People always ask me why I like singing.
To be honest, I don’t exactly know either. It’s undeniable though; singing aside, the only other things that I enjoy doing as much is reading and writing stories.
I started singing at a real young age. As a little boy, I used to karaoke at family gatherings, normally during Christmas and Chinese New Year. I remember the first songs I learnt to sing were oldies like “Only you” and “Take me home, Country Road”. I still sing them from time to time actually.
Anyway, I grew up listening to many oldies, and from time to time, sentimental pop songs. I remember being enchanted by Disney songs, haunted by Michael Learns to Rock, and well… subsequently addicted to Savage Garden.
In secondary school, I was very much the radio boy. Every Friday I would tune in faithfully to both 987 and Power 98 to listen to the top 20/40, rooting for my favourite songs. Songs like What Good is a Heart, Swear it again, and other boyband songs were like top of my playlist. Westlife were like the boyband for me actually. As my cousin always likes to remind me, I told him a long time ago that If I Let You Go would always be a favourite song of mine. It still is actually.
I remember wondering aloud to a friend a long time ago (I believe it was in secondary school), why most, if not all songs, regardless of language, would be about love. As I started liking people, I began to realize why. The feelings… sometimes just writing them down, or saying them, doesn’t really capture it.
It also explained why many of my essays in secondary school, especially in upper secondary school when my creative juices were in full flow, had substantial lyrics inside them. Partly influenced by Stephen King, and partly because I thought the lyrics would be able to set the mood/atmosphere for the essay.
As I entered Junior College I stopped listening to radio, but was subsequently introduced to chinese pop by Ben Tan. It was then when I discovered karaoke again. Prior to that, in secondary school I refused to do anything that might potentially embarrass me, including singing. K-Box, especially with such a convenient outlet at Parkway Parade (a 10 min bus ride from school), meant that it would be one of my regular haunts, apart from LAN and pool.
In any case, I remembered asking my mum why she would only sing or hum when feeling very down. She couldn’t really tell me, but I guess the reason is more or less the same. The intensity of the feelings… is just more real while singing.
Since then, from JC to NS to university, I’ve always been singing, especially when I’m feeling down. Therefore, when I say that I’ve an overwhelming urge to go K-Box, or keep singing along with others, it just means that I’m stressed, or that I’m feeling really down.
I don’t just sing any song actually. Usually the key to understanding my mood is through the songs I sing. The lyrics are…. very indicative of what I’m trying to convey. Applies also to the lyrics that I upload. But that’s obvious.
I don’t know why I’m writing all these, but well… I guess I just felt the urge to write it down. For some reason, I’m getting the itch to start writing again. Maybe I should continue that story I left off… since secondary 4.