Meet Pew, the one behind Geraldine See’s 'Liao Le' (了了) and a member of Mandopop Duo, 蝦米夢 (SIYD). After years of working backstage, Pew takes a step out of her comfort zone and makes her solo debut today.
Check out her two new singles ‘Blue Tick’ (已讀) and ‘Stubborn Gal’(鐵齒小姐), both of which are retro-funk love songs with a quirky twist about modern-day romance.
‘Blue Tick’ is a cute love song that documents the sorrows of getting your messages ‘blue-ticked’ by the person you’re fond of. ‘Stubborn Gal’ uses the colloquial Hokkien term ‘ti ki’ (stubborn) and reflects the trend of people facing rejections online than face-to-face.
The two songs deal with romance in the modern age, but Pew chose to arrange them with a retro vibe to give them a fun contrast.
Having years of performing experience, Pew revealed that she is not nervous about the release: “Surprisingly, I am not really nervous as compared to my usual gigs. I think the idea of having most of my friends like Neko Highway, Meiting Ng and Shelby Wang sharing the stage with me makes me look forward to it instead.”
Taking the step from being backstage to making her own debut, Pew shared that her initial plan was to release an album with these songs she wrote, sang by different singers. “This is really something new to me and very out of my comfort zone because I am so used to marketing or producing for someone else. It’s weird to sell yourself,” she said.
But Pew’s interest in music started way back when she was just 12. She shares that she grew up as a very active kid and was often told to keep quite. Through learning the guitar and writing songs, she learnt how to communicate with people and to express her thoughts in a relatable manner.
Stepping away from her quirky tracks that are more upbeat, Pew named indie-folk as her favourite music genre. She also mentioned Cheer Chen as the singer that influences her the most. “Her music never fails to remind me of the importance of story-telling,” she said, adding that, “her perspective on life always inspires me to not only be a better songwriter but also a better person”.
And to name one local artiste that she would love to collaborate with, Pew thought about it and named Joanna Dong as she “admire[s] her perseverance and drive when it comes to doing music”.
Watch the video premiere of Pew's new song ‘Blue Tick’ (已讀) below.
