This article originally appeared on Vulcan Post.
Yeah, yeah, we’ve heard about all the policies, manifestos, charming speeches, not-so-charming ones, and the mean ones. The election season has been mad, busy, and pretty interesting. It’s been quite a ride all right. And while all the gerrymandering may separate us, let us remember the things that bring us together — like music.
Singapore music website, Bandwagon, has gone through the trouble of contacting various politicians from the different parties to collate a mega playlist of music they listen to. It’s definitely a refreshing take on the electioneering news you’ve been familiar with of late. “Music definitely means a lot to these candidates. Also, there’s no shame in guilty pleasures and these politicians made no concessions when it came to their favourite songs so hats off to them,” Daniel Peters, editor of Bandwagon says.
He adds,”We sent out emails and Facebook messages to the candidates. For the ones that didn’t reply, some actually saw our messages but didn’t reply at all so we assumed they were just too busy with the rallies. Chee Soon Juan was actually the fastest, sending his answers through his wife a few hours after the emails were sent.”
From Roy Ngerng to Chee Soon Juan, what they found were a mishmash of classic tunes, evergreen easy listening, to songs from film soundtracks that our politicians are digging at the moment. But between all the rallies and speech-writing these politicians had to get to, a couple of the parties did not manage to reply. So what did they do? “We imagined the songs that they would be inspired by,” Daniel says — and the results are hilarious.
Here are some choice picks (check out the full list of politician’s mixes on Bandwagon):
Chee Soon Juan, Singapore Democratic Party
Very family-oriented and mostly easy-listening tracks, he included a song his daughters sang for him, as well as a couple of family videos. Sweet.
Roy Ngerng, Reform Party
Very pop-py and cheesy stuff, this is a playlist the young ‘uns would appreciate. I think.
Tan Peng Ann, SingFirst
Nothing surprising here; his picks are old-school and very evergreen.
Lee Hsien Loong, People’s Action Party (Made-up playlist)
Besides the national songs of Singapore, it would be most apropos to include Drake’s ‘Energy’ that starts with “I got enemies, got a lot of enemies” — it’s about haters who try to steal the lightning thunder from you.
Sylvia Lim, Worker’s Party (Made-up playlist)
Full of empowering female musicians like Patti Smith, Cyndi Lauper, and Carole King (who she is fond of IRL) — it’s only fitting with all the effort she has put in in this elections.
Han Hui Hui, Independent (Made-up Playlist)
It’s all about the money for this one.
Choong Hon Heng, National Solidarity Party (Made-up playlist)
If you haven’t already seen what’s probably the best video to come out from these elections, Choong Hon Heng we’d imagine would like something upbeat, something that would make him go “thumbs up maaaaaan”.
So, whose musical taste gets your vote?
