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So I happened to stumble upon this page, from a discussion about how the music video of this year's NDP song was a ripoff of an Australian song which came out last year.
I downloaded the music video of the song - Home - and found it oddly familiar. I was positive I hadn't heard such a dreamy and surreal National Day Song before. Then, it hit me... This was a rehash of 1998's Home, sung by Kit Chan, which we had been forced to sing in Secondary 3. I suppose they ran out of ideas. Maybe 2005's song will be a new arrangement of "Together", 1999's song.
On the NDP site, it says that "Due to rising copyright costs charged for downloads of 'Our Singapore Songs', we regret we have to refer you to this site for more song downloads: Sing Singapore. We hope we will be able to bring back our downloads again in the future". I didn't know you had to pay royalties for offering National Songs for downloads, or that the national songs were so popular. I also don't know how letting people download the songs from Sing Singapore solves the problem - aren't both sides funded by the government anyway?
In any case, I was sufficiently piqued to watch the music video and note salient bits.
Home 2004 by Young Voices
- Throughout this music video, we see young children in Chinese Maidservant uniforms (white long-sleeved top, black trousers) running about, sometimes with sepia-toned footage. I wonder what the link, or implied link, between the uniforms and Singapore is
- Instead of sticking to a cute childish way of singing, the 2 girls (check) sometimes lapse into a Pop Diva way of singing, but they can't quite do it properly, so it sounds even worse than it would. I like the boy's singing, though. His voice is clear, strong and pleasant
- From the music video, you would think that the singers were just a motley band of young children. However, there is rather too much controlled ooo-ing, ahh-ing, harmonising and descant singing (much of which is beautiful, actually) for that possibility. The voices also sound too mature and trained. Looking at the credits, the truth is revealed: Young Voices is actually "Danielle Lynn Goh (Raffles Girls' Pri Sch), Shanice E Nathan (Marymount Convent Sch), Ang Yifeng (Nan Hua Pri Sch), Tampines Primary School Choir and Tanjong Katong Girls' School Choir"
- one of the girls likes to give the camera a constipated face
- One line goes: "Sail down the river which brings us life". What, the Nile?! If there were one river that gave life, the Singapore river definitely would not be it. Has anyone seen the garbage floating in it recently?
- the enunciation leaves much to be desired. Eg: "wherever I may choos to go", "just like the reaver which brings us life", "Diss is home, surely"
- the soloists and choir also have some problems singing in unison
- mid-way through the song they start playing a drum. Argh.
Nonetheless, all in all I prefer this to Kit Chan's 1998 rendition.
Oh, and I downloaded the "making of the music video" video, and guess who was treating a poor injured boy?
