Strikeout

Singapore has a music industry smaller than its relatively size on the world map. Thus it is easy to overlook local talent, which is ironic, since they are the ones closest (distance wise) to us. Like many others, I too tend to look out for artistes from bigger markets but there are also local artistes who I do keep up with.

Clarence Liew (aka CLO) started uploading videos on YouTube since two years ago but it wasn't till The YouTube Stars Concert that he started to gain exposure. It was only then that I knew of him as well.

This is one of my favourite covers from him. He has such a gentle voice, and the guitar accompanies his voice perfectly. If you like acoustic guitar-styled songs, his videos are definitely worth your time. Check out his channel here.

Quick Quick Danger has gotta be on your list if you're into more upbeat songs, or powerpop, as I'd like to call it.

How can one not like all these songs that make you wanna party? I personally prefer Love Electric but I really dig Party Like a Rockstar as well. Besides all their originals, their covers really appeal to me as well - my personal favourites are Britney Spears' Hold It Against Me and One Direction's Gotta Be You. And because I'm trying not to embed too many YouTube videos on this post you can check them out on Soundcloud here.
Unfortunately the band is not as active as I'd like them to be. In the meantime though, frontman Marc has been busy with a couple of projects with other Singaporean artistes.

What perfect summer jams these songs are! I can already see these songs being played on the radio airwaves. Hello Singapore radio stations where art thou? PLAY THEM.

The Dirt Radicals, formerly known as Pug Jelly and Saw Losers is a punk rock band based out of Singapore (I got that last part from Wikipedia). They were originally based in Singapore, thus were considered a 'local band' even though none of the members are Singapore nationals. Not that it matters.. to me, at least.
I already knew of them since a pretty long time back but I never got around to listening to their music until I watched them live when they opened for All Time Low.

This is my favourite song from them. All I can say is that they were awesome live as well. The drummer was sick!
Check out their YouTube channel here. Hope to hear new material from them soon!

There are definitely more local talents that I have missed out, so don't sue me. I really hope that these artistes will be able to break into the international music industry in the near future. For now, it seems bleak but hey, people can dream. :)

It's Always a Good Time

So I spent the night in Extra-Terrestrial World on the Singapore Flyer, and exploring Gardens By the Bay with Stef, Brenda and Jiaqi.

After the security check at the entrance, we had to walk quite a long time before we reached the Flyer itself but it was really interesting along the way - there were exhibits of the history of the Flyer and Singapore. It kinda felt like Discovery Centre and I really liked it. Haha!

We were aiming to catch the NDP Preview fireworks whilst on the ride but we underestimated the crowd and we totally missed them. To make things worse, it started pouring while we were in the capsule and it completely dampened Brenda's spirits to take nice photos (hah pun intended). But it did not turn out as bad as we expected and our photos turned out pretty cool.

Hahahaha my domes in the above picture just looks like they are melting though.

Of course we eventually gave up trying to take scenic shots and ended up camwhoring.

From a scale of Mich to Brenda/Stef, how big are your eyes?

My cute Thor tee. Hehe.

We then walked to MBS to get to Gardens By the Bay. I was kinda sad that we reached so late because Texas Chicken was closed by then and I really wanted chicken. :( Nevertheless, I really liked the place especially after the rain (albeit the humidity) because it was peaceful and walking around did calm my soul LOL. It felt futuristic at the same time though, like I was in a scene from Superman or something...the cartoon version, that is.

I personally think that my pictures are awesome considering how I did not use a DSLR. Wished I had one with a wide-angle lens. Damn.

I'd really like to go back to the Gardens during the day sometime soon. I'm pretty sure the ambience will be very different.

Goodnight!

Boyz Nite Out After Party

No matter which fandom one belongs in, being able to meet artistes in the industry is definitely one of the best things that could happen. So, when I found out that I won tickets from Radio 1003 to the Boyz Nite Out After Party at KU DÉ TA Club Lounge, I was pleasantly surprised and saying that I was excited was definitely an understatement.

