Stars highlight pitfalls and obstacles for up-and-coming female musicians on the road to success.

A star who shunned the spotlight has sage advice for those who want to burn bright on the music stage. Fame, she says, comes at a cost, especially in terms of stress and loneliness.

Her words came as a talent show sees new stars emerge and former stars, who had been eclipsed, shine again.

Stefanie Sun cut a best-selling debut album in the summer of 2000, after graduating from Nanyang Technological University.

With the album Yan Zi, she captured the Best Newcomer title at the 12th Taiwan Golden Melody Awards. And the album sold more than 400,000 copies in Taiwan alone that year.

Other albums followed, establishing the Singaporean musician as one of the most influential pop singers in the Chinese-speaking world in 2000s.

However, fame can be a demanding master and she opted to withdraw from entertainment circles several times to strike a better work-life balance.

But the spotlight beckoned again as she coached contestants for the talent show The Coming One, where more than 50 female contestants compete for a chance to launch their own music careers.

"One of the reasons for my presence in the show is that I want to tell these young singer-songwriters how to deal with the loneliness and stress they will face as entertainers in the future," says Sun.

She says the music market in this current age of information overload is quite different from that of early 2000s when CDs, or compact discs, were the vehicle for singers.

These young aspiring stars should carefully consider how to find suitable platforms or channels to publicize their songs and performances, and avoid getting lost in the dazzling light of stardom, Sun says.

"I hope they follow their hearts when making important decisions," Sun says.

According to box-office tracker Maoyan, the first and second season of the show, both of which focused on male singer-songwriters, notched up 4.27 billion and 7.78 billion hits respectively on Tencent's video streaming platform.

Mao Buyi, 24, the winner of its first season, became a household name in 2017 due to the poetry of his lyrics and the contagious emotion of his songs.He, too, knows the pitfalls.

The young singer-songwriter, once a nursing intern at a hospital in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, became a celebrity who garnered more than 13 million followers on Sina Weibo, the Chinese equivalent to Twitter.

The new season of the show is highlighting female talent, and Mao Buyi returned to share his experiences with these young women about how to keep afloat in rough waters and survive in the show.

The demands of stardom can take its toll, he says.

Maintaining a public face is important, he says, regardless of how you are feeling inside.

"Staying true to yourself is very important for songwriters," he says.

Apart from Sun and Mao Buyi, A-list actress Song Dandan, singer-songwriter Hua Chenyu, pop star Meng Meiqi and the show's co-initiator Long Danni also coach the female contestants.

They have been divided into two groups-the "start" and "restart". The former involves contestants who haven't been onstage before. The latter? Well, they have been there before and are seeking a new beginning.

Singaporean twins Miko and Yumi Bai, from the "restart "group, broke into entertainment circles in 2008 when they were only 16 and enjoyed huge popularity in Asia.

However, after going through some ups and downs, they have remained on the sidelines in recent years.

The show presented the twins with a perfect opportunity to relaunch their stalled careers.

In the first episode of the show, their performance wowed the other contestants and won approval from the coaches.

"All they need is a chance to display their talents," says Long.

"We would like to help both the newcomers and restarters who have a passion for music and a strong thirst for a bigger stage to realize their dreams."