The singer-songwriter shares how her mental health struggles also inspired her to write her own music
Two years ago, when Covid-19 hit, Singaporean pop singer-songwriter Priscilla Tan lost all her income after live music was banned temporarily. Depressed and feeling like a failure, she turned to Instagram where she realised that everyone seemed to be doing better than her. It was this dark spiral that inspired her to write the song Picture Perfect Fame, which later inspired her recent collaboration with homegrown craft company Bynd Artisan.
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“I’ve loved singing since I was a little girl. My whole family also loves to sing so my parents would always bring us to karaoke spots,” Tan shares.
However, knowing that this was not the most practical career choice when she was still in school, Tan decided to enrol at the National University of Singapore and major in marketing.
“My first job was as a marketing executive in Marina Bay Sands, where I helped to brainstorm and execute different marketing campaigns to bring in new customers and retain and develop existing ones,” she said. “Then I moved on to Singapore Press Holdings where I was a brand manager for The Straits Times.”
It was around this time that Tan was approached by a close friend to sing and play the piano at her wedding.
“After I sang, an agent came up to me and asked if I would like to sing more. Of course, I said yes,” Tan says with a smile. “Over time, I eventually decided that my singing on the weekends brought me more joy than my corporate job and that it was good enough to sustain our lifestyles. So I quit my job to pursue music full time.”
Unfortunately, it was around this point that Covid-19 hit and everything began shutting down. “Live music was banned and so I completely lost all sources of income.”