His Songs Deal With His Late Ah Ma, Mental Health Issues And... LKY

Meet our Discovery Of The Week whom you really ought to be adding to your Spotify playlist like, right now: Dominic Chin, a 24-year-old singer-songwriter who's claim to fame was writing a song entitled "You First Believed" as a tribute to Singapore's founding prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, in 2014.

Dominic, who enjoys the music of local artists such as Gentle Bones, holdonbrb and Disco Hue, and is a "ginormous fan of Christina Aguilera", writes in the description of the video for "You First Believed": "I wrote this song specifically because I would like to publicly appreciate Mr Lee Kuan Yew for all that he has done for the country. He is literally the reason why Singapore is where it is today and I believe in giving honour where honour is due."

Dominic's latest single, "Here", which dropped on 21 February on Spotify, Apple Music and Deezer is a breezy yet melancholic tune in memory of his late grandmother.

"My grandparents lived with us, so growing up, she was the constant. I could always expect her company at home," he recounts. "She bathed me when I was a little boy and was also the first person who found out about my first tattoo 5 years ago! She was really really close to me."

On Instagram, he often posts memories of her, recounting stories from his childhood, but is hesitant to say which is his fondest memory of her.

"There is no one memory that could be Number 1! But something I did remember recently was how I would always forget textbooks or homework in Primary School, and I would call home for her to bring it to school," he recalls.

"It was quite terrible of me to do that cause it was quite a walk for her. She wouldn't scold me or anything, just smile at me and pass me the book(s), while holding her handbag and umbrella."

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my favourite memories of my grandmother would be the afternoons that she spent in my bedroom talking to me while i was waking up from my slumber during my poly days. i hated going to school because i was going through something (that's another story altogether) & i would hear her walking slowly into my room & sit on my swirly chair. taking in a deep breath & say "浩源啊 浩源… 起来了，下午了还在睡觉？要不要吃东西？今晚我煮guluyok。现在要吃炒饭吗？我去煮。// haoyuan, haoyuan (my chinese name)... time to get up. it's afternoon already & you're still sleeping? do you want to eat? i'm cooking sweet and sour pork tonight, do you want to eat fried rice now? i'll go cook now." sometimes i would go to her room too & lay on her bed while she ask me about my life or talk about what hurts in her body aiyo, all while she's watching some soap opera on television lol & patting my butt, like she did to me while i was a toddler. needed some patting to sleep. 拍拍屁股睡觉。i've had a good 23 years spent with. i can't wait to tell her allll that she's missed after she was called home to be with the Lord \ud83d\udc95

A post shared by \ud835\udc03\ud835\udc28\ud835\udc26\ud835\udc26\ud835\udc32 \ud835\udc02\ud835\udc21\ud835\udc22\ud835\udc27​ 浩 源 (@dominicchin.music) on Feb 6, 2020 at 7:44pm PST

It's not often that we have strong bonds or relationships with our grandparents, or live with them under the same roof. There’s a saying which goes “learn to appreciate what you have, before time makes you appreciate what you had”, something Dominic appreciates and understands.

"It was only through my relationship with both my grandparents that I understood what grace was. When I spent all my pocket money on Neoprints and at the Arcades or LAN, they were there to offer me food and money. When I failed my exams, they were there to help comfort me after my parents scolded me," he says.

"Unconditional love - some say that such love gives us the license to do more bad things. Perhaps it's true? But in my experience, it taught me that I can always strive to be a better person, but whenever I failed, they were there to comfort me."

In the song, Dominic sings a line that goes “how I long to sing another song for as long as you wish to hear”. What song could he sing on repeat forever, we wondered. "At (my grandma's) wake, I sang her a song called "祢是恩", the Chinese version of the song "I See Grace", by my church (New Creation Church). I would love to sing it for her again."

In his previous single "Shy", Dominic highlighted the issue of mental health, in particular, his own experience with it, and his ability to manage it.

"I'm coping a lot better than when I first wrote the song. There were some terrible days and my closer friends would know about them: anxiety attacks, to building habits of isolation etc, I still face them time to time," he reveals.

"But the message of "Shy" was to take the power back from all those days of hiding from the night, and so I'm in the process of talking about it more and growing."

Dominic also does mean covers. Check out his and Sherman Zachary's amazing cover of Sam Smith's "Lay Me Down":

So what's next for this guy with golden pipes?

"I am working on a few releases leading up to a few major shows. You can expect two to three more songs this year! I'm also announcing my upcoming solo public shows on my instagram, one of which i'm super excited about and it's my first-ever concert happening on 21 August! More details on how to get the tickets will be out shortly on my instagram!"

You heard it, ahem, HERE first.

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