Shyness is in my genes.

In primary school, I seldom spoke in class or laughed out loud. Despite my taciturn nature, one thing I could not have enough of was singing. Of course, I did not dare to sing in public. I sang to myself for self-amusement when I was all alone. As a result, very few people knew I had a vocal gift then.

In primary school, I dreamed of becoming a famous vocalist one day. My favourite singer is Taylor Swift. In Grade 7, I downloaded a music app and installed it on my phone. On the app I could record a song and post it. With great anticipation, I sang several of Taylor Swift’s tunes and recorded myself. When I shared my clips on the app, I never expected to have any audience or followers. It was not long, however, before I found about 50 comments and over 150 likes left by fellow users of the app on my page. My confidence was greatly boosted. So exhilarated was I that I even suggested my parents sending me to a music academy. They laughed it off, though. In their eyes, their naïve girl could never make a living by singing.

After finishing middle school, I carried my singing dream all along to YYHS. Regrettably the heavy workload made me forget all about my singing talent. Even though a song contest was available at the school each term, I did not sign up for it because I thought my grades outweighed my beautiful voice. I did not want to have my attention distracted from my academic studies. Consequently, here at YYHS, most guys around me still had no knowledge of my musical flair.

Last month we seniors took a music test for graduation. A pass was a must if we were to be awarded a high school diploma. In the test room, when it was my turn to perform, I cleared my throat and went off. Singing confidently, I did Justin Bieber’s Love Yourself. After my performance, the judges acclaimed my excellent skills and gave me an A. Word got out.

Since then, a lot of people around me have known I have a beautiful voice because of the publicity. I am not sure whether my initial aspirations to become a famous singer will come true or not, but I will keep alive my passion for singing for the rest of my life.

I love it.