Speaking of NDPs and you know national songs and stuff, right?
Can we agree Singapore doesn't have its own unique sound?
For example, if you go to the Bahamas, so you go to Jamaica, you have Creole, you have reggae, Malaysia, I guess, Dungdut.
We don't have any of that. Can we agree?
It's not the strongest.
You mean we have our own unique sound?
Holy shit balls people! Welcome back to the Chris Hansen conversation.
And you were watching and listening to Singing Sensation, multi-talented songster.
I call him the songster monster.
This young man gives me chills to the point that I am worried to sing with this boy.
Please welcome to the show Owen Lee.
Hi!
Welcome to the Chris Hansen conversation man. Thanks for being here.
Thanks for having me.
That was insane.
That was insane. I picked that particular clip of the myriad worth that I managed to find in your socials.
I picked that one because I saw you, I saw you again, and I saw you and I saw you at the top.
And you were doing harmony.
There's one single guy recording it four times, right?
Holy shit dude. I can never do crap like that. It would kill me man.
Because I'd be so off. Really dude.
I mean the reason why you're here and the reason why you're on a tribute show, my tribute show,
because you know I've had people who've been in the music business 40, 50 years even.
And people I've looked up to since I was a young man or young boy even.
And I've gotten them and I had the pleasure of calling them friends now.
They came to my studio. I gave them paid tribute to them.
I also pay tribute to those that are current.
And let me tell you something man. This is my tribute to Owen Lee.
Oh man. That means so much.
Really mate. Because your music icon in Singapore as far as I'm concerned at this time.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah really man. And you know something. I said this to so many of these guys that came on the show.
I said to them look I don't take this tribute lightly.
I give it also only to people. Sorry. Only to people whom I feel have either made their mark.
We all should be grateful to for making sure that Singapore's music grew the way it did.
And to the ones as well that I believe will make it even bigger. You're one of those.
Thank you. Thank you so much Chris.
Seriously man. I mean I looked through everything on socials man.
I met you only briefly once and then I looked through and I went oh my god this guy's a monster.
Monster songster.
Yeah. No no no. Get away from songster monster man.
I mean not just that. You play multiple instruments too right?
I do yeah.
Okay we're going to come to that one.
How young are you Omen?
I am turning 24 this year.
Holy crap dude.
I got a I got a I'm not even ashamed about it. I love it.
You don't have to be ashamed of man.
I want to turn back my clock to 24 man. I'm freaking I'm freaking what? 30 years older than you.
It's all good.
Yeah no I know it's all good. Yeah I know I know it's not that bad getting as old as me.
Yeah fuck that. But the thing is the point is is that man dude at 24 and you're doing that.
You're doing all that. I can only dream. Even back then I could only dream.
You know but jeez the way that was phenomenal.
Thank you thank you so much.
No seriously I meant every word man. So many so little years have gone by.
So very little years have gone by for you.
And you've had a ton of performances under your belt.
We're going to talk about it all that as we go along yeah.
And I would like to hear your story right from the very beginning.
Wow okay.
But before we get to the tangibles do me a favor.
Yes.
Explore deep in your gut.
Deep in your gut in order that you can answer this question that I ask everybody anyway.
The way that I want the way that the question ought to be interpreted in every context.
Who is Owen Lee?
In your own words.
In your mind and in your heart.
Wow who is Owen Lee?
Don't give me something platonic yeah.
Owen Lee is a flamboyant little nerd.
Flamboyant I agree. Little maybe but nerd I don't know.
Why nerd?
I think that deep down like deep down I am still the little boy who loves classical music with the glasses and the acne.
You know like yeah it's a yeah I feel like I've spent so many years trying to grow from that.
But I realized that I owe it all to that person who started it all who was just it was passion and fashion only.
Who is that person?
It's little Owen.
Oh okay so you're saying okay sorry I may have chilled off a little bit.
So you're saying that that little person little Owen is the one you owe.
Yeah.
This is the one else.
Well I mean.
That you can attribute your.
I mean for sure like in influences and everything is one thing and you know like I am I can get I can have full conversations about the people who have inspired me.
But when you ask like who is Owen Lee.
Yep.
Right it's like deep down like I have done so much in this like short period of time.
Right.
But I still do not want to lose sight of the little boy who didn't have any opportunities.
Okay.
So I was just a little boy who loves music and was very fortunate to have the support you know from my family and just access to the stuff that inspired me.
So let's go to that little boy shall we.
Yeah sure.
That little boy little Owen.
How old was he when he first started tinkering away at this.
Okay so I was I think three or four when I like wrote I think you can find a drawing of it but I literally was drawing you know the stuff the stuff on the music sheet.
Yeah.
And with the treble clef and the bass.
Yeah the tauge.
And I like drew the CDEFGAPC and then right next to it's like a dinosaur.
So like yeah I still have that piece of paper actually like dug it out recently and like my parents were like my parents are not musicians.
They're music lovers but they're not musicians.
Right.
They saw that and they were like let's just see if we can send him to.
So what did you write?
You wrote notes.
Yeah.
Musical notes.
Yes.
And you did that it was.
It's not anyhow.
It's like in the.
Really.
It's not overlapping you know.
Right right.
It's on the line.
In the middle of the line.
Yeah.
Right.
So what you're saying to me is that little Owen Lee parents discovered that this kid is a prodigy.
I.
Would you call yourself a prodigy?
Oh my gosh.
Don't be shy.
If you think so you feel so sad.
I feel like at one point I had prodigal tendencies.
Prodigal that's different from being a prodigy okay.
I wouldn't say.
No I do think that.
I mean that like I think I had prodigal prodigy.
How do you pronounce that?
Prodigious.
Prodigious tendencies.
Okay.
And there are some things that I can't really explain.
Right.
That.
Like what?
That just come like some ideas like you know.
Cords ideas and stuff like that like that I don't really.
Yeah well especially when I look back at my classical piano days.
So after that I did like a whole eight years of classical piano.
Wow.
Like just intense.
Yeah and yeah so that I guess like I never thought about it.
I was just like love it.
Can hear can play all good.
You know like yeah so only when like I started to see other singers.
Other performers other pianists that were there's always going to be someone better right.
Right.
When like I started being exposed to the competition world of classical piano.
I started to like really doubt my own talent.
Which is why I'm saying like I'm not like a mega prodigy or whatever.
Right you're saying that you're gifted but not to the extent where it is considered wow.
Yeah.
Right.
I would say that I definitely.
I definitely.
Like I didn't like actively choose music.
Okay.
Yeah like.
Actively choose music.
Dude I mean could have fooled me man.
I mean everything about you is music.
Yeah I mean I tried I tried to kind of try to balance it out a little bit.
But yeah like my classical background I was like always always like a huge fan of just music.
