She may not own a glass slipper, but Project Superstar alumna Sing Chew Sin Huey feels every inch a Cinderella these days.

Over the past two years, the second runner-up of the debut season of the talent-search TV show has lost 8kg and looks prettier and sounds more polished than ever.

The 27-year-old crooner, whose plain-Jane image received some flak from judges on the show in 2005, started to watch her diet closely after she released her first album From Taipei To Beijing in 2006.

'I had braces on which helped to minimise my appetite as I could not eat much. I also watched my diet as I wanted to look better on screen,' she told Life! in Mandarin at a press conference held recently to launch her second album Queen.

The physical transformation inspired her to write her favourite song in the 11-track album, Singderella, which describes her experiences since joining Project Superstar.

Said the National University of Singapore graduate who holds a degree in Chinese literature and political science: 'In the past, I was a normal person, who was not pretty. But now, I feel like I am in a fairytale with a happy ending.'

The Malaysian, who is currently attached, wrote the lyrics for all the songs in the album, which consisted mainly of ballads.

The hardest thing in making the album was the writing, she said.

'If I had the inspiration, I could finish a song in two hours. But there were times when I could not even write one song in a week,' said Chew, who is a Singapore permanent resident now based in Singapore.

'Every time I was stuck, I questioned my own ability, and felt very inferior.'

Apart from promoting the new album, she will be busy preparing for the upcoming musical, If There're Seasons, in which she plays the female lead. The musical, a dramatic interpretation of the xinyao songs written by influential local composer Liang Wern Fook, will run from April 16 to May 3 at Drama Centre Theatre.

She will play Xiao Jing, the girlfriend of a young Singaporean man, A-Le. After she dies, A-Le moves to New York to start a new life.

The first staging of the musical by The Theatre Practice in 2007 was a huge success with a 19-show sell-out run. The character was then played by Fly Entertainment artiste Magdalene See.

Chew knows that the role is a good break for her career. 'I was quite pressured when I knew I was playing the female lead as I didn't want to disappoint anyone. But I will work hard and do my best.'

Seeing that her fellow Project Superstar contestants Derrick Ho and Kelly Poon, both Singaporeans, have already made inroads into the Taiwanese music industry, Chew hopes to do the same soon.

She said: 'Hopefully, they will help pave a smoother path for local singers like me.'

Queen is out in major music stores now.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Jan 12, 2009.