Since I won a pair of tickets, I got Stef to go with me.

*For those who do not know, all the artistes were supposed to attend the after party but Teen Top and SHINee had to leave right after the concert. B1A4 did not go as well – probably because they were too tired to.*

Upon reaching the club, we were served drinks (something else that I was pleasantly surprised at) which we gladly accepted. However, after what seemed like eternity, none of the artistes seemed to be arriving so we went onto the dance floor to relieve ourselves of boredom. Why not, right?

After hitting the dance floor for an hour or so, I noticed four really tall guys walking into the club and I kind of wondered if they were members of rookie group, 7.9.4.2. I could not confirm, of course, since I did not go for the concert and although I did watch one of their Music Bank performances… let’s just say that they looked really different without make-up – still handsome nonetheless!

It apparently took a while for the fact that there were K-Pop idols standing just a few feet away to sink in to the other contest winners as well. Of course, it was not long before camera flashes and requests to take photos with the four extremely tall men filled our area. I managed to snap a couple of pictures and helped Stef take a picture with Jo Hun and Haeng Hun before security took them away to the ‘Members’ section of the club. Everyone was naturally confused and all of us were thinking the exact same thing: “Is that all?”

Jong Hyun partying hard LOL.

Are those couple rings or something?

Our worries were unfounded though when the staff assured us that they will definitely let us meet them up close. We were eventually brought into a really nice and quiet room and we took turns to interact with the artistes in pairs. It was the most peaceful meet and greet that I have ever seen and everyone was relaxed (or so like it seemed).

7.9.4.2 were first and they came in with bright smiles on their faces, greeting and bowing to everyone in the room before settling down to get ready for the meet-and-greet session. They were really polite – standing up from their seats to greet every pair with warm handshakes and genuine smiles. I decided to greet them in Korean (it is only normal, no?) and that earned me a “woah” from them. It amused me further when Jo Hun asked me where I was from. They were obviously not the most fluent in English, but their attempts were commendable!

After taking a couple of photos with them, each of them initiated hugs with us which made us really happy, of course. I told Jong Hyun that he looked really handsome, to which he replied enthusiastically, “Oh! Thank you!” I was really startled when Eung Joo stood in front of me because he was really towering over me. I unintentionally muttered that he was really tall and all he did was smile back and snicker bemusedly. It really was a short but good few minutes with them, albeit the fact that we did not ask for autographs. We really should have.

Haeng Hun saying bye.

Anyway, Jay Park was brought into the room next and of course we had no problem conversing with him. A fan greeted him with a “good morning” only to have him reply jokingly, “What? Morning? Are you drunk?” which ended up with fans retorting that it was indeed morning since it was already past 12am. It felt like we were hanging out with a friend instead of a Star (oh see what I did there?) whose album peaked at number 4 on the Billboard World Album charts.

Jay turning back perpetually to accede to fans' requests to take photos of him. And if the camera used had flash, he'd whine about how it hurt his eyes. Hahaha! 

This time, I made sure that we got autographs so immediately after taking our photos, I asked him if he could sign for us and he got down to it after he answered, “of course” in his oh-so-sexy accent. He was really nice to greet us again by our names after we introduced ourselves. God knows why we did not do that in the beginning. Not that it mattered though.

Once the last pair’s turn was over, Jay turned back and said his last goodbyes, and sportingly posed for photos for a couple of seconds before going back to where he came from, no doubt for more partying.

It was a tad disappointing that B1A4 was not present because everyone had expected them to be there. I even brought my ‘Ignition’ album there in hopes that they could sign it. I also kind of prepared stuff to say to Baro… *inserts relevant meme*

Nevertheless, it was definitely an experience to remember and I’d like to extend my thanks to Radio 1003 for the opportunity and KU DÉ TA for the warm treatment and for organising the after party for the fans.

Please do not take out photos/edit without permission. Photos with artistes courtesy of KU DÉ TA Singapore.