Follow us on Telegram for the latest updates: https://t.me/mothershipsg

Many Mandopop fans would be familiar with local singer Stefanie Sun's vast catalogue of songs.

However, for one UK-based musician, who was only recently introduced to some recordings of Sun's performances, the experience left quite an impression on him and moved him to tears.

The man, a music artiste and producer who goes by the moniker "Joe Creator", uploaded his reaction video to YouTube on Jun. 30, and also gave his thoughts on Sun's singing.

On his channel, he previously reviewed music from other Asian singer-songwriters such as Taiwanese artist David Tao, and Mandopop superstar Jay Chou.

Immersed in the music

In the video, Joe reviewed live performances of two of Sun's hits, 《开始懂了》"Starting to Understand" from 2000 and 《我怀念的》"What I Miss" from 2007.

He started by watching Sun's performance of "What I Miss", which he later described as an emotional ballad.

As Sun eased confidently into the intro of the song, Joe listened intently while nodding along to the music.

"Wow", he said at a few points.

After the intro, Joe paused the video to effuse about the beautiful lyrics.

He also complimented Sun's tender voice in the performance.

As he continued watching the performance, Joe was clearly immersed in it, and nodded along slowly to the tune, while closing his eyes.

"It was straight from the heart," he expressed.

Once he reached the climax, and Sun sang the lyrics, "You didn't cry...you didn't say anything", Joe instinctively wiped a tear from his eye.

"But I did cry," he responded, as Sun completed her performance.

Why he cried

Joe explained that the message of the song was about hanging on to a difficult relationship.

"She captures this idea of a love that she's had..." he began, before pausing and wiping away more tears.

He said that Sun's emotional delivery of the song helped him to visualise a relationship that was inevitably going to end, involving fights and arguments, and wrought with passion and emotion.

Additionally, she managed to convey the demeanour of a person who is "pretending that everything is okay" and is desperately trying to hang on to the feelings of past love.

While Joe praised Sun's "amazing" vocal performance, and acknowledged her inherent vocal skill, he said that this would be his one and only time listening to the song.

"I’m never going to listen to it again, because it’s going to make me cry every time," he explained.

Clearly enjoys performing

Joe also listened to Sun's 2005 performance of "Starting to Understand", which he deemed a more "positive" self-reflective piece.

He smiled while watching the performance, noting that Sun had a genuine interaction with the crowd and clearly enjoyed performing.

Additionally, he felt this piece was like the resolution to the first song, as the lyrics emphasised that despite the past, one could always choose to be happy and look forward to the future.

Joe also expressed that the simple band arrangement and composition of the piece complemented Sun's voice and allowed it to be the focus of the performance.

"She's clearly a very good singer-songwriter"

At the end of the video, the UK musician thanked his viewers for recommending Sun's music to him, and left a few last words of praise for the Singapore singer.

"She’s clearly a very good singer-songwriter and has been for a long time."

All images and videos from Joe Creator on YouTube.