I was just always I was always the music kid.
Right.
So technically you got you got really good at what you do.
Yeah.
Technically.
Technically yeah.
And musically.
Yeah I mean I think that because I got my grade eight piano at 12.
And then I think actually from then on I was like I do not think I can do classical anymore.
And why so?
Because I was I started to be exposed to pop.
Okay.
Yeah.
Your exposure to pop came at what age again?
Twelve.
Okay.
Isn't that insane?
No that's fair.
Yeah that's insane.
Like I was like.
No that's fair.
I think it's not insane.
I think it's fair.
I mean most of us got got into pop at younger ages.
For sure.
And it's not like a it's not a matter of like my parents wanted to like protect me from
pop or that is nothing about that.
My parents raised me on okay I call it like my holy trinity of like my childhood.
I listened to a lot of ABBA.
I listened to a lot of The Carpenters.
Wow.
And my and I I could not stop watching The Sound of Music.
If I watch it now I will burst into tears and you got a great clip on your hands.
Do not pull.
Do not okay do not pull it on.
If I see Julie Andrews frolic in the field I'm gonna lose it.
But yeah like I I I that was the only non-classical music I was consuming.
Okay.
From my from my childhood.
Right.
So yeah so after my I would say my classical era.
Sorry to stop you there.
Yes.
But kind of strange man.
I mean you are 30 years younger than me.
When I was listening to ABBA and The Carpenters I was in primary school.
That's nice.
How is it that you.
I was also in primary school.
Dude I'm 30 years older man.
It was just that it wasn't in real time.
Oh I know what you mean.
But how did you get into ABBA and The Carpenters.
It was literally because my parents had the CDs.
Because they always play it.
They had the CDs they had like the ones where you can put the CD in and it's like the sing-along.
Like you can turn off the main vocal and you can sing along with the karaoke words and everything.
It's karaoke dude.
It's karaoke right.
But like I do not know.
Was it a big silvery disc or was it a small little silvery disc.
I think it's a silver.
The big one.
Silver like.
The big one.
It's called a laser disc.
It's called an LD.
Oh yes LD.
Yeah.
Then they put it into a pioneer player.
Yes.
The one that like bounces off the disc.
Yeah yeah.
I do remember that.
And then you can play in analog or digital.
When you play in digital means there's no background music.
There's no singer in the background.
There's no singer.
That's called digital.
You can have your moment.
Analog means you have the singer there.
Then you can have your moment to sing.
Then you put up the echo right.
Otherwise no one's reverb.
So okay so your exposure.
Okay fine fine.
Let's find that.
I'm just trying to understand.
How is it that someone from a different generation.
You listen to something from a generation that came just slightly before mine.
Which is ABBA and the Carpenters.
Anyway it's great.
It's great.
Yeah it's a great establishment for anyone.
If you ask me.
Yeah.
Okay so you got your exposure kinda to outside of classical music via ABBA and the Carpenters.
Right.
Okay.
And then what happened?
Then I when I was 12 I saw on TV with my friends a singing competition called X Factor.
Okay.
Yeah that was my first exposure to any sort of like pop style singing.
Okay.
And I basically just saw them do you know how American singing competitions are.
It's a pretty standard like thing that everyone is kind of showing what they got.
You know like because you know that's just how it goes over there right.
But I was so intrigued by the extra-ness of it all.
Like the flashiness of it all.
And I think.
The production basically.
Yeah and no like specifically the vocals.
Like when the vocals could do.
Like I remember hearing like the first run I heard you know and like the first riff I
heard and I was like it was like a marriage of like my classical and like you know like
it was like so technical but in a pop space.
And I was just very intrigued by that and I just started to try and imitate or just
replicate what they were doing from then.
So that is a singing bit already right.
That is a singing bit.
So I think I kind of that was the shift from my classical time and actually during my.
Not just the shift from the classical piano playing but also it's a singing right.
You started singing.
Yeah.
You wanted to start singing.
The thing is I did sing when I was a kid.
Like I did like karaoke like to Eba and the Sound of Music and stuff as a kid.
And it was never serious.
It was very casual.
It was very.
I never thought like oh I have a good voice or anything.
It was just like yeah but you know like during the ABRSM like classical exams.
Sometimes they test you on like aural skills like to make sure you can sing what is being
played.
And I realized that all of my other like contemporaries of like my other peers who were taking the
exams were struggling with the singing and I was like this is so easy.
What are you talking about?
You know like yeah so it was it was that kind of thing.
I wasn't thinking about it was just kind of yeah but I only started to like kind of craft
a voice like a performing voice for myself after my classical.
Yeah okay.
Era.
But there were three things you said in the whole of the story you just told me.
Three things you said.
Two I want to deal with later.
One would be the performing voice.
Care to define what that means?
It's more of like the just the voice that I.
Is it my voice I guess.
Yeah it's like it's like not a not a super casual.
So it's not casual singing but actually sitting down and making sure that you're breathing
it right.
You're articulating the lyrics right.
And making sure that you're you're getting you're hitting your notes right.
Yeah.
Right.
And orchestrating the song.
Yes.
Yeah.
Vocally orchestrating it right.
So that's what you meant by performing.
Okay.
Yes.
No I'm asking this because not because I don't I asked a question or I will ask questions
not because there'll be some I wouldn't know for sure.
Yeah.
But not because entirely I don't know but because for the benefit of people who are
watching the show.
For sure.
Listen to the show.
It's for them to understand what we mean by performing voice.
So okay because some people say that which is something I hate yeah.
Because I host a lot.
Oh I knew I used to compare host a lot and people like to say well Chris do you always
have that MC voice.
I say oh my god please don't call it that.
I really don't like that differentiation you know like MC voice.
What do you mean by MC voice.
It's just my voice.
Yeah.
And that should be how it is you know.
Yeah.
But I know what you mean singing is a different discipline altogether right.
Right.
So and you said two things.
I will deal with that later on but I really want to.
It's actually here on my computer.
You went to LaSalle School of the Arts.
I did yes.
So usually in my mind in my puny little brain tells me that not many people get selected
to get into LaSalle.
You got in.
In place of secondary school or?
I auditioned after my O levels.
After your O levels okay.
And it's not easy to get in right.
I have no comment on that.
Yeah.
Okay.
I said something here.
Oh my goodness.
You all got to cut this man.
But like.
No I got no cutting floor man.
Oh okay.
No no I am joking.
Because I think that with any arts educational institution.
Yeah.
There are going to be people because the art is subjective.
Like art is subjective in nature.
Right sure.
So not everyone is going to seem objectively off standard.
Right.
Yeah.
But there have been there are great talents that enter this school.
Like I would say that like no doubt about that.
He's going to be politically correct here.
But that being said.
