Friday, April 16, 2010

Local Dishin': Our present local music scene


I had meant to post this blog entry about our current local music scene way earlier, back when our latest Singapore Idol winner Sezairi had just released his debut single on our airwaves. I guess it has been good to delay it for a while, because the more time I drag out this blog entry, the more I see how Singaporean artistes are carving a scene out for themselves in various ways. Let's take a look at this list I've compiled, shall we?

1) Singapore Idol

Basically, the idea of this free-for-all competition is that ANYONE can become a star. It doesn't really matter what kind of background you come from-whether you're a student, unemployed, a foreigner (it's not called SINGAPOREAN Idol for a reason) or yes, a struggling musician. There is pretty much no restrictive criteria except for the age limit (that of being at least 16 years old). The latest season last year saw our youngest group of contestants yet with the average age being around 20? Although I was strongly hoping for the 2nd runner-up Tabitha to win, and rooting more for the 1st runner-up Sylvia than for our eventual winner Sezairi, I would say he's not a bad choice at all. In fact, although I initially thought he fitted so negatively into that pattern of past Singapore Idol winners (ie Taufik and Hardy)- that of being a male, a malay, a pub singer, and singing in a predictably smooth and crowd-pleasing way, Sezairi may turn out to be my favourite out of all the three winners after all.


Why?... ... ... He is a musician (ie, he really plays an instrument). If you had followed all those behind-the-scenes Singapore Idol videos on youtube (like I did) last year, you can see that he always had his guitar out (so yes, I'm guilty of watching mostly Sezairi's guitar vids, lol) whenever an Idol contestant or other was doing some impromptu jam-singing. And for that, I believe in Sezairi's potential staying power in the music scene and of his slight edge over previous Idol winners because he will add much input into how he genuinely wants his music to sound. If you take a listen at his first single Broken, it's not bad at all. He sounds very James Blunt-ish/Rob Thomas/even Kris Allen all at once. And, its theme seems quite personal (the title speaks for itself, Broken (heart? relationship? :) hello?), compared to our previous Idol winners' blah generic pop songs. Whereas Sezairi comes off sounding sincere and very him. Meaning, not all smooth and polished and, forgettable. Take a first listen of his album to come, ie his latest single Broken, here:



Last I heard, Broken is steadily climbing and is at #24 on the 91.3fm charts. Vote for him on our local airwaves yo! If anything, just support local music la.

And in one of his latest Tweet (he says "now lining up the sezairi sezali band. excited.") , I'm glad to hear Sezairi's putting a proper band together. I'm really hoping Universal Music (the first major internationally-owned music label to sign on a Singapore Idol winner :D) has good things in store for him.

And, do you know our runner-ups are not doing too bad either? :D Having the Singapore Idol label on you really ups your exposure and market value I tell you.

1st runner-up Sylvia currently is: The first Singaporean face for the make-up brand Maybelline! She is even in the midst of writing a promotional song for them. Big props to her for scoring an achievement like that. I have no idea how one even clinches an endorsement like that, any ideas?? I mean, no offense to Sylvia but her skin is really quite bad in person. I guess the Singapore Idol name really gets a person's foot in the door and puts one in the limelight huh.


As for our 2nd runner-up Tabitha, she is: One of the five singers selected from around the world to sing the very first Youth Olympic Games theme song. How cool is that? Again, big props for scoring this. I'm glad she's putting her voice out there so quickly, and in such a prominent way. Maybe some big-shot record label person will talent scout her after this, who knows eh? :D

^Can you spot the gorgeous Tabitha?


2) The same-old veterans

It's like, whenever one mentions 'local musicians', these are the names which will always come up and just can't seem to go away- Electrico, Lunarin, Astreal, etc. Yawn. Not very flattering, because it just goes to show how hard it is to establish a name and stick around in the local music scene. For one, do you even hear their music being played on our local airwaves? And secondly, they are not doing their music full-time, only coming out to play (so to speak) whenever they release their next EP/LP. So do you really expect people (ie, the masses) to like, take them seriously? The reality is that these people spend most of their times on other regular, respectable jobs in their everyday lives.


Oh, and they occasionally come out to give talks about how our (staid) local music scene is doing, and how far (not really far I reckon) they've come to date. After all, it doesn't hurt to learn from your history and to keep on passing it down to the younger generations huh.

So, if you're one of those people who're really into your indie music and/or looking to break into our infamously unwelcoming local music scene, then this event might be your thing: Meet the Rockers @ Esplanade library tomorrow! (open mic session before that at 2.30pm) http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=114399141912080&ref=mf


PS: I bet the guy from Electrico will have a lot to say about their recent Australian gigs :)


3) The rare signed, solo artistes

Even then, they don't last very long or rise in prominence. And usually, they have 'international backing' to make it this far- that is, getting signed to a record label in the long-haul.


