Sunday, July 18, 2021

S M Ong: It feels weird not mocking NDP song this year

Source Website: https://www.tnp.sg/lifestyle/others/s-m-ong-it-feels-weird-not-mocking-ndp-song-year
By S M Ong, Columnist, The New Paper, 12 July 2021 at 06:00 am


Singer Linying not wearing a mask on the bus in the video for the NDP 2021 theme song, The Road Ahead.
PHOTO: Singer Linying not wearing a mask on the bus in the video for the NDP 2021 theme song, The Road Ahead.
PHOTO: YOUTUBE/ NDPEEPS
Picture posted by S M Ong, Columnist, The New Paper on 12 July 2021 at 06:00 am
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLHDh_TeYIm_0MfPi05XsYfMI56dqagbxH4lTV76ey1EIm23bJ_1asCFjFNWc1xaVGv81YAvLY21HGANa7P7zP9La9wzfLmnG5kSei7_-kP-kdSX3R74XVhrQ6x2ewFU2CGPCRD92F3Ao/s780/NP_20210712_OSCOL12_6685198_1.png
https://www.tnp.sg/sites/default/files/styles/rl780/public/articles/2021/07/12/NP_20210712_OSCOL12_6685198.jpg?itok=1L1D0eMU
https://www.tnp.sg/lifestyle/others/s-m-ong-it-feels-weird-not-mocking-ndp-song-year


Dear Linying,
Congratulations on the positive response to your National Day Parade (NDP) 2021 theme song, The Road Ahead, you composed with producer Evan Low.

I am not going to report you for not wearing a mask on the bus in the music video as you were lip-syncing to the song even though all the other passengers were wearing a mask.


NDP2021 theme song The Road Ahead is like great rojak: Refreshing and moreish.
PHOTO: NDP2021 theme song The Road Ahead is like great rojak: Refreshing and moreish.
Animated Singaporeans do the Kallang Wave in the "stadium bleachers  (uncovered stand of tiered planks providing seating for spectators)" made out of the distinct step terrace of Golden Mile Complex. All not wearing mask.
PHOTO: Screengrab/YouTube/NDPeeps
Picture posted by Sim Ding En, Wonderwall.sg on 05 July 2021at 12:19 pm
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijP_thQGaDe96HnvbBw2AAqBR5i_XuIJCdFRjQEJ-2HSxgcnxy5Z-yukGjNgGn6Ta3YmSmk_6DmWJ7-klubntQa5ELIMmAwYI7Ti6tLihqKDFKTR-40871v1ZsereNh4qo9KqfLY0tTnY/s800/20210705_NDP2021ThemeSongScreengrabPic3_Youtube.jpg
https://www.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/20210705_NDP2021ThemeSongScreengrabPic3_Youtube.jpg
https://www.asiaone.com/lifestyle/ndp2021-theme-song-road-ahead-great-rojak-refreshing-and-moreish


I understand that we would not be able to see you lip-syncing to the song if we could not see your lips if you were wearing a mask.

However, I am somewhat perturbed that you were quoted in The Straits Times report last week as saying: "I'm quite grateful because I was so prepared for the hate, but it turned out well."

Why were you "prepared for the hate"?

What hate?


A busload of animated characters, including those of Sezairi, Shye and Shabir in the lower level, come to pick Linying up from the bus stop.
PHOTO: A busload of animated characters, including those of Sezairi, Shye and Shabir in the lower level, come to pick Linying up from the bus stop. What hate?
PHOTO: Screengrab/YouTube/NDPeeps
Picture posted by Sim Ding En, Wonderwall.sg on 05 July 2021at 12:19 pm
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDrQAaQwqD7hSx2jNiYTQOYt5Km2E4Mt8a1UMnKF8Ex2JStjOe5McVAzb9d_DtUClaeGSMDx40147WfKbf3qzLDQg0SH9HFBqPuJR0B8tFQ9xQhlW2AsXs0DhKtKGA-WUjszjxcTcySko/s800/20210705_NDP2021ThemeSongScreengrabPic4_Youtube.jpg
https://www.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/20210705_NDP2021ThemeSongScreengrabPic4_Youtube.jpg
https://www.asiaone.com/lifestyle/ndp2021-theme-song-road-ahead-great-rojak-refreshing-and-moreish


Don't you know that our NDP songs are so universally beloved around the globe that at least one person in India has plagiarised Count On Me Singapore and claimed to have written it?

When that happened a few months ago, all Singaporeans stood up, stood up for the song as ours, proof that we have nothing but love for the NDP songs.

So I am not sure why you were expecting hate for yours.

Is it because every new NDP song since Dick Lee's composition Home in the past 20 years or so has not been as well received such that it has practically become a national tradition to criticise every new NDP song and ask whether we really need yet another new NDP song?


MRT track as a conveyor belt for local delights - ingenious! Will it be plagiarised?
PHOTO: MRT track as a conveyor belt for local delights - ingenious! Will it be plagiarised?
Screengrab/YouTube/NDPeeps
Picture posted by Sim Ding En, Wonderwall.sg on 05 July 2021at 12:19 pm
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz-xjZrwXgxdZHLhAdzb-bCgKY4Fc7gwtAC1EUCb6Op69JvsaeL9qBv0e4l3LCZxrtbuW_a0Pe-CiVsVcaC9_MPB1XNKGgsXhBwK0isXCEIO5uRU-QmEn34zniHEXSa16ypJ7CoRphZGc/s800/20210705_NDP2021ThemeSongScreengrabPic1_Youtube.jpg
https://www.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/article_main_image/public/original_images/Jul2021/20210705_NDP2021ThemeSongScreengrabPic1_Youtube.jpg?itok=VFNkzlfa
https://www.asiaone.com/lifestyle/ndp2021-theme-song-road-ahead-great-rojak-refreshing-and-moreish


FUN PACKS
One year, 2013, the NDP song, One Singapore, got so much hate that it was decided that, no, we did not need yet another new NDP song the next year.

