“I am who I am. Nothing can stop me from loving music.” -Phoebe

 Photo: Phoebe Tan, a 17-year-old teenager with the dreams of being a singer and musician

The image of a singer, artist, and actor have a few things in common; beauty, talent, amazing performances and charismatic personalities. All these are just a few of the many characteristics that descries an artist in any field.

Meet Phoebe Tan, a 17-year-old teenager with the dreams of being both a singer and musician. Unlike what was mentioned above, she doesn’t have a pretty face, amazing singing talent, the skill to put on amazing performances, or someone to support her in pursuing her dreams. What she does have, however, is pure resilience and persistence in achieving her ambitions that lie ahead of her.

Born and raised in the small town of Lunas, Kedah, Phoebe has always had an interest in singing, dancing, and songwriting ever since she was little. That interest soon sparked and elevated her confidence in pursuing the dream when she won 3rd place at her primary school singing competition. Despite her friends ridiculing her with names such as ‘Dementia’ due to her singing that runs off key, Phoebe didn’t let that affect her motivation and confidence.

Despite having the ability to drown out verbal insults on her singing abilities, Phoebe’s overall body size has done a bit of damage to her confidence. Her parents remind her:

“This isn’t a bright future for you, Phoebe. Please, stop dreaming.”

This hurt the little girl’s heart, causing her confidence to slowly dwindle down. Phoebe came across the news of the suicide of K-Pop singer Sullie, which made her realize that pursuing the life of an artist wasn’t going to be an easy one, having to juggle both their careers and personal life.

She tells herself, “if only I could have told her that she was valuable and good, and that she’d be saved by God, it could have saved their life.” Phoebe believes so as she is a devout Christian. She believes that the future is in the hands of God and all depends on His will. She quotes a verse of the bible:

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” – (Jeremiah 29:11)

She realized her new-found purpose in life was to save the lives of others by encouraging artists who are weak in their beliefs, or are simply clueless with their direction in life.

Music can save many, yet it can also be the demise of some

If you have depression or mental issues, you’d almost always pick and listen to a song that suits the mood. But should you pick a song that is happy, lively and upbeat, you’d feel encouraged by it and even experience a lift in mood.

“I want to write songs that encourage people to light up the burning sparks within their hearts and souls,” says Phoebe.

While Phoebe hides this dream of hers from her parents, she is not afraid of practicing her singing and dancing in the house. She also shares some of her songs to her friends, hoping to gain some words of encouragement from them. While she does all this, Phoebe also realizes that there is much more room for improvement, learning various other instruments whilst working on her vocals.

Teen Spirit to Music Dream

Everyday without fail, Phoebe would be on her laptop and go onto YouTube. She’d subscribe to channels of various dancers to learn from their videos, which helps her to lose weight from the dancing as well. Even after exhausting herself from dancing, it doesn’t stop her from singing using her Karaoke App.

“When you decide to enter and pursue something in the music industry, you must prepare well, work hard, and practice a bunch before going for any audition.”

“When you decide to enter and pursue something in the music industry, you must prepare well, work hard, and practice a bunch before going for any audition.” That is Phoebe’s mantra on the importance of working hard as a step forward in reaching her music dream.

She has written more than 10 songs on her own to date. Her inspirations for her music had come from the emotional experiences while at school. She will never forget the moment when her friend and teacher had accused her of something that she didn’t do, and she had no one to confide in as none of them believed her. What she did instead, was voice out her emotions in her song, “Coffee and Latte”.

In the song, the lyrics, “Milk cannot join the Coffee, because this is not a Latte,” is said to describe her friendship with the said friend. She describes that some coffee just can’t mix with milk, her being the milk and her friend, the coffee. She wrote this song at the tender age of 12.

That was Phoebe’s way of expressing her feelings and emotions. She’d write them into song lyrics in her book and would keep them away from public eyes.

She wishes to write songs with chords as well, but due to financial restraints, she is unable to attend piano classes and learn musical instruments.

Despite that, it had never stopped her from writing songs with chords. Thanks to the song writing app, Groovepad, that provides various soundtracks across many genres, such as jazz, R&B and acoustic. This helps her generate ideas for her songs.

Currently, she is running a YouTube channel to share her songs, music reviews and also cooking videos. She plans to earn money by working after her high school graduation to buy instruments. Phoebe states that she is not looking for any investments from her parents, as they have done a very good job in raising her as a good child. This is her dream, she states, and she aims to be independent in achieving her dream.

If in the future, she comes across the music industry to not be her calling anymore, she will not stay sad and will continue on with life. With that being said, her not being in the industry will not diminish her passion for music.

Watch the summary of Phoebe's story

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