Gentle Bones and Charlie Lim collaborated for their new single, 'Two Sides'

You might have heard about two Singaporean artistes Gentle Bones and Charlie Lim, who collaborated on a laid-back track called ‘Two Sides,’ and wondered if they had recorded it during lockdown? With today’s modern technology, sheer determination, and a dash of creativity, the artistes successfully pushed out their track last Friday (17 April) on Spotify, just for their fans to enjoy.

Since both of the artistes broke out in 2011, Joel Tan, who’s better known by his stage name Gentle Bones, and Lim have found success in their own ways: Tan was the first Singaporean artiste to be signed on to Universal Music, while Lim, who joined the label later, was commissioned to pen two songs for the 29th Southeast Asian Games and sang his song ‘Still’ at the Singapore National Stadium for the Games’ closing ceremony. Not a bad feat for the two artistes, we must add.

In an email interview with Yahoo Lifestyle SEA, Tan and Lim shared with us the inspiration behind the collaborative track and where they recorded the song during self-isolation.

When did the inspiration to collaborate started?
Charlie Lim: We haven’t kept in touch for a while but Joel randomly reached out on Instagram sometime late last year. I was just about to leave for London, but we managed to sneak in a writing session before I left.

Joel Tan: I’ve been wanting to do this for a very long time. I’ve been a huge fan of Charlie’s for many, many years and I think I reached a point in my career that I felt ready to take that leap to work with him and I’m so glad he agreed.

What's it like working together?
Lim: There wasn’t any pressure to put something out, but we managed to get a rough skeleton during our first session together. Joel’s got a great sense of melody so it was easy to help build the song and write around that.

Tan: It was such an eye-opening experience for me, and to be in a room with someone I really respect had me pull out all my stops. And we came up with a song I’m really really proud of. Charlie is a natural at what he does and I honestly feel that his talent is flowing out the seams, so to get him in a room with me to come up with a simpler ballad type song than he’s used to was like having too many ingredients to make a small meal but it made it all the more amazing.

Listen to the song:

How do you both come up with a compromise?

Lim: There wasn’t much compromise needed when it came to putting this together, to be honest. Joel trusted me a lot with the lyrics and production, and he had good ideas and feedback that helped get it across the finish line. I think collaborating has been really good for us as singer-songwriters because there’s someone else to give the thumbs up when it’s time to move on and not get stuck overthinking.

Tan: There was not much of a compromise at all, to be honest, I was just happy to work together. Collaborating is the most fun part of making music and to be able to work with someone you’re a fan of, whether the music ends up being released or not, are moments I treasure.

What would you like the song's message to be?

Lim: I guess my lyrics came from a place of frustration, but at the same time knowing that there's always a reason why things happen the way they do and why people are the way they are. I suppose it’s about living in that strange tension of trying to be empathetic and not completely giving up on a person, even though you may have been wronged or hurt by them.

Tan: We were trying to encapsulate an emotion of a type of misalignment in any type of relationship that pervades both individuals. I think it would be a little simplistic to think that it was only about romance but maybe I’m just a huge fan of Charlie’s lyric writing. It was a great experience capturing a time capsule of emotions into song, I want others to be able to experience it too. The lyrics speak for itself.

Did you record this under self-isolation?

Lim: We were working on this before the lockdown, but we might as well have been because most of the work was done online. I think we only met up with each other not more than a couple of times to work on this track? A lot of the production was just done at my place and when I was in London, and Joel recorded some of his vocals at a friend’s studio.

Tan: What Charlie said. If you’re reading this, please be safe everyone! Your loneliness is saving lives!