November 2, 2010

One Sweet Day

Here I am once again, trembling with butterflies in my stomach. Pre-stage fright is one thing I can't seem to get away with to be honest. I may have performed a hundred times, and each time seems to get better, but it doesn't change the fact that I still possess this persistent phobia.

Got to focus now, Eileen!

Nottingham's Viva La Vida is back again. I remember marking this event a month ago in my diary, and here it is. Tonight.

Elton and I were invited to perform a couple of songs for Viva La Vida, so we came together to talk about what songs to perform and how we want them done (yes we take our performances very seriously) We plan to sing 3 songs on that night and it was almost instant when we decided to choose one of Elton's own composition and Little Things That Count - a song I wrote for Eco-film Fest. Songs after songs, we practiced and practiced, but we still couldn't really decide on our third song, not until 2 days ago T_T

We wanted the song to be meaningful and coinciding with the theme. So here we have it - Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men's One Sweet Day. I first heard of One Sweet Day in college when I 'accidentally' played it on my friend's MP4 player while we were studying. The song gave me a very depressing yet hopeful feeling. After listening to it a couple of times more, it soon became one of my favourites.

I personally have the habit of looking up on the background of every song I sing on stage to understand the content of the song and what the writer was trying to express when writing it. This practice really helps me on stage when I try to deliver the message in the song across to the audience because I know what tone, emotion and expression is appropriate for every word.

One Sweet Day was written by Mariah Carey and the members of Boyz II Men in remembrance of their loved ones who have passed away. This song also speaks about missing the people you've lost and looking forward to reuniting with them one day in Heaven. So I will be thinking about my grandpa when I sing this tonight. My grandpa is one of the reasons why i'm here today and in everything I did, he never failed to push and motivate me until I succeeded. Its a shame that he left us without any warning, and we still don't know the exact reason to his death. I can never seem to erase the image of my dad weeping over the phone when he told me the news 3 years ago, causing me to cry for weeks after that. So yeh-yeh, as much as I know you dislike me singing and slammed on my radio every time I did, I hope you will hear me tonight as I really miss you.



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