"Love at First Light" is a song by

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

an artiste,

Olivia Ong Olivia Ong (; born ) is a Singaporean singer and actress. The majority of her works are in Mandarin Chinese, but she has also recorded songs in English, Cantonese and Japanese. In her early days, her entertainment career focused on singing jaz ...

and

child actress The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting on stage or in movies or television. An adult who began their acting career as a child may also be called a child actor, or a "former child actor". Closely associated t ...

, Natanya Tan. Written by Paul Tan and composed by

Iskandar Ismail Iskandar Mirza Ismail (23 July 1956 – 1 November 2014) was a prominent Singaporean musician who worked as a composer, arranger, conductor, music director, recording producer, performer and educator in his long career. In recognition of his exten ...

, it was officially commissioned as the official

theme song Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...

to the 2012 national day parade of

, together with the 1995

National Day Parade The National Day Parade (NDP) is an annual parade held in Singapore to commemorate its independence. Held annually on 9 August, it is the main public celebration of National Day, consists of a parade incorporating contingents of the Singapo ...

song, My People, My Home which was reused for National Day in 2012. On 9 August, the song was performed twice, once by the Combined School Choirs and later by the duo themselves in a

techno pop Techno is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally music production, produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central Drum beat, rhythm is typ ...

version. The techno pop version was incorporated into a medley, which includes song like "Stand Up For Singapore", "One People, One Nation, One Singapore", "Count On Me Singapore", "

Home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. H ...

" and "We Are Singapore". The song's title is a play on the phrase, "''

Love at first sight Love at first sight is a personal experience as well as a common trope in literature: a person or character feels an instant, extreme, and ultimately long-lasting romantic attraction for a stranger upon first seeing that stranger. Described by p ...

''".

Background

Alongside Paul Tan, local composer, Iskandar Ismail teamed up with him to write, produce and compose the song in early 2012. In an interview with Paul Tan on ''

The Straits Times ''The Straits Times'' is an English-language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Singapore and currently owned by SPH Media Trust (previously Singapore Press Holdings). ''The Sunday Times'' is its Sunday edition. The newspaper was established ...

'' section, "Digital Life", Paul stated that Iskandar wanted a child to sing for the first verse of the song. 7 year old, Natanya Tan was picked along with

Olivia Olivia may refer to: People * Olivia (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Olivia (singer) (Olivia Longott, born 1981), American singer * Olívia (basketball) (Carlos Henrique Rodrigues do Nascimento, born 1974 ...

as a duet, making Natanya to date the 2nd youngest NDP theme song singer after Shanice Nathan (who was then 7 when she sang the 2004 theme song, "

"). On the 12 July 2012, it was officially announced and released in a press conference at

Gardens by the Bay The Gardens by the Bay is a nature park spanning in the Central Region of Singapore, adjacent to the Marina Reservoir. The park consists of three waterfront gardens: Bay South Garden (in Marina South), Bay East Garden (in Marina East) and Ba ...

."NDP homecoming for Olivia Ong"
''

AsiaOne AsiaOne is Singapore's first pure play digital content platform, serving readers primarily in Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong. AsiaOne was first launched in 1995 by Singapore Press Holdings and is currently a joint venture between mm2 Asia ...

'' Olivia gave her comment on the song, stating that "''Love At First Light'' is about the determination of Singaporeans in a young nation, (and how they) are trying to build their dreams and goals.".

Music video

The video, which was sponsored by the

Defence Science and Technology Agency Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) is a statutory board under the purview of the Ministry of Defence of the Government of Singapore. DSTA is responsible for performing acquisitions management, systems management, systems developm ...

, is directed by Aaron Tan. It takes viewers through daily life in Singapore and reflects on its cultural identity.

References

External links

Official NDP websiteNDP SoundtrackOfficial music video
{{authority control 2012 singles 2012 songs Pop songs Singaporean songs

Background

Music video

See also

References

External links