There are also people who are basically quite fucked up when they still end up there.
Is that what you're trying to say?
You said it.
I didn't say.
I'm doing you a favor man.
But that's basically what you're trying to tell me right.
No come on.
That's just a few eyebrow razors.
No come on.
Come on.
There's nothing wrong with saying that.
You're not wrong in saying that it is the arts man.
No but I do think that as subjective as it is.
It's subjective.
As subjective as it is.
Yeah.
There are also some really objectively questionable choices.
Yeah.
Because I do have a lot of friends that did not get into the institute or the course.
When they most deservingly supposed to actually.
When.
Should have been.
Yeah.
Could have been.
I mean I'm never here to put someone down but like especially in comparison to like when
you see some other.
I mean Owen.
I mean come on man.
I mean you go for an audition anywhere right.
It doesn't have to be an institution.
It can be for a show even.
For a competition.
It doesn't necessarily mean that judges make the right choices.
It's.
Then that is.
That is.
That is par for the course where arts and entertainment is concerned.
Even if you are vying excuse me for a contract to play in a club or a pub.
They're not just going to be auditioning you.
Right.
If you don't get it and then all of a sudden they went to pick someone that or someone
or some band that will all go.
We'll all raise our eyebrows and go what the fuck.
Over this guy or over this group.
Are you kidding me.
Yeah.
Some of us would but these beauties in the eye are the freaking beholder right.
And the audience is deaf.
So.
It happens all the time.
Yeah go ahead please.
Yeah.
No but I do think that getting in is just one step.
Yeah.
You know it's really what you do.
During the course.
During your time there.
Yeah.
And there are plenty of people who make it even further and that do not go through this
course or so.
It's really what you make of it like of your time in that environment.
Like I'm grateful.
Personally I can only speak for my own experience.
I'm very grateful to have gone through that experience and I have I'm especially grateful
for the people I met during this time.
I think that is like the most valuable thing after all these years.
I mean you gained from it for sure.
For sure.
I gained from it.
What did you major then man?
I majored in vocals.
Wow.
Yeah.
So I was a vocal major.
But yeah I did a lot of I did a lot of like side piano quests.
Does that make sense?
What do you mean by that?
Basically like I played piano for like a lot of different ensembles as well.
Right.
Because it's a very self-directed thing and everyone kind of like they're doing their
own music and stuff like that and they are like okay like I kind of need a keyboardist
or I kind of need a pianist and I think I I think I kind of doubled up really well as
a pianist and backup singer.
Right.
During that time.
Right.
Because I was like I was like I could play and I could harmonize really well.
So like I was like in demand for that that uh that niche I would say.
Yeah sure.
So yeah I had a lot of experience doing that like during those.
Which is good because I mean it gave you your base establishment as well.
For sure.
Yeah who do you do backup singing for?
It was everyone it was my classmates and everything it was yeah it was just like it was a lot
of yeah and I have a tendency to know or to like want to take control of the project.
So it's like I will play and like sing the harmony but then I'll like realize that someone
else is playing the wrong chord and like I'll be a bit like okay.
You can pick it up huh.
Yeah yeah so like I think that is where like my director brain like kind of awakened during
that time.
Because I was still so young you know like when I was in last year and I didn't really
have as much confidence to be like yo that is that's not it like like let's let's let's
review the chart.
Did you learn your part?
You know like you know like all this kind of stuff that is.
Well you're a real serious guy when it comes to this huh.
Quite.
Yeah I can tell man yeah.
Okay so let's rewind the clock back a little bit before LaSalle.
Don't worry about that.
It's a podcast.
It's not smooth at all.
Yeah it's a podcast.
You know.
People listening on the train are like.
It brings a flavor man.
I mean.
Yeah it's realism.
Yes yeah it means real.
I don't like to have conversations that are so you know produced.
I'm gonna sit cross-legged.
By all means man take your shoes off.
Take your socks off too if you like.
Yeah you sit cross-legged on.
It's all cool with me.
You know we just go back a little bit shall we.
Sure.
Let's go back to second secondary school at least.
Which school do you go to man?
I was in San Gabriel's secondary school.
You're in San Gabriel's boy.
I am.
I'm a Gabrielite.
Yeah.
I was anyway.
Yeah yeah then we became a LaSallean because you end up in LaSalle.
Yeah I'm a LaSallean.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah I mean not from LaSalle school yards but you know from the LaSallean schools.
Yeah from St. Pat's.
Cool.
Yeah okay so you're in San Gabriel's boy.
Yeah okay.
So when you went to San Gabriel's did you do any music at all?
I was that was like when I was first like finding my first finding my singing like just
finding myself vocally.
And I would say musically too because it's a whole different world compared to classical
of course and there is a there is a kind of trope of classical classical style clashing
with pop.
I don't know if you've ever encountered something like that.
No because I've never been a classical guy.
No but a really skilled you can it's like a really really skilled classical musician
is like who is like who can like totally rip on on whatever instrument they're playing
on but when you put them in a pop space.
Right.
Like the feeling the alignment is just not kind of clicking sometimes.
Did you watch an episode I had with Aliyah?
I did not watch the whole thing.
Okay we had this conversation.
I think I had the same conversation with one other person as well on the tribute show.
Now that you've put this in now that you've explained this to me when you're in classical
you get exposed to pop.
And I mentioned this earlier on to you as well.
So you got great technically technical skills reading the notes writing the notes knowing
your tempo knowing all that all that's all good.
But Aliyah and I have the opinion and we're not the only ones by the way that you can
tell that when you go for a rehearsal and with your band who's technical and who's
musical and we start to ask ourselves which one do we prefer.
Because people like her people like me were more musical.
Definitely not technical.
But you got a guy that's technical and musical who wow my goodness gracious me.
For me I'm a very like I don't like to see a lot of things in black and white.
I feel like we have to advocate for more of both.
Exactly more of like people like not ignoring or not being like a one or the other.
So who is Aliyah?
Technical technical musical or both?
I'm both.
Wow.
I would say I'm both.
Ballsy man.
Ballsy.
Because I spent a lot of time.
Good for you.
No good for you.
No no no this is like of all the of all the PC things in my head and like just being careful
what I say this is something I'm very sure about in myself.
You know like I'm very...
Why are you so worried about the PC stuff in your head man?
That's a time for like a therapy session.
Oh come on.
We're having a chat dude.
I mean come on man.
No no no the PC stuff is just like having to having done a lot of like like like national
scale things.
Yeah I know.
I have had to be a little bit careful.
You know that one I'm not going to ask so much about anything is going to be breaching
OSA.
Don't worry about that.
I know after the fact it's just that that has just kind of conditioned me to be because
I am the face like I'm like I'm kind of responsible.
