testament to her enduring popularity, the 6,000 tickets for the concert are all sold out. An additional 300 tickets have been released.

In person, the entertainer known both for her rich evocative vocals as well as her sparkling repartee, was refreshingly forthright, sharing her opinions on topics ranging from music to her personal life.

Her love for a good song is palpable and she continues to work with a wide range of composers and lyricists, including younger ones.

Asked about the song that Hong Kong artiste Nicholas Tse was supposed to write for her, she said in mock annoyance: "There's been no sign of it till now.

"The younger idols keep fooling with my heart," she added with a sparkle in her eye before breaking into laughter.

"But I willingly let myself be duped."

In recent years, she has also stretched herself by acting in musicals, including Running Angel, a take on the Whoopi Goldberg movie Sister Act.

Not one to shy away from challenges, she admitted: "I love it because it's the most difficult thing to do. If you can do it, it means that your skills have improved further."

Certainly, she is not known for cowering in the face of hardship.

Over the past few decades, she dealt with a series of setbacks including suffering a cornea injury which delayed her concert here in 2005 for three months, as well as a failed marriage to Taiwanese film-maker Edward Yang.

The latter died of complications from colon cancer two months ago.

Beguilingly, she gave herself an eight out of 10 where strength of character is concerned and recalled the advice that veteran Taiwanese host Chang Hsiao-yen had once given her.

"Who doesn't go through low periods? But at such moments, keep cool and quiet, don't shout and it will pass.

"That's great advice," she said.

Candidly, she admitted that her career is more like that of a man's: "I make the decisions. I'm not the traditional kind of woman who will rely on a man and accommodate his every whim."

Asked if there was anything she would do differently in her life, she said she would have done musicals 10 years earlier. Then swiftly, she added she would have got a divorce sooner, too.

With no bitterness in her voice, she declared her marriage to Yang "such a waste of time, maybe I would have been able to marry a few more times".

This interview took place before the director's death and she sent out an emotional open letter after he died.

She wrote: "Speaking as a former partner, I'd like to say we were young together, we strove together. Speaking as a woman, he gave me more loneliness than happiness."

As Tsai told Life!: "Where matters of the heart are concerned, the biggest news about me was my divorce.

"But still you won't see me at my weakest. There's no need for that. I'm not trying to hide and I'm not afraid of showing weakness. If it hurts, if it's painful, so be it."