This one was born from practicing simple chord changes on the acoustic guitar. I had never thought about learning a new instrument but then I believed, and still do, that it would make a big difference in my songwriting. It could give me those cool voicings I've always envied guitar players could play. They're just sooo nice! I would be able to put those wonderful chords behind my own melody instead of those familiar chords I would usually play on the keyboard. And..I think it's working! 

Anyway, I was doing 3 chords and luckily, the verse flowed pretty naturally. I kept the melody there but then..I got stuck at the chorus. So that night I was thinking about the chorus in the dark, already in bed. Yeah, it got a little frustrating since I wasn't satisfied with any ideas I had so then I started to imagine PINK's vocals singing it. There, miraculously, I was pretty happy with the melody at the chorus, got up, and turned on my computer to record a rough. I've always loved her style, and even though my voice is far from her diva-ish vocals, I wanted to create a similar feel to it.

I was so grateful that a few producers loved it the first time they heard it and went back to listen to it a couple more times. It really encouraged me to write more upbeat songs. It felt great recording a happy demo too. Singing it was a lot of fun. I know my production skills aren't there yet and I hope I can attain the ability to make excellent quality demos soon. I'm working on it and in the meantime, hope you enjoy listening to this one!

Published version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9CEU3cigIs&feature=share

Nobody Else

Sound familiar? Yes, it's that awesome loop from Logic Pro everyone's probably heard of. LOL When I heard this loop for the first time I thought it was just so cool I had to add my own arrangement to it. I couldn't let it go. Writing this song was a “special” experience for me. It turned out to be a very enjoyable experiment of arranging around a loop. It became my personal favorite demo I've made using a karaoke mic. (It was all I had since my AKG had died on me at the time.)

Around just a month before that, Michael Jackson had just passed away and I kept thinking about it. Why? Why so sudden and mysterious? Before that, I even dreamt about going to his concert one day and believed it would be the best one I'll ever experience. I didn't want to believe THIS IS IT was going to be the final one. Anyway, I wrote the lyrics from a fan's POV, although the music style's totally not MJ. I tried to express to everyone, including MJ of course, and also many of you out there, how grateful I am to be influenced and inspired in so many amazing ways. We are all us because of these people we appreciate and these people probably don't even know how much impact they've made on our lives. The power of inspiration..tsk tsk..INCREDIBLE!

You Inspire Me

This song took me countless hours to complete and I still feel like there's so much more I can do to make it better. This may even be my record for the time I've spent on a rough demo! I guess the main time taker was the mix. I was actually testing, or practicing if I should call it, ways of mixing and the most acceptable one turned out to be the third last session- yep...THIS one. The balance in the other ones were just...uh >< LOL working on it...working on it. Perhaps when I get the chance to retouch it, I can adjust the arrangement like creating more exciting build-ups or rerecording the vocals for some sections. So..any suggestions for improvement would be greatly appreciated!

Emi-Ja, a very talented lyricist from the UK, did this one with me. She always has many cool ideas and has so much patience to bring the best out of things. I really enjoyed collaborating with her. We actually started with the lyrics. I wanted to write the melody to her lyrics, hoping she wouldn't need to adjust much and I wanted to do this freely without any chords or whatever to restrict myself. As I expected, I struggled a bit coming up with a melody line jamming only in my head. It got better after days and days. Then I started laying out the chords and arrangement to fit the melody. I tested a couple chords, stacked different sounds together and tried to make it sound “wide.” I wanted listeners to imagine the singer standing in a big space when they hear it. Speaking of stacking, I probably spent the most time stacking the kick alone. I became a detail freak when I was working on this song but then I had to force myself to move on.

Then the rough melody was set. Emi-Ja did me a big favor of rephrasing her lyrics here and there and deleting/adding lines to fit my melody better. After I don't know how many hours, and many on and off days of working on it, I had to force myself to say “Leave it alone, Sue!” Yep! Anyway, I feel like sharing this with you. I really hope people, even those who aren't into R&B, like it at least a bit. 

Here's the lyric video. Many thanks to Em!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SztFyOLN_e0



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