I think it's a responsibility thing like I've realized I've heard and I've seen careers
being like like like and or like be in really big trouble.
But we're having a frank conversation.
Oh for sure.
I don't think it's going to be that bad.
I don't think so.
I'm just saying my point is.
Don't stop yourself man.
My point is just that like I as seriously or unseriously PC as I am like the like me
towing the balance between technical and and being musical is like very much what I spend
a lot of my time trying to balance in my craft.
And I can tell you're doing a good job.
Thank you.
Because not many people throughout decades man and we found they've got both.
You know they have been of course the greats.
You know even people like Jeremy Montero.
Oh yeah.
You know I mean that great that guy's great is like royalty right.
You know then there are those who started musical end up learning and getting you know
who are getting so qualified as they move along and they get they get the technical
stuff and they've grown into wow even more big monsters.
You know I'm having I'm having Bonnie face the Suzer next weekend two weekends time and
Bonnie is going to be you know Bonnie has reached a stage where you know from a musical
guy to something someone is so up there.
You know I mean it's wonderful.
I think it's wonderful but you can tell that there are not many museos out there that's
got this.
And that's also the reason why I asked you take just watch or listen to the show I have
with Aliyah because that's a portion of the conversation I wanted I was hoping that you
could pick up because I picked up the like the rap the when you're talking about the
rap stuff.
I caught that.
No but to answer your question about I'm just gonna because you were asking about if I did
music in secondary school.
Yeah.
I auditioned for like my audition for like a school competition.
Okay.
Yeah and I won it.
It was called Gabrielite Idol.
Okay wow.
Wow original man.
You know what like I feel like sometimes we just need to be campy and let it be you know
like sometimes there's a time place for that.
But yeah I was like a little boy and I was just like I auditioned with a Mariah Carey
song like it's somewhere out there on the internet.
Like I was reacting to it all like a few years later and like lots of cringe and everything
but I you know that was what I was about since day one you know I was just like I just wanted
to be doing it.
So that was one that I still remember.
I sang the trophy and you know like performing for my friends.
I was not by any means I was like not popular at all in secondary school.
I was like very much the thing is I feel like I'm quite extroverted but during that period
I really I mean secondary school is not an easy time for anyone I think.
If it was easy for you then good for you but I mean yeah it was a bit awkward for me.
It was like an ugly duckling phase and yeah I was like ignored for a lot of the time.
It was just like an invisible kind of situation.
Or when I sang when I did this competition like there are still people who like who remember
me from that now.
So they will be like you're the one who sang for Gibraltar Idol that time right.
I'm so happy to see you come so far.
I'm like I don't even know your name but thank you.
It's like that was kind of like one of the catalysts.
Yeah I mean I think there's some things in life that just cannot change because…
The Canon event.
Yeah it was a very good way of putting it there.
This Canon event.
Like for example in Sinpats back in my day in 86, 87 those years.
We had contests like that as well and I've never forgotten a lot of us I sang as well.
A lot of us never forgotten some of the guys John Glass when he competed.
We had the same age.
Sean DeMillo right.
So to this day man when we have gatherings right.
Shout out to you Sean.
Sean will take his guitar right and he will still sing you know at our little reunions
and stuff.
I will pop in and sable a little bit now you know but I'm not the guy that does this kind
of things more often than these guys do.
So you got…
So you're right it's a Canon event and it remains an indelible mark in a lot of people's
minds and that's a wonderful thing.
So you sing Gabriel's you do that then after St. Gabriel's you went to La Salle right.
Then after that you had to do your national service.
I did yes that was that is the correct like…
Timeline yes so the chronology of events are going we're gonna go along that way.
So in NS were you in the I don't know what it's called today.
MDC yeah I was not in MDC you know.
Oh my.
I was an artillery boy.
Oh boy.
Yeah well I'm gonna maybe backtrack a little bit to La Salle day.
So basically at my year three right.
Year three of La Salle final year of La Salle.
There's usually at during my time there was a final recital.
It was like a final performance where you got to just to it's like a kind of symbolic
even though it's just like one module it's like kind of symbolic for like that is your
like graduation performance you got to freaking go all out.
I had like the most amazing songs and arrangements planned.
Started rehearsals and COVID.
So I never got to perform it.
Yeah so I that was like it was really devastating but it really lit a fire under me and that
like because it was in COVID so I just started like posting like arranging my arranging recording
and posting all of my covers like because I couldn't just let it go you know like it
was all this like pent up like I didn't get to finish you know and I don't wanna I don't
wanna like I don't want La Salle to be it for my career you know like I yeah I think
even like La Salle would say like they want to see the students flourish after.
It's not just about like your time in the school you know.
By right I think we should be we should be like helping the students like survive after
the after the course but whatever.
Yeah like I yeah basically it was months of COVID.
And then ARMY.
Yeah oh dear.
Yeah.
It felt as if there was something missing somewhere.
Yeah I remember like I told myself like okay after I graduate I have like a few months
I have like my summer break before I end this I'm gonna like I'm going to like bust my ass
off you know.
I'm gonna like I'm gonna save so much money.
I'm gonna like I was just gonna and just pursue it like so the way that I thought I was gonna
pursue it.
Right.
Yeah in a very in real life.
You had it all mapped out basically.
Yeah yeah and I'm sure everyone like relates to COVID.
I mean you know I mean in the sense if there's any consolation at all like if you take a
look at some of the musos professional musos when COVID hit man man oh man these guys those
that really manage to pivot I salute them.
I really do I mean guys like Stephen you know Stephen Francis he became Chef Francis for
a while.
Yep.
And he started his own F&B places you know he just there was there was there was one
he had it was halal thimsam he shut that one down he opened a pranakan stall in a food
court and then when COVID was over you know and the contracts started coming back then
okay you know but for you it was more like okay I couldn't get my plans going and that's
about the size of it man.
Yeah.
You were lucky.
I think that I used the time to go online and I think I am privileged enough like because
I was younger I didn't have as much of like frankly I did not have I think as much threatening
my livelihood in terms of like making a living so I used that time to build.
That's the wonderful thing about being young man.
Yeah yeah.
Yeah really.
I just used it to just keep my like whatever ideas I had flowing coming out and I was doing
a lot at the time I was like I actually hosted like a little like Instagram live talk show
called All Things Vocals at the time and all my singer friends my vocal coaches like Sarah
Wee and like they just came on and we just talked about vocals sang vocals you know and
yeah I was like I started doing like virtual collaborations with like all of my singer
friends and everything I had them all like pre-recorded to go when I was in army so I
was very very determined not to let anything fall.
So during NS you were doing that?
Yes.
On the weekends when you book out?
Yeah I would say the first like the BMT era oh my gosh the BMT era okay oh my goodness.
Why?
Okay so I was past B1.
