GE2025: ‘Look left, look right’ and all the essential songs for election season
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People’s Power Party candidate Samuel Lee (left) and Workers' Party candidate Jimmy Tan are among politicians who have been trying to sing their way into voters’ hearts.
ST PHOTOS: BRIAN TEO, MARK CHEONG
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SINGAPORE - I look left, look right, look left, look right – and find myself in the middle of a sing-off.
Singapore’s upcoming general election has had plenty of walkabouts, rallies, manifestos and – somewhat unexpectedly – songs. Several candidates have been trying to sing their way into voters’ hearts, not least among them the People’s Power Party’s Samuel Lee.
The 33-year-old information technology engineer kicked off GE2025 with a song adaptation that is getting its moment in the sun.
His is the voice that launched a thousand memes, after he filled in the classic Chinese song A Tiny Bird (1990) by Taiwanese singer Chao Chuan with English lyrics lamenting the struggles faced by Singaporeans in securing a job.
“I look left, look right, look left, look right, for a career path. Is this a request too high?” Mr Lee sang to introduce himself at the PPP’s press conference on April 22
While it is unclear if his message resonated with netizens, his version of the song is certainly a hit. An electronic music version of Lee’s song, put through artificial intelligence (AI) software, got more than 6,300 likes and 9,600 shares on TikTok, with one commenter jokingly naming it: “Look Left Look Right – PPP (Owl City remix)”. Owl City is an American electronic music project.
Comedy meme account Yeolo, which has close to 90,000 followers on Instagram, has posted several memes of Lee’s clip, with captions like “me asking my boss for a raise” and “me checking LinkedIn at work”.
Mr Lee will be contesting Ang Mo Kio GRC as part of a five-man team going up against a PAP team led by Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong
Other candidates have also attempted to endear themselves to constituents through music.
At a press conference unveiling its slate of candidates contesting Nee Soon GRC
He will lead a five-man team in Nee Soon GRC against a PAP team led by Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam
Another opposition crooner – a prize-winning one at that – is WP’s Jimmy Tan
He won the Channel 8 programme Golden Age Talentime in 2023. The Chinese singing contest is open only to those above 50. On the show, Mr Tan showed off his pipes with classic Chinese hits like The Past Can Only Be Reminisced (1970) by Taiwanese veteran You Ya and Cheers To The Past (1988) by Taiwanese singer Chiang Yu-heng.
PSP’s candidate for Marymount SMC Jeffrey Khoo
He sang a verse of the song before addressing Marymount citizens directly and echoing a lyric from the song: “Marymount residents, I’m Jeffrey Khoo. You’re the only one in my heart.”
Certainly, incumbent ruling party PAP has its own singer too in new face Goh Pei Ming
Asked by The Straits Times what his favourite army song is, the former Singapore Armed Forces chief of staff sang Purple Light. And his current song on repeat is a Mandopop classic – an anthem about one’s unrequited affections, Devotion Love (2002) by Taiwanese singer Sam Lee.
With a week left till the polls, if you’re looking to get in the mood, here’s a playlist of GE2025 “hits”:
