Singer & NDP Vocal Arranger Owen Li & Dad Discuss Challenges Of Musical Journey
Many times, the story of a young creative centres around their journey to fame and the struggles they faced to get to where they are.
However, it is much rarer to hear from their family’s point of view.
Oftentimes, parents can only support their children from the sidelines as the latter strives to make an impact on the world — even though they may worry about their future.
For 23-year-old singer and TikTok star Owen Li and his dad, 58-year-old education business owner Roy Lai, that journey certainly hasn’t been easy, the father-son duo told MS News.
On TikTok, fans and music enthusiasts know him as @owenlimusic. Impressively, the independent singer boasts over 105k followers on the platform.
He was also the choir arranger for the National Day Parade (NDP) songs in 2022 and 2023.
Seeing his achievements today, it is easy to overlook the fact that he started out as a busker looking to make it in the small and saturated music market in Singapore.
TikTok star Owen Li gained an interest in music at 3 years old
Owen’s dream of making it big in music started at the tender age of three when his parents sent him for classical piano lessons, he shared.
Having attained Grade 8 in classical piano at the end of primary school, he switched to pop vocals soon after. Growing up, Owen Li was a huge fan of singing competitions, and they inspired him to want to become a singer too.
However, Owen often felt lonely as his peers in secondary school did not reciprocate his interest in singing.
The St Gabriel’s alumnus used to spend most of his time outside school taking singing classes, with his parents as his only company when he was not at music lessons.
It didn’t take long for Roy and his wife to realise that their son was essentially tunnel-visioning into music.
For many traditional parents in Singapore, this is a daunting prospect. Most would wonder whether their child can have a stable career in such a volatile industry.
However, seeing their son’s determination, Owen’s parents gave him their full support and sent him to LASALLE College of the Arts in 2017 to further his education in music.
“When he told us he wanted to study music and do that full-time, we supported him with no second thoughts,” said Roy. “To me, it was okay, although his mum had some concerns. But, we never dropped our support.”
Asked if he ever had doubts about committing to the path of a musician, Owen plainly stated, “I am not good at a lot of other things. I am not very good at admin work or general academia.”
“That’s not my calling, but music is. It is something I have been good at literally my whole life.”
Did not even look at O-Level results, studied music in LASALLE
To both Owen Li and his parents, going to LASALLE was not that big of a trade-off.
Source: LASALLE College of the Arts
The aspiring musician’s O-Level results were mediocre at best, so it made more sense for him to go to school for something he was actually passionate about.
“I don’t think he even looked at his O-Level results slip,” quipped Roy.
He even recalled collecting his son’s results for him as Owen had dyed his hair right after the exams, which was not allowed at the results collection.
“It was no longer relevant to him as he had made up his mind by then, so I think I was the only one who looked at his results,” Roy laughed.
At LASALLE, Owen started to session for other musicians and busked outside school to make some pocket change.
@owenlimusic I’m not much of a belter so this was definitely a challenge 😅 #tennesseewhiskey #riffchallenge #busking #owenlimusic
He juggled his studies while trying to get his name out there, and thankfully, it seemed to have worked out.
“I actually ended up at the top of my class in LASALLE, so to me, it confirmed that different people are good at different things,” said Owen. “I was sure then that this is what I am meant to do.”
Started making vocal arrangement videos on social media during pandemic
Towards the end of his time at the arts college, Owen Li had already built a steady momentum for himself and had wanted to continue riding the wave when he graduated.
However, Covid-19 disrupted his plans.
“I was so motivated and wanted to go out with a bang with my final recital, but Covid hit us right then, and we did not get to perform our final recital at all,” he said.
“That was really devastating – it was supposed to be the climax of my three years at LASALLE… and it just vanished like that.”
At that point, Owen had no choice but to pivot to making a cappella covers on social media.
“I couldn’t perform or busk, so it was my only creative outlet during lockdown.”
He kept working on his social media presence until he enlisted for National Service (NS) in 2020. Even then, he still made sure to keep his Instagram and TikTok active with covers, duets, and vocal loops for popular songs.
@owenlimusic That took all of my focus. A mastermind @arianagrande #positions #loop #harmony #arianagrande #positionslive #positionsintro
One such video that propelled him to TikTok virality was his loop of Ariana Grande’s 2021 hit song ‘Positions’, which now stands at over 305,000 views and 57,000 likes.
NDP music director contacted TikTok singer to do vocal arrangements
It was during Owen’s time in NS that NDP music director Don Richmond, having seen his work on social media and hearing of him from mutual friends, contacted the singer to put together a vocal group for the 2022 theme song – and that was how The Island Voices was born.
This was not new territory for Owen, as he had already been leading another vocal group, Third Degree, for about a year.
“It was definitely a whirlwind as no one can prepare you for your first NDP,” he said about performing at the parade last year.
Shortly after NDP 2022, the organisers booked Owen and The Island Voices yet again for this year’s show.
He tells us that preparations are less nerve-wracking this time as he knows what to expect now.
In the midst of everything, the vocalist still makes it a point to go out busking whenever possible since pandemic restrictions eased — even to this day.
Image courtesy of Owen Li and Roy Lai
To him, the magic of busking keeps him connected to the people of Singapore.
“I try to make people’s day better by singing their favourite songs for them live,” he explained. “That’s really why I keep doing it.”
Faced harassment while busking in public, dad worried for his safety
Having been a busker for many years now, Owen Li remembers the difficulty of taking his craft to the streets.
He recounted an incident from a few months ago where a man started yelling profanities at him while he was busking.
“He walked past and started screaming very obscene words that I prefer not to repeat – but, the worst words you can think of, he screamed them at my face while I was singing,” Owen said, still astonished at what happened.
“Other people were just watching this happen, and I did not know what to do. Then, he put his face inches from mine and shouted, ‘Oi, do you teach music or not, huh?’ followed by some Hokkien vulgarities.”
As a performer, one needs to make an instant decision about whether to react in such situations. To Owen, he chose to keep singing and remain professional in the face of potential danger.
“While these things don’t happen every day, you never know until it hits you. So, to me, it’s important to never let go of your grace and professionalism, because you never know what the other person might be going through,” he noted.
For Roy, however, such occurrences understandably make him concerned for the boy’s safety.
The father makes an effort to attend most — if not all — of Owen’s performances, so he has a front-row seat to his son’s struggles, including this unpleasant encounter.
“I think the danger lies in the fact that he is vulnerable,” mused Roy. “Because of the openness that comes with busking, he is vulnerable to anything that may happen.”
Father wondered if son made the right decision to pursue music
Aside from witnessing his son be at the mercy of the people around him, Roy remembers several moments when he was worried about Owen’s future as a musician in Singapore.
“Other parents would ask us if we were sure about letting our son pursue music in Singapore, and there were also times when we ourselves wondered if we were absolutely sure, but we just persisted,” he said.
He confessed that he was probably the most worried for his son when the latter started busking shortly after enrolling in Lasalle.
These performances typically occurred in the evenings, which meant that by the time Owen had set up all his equipment, it would be time for his dinner.
However, instead of sitting somewhere for a proper meal, he would need to take his meals on the ground next to his equipment to keep an eye on them.
Image courtesy of Owen Li and Roy Lai
It was the sight of his son eating dinner on the street in public spaces that stuck with Roy the most.
“Every time I saw him doing that, I wondered if that was going to be his future in the long term,” he sighed.
“I would often catch myself asking, ‘Is this what it is? Is this the life that I have supported all this while for my son?’ So, these were some of the sour moments that came with this journey.”
Father is proud of Owen Li for overcoming roadblocks
So far, with all that Owen has accomplished, Roy and his wife feel that their son has proven himself enough for them to trust that he knows what he is doing. This helps to put the couple’s mind at ease somewhat.
“He’s worked with huge names like Dick Lee and Don Richmond, and even performed at the Sands Theatre. Not to mention doing NDP two years in a row, so I am very happy for him,” the proud dad beamed.
The education business owner credits his open-mindedness to his experience in learning and development.
He elaborated, “I believe in diversity in learning and an individual’s capacity to self-direct their learning. I believe that if you like something, you will excel in it.”
To Roy, it is also good that Owen is striking out a living for himself instead of finding employment elsewhere. This means that he never needs to depend on other people.
“I must say, as a human development professional, he will make it. I know he will,” Roy declared. “He’s been doing both the background and foreground work, although there will be more challenges ahead. But, he will make it.”
Singer is grateful for dad’s unconventional support
To that, Owen noted that it is very easy for someone in his position to forget how rare it is for a typical Asian dad to be as supportive as Roy has been, and the singer is ever grateful for it.
“I never once doubted or took advantage of his support,” he smiled. “If he can be at that show, he will be at that show – and I have done a lot of shows.”
At this point, Owen turned to his dad and said, “Thanks for being a not-normal human to match my not-normal human-ness.”
Well, if being “not-human” means showing such unconditional love and support, we guess we should also strive to be as “non-human” as possible.
Owen and his group, The Island Voices, will perform the theme song ‘Shine Your Light’ and more at this year’s National Day Parade alongside other local stars.
You can catch NDP 2023 on Mediacorp channels such as Channel 5, Channel 8, Suria, Vasantham, and meWatch. It is also available via live-stream on the NDPeeps Facebook and YouTube.
In the meantime, here’s a story about an inspiring pair of elderly buskers, who spreads joy with their songs and gained viral fame because of it.
Elderly Buskers Surprised By Viral Fame, Hope To Spread Joy With Their Songs
Know other inspiring people like Owen and Roy you would like to see featured? Get in touch with us via email at news@mustsharenews.com.
Featured image by MS News. Photography by Iskandar Rossali.