Yeah okay.
So if anyone who doesn't know what that is, past is like a physical fitness grading and
like A would basically mean you're like as fit as can be and yeah so I was B1 I was just
like regularly fit and I was not excused from anything.
That is like the main takeaway of this okay so I went through like the normal like combat
fit like SOC, IPPT, all of that all of that yeah fieldcraft yeah I spent my 20th birthday
in confinement yeah I received my birthday I received my rifle on my birthday happy birthday
to me I guess and yeah I was juggling a lot of you know like I think not only not like
being away from music but being away from the culture of music because when I went into
ARMY like especially in BMT it was like it was really culture shock because no one gave
a crap about who I was no one like you know no one cares about like my voice you know
like it's just that you know which is I'm not saying that like I wanted to be treated
like royalty in army no like it was like a it was just like there was people weren't
even interested in having the conversation of like oh what do you do you know oh you
do music that's cool because everyone is just on the same path everyone is going to everyone's
going to uni after this and everything you know like so it's like why bother have the
conversation they rather talk about soccer yeah can't relate so like I did ARMY okay
so I would say that ARMY was like my the first half of ARMY so ARMY is two years usually
and the first half of ARMY I was doing my own thing I was like juggling my own thing
with ARMY and I was a stay-in okay like I had no special privileges I was I was in there
like for a week every single week like you can't can't go home unless it's the weekends
and sometimes you have to do guard during the weekends yeah but I had so many ideas
during ARMY and I remember like in BMT I was like they give you a little notebook and I
would have like arrangement of harmony ideas and I would like write down the notes like
in the notebook yeah and and yeah I'll go home and like give them to my friends and
then like we were recorded virtually post covers boom then then Monday you got to go
home yeah it was it was very much there and the thing is no one knew I was in ARMY because
I didn't post about ARMY I did not post my bald head anywhere I think there's one video
of it somewhere digital footprint I don't know but yeah like it was like all the pre-recorded
stuff from like the months before and everything I just was like whatever it is like I like
I just want to and I didn't want to lose any opportunities potentially from people who
were like oh I want to engage you but like I know he's in ARMY so like I don't want to
touch him I was I wanted to try and make something work right yeah so so yeah that was my first
year in ARMY and then right smack in the middle of ARMY I received a call from Don Richmond
okay yeah and he was like I actually sang for Don Richmond's proposal in 2019 with my
a cappella group then so that's how I came to know of him thank you Sarah Wei for introducing
but yeah he was like hi Owen haven't spoken to you in a while can I ask if you are capable
of putting together a group of singers like a group of like a bunch of singers basically
and that's all I got that was the only brief and I was like yeah yeah for sure I have a
lot of singer friends like what do you what is it for and he said I'm music directing
NDP 2022 and I need like almost gospel choir for the theme song and I was like oh my goodness
if I lose this opportunity because of ARMY but I didn't laugh.
Can we put that picture up NDP?
Oh my gosh which one are you gonna pick?
Let me look for it.
Yeah but yeah it was a I remember getting the text in my bunk uh-huh yeah I remember
getting the text in my bunk and I was like kind of panicking and so I was like I would
I would oh my gosh that's the one right look at those in-years man the teal in-years thank
you shout out to Fat Freak for those in-years wow yeah yeah that was that's a this is actually
my second NDP yeah so I did NDP two years in a row 22 and 23 and they were both both
years they were um the director for music was Don Richmond was Don yes so basically
he called me and he was like yeah he was like like are you able to do this for NDP and I
was like I I would love nothing more but I have to be very transparent and say that I
am in ARMY I'm in N.S. and I I'm like I'm not in MDC you know he said that if I was
in MDC it would be very it would be easier to stoop like fuck me out yeah um but I was
like yeah I am I'm not right so uh we can't do this like under the table obviously right
so he was like okay stay calm it's okay just give me your rank and name and unit and let
me see what I can do and basically they made some calls and then like I think a week later
my SM like after PT comes up to me and he was like so I received a call the other day
in his yeah and I was like oh my gosh oh my gosh this is it man this is make or break
and he was like basically he said that are you sure you want to do this and I was like
yeah I'm much more I would be much more useful to the country doing like music than like
shooting a gun very very frankly yeah sure even though I am a marksman so don't play
okay but yeah like um yeah so I basically from then on I was I was actually dispatched
out of my unit to work right under Don Richmond as his like right hand for that for that period
for that yeah for the rest of my NS really for the rest of my NS oh man yeah so I owe
so much to Don actually like he yeah like and yeah then I I put together the group it's
a it was it started off as a 12 member group it's 15 now it's called the island voices
if you guys you know yeah and I put this like called like one of my friends I felt I felt
like I was putting together like the vocal avengers you know I was like okay like I need
yeah there were like certain briefs also that I had to I had to accommodate it being NDP
and also I was like yeah like other than like the voice parts like on my sopranos metal
all that then it's like the the profile I had to send a profile with everyone's pictures
to NDP to get approved you know and like it's a it was such a process but yeah and then
I I then got to do so many amazing things for NDP that year I vocal directed Taufik
Bautista for the for the you know like I helped with some harmonies and wow I also got to
direct Aisha Aziz like for her performance of You'll Be Found that year so it was yeah
I was yeah I was very lucky I was actually like vocal director of that year of NDP wow
and I was like 21 22 at the time yeah so I was I was like it wasn't even real to me like
I was just so happy to be doing it for ARMY like songster monster man songster monster
yeah all that while like arranging and recording every single member of the Island Voices at
my house oh my yeah and juggling ARMY so I was not fully dispatched I still had to go
back for like for like my high keys and let me tell you that was not easy to manage like
yeah but I look back at that time and I'm like I can do anything now because it's never
gonna be as hard as that yeah good for you yeah so you're very proud of the outcome of
the NDPs the two NDPs you're involved in yes yes for sure yeah how did how was what was
it like man I mean was it how do you feel it's it's it's like just a lot of gratitude
to be very honest with you like that I wouldn't say that whole NDP experience is always perfect
no one is going to tell you like who it's performing for is gonna tell you NDP is completely
perfect but what is you know I think that you really just gotta focus on the fact that
number one I was doing it with my best friends in the world like my family you know and and
number two we got to actually do what musically represents us purely like we did a we did
a okay basically we for the second year we did a evolution of NDP songs and this madly
is like our pride oh don't worry about it sorry if you're on the train but like yeah
this is this madly is like our pride and joy it's crazy it just came out on streaming platforms
and last year it was like one of our biggest hits with like 100,000 views on YouTube and
everything so I was like that we were so proud of it and we were so proud of the style like
we are we are doing acapella like in the way that we want to do it very gospel very you
know just I I had not seen it being done that way before and I was just I wasn't even thinking
of oh let's do something that we've never that people have never done before it was
just very authentically us and Dawn like very graciously fought for us to be ourselves and
the fact that we got to showcase that on a national level is is and the fact that the
videos are out there like forever you know you know and looking back it's always gonna
be it's always gonna be so surreal.
