'Scared die me', 'see what see': Annette Lee and Benjamin Kheng strike a chord with new song on being Singaporean Chinese
PHOTO: Facebook/Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre
PUBLISHED ONJanuary 05, 2023 8:15 AMByCandice CaiWhat is the Singaporean Chinese identity?
Leave it to Annette Lee and Benjamin Kheng to figure it out.
To sum it up in a nutshell, "We need hanyu pinyin to read Chinese characters — that type of Chinese," is their spot-on take.
Their latest musical collaboration, titled We Are…, was released on Annette's TikTok account on Wednesday (Jan 4).
After the success of their 'cai fan' (economic rice) song in September 2021, it's about time we got another earworm from the talented duo — and this could be it.
The track to their latest tune has semblances of an old-school hip-hop rap, given the pair's trademark spin.
And of course, the lyrics — a mish-mash of English and Mandarin (a reflection on the way many Singaporean Chinese speak) — are gold.
Other hard truths that we might not want to admit?
"Better finish all your food cleanly and quickly, otherwise your mother will tell you your face will become pimply," Benjamin raps — a common refrain many of us would have heard from young.
The kiasuism and kiasi-ness of Singaporean Chinese are also brought to the fore.
It's not all bad though.
"We have our own English, direct-translated from Chinese," continues Annette, pulling typical examples such as "scared die me" and "see what see".
"We've zhnged [changed up] Hokkien bak kwa, look what it's become," highlighted Benjamin.
They also found a way to incorporate both lyrics to the 'cai fan' song as well as the National Day classic, Home, into the ditty — let's see if you can spot the references.
The release of the music video marks the sixth time the pair have put their songwriting talents and voices together to humorous effect, and fans can't seem to get enough.
It also struck a chord with many, with one user on TikTok commenting (tongue-in-cheek, of course) that she felt "attacked".
In her post, content creator Annette shared: "This is a song Benjamin and I wrote to give our take on local Chinese culture to Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre and it was so much fun!"
The song, believed to be done in collaboration with the non-profit organisation, was also shared on SCCC's social media pages.
"Our culture hits so different, there's this and that… there's no one in the world that's like us."
We also say.
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