Taiwanese singer Chen Jin-pei, more commonly known as Da Bai Sha (which means Great White Shark), showed off her new look to the Singapore media last week, after going through four rounds of plastic surgery last month.

The 57-year-old, who is single, had saggy skin tightened twice, her eyebags removed and a tummy tuck to prepare for her upcoming concert here on Nov 22.

She will share the stage with other veteran singers such as Maggie Theng and Zhen Xiuzhen.

Visibly younger and slimmer, Chen, whose weight dipped from 120kg to 63.8kg after gastric bypass surgery, tells Life! in an interview at Swissotel The Stamford Singapore: 'My recovery from the first two plastic surgeries was miraculously fast, so I decided to go for the third and fourth ones in order to look beautiful and sexy for my gig.'

Showing off a slim waist and taut skin, she adds: 'I am very excited about showing off a whole new me in my concert. It will be refresing for the audience too.'

However, looking better comes with a sacrifice. Chen says she regretted going for a tummy tuck after she had had it done. 'The pain was just too much to bear. I felt like dying then, but I am feeling much better now.'

The heavyweight star decided to slim down early this year after she discovered that her cholesterol and blood sugar levels were too high.

She went for a gastric bypass surgery, which reduces the functional volume of the stomach, ate less carbohydrates and meat and exercised regularly.

Chen admits that plastic surgery is addictive. In fact, she reveals that she wants to go for another round of it to get rid of the flab on her arms.

She says: 'I think people should not go for plastic surgery if they do not need it. But for me, there is a lot of work to be done, and I want to look prettier.'

Since she lost all that weight, she has also shed the nickname Great White Shark. Instead, she is adopting a new one, Little Mermaid.

For her concert here, she is thinking of donning a custom-made mermaid costume. 'I want to be a fashionable singer making a comeback, not any old singer with no dress sense or aesthetic appeal.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times.