Tuesday, 18 January 2011

'10 Bay Beats boomz: ~David Choi~

Day 2 for me saw more interviews and some with the bands sitting in for conferences at the Observation Deck (Library) of the Esplanade with only ample room for 100 youths. When it neared evening on that Saturday, 21st August, more students were piling into the front of the library waiting for the prominent singer/songwriter/cover singer David Choi to show. He was an hour late and it was not all glamorous standing there in a peak hour MRT scenario.

DAVID CHOI

Indeed, seeing David Choi in the hot seat with girls and guys alike ogling at him brings back memories. He video-collaborates with other Youtube musicians like MysteryGuitarMan. But what catches my guy friends’ attention is David’s “cool dance moves” where he stays stiff-like and begins a nerdy swinging of his arms side to side to the beat. Whilst wearing a panda headdress. California Gurls is just the referral point. A few months later, at the BayBeats 2010, with a preened David at the Observation Deck in Esplanade surrounded by over a hundred youths, by then I had forgotten whether this was the same comic I had seen online doing that “Panda” dance. He enters and everyone hyperventilates. Someone in the back with camera in hand whispered: “He’s so cute. I feel like putting him in a box.” He needs no introduction, but he doesn’t fail to add his birthday is on 22 March 1986, at which point two members of the audience produce wrapped gifts for him and the crowd goes wild. He then talks about weird encounters with fans: “After a show, I go to the bathroom and someone says hi to me. And I need to go really badly. And yes, there was once when I was in the midst of action…” Chuckles echo around. When someone asked how Singaporean girls are compared to the West, he says: “Beautiful. All women are beautiful. Then again they all look like women.” Do you clean your room? “Room’s pretty clean. No need to make beds because you’re gonna’ mess it up again (yeah).” Is it hard as an Asian in the US? “It is. It’s no different from any youth, but it’s the support. I’m not gonna’ be the first Asian-American to break the charts though. I can write and I wanted to... I was trained to play classical and I didn’t know you can make stuff  instead of ‘learning’. You can invent music. And that’s what I did.” He has the sounds of “a lita bita of dis and lita suma dat witta bita lita dis ena hinta bita dat” as his MySpace profile explains. He adds that Youtube is an experiment to the response for his music, so check out his goofy covers and new hit singles.

CHECK THEM OUT


WHAT TO DOWNLOAD: That Girl, Won’t Even Start