At least it was not a song about fun packs sung to the tune of a Lady Gaga hit. To be fair, that was not meant to be the National Day song that year, 2011. It was just a song about fun packs - meant to be sung on National Day.

Since your song does not mention fun packs or sound like Bad Romance, you are safe.


The song does not mention fun packs or sound like Bad Romance.
PHOTO: The song does not mention fun packs or sound like Bad Romance.
Picture posted by Sim Ding En, Wonderwall.sg on 05 July 2021at 12:19 pm
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsXN17wnOFRCUYFZbsQq3d-mXooclX7Wn5eO8eVDQFvvzUv4S7PYDjazK5SjYkw25LtHXO3bvWL8yRfWegSNcXMaV9oT97v4DMwIPTX2bovowAmQvU5uXO-cD2n3-7QmcBd2H2aYekzLE/s1920/NDP2021_scr_shot_1_1.png
NDP2021_scr_shot_1.png
https://www.asiaone.com/lifestyle/ndp2021-theme-song-road-ahead-great-rojak-refreshing-and-moreish


It also helps that you resisted using any Singlish in your song unlike the Ministry of Health, which lacked such self- restraint with the Phua Chu Kang Covid-19 music videos.

The chorus for The Road Ahead could have easily been "Come what may on the road ahead, just you wait and see, steady pom pi pi."

But you said no. Why? Because you have standards. And an Ah Beng contractor in yellow boots is not singing it.

Also, good job not mentioning "Singapore" in a song about Singapore.


Sezairi looks wistfully at a bumboat of animated historical characters who marvel at the developments along the Singapore River.
PHOTO: Sezairi looks wistfully at a bumboat of animated historical characters who marvel at the developments along the Singapore River. The Road Ahead from the earlier years.
PHOTO: Screengrab/YouTube/NDPeeps
Picture posted by Sim Ding En, Wonderwall.sg on 05 July 2021at 12:19 pm
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMqX9OH4lghvHdO7P5EIPsF0p-xMwz66xHIhHDLoCjGrVNyC6bEv6Z7IbOgoUXRi231Gyr2zqk-PCqWO4kGxTwESwNhSDmJp0uDj0COzoiwaivpybe36av5JZloqNnX6OGeVlAWdgflF4/s800/20210705_NDP2021ThemeSongScreengrabPic2_Youtube.jpg
https://www.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/20210705_NDP2021ThemeSongScreengrabPic2_Youtube.jpg
https://www.asiaone.com/lifestyle/ndp2021-theme-song-road-ahead-great-rojak-refreshing-and-moreish


Otherwise, you would have to rhyme "Singapore" with "more", "roar" or "a land to treasure right down to the core", whatever that means.

One drawback is that without "Singapore", you are making the song easier for people in India to copy without having to change the lyrics.

No, wait, "island" is mentioned several times in your song and India is not an island. Well played, madam. Well played.


The song resisted using any Singlish
PHOTO: The song resisted using any Singlish and not mentioning "Singapore" about Singapore. "Island" is mentioned several times in the song, a land to treasure right down to the core.
Picture posted by Sim Ding En, Wonderwall.sg on 05 July 2021at 12:19 pm
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUGvJ_hc8M3TuCxYdQgwjY05JNWwwBSwYLfWa9pMnMw5s5kMDfYWdZaEcxusqGD9qZBZDTWwtpRYldabJibgXWrfpgR3-IQcbOW-oHzhuBz3w_PG6jAK6EHj78LP3386pLwtLcR0YQOY0/s1920/NDP2021_scr_shot_2_1.png
NDP2021_scr_shot_2.png
https://www.asiaone.com/lifestyle/ndp2021-theme-song-road-ahead-great-rojak-refreshing-and-moreish


But if videos start popping up on YouTube of Mumbai school children singing The Road Ahead with "nation" replacing "island", that would just be reaffirmation that the song is good enough to steal.

It feels weird not mocking the new NDP song like Singaporeans usually do.

Is this the new normal?

The next time people ask me to put on a mask on the bus, I will just show them your video on my phone and start lip-syncing to it.

I will also tell them I used to be from the navy.

Steady pom pi pi.


It feels weird not mocking the new NDP song like Singaporeans usually do.
PHOTO: Singer Linying of the National Day Parade (NDP) 2021 theme song, The Road Ahead, composed with producer Evan Low. Photoshop version.
Picture posted by Quảng Hà on 26 March 2021 at 10:38
By S M Ong, Columnist, The New Paper, 12 July 2021 at 06:00 am
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Reference
[1] S M Ong, Columnist, The New Paper, S M Ong: It feels weird not mocking NDP song this year, posted on 12 July 2021 at 06:00 am, https://www.tnp.sg/lifestyle/others/s-m-ong-it-feels-weird-not-mocking-ndp-song-year


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