I think one of the major highlights of my 2019 is my 2 songs that were featured on Thir.st. They are "All You Want Me To Do" and "The Church is not Perfect, but it's Beautiful". Here's the URLs in case you haven't seen it:
https://thir.st/blog/celebrity-leader/
https://thir.st/blog/the-church-is-not-perfect-but-it-is-beautiful/
I wrote "All You Want Me To Do" in April 2011 and "The Church is not Perfect, but it's Beautiful" in July 2012. Yeap, these songs were sittin' in my "My Songs" folder for nearly a decade before it got published. LOL.
So, you must be wondering, why and how did these songs suddenly re-surface?
Well, here's the story Thir.st didn't tell you.
It was some time in 2018 when our Life Group (LG) had a random steamboat gathering at one of our LG member's (George's) house at Parc Vera condominium. (I don't know why but the location just sprang up as I was typing so, let's keep it in the canvas HAHA)
As we were talking and cooking the food over our steamboat dinner, I think Ephraim (aka Yi Qin, our LGL then) mentioned that I should share some of the songs I wrote. So I would probably be like "Ok sure"
Once we were done steamboat-ing, we all sat around in a circle in George's living room and he passed me his classical guitar and I began to share my testimony about how these songs were birthed.
Seated on the sofa, I then began strumming and singing the 2 songs I wrote - "All You Want Me To Do" and "The Church is not Perfect, but it's Beautiful". I still have the raw video taken by one of my LG members in my phone LOL. I was decked in my colourful striped tee and topped with my colourful graffiti cap haha.
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| A few of us at the random steamboat sess @ George's house. We are TE5 Life Group of Hope Church Singapore! |
My LG mate Siqi works in Thir.st as a writer and project manager. So after that session, she decided to embark on this journey to cover my 2 songs. But this only happened about 6 months later when we actually started putting our intentions in our Google calendars.
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| From left: Me, Zi Ying and Siqi on the way to Bedok reservoir to shoot the MV for "All You Want Me To Do" |
So, I got her to sing with me for the Thir.st recordings and videos. Of course, before the actual shoot and recordings, we had to meet up to practice XD So there ya go, plenty of dates with her.
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| Zi Ying and I. Photo taken by Siqi at BBTC, which was our rendezvous point before heading to Bedok Reservoir for the shoot. Yes, Thir.st is based in BBTC. |
It was through this project that I really got to have a lot of 1-on-1 time with her on the pretext of preparing for the shoot and recording HAHA.
There were 2 major dates we had - One at Temasek Polytechnic (TP) and I think after that we went to eat Saveur at Century Square.
The other one was at my condo! We recorded the song at my place and then Siqi had to rush off to meet our other LG member - Nicole - leaving Zi Ying and myself alone. So considerate of you Siqi. HAHAHA!
So yes, thank you Siqi for playing a wonderful 媒婆 role unknowingly. HAHAHA.
Through these dates and other observations throughout the year, I realized I really loved this angel called Zi Ying. She's meek, humble, sacrificial, serving and yet poised, confident and has a super cute vibe where you feel like hugging her. LOL. Of course, above all, she's a Jesus-seeker, which is the deal-maker.
So yeah, one of the reasons why this Thir.st song feature project is so significant is because it sealed my love life. HAHA. Again, thank you Siqi, will get you to share a few words at our wedding no worries. HAHAHA
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| Group photo after finishing the shoot for "All You Want Me To Do" at Bedok Reservoir! |
Now that we're done with the behind-the-scenes story, let's take a look at the impact that these Thir.st articles had.
As a result of the publishing, several people wrote in to me on Facebook, on my blog, via email and even my instagram DM - or what my juniors called "Slide into your DM" LOL. They shared with me their many stories of being hurt by the church leaders and members and how the Holy Spirit used my song to touch them and remind them that He is in control.
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| MV shoot for "The Church is not Perfect, but it's Beautiful" right outside Bedok Mall |
To all the folks who reached out to me, thank you. Thank you for reminding me too that God works through online sites like these to touch lives and change hearts as well :') I'm glad that my testimony has given you strength to continue on this journey to glory.
Initially I wanted to share screenshots of some of their stories - while blurring out their identities of course - but eventually I felt, that I might be infringing on their privacy. So yeah, shall leave these stories to be played in heaven's movie theatres then.
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| Time lapse screengrab from my GoPro of us in action for the shooting of "All You Want Me To Do" |
Let's move on to the more measurable impact of my songs - social media.
Let's start with the more popular song "All You Want Me To Do". It had a lot of shares going round so Thir.st decided to boost it by making it a Sponsored Post. Because of this, the views and outreach was much more than my other song.
"All You Want Me To Do" outreach tally:
- Facebook post: 141 reacts, 119 shares, 3 comments
- Facebook video: 2k views, 8 shares, 1 comment (as at today)
- YouTube video: 2,466 views, 21 reacts, 3 comments (as at today)
- Facebook video: 3.9k views, 24 shares, 1 comment (as at today)
- YouTube video: 700 views, 11 reacts, 1 comment (as at today)
Anyway, I'm thankful for the opportunity to share my personal songs on a more public scale and glad that it has touched lives and refreshed hearts.
Father may you continue to do Your mighty work through each and every one of us, however big or small, may we always be surrendered to Your leading. Selah.
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| Thir.st chair that we used for the MV shoots |