Yeah sure if speaking of NDPs and you know national songs and stuff I asked this question
I think I asked Danny Lung this question hmm do you think I mean that's okay can we can
we agree let me put it this way that Singapore doesn't have its own unique sound for example
if you go to the Bahamas so you go to Jamaica you have Creole you have reggae yeah um of
course where is it I would be Malaysia I guess dangdut right yeah um what do we we don't
have any of that do you we don't can we agree it's not the strongest you mean we have our
own unique sound sound I it's just too many different sounds I would say so we don't have
our own unique sound right that we can when people hear anywhere in the world and say
that's Singapore for sure we don't have one right so we can't agree on that what if in
your top of mind yeah no pressure yeah if I want to ask you since you're the songs the
monster it's like it's gonna be a bad question I can't answer and I don't expect an answer
answer I mean I just want to hear opinion and thoughts and we can throw this okay we
can be wrong a lot people can disagree or agree I don't care yeah but it's nice to
talk about this for sure you're Singaporean I'm Singaporean I'm also proudly Singaporean
and just to toy this idea man because you're who you are if you if we were to create a
sound that can be uniquely Singapore where we know that easily everywhere else in the
world people listen to that sound and they go that's Singaporean now what do you think
that would be what would it comprise of now we've had people you might not know them or
remember them you may or may not I don't know because of your age you're young in the past
we had bands that had a fusion of different ethnic instruments bands like culture vulture
before them culture shock Douglas Olivero started there okay and it was kind of cool
for a while but it just didn't last despite the fact that we got the uhula the tablas
the and all that come to play Chinese instruments Malay instruments the kong pang and Indian
instruments all the ethnic instruments came in together and create a pop sound yeah with
it it's it's it's not truly Singapore simply because already uniquely these instruments
belong to these ethnic groups the different ethnic groups now what would how we then make
or create or invent even a unique Singapore sound it's hard because at its roots Singapore's
uniqueness comes from the multi cultural thing so it's like like they say even like the ethnic
groups that you're like oh that's their sound are not as diverse in their own right as we
are but those are based on instruments right now let's say we talk about sound style style
yeah like reggae is a style yes reggae came from the roots of creole creole is a style
yeah they created a style based on the way they speak right now what could we do but
they are those roots go back so far yeah yeah country yeah ours only go back but we're going
to start somewhere yeah we do don't you think we should do you think we should or shouldn't
uh it has to be authentic yeah you know like i i cannot like like like i don't want anyone to
be creating a Singapore sound for the sake of creating a Singapore sound it's got to come from
naturally yeah you know like like just be be be be yourself and be excellently yourself do you think
there's a need for one i don't know okay if let's say assuming on a hypothesis that there is a need
for one now let's just say for fun okay do you think it could ever happen given looking at the
current music scene and how vibrant or otherwise it is
um
never say never but i i that's that's okay very frankly right now i look at the music scene i see
a lot of individuality being like being kind of embraced uh more than like a specific like this
our collective country sound and i feel like that's also like kind of what is what people want to do
like time wise like like in our generation like we are more like serving ourselves
so yeah yeah which is not 100% a bad thing i do feel like embracing individuality is like
something that we don't really have a history of doing yeah like whether it be music musically or
like your like personally but it would be nice don't you think that we have our own sound
yeah for sure and the only way you're saying you're one things in life sure of course of course
you know but happy things naturally but this would be a happy thing and based on what you've just said
the individuality the self-serving the self-servingness if you will of people today
general and in musos yeah people individuals um that is going to be quite hard for that to happen
if people don't come together for sure to figure it out right do you do you do you feel or know
anything at all in the past whether or not muses of old in singapore there's still muses today once a
muse always a muse though um were they were they together were they trying to get something going
i think so i think so from what like from from the yeah from from what i hear from like what my
parents would like tell me about their you know their experiences with you know the musicians of
their day the local musicians of their day it was definitely more community-minded and yeah like it
was like everyone kind of knew each other you know you know i i've spoken with jerry fernandez
shout out to you jerry uh and with mel fernandez i told you earlier on um and and you know and um
most of my old older musician friends we all look back again i live in nostalgia
yeah in the in back in the old days man we had this thing called talent time talent time yeah
it was huge in this country sounds like a great time i was yeah um even as a kid man i i'm glued
to the tv set and who's anyone anybody any person in singapore went through auditions in the old rts
radio television singapore which eventually became sbc singapore broadcasting broadcasting corporation
then it became tcs television corporation and now media corp yeah just give you that history
yeah and back then black and white uh orchestras yeah they they had orchestra playing like you get
big band sound stuff you know and you and and they have they break it into solo and into group
yeah and that's where degree went on yeah to compete yeah just center yeah right i think if
i'm not mistaken i'm sorry if i'm wrong corpo um oh so many yeah robert fernando so many people man
yeah names that we know today um and it was great for the country because we were growing
yeah exposing yeah our talents yeah yeah and i remember mel saying that you know we should
we should just bring it back man i mean and back in the day right we know all these bands our local
bands the sycophant person citizen most of us especially those who love music will know who's
who yeah bands of old uh fly baits you heard of fly baits yeah geez these guys were monsters uh
uh fly bays fly bays the late great jerry la chica uh horace utapia you know he's still you know i
i i just saw him a couple months ago um gypsy where mel was from the family band uh of course
gingerbread i'm very proud to say jason and and my friends of mine um you know and dudley um and
then there's tokyo square linda elizabeth max how do we know all these kate kate hamid iskandar isma
really iskandar isma how do we know this because um back then right our broadcaster yeah would go
out there and they hunt and they see bands right and see these guys are good bring them on the show
and they come in and they perform they got a show yeah and we see them on tv they're televised yeah
and you say oh these guys are good and we you know we do we where they're playing man we go
find out where they play that has got to come back yeah yeah right now like the the consumption
is very curated person to person yeah of the consumer like the yeah like like people don't
really people want to hear what they want to hear and it's not much of like not much of me going
out of my way to get the music as opposed to like the music being brought to me you know how do you
feel about that well the algorithm has had great moments for me i will not lie like i i was i've
been very fortunate for you know like to be able to reach like whatever crowd that i've reached like
that so far you know um without having to like like you know yeah i i cannot cannot tell you that i
understand what it was like no of course yeah music career like back then too yeah and and very
frankly like this is kind of all i know at the at the current moment no i'm asking for your opinion
don't ask i'm basically asking about for you but yes i do think that the culture of in person
