NDP song part 2

This is a continuation of the 25 July post on NDP theme songs

Personally, I feel rather sympathetic for A-Do who is one of our local singers making big money in other countries like China, Taiwan etc. Stephanie Sun has done it, Tanya Chua has done it, JJ Lin has done it but he has yet to be given the chance to do it

I am referring to singing the theme song for Singapore's National Day Parade. A-Do has been in the entertainment industry for many years and his singing ability has been recognized by countless of listeners. This ex-construction foreman won the Best Local Artiste in the 2003 Singapore Hit Awards but the organizers actually decided to pick Project Superstar's winner as the Mandarin singer

That night, or rather the few moments, after Chen Wei Lian defeated every other contestant in the competition, a number of judges were frowning and didn't look pleased while listening to him belt out one last song to celebrate his coronation

Kelly Poon, the losing finalist, should have deservedly won it or to be even more detailed, she should be competing with Hong Jun Yang instead. Mr Hong got knocked out in the male final. By the way, did I mention that Wei Lian won the Best Newcomer award in 2006 to some big astonishment(which include myself)?

Back to the topic on NDP, A-Do can only do one thing every year during this time. That is to wait for his chance. Good luck to him. I really hope to hear him sing a NDP theme song some day. At least he can groove to the beat and dance a little to create some atmosphere since his eyes can see

If you were to ask an uncle sitting in coffee shop who is the singer for this year's NDP song, most of them will reply you with a "don't know" and maybe the few smarter ones will tell "Elec what ah? Election or Electricity?" So why not just let A-Do sing it and they will tell you "orh, it's that guy with a sore throat lah"

At least they know who the singer is, never mind that they cannot recall his name

JJ Lin sang a new version of "Home" in 2004 which was previously sang by Kit Chan in 1998. The tunes were quite hip-hop which suited the younger generation. This year's theme song is of soft-rock genre but it did not make as much impact as JJ Lin's rejuvenated "Home"

It does not take a rocket scientist to spot the difference. "Home" has all the inspirational and patriotic lyrics, something which "What do you see" lacks. "What do you see" gives me a very cold and dark feeling, as if I was listening to it at night even though the sun has yet to set

I would like to clarify something, I am not criticizing the song at all and am interested to know that our nation has finally 'break the ice" to enter contemporary music. It is just that this kind of songs need to be more solemn and inspiring

Last but not least, the song is still MIS (made in Singapore) so we should support our own local singers to give them encouragement

One more thing, this would be a dream combination for our NDP. JJ Lin is the lyricist, Tanya Chua the composer and the song will be a duet sang by A-Do and Stephanie Sun on the floating platform at Marina Bay. Yeah, and I'll be the parade commander. Haha, just joking