Every year, Singaporeans will lambaste the National Day Parade (NDP) theme song with clockwork precision.

This year's song was no exception.

Blogfather of Singapore mrbrown gave a hilarious smackdown of it, and even pro-government national broadsheet Straits Times asked whether we really need new theme songs annually.

So here are a few super simple ideas to improve NDP songs. Really.

1. Stop trying to squeeze out one new song every year

This was both covered by mrbrown and ST.

But it bears repeating. It takes time and some times divine inspiration to pen a hit -- just ask PSY.

Such things cannot be forced.

The next big NDP song may not even be written for the sake of NDP.

It's not every day that people can write a hit song which has to be about patriotism and harmony.

And then there are times when people are really inspired more than once in a year -- 2015 was a special one with SG50 celebration and the passing of Singapore's founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew.

2. Why not shoot new MTVs for old favourites instead?

Whenever a new NDP song is released, most of the feedback is "Why can't you write songs like Count on Me Singapore, Stand Up for Singapore, etc?"

Since feedback has been given, it should be considered seriously, no?

If the folks behind NDP feel the need to do something new, new MTVs for classic songs could also do with some updating to be more relatable to younger Singaporeans.

Then each year an old 'classic' NDP song can be the song of the year with its new MTV.

3. Start em young

One possible reason why we stay loyal to Count on Me Singapore and Stand Up for Singapore is because we've been singing it since we were in Primary school.

Dick Lee's "Home", which is taken from a "newer" generation of NDP songs, had close to 20 years to grow on Singaporeans.

One reason why new songs are so universally panned was because they are unfamiliar.

Moreover, they are born in the age of social media of quick judgement where shade can be instantly thrown and spread. These new songs are condemned before they were given a chance to grow on people.

Could we "seed" songs at the Primary school instead?

No, it's not brain-washing. It's just about creating more local earworms in future.

4. Use existing local songs as NDP theme songs

One way to overcome the issue of an unpopular dedicated NDP theme song is to "adopt" songs that have already seen some form of success in Singapore. The song doesn't even have to be a new one, just one that is well-received.

Another idea is to recycle the less popular NDP theme songs to give them a second wind. Some songs, you know, require a second hearing.

Then we can finally find out whether a song becomes unpopular merely for the fact that it is named the NDP theme song.

Or maybe the local song is just bad. Period.

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