supporting these musicians like has to be stronger yeah and and it's it exists like the support and
the community exists yeah it's just that the world's a lot bigger now and and there is just so many
so many different like like more sub like sub genre sub like uh communities yeah yeah yeah
specific stuff now man things i don't even freaking genres i don't even freaking understand now man
my son that day was telling me this is thing called hip-hop jazz i said what the hell is hip-hop jazz
jeez good grief i can kind of like understand maybe like you're the song's a monster man
yeah no because at least yeah well but yeah like i yeah i i honestly i also spent quite a lot of
my time like not not really conversing about stuff like this like i've i've always just like
always just like try to not hide in a bubble but just focus on doing what makes me sure you see
but that's where you become one of those individuals don't you think uh
okay i would say a little yeah i wouldn't put you i don't put you in the spot me
but i tell you people like me people like the older guys right tell you what we wish for
we wish that we can have all of our musos
thinking for each other man you know um everyone knows who who is everyone else
whether or not you're younger or older doesn't matter you know we all can tap on each other's
strengths for sure and i i like i would say that muso supporting musos is not lost in our current
community i will say that it's the audience yeah it's the gen is the gen pop yeah but i think you
know what i think the gen pop can be tamed and we have got to realize that we're the ones that got
to do the taming um this is a riffing thing i told you earlier on i want to bring this up right
yep this is where i got to bring this up yeah tell me the hell's a riff a riff yeah you you heard it
in the video yeah i know so so the yeah yeah isn't those are those called runs it's okay so a riff i i
define like a riff as more of like a guitar riff i know yeah like a memorable lick or like a like a
which can be done with the voice too but it's more of like a repeating can you do one for me now in
front too it's like a i don't know you know like when like the i don't want to get you copyrighted
either or it's like the it won't be because because it's live i mean not live it's recorded now in
front of cameras it's like a yeah like if someone went like yeah yeah that's like a that's like a
voice man thing man yeah yeah but like a run would be like you know that's the bloody difference yeah
i can't tell a difference one is okay riff is repeating kind of yeah i don't think that is a
need to actually define it so harshly yeah it's all yeah it's just all like a lot of people
categorize riffs and runs in the same sentence it's like oh your riffs and runs you know okay so
so you're what you're saying is riff and runs are about the same thing yeah same difference like run
run is like i i like to think of it as like a singular thing right and riffs are like um
um like they exist like a bit more in a context okay you see they here's the i think in my opinion
this is opinion uh people from my from who are older right we are straight singers yeah you know
uh you know that it's so strange but then we see the guys are thinking younger younger younger
they're all doing that we call them runs are we all doing and now the first thing i i don't know
i mean to me if every i catch a young person singing there's there's going to exist the runs
yeah yeah and then uh and i don't like it to be honest um and um i don't like the runs
gives me the runs uh and uh when i and then when i was checking you out and i went on your socials
and i saw you talking about riffs and that's when it it grew me another another another hole in my
ass because i was going like what the fuck that's not me that's not my intention i would like to
make it clear i was like never want to drill a hole into anyone's oh god what the hell is riffs
now is giving me a fistula so so what's riffs i know runs what are riffs and that's where and
i know guitar riffs so to me yeah i was thinking the same could it be something where you you know
you play a guitar riff and it's more repetitive and everything and you know is that what it means
you know so i just wanted to clear that one up it's just interchangeable in my opinion okay i'm just
i'm just being anal about this shit man just okay so which genre do you do you actually like i would
say i sit in the i sit in like an intersection of like pop rmb and acapella pop rmb acapella okay
not that acapella is like a full genre there's like there's like like um there's like there's
like rock acapella and there's like rmb acapella and there's like you know that there's the subgenres
in acapella yeah but i think pop rmb acapella the venn diagram intersection like in the middle is
is vocal centric music that's what i've always been super passionate about like the like i love
listening to singers singers um yeah like the for me the voice kind of comes first not saying that
i ignore everything else but the voice comes first like the tone the control you don't really have
to do a lot of runs but sometimes i can hear whether you just have general control over your
voice or not okay with yeah i'm not i'm not like a i'm not like a everyone has to do runs kind of
situation but runs are like kind of an indication sometimes of like just a bit more control a bit
more like specific like detailed control over your instrument when you hear me saying i'm going to be
real fucked but it's not no no no it's not it's not about that it's like note separation you got
no control chris it's not about chris yes chris and i also don't think that every runner singer
is a good singer okay yeah just because you can do runs doesn't necessarily mean you're a good
singer not like it it might mean you're a skilled singer but it doesn't mean you're like uh
a emotive singer or something i do think this about time and place and everything yeah yeah
yeah and like my my love for pop my love for like my love for pop and rmb is like it gives
it's it makes it feeling first right yeah like it's it's it's actually always feeling first for me
like if i don't feel it and i don't feel it you know then then the acapella kind of brings in
the technicality of it and that's what rounds out my musicality and technicality you know you know
all the things you just said so to me right it's this guy is so into this into this whole game
the things you say the way you describe things and i'm telling myself chris thank god you didn't get
into this game because i think it's going to hate you so much if he ever has to sing with you
yeah yeah yeah yeah man as i said it's feeling first yeah yeah yeah i know i know i know i know i
know i know i hate you anyways you know i i truly admire you bro i mean i gotta tell you man i mean
the things you've done in such a short span of time is really crazy i you've done things i look
i can only dream of ndp was one i've always wanted to host the ndp oh it's uh it's very intense oh
sure great you know i've always wanted it but now i'm too freaking old to do it so never mind
um and then you know um stuff you i've seen i you know you you've been on these big concert stages
right in fort canning park blah blah blah you know and and i go my god this guy's living a life man
really living a life man i mean for those who are entertainers those are musos we understand that
feel you know they're having the opportunity to do these kind of things yeah um i knew i want to ask
you though um Owen Lee's endgame what's your endgame i know you're only 23 24 years old still a
long way to go because gotta be there's gotta be an endgame somewhere right because people will
only perspire for things they aspire to i you know when i was years ago when it was just starting
yeah i just wanted to like keep doing it like like get get one opportunity you know when you start
off and you've had no opportunities all you want is that one opportunity and then over the years
they just it just keeps coming you know and and being a freelancer it's always gonna being a
freelancer or being a creative you're always gonna have that dip and that rise and that dip
and then crash sometimes you know like it's never gonna be like as smooth like like that as like
other career paths i think right so i i understand that so i don't i don't see myself like i'm not
saying that oh i just want to be like um constantly happy or whatever you know it's more about i just
want to have a have a good head on my shoulders to
keep pushing through this fulfillingly yeah and and just keep like getting better um
