Full English album may be in the cards: Mandopop singer Derrick Hoh
Will Mandopop singer Derrick Hoh -- the first Singaporean artiste to reach the top of the iTunes Singapore charts with debut English single "Forever" -- release a full-fledged album in the same language?
The 28-year-old singer, who shot to fame in the talent competition Project Superstar, managed to stay in the top spot of the local version of Apple's music store for five consecutive days in early February.
He will be releasing at least two more English songs and a duet with YouTube star Ana Free in the upcoming months,though an album may not be coming soon just yet.
"An English album will not be unlikely but I still have a Mandarin album, so I'll have to finish up the Mandarin album first before making any other plans," said Hoh.
Foray into English songs
His crossover to English songs was purely accidental. His record label, Warner Music, heard his English demos and prompted him to write songs in English.
His hit single "Forever", which samples the familiar 90s smash hit "Eternal Love" by UK pop duo PJ & Duncan, was his own composition. Lyrics were written by local songwriter Marc Lian.
"I was always doing demos in gibberish English. My company heard them and suggested me to do something in English, and I was open to the idea," Hoh said in a phone interview, recalling what started the ball rolling a year and a half ago.
Over the succeeding month after that conversation, Hoh would lock himself in a studio and obsess over writing English songs. In that period, he produced close to 40 English songs, including "Forever".
At one point, Hoh gave up on maintaining his looks and would go to the studio with his unshaven face just to work on the English songs.
"I was more excited than scared or stressed to make the crossover from Chinese songs because I got to explore a lot of new options that we don't used to have when writing Mandarin songs," Hoh said.
"Sometimes, some words in Mandarin just don't fit well into English melodies. For example, you can't really picture or imagine Lady Gaga's Poker Face in Mandarin," he added.
Hoh's recent success seems to contradict what former Singapore Idol judge and local music producer Ken Lim said about the local music industry being on the "verge of extinction".
"I'm sure there's no lack of talent in Singapore but there might be a lack of platforms. There's no standard way of producing stars right now," the singer said.
"There are other ways for singers to market themselves -- there's YouTube and other social media platforms," Hoh, who manages his own official Twitter and Facebook accounts, said.
Hoh's second single is set to be released in late February. It was composed by scorching Swedish writers Oscar Holter and Jakke Erixson, both of whom recently worked with the “The Voice” judge and pop diva Christina Aguilera on her smash hit “Let There Be Love”.
Shakira’s Latin producer, Rodrigo Crespo, also served as co-producer on the track “Perfection”, which features Hoh's duet partner, YouTube sensation Ana Free.
His new EP is scheduled for release in March 2013 on CD and iTunes.