In the video that made her TikTok famous, Singaporean Regina Song stands on stage at the Peranakan Museum, singing about an old love.

"Guys I think my crush came to watch me belt midway 😭😭😭," she writes in the caption.

It's a candid picture that Song paints in her chunky socks and underproduced performance; swap out the set and she could've been a regular teenager singing at Teo Heng.

To be fair, though, regular teenagers at Teo Heng don't usually get 6 million views on TikTok.

@sleepyreggy song name: ‘the cutest pair’ LIVE (sweating & nervous ver.) #songwritingseason #crush ♬ original sound - regina song ✮

Even as the song — "the cutest pair", written by Song — continues to make its way around social media, the former student at the School of the Arts (SOTA) doesn't have much celebrity status.

In a TikTok posted on Sep. 11, Song films herself in a crowded MRT train. "No-one in this train cabin knows I wrote THIS SONG," she quips, as its earworm chorus plays in the background.

She's met with surprise, even among her own followers and fans. "I didn't know you're a Singaporean," one comments.

So what's it like being TikTok famous, but still unknown IRL?

'Still the same old me'

"It definitely feels a little weird, but I still feel like the same old me," Song admits.

The 20-year-old has since signed with a local label and released her debut album, "fangirl". In an interview with Mothership, she shared that she graduated from SOTA in 2022.

Now, she's studying to be a pop vocalist as part of the inaugural batch of students at the University of the Arts Singapore (UAS).

"It has been quite fulfilling," she says.

"I've been expanding more on my theory knowledge etc, and getting to meet new people."

Some of her schoolmates also do recognise her and her song — "surprisingly", she adds.

"I haven't gotten to know a lot of people just yet, but my coursemates know this song now," she quips.

The love story

The TikTok fame was both sudden and expected, adds Song, who has been writing songs since she was 16.

"I definitely did not expect it to take off so much," she says. "At first I was obsessively checking the stats because I couldn’t believe my eyes."

"It was really serendipitous, and I felt like all the hard work had finally paid off."

The song idea came from a boy she'd been romantically involved with. He posted a photo of another girl on his Instagram Story, and she "got competitive", she explains in a TikTok video on the song's origins.

"And then out of nowhere, the melody [of the chorus] popped out of my head. And then I wrote the verse [at] work, and the bridge in the shower."

@sleepyreggy Replying to @2hxv #confession #songwritingseason #tunesofsg ♬ the cutest pair (sped ver.) - Regina Song

Writing the song came quite easily to her, as she distinctly remembered the boy talking about his ex, Song remarks.

She says, "It inspired me to write from the point-of-view of someone who feels so strongly about their love interest, who might be thinking of someone else instead."

Ultimately though, the relationship didn't end up going anywhere, and ends as the song does: an earnest entreaty from then-19-year-old Song, with no happily-ever-after.

"There was something really good going on, and I was happy for a while," Song tells me.

"Sadly, life isn’t always the most supportive of my romantic endeavours."

The response

Although the song didn't spur a romance in Song's own life, it might have still sparked a love story or two.

In one of her videos, Song encourages her audience to send the song to their crushes by way of confession, with the chorus's heartfelt lyrics: "For years and years I've pined for only you, my baby."

Song shares that multiple people later told her that they'd taken her advice, and that it had worked.

"I felt really happy for them of course, and as cheesy as it sounds it reminded me of why I love music so much," she says.

"I just love expressing something that is hard to express through a song."

In the meantime, Song is continuing to write music. She has a new song that's coming out in two weeks, which she intends to debut at her upcoming performance at Marina Central on Oct. 5.

She acknowledges that it's hard being an artist anywhere — particularly in tiny Singapore — but she remains "glad and grateful" for all her listeners, including her fellow Singaporeans.

"It makes me realise that anything is possible, and gives me so much drive to do what I do," she says.

"It’s all for the fans."

Top image from Regina Song/Instagram