Before she brings all that jazz to the SingJazz stage, she spoke poetically about her unique journey. Never seeing herself as a singer, she started, shocking many in the audience. Her singalong sessions to Mariah Carey had her question her ability to sing beautifully, but it was through the discovery of Nirvana that changed everything. Kurt Cobain’s ferocious rasp caught her attention and gave her the confidence to give music (and the mic) a try.
A literature major, she picked up the guitar through her sister. Playing what else, but Nirvana songs. The more she played, the more she thought about creating her own music. In a way, we have MTV to thank for this! She eventually started a band with her favourite people (her two best friends and boyfriend at the time), doing what she did best. Writing music, singing them and giving them life. It was there, she discovered her goal in making music her career.
Long story short, her band caught the attention of record labels. She started writing songs for them. After university, she pursued a record deal with EMI records and it all sparked off from there.
As to how she maintains her own voice, and her own unique style, she elaborates on how the songs she has written in the past has helped her. She has many works under her name, and used them as to show the record labels her sound. This is what she wanted to be, how she wanted to sound. This allowed her to choose a label closest to her vision. She continues on, telling the aspiring musicians in the audience to listen to their own creative voices. What may sound strange at first, is their own, distinct identity. Mashing different genres and so on.
The sessions goes on with her detailing how she re-interprets songs (Coldplay’s The Scientist for Fifty Shades of Grey), how she visualizes her music videos and other tips for the jazz students in the audience. It is a grand gesture of her to speak to the students (who are obvious fans), and they showered her with excitement when the opportunity for a photo came up.
The founders of SingJazz 2017 and Marina Bay Sands are planning for more of the series, with Masterclasses. This is all in an effort to give local and international musicians a platform to create music, and for us to simply enjoy all the joy it brings.
