In 1997, Chua signed a recording deal with Singaporean management company Music & Movement, and debuted her singing career by releasing an English album titled Bored. In 1998, she attended the electric guitar classes at Musicians Institute in Los Angeles. In 1999, Chua signed a recording deal with PolyGram, and released her first self-titled Chinese album. In the same year, she released her second English album Luck. The song "The Wicked Signs of Trying to Be a Superstar" was written by Taiwanese singer-songwriter David Tao. In 2000, Universal Music Group acquired PolyGram. In the same year, Chua released her second Chinese album Remember. The album earned her a Golden Melody Award nomination for Best New Artist. In the same year, she wrote the theme song of the Singaporean film Chicken Rice War, and appeared on the film. In 2001, Chua released her third Chinese album I Do Believe. The album earned her a Golden Melody Award nomination for Best Mandarin Female Singer. In the same year, she performed in the Singapore National Day Parade with the theme song titled "Where I Belong". In 2002, Japanese record labelS2S released an English album titled Secret Lavender contains seven songs from Chua. Her composition "Wrong Number" for Chinese singer Faye Wong earned her a Golden Melody Award nomination for Best Composer.
In 2003, Chua signed a recording deal with Warner Music Taiwan, and released her fourth Chinese album Stranger. The album earned her a Golden Melody Award nomination for Best Mandarin Female Singer. In the same year, she released her fourth English album Jupiter. In 2004, Chua helped produce Hong Kong singer Gigi Leung's album Belongingness. In 2005, Chua released her fifth Chinese album Amphibian. The album earned her three Golden Melody Award nominations for Best Pop Vocal Album, Best Mandarin Female Singer, and Best Album Producer, and she won a Golden Melody Award for Best Mandarin Female Singer. In 2006, Chua moved to Taipei, and launched her own music production company Tangy Music.
In May 2007, Chua signed a recording deal with Taiwanese record label Asia Muse Entertainment. In June 2007, she featured background vocals in the Taiwanese singer Chang Chen-yue's song "Yearning Is a Kind of Sickness". In October 2007, she released her sixth Chinese album Goodbye & Hello. The album earned her seven Golden Melody Award nominations, and she won two Golden Melody Awards for Best Mandarin Female Singer and Best Album Producer. In 2008, she released her seventh Chinese album My Space. The album earned her a Golden Melody Award nomination for Best Mandarin Female Singer. In 2009, Chua released her eighth Chinese album If You See Him. The album earned her four Golden Melody Award nominations, including Best Mandarin Album, Best Mandarin Female Singer, Best Album Producer, and Best Composer. The album also won her an Hong Kong Top Sales Music Award for Ten Best Sales Releases Mandarin. In 2010, Chua produced Chinese singer Na Ying's album So What. In 2011, Chua released her ninth Chinese album Sing It Out of Love. The album earned her seven Golden Melody Award nominations, and she won a Golden Melody Award for Best Mandarin Female Singer. In the same year, she also released her fifth English album Just Say No. In 2013, Chua released her tenth Chinese album Angel & Devil. The album earned her a Golden Melody Award nomination for Best Mandarin Female Singer. In the same year, she became one of the judges in the Chinese singing contest Sing My Song with Liu Huan, Yang Kun, and Emil Chau. In 2015, Chua released her seventh Chinese album Aphasia. The album earned her six Golden Melody Award nominations. In the same year, she became one of the judges in the Chinese singing contest Sing My Song. In December 2018, Tanya Chua also sang Nightglow, the official theme song for miHoYo's mobile ACG title Honkai Impact 3 second CG: The Last Lesson.