because it's really i'm a i quite prioritize being present in a lot of the things that i do so
whenever i i do like one of these shows right and i'm in that moment it's like makes me so freaking
happy i just i always want to kind of chase that happiness
yeah but eventually i do maybe want to step into
a bit more educational stuff maybe don't don't hold me to it i'm not the most like uh what do you
mean by educational stuff just maybe helping the next generation teach yeah yeah i i
i i don't think i'm the world's best teacher my patience is very very very
non-existent sometimes um but yeah i do think that you know it's important to
to pass that on okay i mean that's noble mate i'm glad you said that because you know what
i was half expecting you to say something well i i was wrong well chris you know i want to end up in
the uk or the us oh and be a recording star or something like that i thought you would probably
want to go there i like that too i don't okay i mean it's fair it's fair because you're 20 23 24
years old man you're a young guy you got so many years ago says that can't happen in between sure
sure but i just want to know whether that would be your the thing that you did the thing that you
want to hit you know in your life i think at a certain point it really was and i think
i've got i being very honest with you it it like scares me now yeah why so um i think there's a
certain comfort in this bubble as much as sometimes i like to i like to like you know
like complain about like the whatever industry whatever but you know like just being here and
being with my you know with my group and like doing doing well here with my groups or like with my
career and you know just enjoying it yeah but the truth is actually i've always been very inspired
and you know musically inspired by like western styles of music so yeah i i do not understand the
okay i do not understand certain local i don't understand the love for certain like styles of
music here as much as what i love which is fine everyone can love what they want to love right
yeah so but the thing is like i think it's like i think it's like i think it's like i think it's
like it's like it's like it's like the real deal you know like it's like it's almost kind of fantasy
land for me yeah that's why i want to know i mean it it's got to be i was just that's why
my expectations were that this young talented songs the monster would have set the sights of
something way larger you know and uh well each to his own that's what but your plan is to teach but
you know something man i think you can i think you can really go right past the stratosphere man
thank you you should you really should because you it's very rare someone like you you're rare
thank you yeah uh i've seen other people who can do their riffs and their runs and they're not going
to be seated in that seat nope nope nope but i got you here thank you and i'm convinced i'm very
convinced um and anyway so i know i'm curious like i want to ask you because you yeah yeah yeah like
i understand the whole riffs and runs thing like it's not for everybody yeah i think it's not for
everybody yeah i totally get that like sure like don't get me wrong which is why actually when i
when i do the stuff that i do i really try and make sure that there is some there's more than
just that you know there's like there's just heart in it whatever it is like it can be like a totally
riffless thing but it can be all the risks in the world but you want to see that it's authentic you
want to see that it comes from that person's heart and so and that's when it will click that's what i
always felt yeah so yeah i was like i i would say that i am authentically a pretty nerdy runny like
you know like that's just me and i just i try not to you express it that way yeah i express it that
way and i express it with like my harmonies and just you know creating the sounds that that make
me like make me happy i'm not complaining about your runs and riffs man i actually love your runs
and riffs thank you thank you uh i just feel that there's some people who just way do it way too much
and it just overcooked you know yeah you can have you can have you can have a foie gras that's pan
fried yeah or you can have a foie gras that's fancy fried and i can tell you the classical
french chef will still say pan fried yeah and um it's the same thing for sure uh so i don't like
the ones that overdo it right it's so overcooked um but yours comes in very nice that's the reason
why when we started the show i played that video because i was so impressed by that one thank you
i really was um and i don't i don't get so easily impressed that often to be fair uh yeah if if if
the people that come on this tribute show if they have contributed or still contributing
to the music business and industry uh via whatever they do they could be a club owner
uh they could even be radio dj's they could be you know not just musicians alone right
as long as it's helping to grow music here in singapore and i feel that they're really doing
something great or done something great or will be something great then they sit in that chair
sit in that chair okay if not you can fuck it man that's not gonna happen man well we know we're
gonna be singing a song and uh and i'm gonna tell you now man i watched this video of you
okay singing this song and the song that we're gonna go about singing can we play that that
video please kai this one yeah that's the one oh man this is a great night where was this
man i'll tell you later
easy
I can't help falling in love with you.
Oh wow. Thanks Kai. Thank you Kai.
You know something man, you know when I saw you sing that song.
The thing about me is this.
A singer is a singer.
A singer can be a good singer, a great singer even.
But first you must be an entertainer. I believe so too.
Yeah and you've got people singing along with you.
There's a vibe that you exude.
And you love it when people actually interact and work with you.
You work the crowd.
And when you work that room or work that crowd, to me, that guy's an entertainer.
So that's cool. And then you sang that song right?
Let me tell you something about that song.
I do a lot of Elvis. I've been doing it for a long time.
I can fucking remember.
And I still do it.
And actually that's a song that I got onto my knees doing a show.
In front of ministers and stuff.
And my wife was my manager.
And that was where I proposed to her singing the song.
So this is a very very important song to me.
So that's something we're going to be doing right at the end of the show.
But thank you so very much for being on the show really.
For coming all this way and spending time with me today.
Of course, of course.
I hope you had fun.
I had a blast. I learned so much.
Oh come on. I'm the one that's learned a lot man.
No, no, no. I think it's a mutual.
Geez. No good. No, no, no. I mean dude.
I mean there's no way that I can even come close to who you are and what you've done man.
I mean at this age of yours, 24, and done whatever you've done so far.
God the world is your oyster man.
Really man. I am a big admirer of yours.
I'm very very proud to have had you on the show.
And my tribute to you my friend.
Keep the music rolling. Okay. Thank you.
Everyone thank you so very much for watching this episode of Tribute to SG's Music Icons.
With me and my guest, the guy I have given tribute to Owen Lee.
Watch out for this young man.
He's a freaking monster. Okay.
Really. This guy.
Watch. Mark my words.
He's going to be one of the next big things here.
Thank you so much.
Thanks for being on the show.
And until next time people.
Keep season four going.
Please watch the rest of our episodes.
And until the next time.
This is Chris Hansen saying I'll see you again.
Okay. Bye bye.
Music
Love with you
Shall I stay
Would it be all the same
If I can't help falling in love with you
Like a river flows
Churning through the sea
Darling so it goes
Some things are meant to be
Take my hand
Take my whole life too
For I, I can't, I can't help
Falling in love with you
Like a river flows
Truly to the sea
Darling so it goes
Some things are meant to be
Take my hand
Take my whole life too
For I, I can't, I can't help
Falling in love with you
One more time.
For I, I can't, I can't help
Falling in love with you
That was brilliant, dude.
We never had it that way.
I was just kind of vibing off of your vibe, man.
I mean, my vibe. Again, I'm going to say this old man vibe.
I love, like, I love, I'm very used to a...
I like to think that I am a versatile...
You are.
Yeah, I...
You are.
Mmm.