My sis will be as big as...

Her.

Maybe.

Maybe not now or tomorrow. OK, and maybe not quite this famous. But the 17 year-old (yes, my sis is that young) may be getting somewhere. Last Sunday, I had accompanied her to a recording studio on the 3rd floor of a dodgy-looking building in the Lavendar area to meet with 2 producers, one of whom had supposedly produced the latest album of this Singaporean. The future of the music industry in Singapore - buoyed by the larger East Asian market - is perhaps only one shade brighter than that of the publishing business, but I am ever hopeful. And on this hopeful note, the producers rang her today to ask for a second meeting to discuss a possible contract for her songs. I guess they must be serious because they asked that her "guardian" - er, that's me I guess - to be there again (I told them I was working for the gahmen in the arts, so perhaps they wouldn't try to pull a fast one on her).


A soon-to-be famous pair of legs!
Photo by J as part of the CD booklet and packaging we designed/made for her home-recorded album "Don't Run Away" last Christmas

Perhaps this will encourage her to be more optimistic about a career in music, instead of wondering if she should be studying law or economics at university. When I was a teacher, this was also something which irked me most - talented kids who only wanted what everyone else already knew or wanted - to study law, economics, PPE or something "marketable" at university; 17 and 18 year olds who parrot their parents and our public policies with a pragmatism that is just so unbecoming for a teenager.

Don't get me wrong. Even in my daydreaming I do not wish to quarrel with the practical and the real. But if from a young age you already demonstrate a talent and have an interest, then I say the most practical and realistic thing to do is to pursue it, and to pursue it relentlessly. Because in most cases, it will be far more impractical, if not impossible, to do so after 30 (though terz after his mid-life reincarnation may disagree).

One day, when my kid sis does become a music producer/composer/writer/singer, maybe she will remember her older sister: the one who was never quite as talented as her, but had smiled so sweetly to her first music producer.

Maybe.