MY JOURNEY AS AN ASPIRING SONGWRITER (FOR MY ORIGINAL COMPOSITION, YOU CAN SCROLL DOWN TO THE BOTTOM!)

Calvin, what is your secret ambition?

Honestly, I'm always fascinated with songwriters and song composers especially those in the pop scene!
I think I was 7 when I got hooked to pop songs, even since I first heard the song Paint My Love by Michael Learns to Rock!

I think its around the mid 90s, where Michael Learns to Rock was so popular in Malaysia! Through Paint My Love, I got exposed to more of their songs. Like many Malaysians, we love their songs. But I guess I was very young back then, I didn't just wanna listen to them, I wanna be like them!

I wanted to become just like the lead singer and pianist of the band, Jascha Richter! Who happens to the main songwriter of the band!

image source

Soon, I became even more drawn to the idea of being the person responsible for the beautiful tunes and lyrics of a song!

Some dreamt of singing in front of millions,
some dreamt of playing an instrument for the millions,
some dreamt of dancing to good music in front of millions;
I dreamt of contributing songs that can touch million hearts!

Thanks to @calebleejl, soon my interest grew beyond Michael Learns to Rock,
I got exposed at a very young age to 光良品冠, Jay Chou, Hillsong's Marty Sampson,
GLAY and many more...
Yes, though they are all musicians and performance but I was drawn to the fact that they are also songwriters themselves!

Years later, besides becoming a fan of Jay Chou's music, I started listening to Ryan Tedder's works, Jason Mraz, Queen, Simple Plan, Good Charlotte, Panic! at the Disco, Sting; Phil Wickham, Phil Collins, Michael Jackson, Maroon 5, Tim Hughes, Henry Seeley, Delirious, Keane, Muse, Angels and Airwaves, Justin Timberlake, David Tao, the Killers, Patrick Stump, Noah, Sheila on 7, NAMEWEE and the list goes on and on...

image source

I would often look at the people who are responsible in penning out the lyrics and the tunes of those great songs!
Call me crazy but recently (especially in the last 5 years), I got very hooked on Kpop music.
I used to laugh of those who listens to Kpop, but now I am fan of Kpop!
I enjoy listening to songs written by JYP, I love music groups like BTS, Big Bang, GFriend, IU, Lovelyz and many more...

image source

Back to the art of songwriting. So I started writing songs at very young age or 8 or 9.
Honestly, those songs were so bad that I think I am doing the world a big favor by not showing it!

During my teenage years, I do write songs from time to time, but mostly love songs.

As I became a youth minister, I decided to be more serious in songwriting!
In 2015, after 4 years of songwriting, I'm proud to say we've released an album.
I really enjoyed it as I took the responsibility of producing and songwriting it!
Most of the songs were either composed by myself or in collaboration with others.

The songs that I've written for our first LP album are all available on our Youtube Playlist

That's basically sums up my journey in songwriting and in music!

So Calvin, what is your secret ambition?

My secret ambition is to become a great songwriter.

Here's a song that I've written 11-12 years ago yet never managed to show it to the world,
I penned out my high school love life and how leaving to KL affected that relationship.
Truth be told, looking from hindsight, I'm so glad we ended that relationship, as I'm now happily engaged to someone else!

Bear in mind, I was only 19 years old back then, it was the time where my teenage mind tries to figure out love and relationship.

Let Her Go
Word and Music by Calvin Lee © 2007

It’s been three whole years
We’ve been playing hide and seek
Don’t know where to go
But it's joy when you’re near me

Two different people
I thought we were so in love
I’ve been tryna good friends
But it isn’t working

Why…?
Can I understand her more
"Goodbye"
It's the word she said

A glimpse of love
That’s on my mind
But now she walked out my door
The pain of love
That's all is we find
Cos now she wants to leave
And there’s nothing to keep
So now I got to
Left her go

Here’s to our story
Now fades to memories
School days now long gone
All the calls I’m now missing
Two distance places
I thought we were so in love
If I could read your mind
I guess I’m just dreaming

Why?
Can I understand her more
"Goodbye"
The word she said

A glimpse of love
That’s on my mind
But now she walked out my door
The pain of love
That's all is we find
Cos now she wants to leave
And there’s nothing to keep
So now I got to
Left her go

Now you said that you’re moving on
And you said I should move along
If all you want is a future without me
I will set you free from this misery

A glimpse of love
That’s on my mind
But now she walked out my door
The pain of love
That's all is we find
Cos now she wants to leave
And there’s nothing to keep
So now I got to
Left her go

A big thank you to @jesonhuang for mixing it and helping me to put my ideas into reality. He spent endless hours making sure that it's the best demo we can make it to be.

Here is the PRE-DEMO version for you all to see the brainstorming stage, it's not the raw version yet,
please forgive me for my singing skills, I still yet to improve! Hope this will inspire anyone and everyone to try songwriting for themselves.

Thanks @maxyong for recording it, and @stephhchia for editing it!

Here is our NOT-SO-FINAL version! This is a PRE-MIXED VERSION! Hope you all enjoy this!

Disclaimer: AGAIN, THIS IS NOT A DEMO! THIS IS JUST A PRE-MIXED TRACK TO SHOW READERS MY SONGWRITING JOURNEY AND PROCESS.

Once we're done with mixing and mastering, and when we have the DEMO, I'll share it on the next post!
Until then, keep writing, keep trying, keep creating, and keep dreaming!