My Perfect Weekend with indie singer Shye
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Singapore indie singer Shye enjoys taking random buses to see where they go on Saturdays.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF SHYE
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Who: Singaporean indie singer, songwriter and music producer Shye. The 22-year-old recently released a new single, Cecilia, and is working on her second album. She is also set to perform at Taiwan’s Emerge Fest 2025 music festival on Feb 22.
The self-taught artiste kick-started her music journey at age 16, when she was the youngest to win local music competition Vans Musicians Wanted.
She released her debut EP, Augus7ine, in 2018 and her first album, days to morning glory, in 2020.
The musician, whose real name is Shye-Anne Brown, is one of the artistes who sang the 2021 National Day Parade theme song The Road Ahead. She has performed at various music festivals in Singapore like Baybeats in 2019 and 2023, as well as overseas events, such as Tiger Den SXSW in the United States in 2023 and Asiya Music Festival in the Philippines in 2024.
In 2022, she won Best New Act From Asia at the BandLab NME Awards and music streaming platform KKBox’s Rising Star Award.
“If I go out on Saturday, I will take a random bus and see where it goes. I don’t have a destination in mind. The last time I did this, I ended up in the Upper Thomson area.
I find a window seat and listen to music on my phone. But recently, I have also been listening to music on a portable MP3 music player. I let my mind wander and I find it very relaxing. If I get any ideas for my music, I write it down in my phone’s Notes app.
In the evening, my family and I usually go to neighbourhood hawker centres and I order something from the cai fan stall, and a water chestnut or grass jelly drink. I prefer hawker centres that are not too crowded, and I like to watch and observe the people there, like the elderly uncles.
On Sunday, my friends and I will go ice skating and bowling at Leisure Park Kallang. I am not very good at either, but the whole idea is to have a lot of fun.
We will have a late lunch at Japanese restaurant chain Genki Sushi because I love getting sushi from the conveyor belt – I usually get something with salmon and prawns, as well as soba noodles.
After the meal, we go to the Esplanade and watch the gigs. I go there a lot because I jam at music studio Tumbleweed Studios at Esplanade Mall. I also like to check out vinyls at The Analog Vault, a record store there.
We will find somewhere that has Mexican food for dinner, and I will order tacos and salsa.
After I get home, I will spend the rest of the night reading. I am a big fan of Japanese writer Haruki Murakami. But on a recent trip to Thailand, I picked up a copy of The Unconsoled (1995) by Japan-born British novelist Kazuo Ishiguro. I am looking forward to reading it.”
