“S.H.E. – Singapore, How Exciting!” (A National Day Song by Firdaus & Friend)

Check out this really cool song recently written by Firdaus (and his friend Jia Ning) specially for Singapore’s 42nd birthday.

I think it’s a really nice gesture, writing a birthday song for the nation just a few days before the Big Day on 9th Aug.

The lyrics are by Jia Ning & Firdaus, and the music is by Firdaus.

Firstly, notice how the lyrics are artistically flashed across the screen in the “old movie” kind of way (as compared to my incredibly dull ”black screen” videos)? That’s a nice touch. Firdaus says it was done simply with the help of Windows Movie Maker. Well done!

The casual appearance of the lyrics also fits in very nicely with Firdaus & Jia Ning’s song because the melody, the guitar strumming, and the lyrics are also somewhat casual & breezy in nature. (In other words, it’s the classic Firdaus style of music!)

Notice also how there is a liberal use of the colours red and white in the video. (Coincidence? I don’t think so, haha!)

What struck me about this song was the frequent use of 7th notes in the song, which gives it a rather blues-rock kind of feel (example: “everything is gonna be okay…”). I couldn’t help but compare the song to Oasis, which I believe is one of Firdaus’s major influences in songwriting. (Think Oasis’s “Married With Children”.)

(By the way Firdaus, the Oasis comparison is meant to be a compliment!)

I also think the lyrics were well-written.

One particular line I like is “she makes me sore yet she makes me soar!” That’s brilliant. Perfect rhyming coupled with great meaning.

Overall, this is definitely not the kind of song you would expect to hear at NDP. However, I believe that was precisely the songwriters’ intentions. In Firdaus’s own words, they were “just trying to do a non-cheesy National Day song.”

And in many ways, I think they’ve succeeded.