-Anyone been following jazz singer Olivia Ong lately? She has always been signed on to a Japanese management company and just released another album this year. I think it's laugheable that she doesn't even have a proper website after all these years (and whatever's on there is in Japanese. Geez.). I think she's actually doing some promotional activities in Singapore right now, cuz I kinda saw some publicity of those in the HMV store @ Citylink mall sometime ago. So...if you think you wanna support her, keep your eyes peeled or request for her songs on LUSH 99.5fm/ Chinese radio stations (where I've heard this song played a couple of times before):


-Yet another singer backed by a foreign label is Youtube sensation, Ling Kai (wanted to post a link to her FB fanpage, but I see now it's vanished??). She started posting personal videos of her songs online for friends and somehow found fame with a couple of her original songs. An independent Australian record label soon signed her up, and she recorded her EP with them. She then came back to Singapore to do some promotions at various Starbucks outlets this year. I had really wanted to catch her live performance but didn't get round to making up my mind.

However, last I heard, she suddenly got dropped by her label, and now, here's yet another singer whose status and official website is in limbo. However, I THINK you can still get her songs on itunes :) or, there's always youtube to satiate (LOADS of amateur-recorded vids of her on there like this, I can't believe it's reached over 1 million views now! I guess it's times like these when one can say music really has no boundaries: ).



-These last two singers are females, yet again. Lol. They are singers- Corrinne May and Alarice. Both are permanently based overseas, and both seem to have strong label backings and a formidable international fanbase. Of course, whenever they come back to their mother country (Siiingapore!), they always encounter a very warm reception here.



4) Self-driven, young and yes, them struggling artistes

These types of Singaporean artistes usually start off performing in loads and loads of youth events and local gigs, band competitions, etc. Eventually, they build a name and growing fanbase for themselves with the end goal of striking it big-getting signed.

-Inch Chua: She started off in the band, Allura, (and gained a reputation for being super lively onstage) before most of the boys were shipped off to National Service. Meanwhile, she churned out some solo songs and her biggest clincher to date is single-handedly getting a spot at a major music festival in the US. I don't like her solo songs, I don't get what it is, indie? alternative? but big props to her for working really hard to get her music out there. She's one to watch out for. Me thinks so much drive coming from her will only pay off.


-Seah Weiwen aka For This Cycle: He's like, Singapore's version of Secondhand Serenade I reckon. Talented, self-motivated, and now working towards making his own LP. Sooner or later, he too will catch the eyes of a record label I reckon, and thus making major inroads in his music career.


-Lastly, can I commend *SCAPE's efforts in their ongoing series of music events leading up to its new building opening ceremony in June? One of their events called Scape Confessions, is seen supporting local music by backing the launch of a local band's debut EP.

Visit the Scape website: http://www.scape.com.sg/ for more details and updates of future upcoming events leading up to June yeah? By the by, the local band that is being featured happens to be one which I've auditioned for before and even back then, I clearly saw how goal-oriented the band leader was. In fact, one of their songs (up on Myspace) happen to feature the same melodies they were jamming out to on the day of my audition.

5) Lastly, them YouTube stars.

The trick is simple. They gain fame through word-of-mouth, self-marketing ,and viral publicity. They are somewhat talented, means still rough on the edges, but their continual goal is clear and one-track minded- to get their music out there, slowly but surely. It doesn't hurt to look wide-eyed and cute too.

-Ko Xinyi (aka KXY):



-and Steph-Micayle (her band, Outcome of The Party is currently in the finals of this local singing competition called Stardust 2010, and taking place on the 23rd May! :D 3 1/2 hours of local talent being showcased for only $12.) I just stumbled across her like, 2 weeks ago:



Anyone knows of any other similar local YouTube stars, send them my way please, kthanks XD. K la, I have a thing for these musically-inclined sweet, young, ingenues, cannot is it? -Update- Oh yeah, before I forget, I also stumbled across this new local boy-girl duo a couple of days ago (I'm not feeling the song, cuz, sigh, yes, it's INDIE MUSIC AGAIN! But the music video's tre cool :D):



6) Lastly for real, them pub musicians

You know who I'm talking about if you're those who trawl local music pubs like Wala Wala and Timbre frequently. Their resident bands always oh so efficiently take song requests and do popular tops 40s song covers. Jack & Rai and 53A yeah? As far as I can see, these local musicians are just happy pursuing and spreading their love and enthusiasm for music here on our local shores. They're mostly doing music any time of the day, teaching in schools, having regular spots on radio (53A still comes on the noon slot on Power 98fm on Wednesdays I believe) and whatnot.



So to all those aspiring local musicians out there, which musical route will you choose to go down? ;) I'm no oracle, but it doesn't take a genius to see there ARE certain ingredients essential for that 'success formulae' eh.

Here's a little link on other burgeoning musicians in Singapore with their EPs out: eg, The Analog Girl (Sorry! I don't get her spacey, ambient music at all. You call that singing? No thanks.), Bevlyn Khoo (she happens to be an ex vocal-teacher of mine :D), Caracal (Concave Scream, Firefight, who cares? I DON'T GET AND DON'T LIKE SINGAPORE'S INDIE MUSIC SCENE AT ALL! PERIOD.), etc.

PS: You know what I do get & like though? This really cool Guiness ad where it seems the guys featured are local musicians? Can anyone clarify? I've always thought they were the Tang Quartet or something.


PPS: And you know what kinds of local music I DO like? This:

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