Life Experiment 101

The Freshman

Olivia Live

Olivia Ong

Come Closer With...

Tay Kewei

Who will be the next Stefanie Sun, Tanya Chua or 2 Girls of the local music scene? These women are certainly giving it a shot.

Instead of going solo, Project Superstar’s Chen Diya and Carrie Yeo have teamed up to form The Freshman.

On their own, Chen’s lower, huskier voice on tracks such as Polaroid is reminiscent of Sun’s. Yeo’s lighter tone on the song 1924, meanwhile, brings to mind Taiwanese songbird Wan Fang.

Blending the two voices together was a smart decision as it helped both to stand out from the crowd. From the breezy guitar pop of Little Actions to aching love ballad Too Transparent to the jaunty rock of Life Experiment, Chen and Yeo prove their versatility.

They are disarmingly earnest on Standard Answer: “The market’s really terrible/

But musicians aren’t fools/Even if it’s just $3.50 in the pocket/Who cares about sales, just sing my own style” and charmingly gauche on the album closer: “Can’t buy back happiness, can’t draw on a smile/

Casually have a fart/Silence can be chemistry as well”.

With bonus points for contributing to some of the music and lyrics, this clutch of consistently strong songs propels them ahead of the competition.

From freshmen, we move on to sophomore efforts, though, strictly speaking, Olivia Live is not a brand new record. It is a live recording of material from her first album, which means that the same strengths and weaknesses apply. Most egregiously, the disturbingly cheerful version of Luka, about child abuse, remains.

Things improve, though, when Ong warbles The Little Nyonya theme song Like A Swallow. She should definitely take on more Mandarin material because even though her diction is a little raw, her pipes are more distinctive then. The problem with some of the English covers is that they are just too safe and border on blandness.

For her full-length debut, Tay Kewei, back-up singer to the stars, has chosen to do a mixture of covers and original material.

I had certainly hoped for more of the latter after a taste of it on the EP Keep!, but, at least, some of the songs she chooses to reinterpret are a tad unexpected, including Five For Fighting’s Superman (It’s Not Easy) and the Japanese number Friend. And her warm and laid-back style is showcased beautifully on the Coldplay ballad, The Scientist.

Still, it would have been nice to hear more from the songwriter herself who contributed on several tracks, including the eco-quirky Plastic Mannequin Love as well as the Mandarin numbers, This Too Shall Pass and So In Love.

It is still too early to say who is ready to take over the mantle from Singapore’s top popsters but, for sure, some are showing the potential to come close.

(ST)