UCSI graduate wins 8TV Ultimate Song Competition

KUALA LUMPUR: Quek Shio Yee, a UCSI University (UCSI) graduate, recently won the Best Performance award in the recent 8TV Ultimate Song Competition 2013 – a popular Mandarin reality show.

Participating as a singer in the competition, she teamed up with songwriter Lexi Chan – who also won the Ultimate Song award – on the song entitled, ‘Mission Incomplete’.

The dynamic duo edged out 24 teams to bag the two awards and Quek highlights that she had to work extra hard to learn the song as she did not know how to read and write in Mandarin.

“I worked closely with Lexi so I could understand the intonation of the words (in the song),” explains Quek, a Johor Baru girl who recently graduated from UCSI with a bachelor’s degree in Contemporary Music and majors in the violin.

“There were even times when Lexi had to share her feelings – when she wrote the song – with me to help me better understand the song.” 

It surprised many that Quek was in the competition because she was not well-versed in Mandarin.

However, this did not deter her from joining the competition and instead spurred her on to improve in the language.

Providing a platform for talented composers to showcase their talents and abilities in song composition, the competition taught Quek to deal with the pressures and anxiety of performing onstage in front of a large audience. 

The winning duo of this year’s competition, both Quek and Chan will be involved in promotional campaigns for the next Ultimate Song Competition in 2014. 

Moving forward, Quek hopes to be able further her music career by writing more songs – in English and Mandarin – and produce an album with songs she has written.