10 Singapore singers, actors and comedians want to Car-aoke with you

SINGAPORE — Carpool on Sunday, and get ready to sing with the likes of actor and pop singer Nathan Hartono, radio DJ Dee Kosh, and indie stars like Sara Wee and Sam Rui.

Ten Singapore artists will be sent out in teams of two in GrabShare cars on Sunday from 1pm to 4pm. Their mission: To get Grab passengers to sing Bruno Mars songs with them during the ride.

The campaign was inspired by Bruno Mars’ viral Carpool Karaoke session in December, which saw the American singer-songwriter belt out some of his biggest hits with The Late Late Show host James Corden. 

And the idea really is, according to Warner Music Singapore’s managing director Simon Nasser, for everyone to have fun.

“The moment is supposed to be priceless,” he added.

Songs passengers can expect to sing along to will be the tracks from Mars’ 24K Magic — released in November (2016) — like Versace On The Floor.

Nasser added that the requirement for passengers is to not be shy, and even improvise. 

“Some Bruno songs can be quite fun in Hokkien, if (passengers) want to do try and do a direct translation,” Nasser quipped.

The artists, which also include Calvin Phua from indie rock band Stopgap, funnyman Fakkah Fuzz, Youtube comedian Hirzi Zulkiflie, singer-songwriter Joie Tan, and musician and singer Timothy De Cotta, will be travelling in five roving GrabShare vehicles. The ride, by the way, will be free for passengers, who will participate by booking the special rides via the Grab app.
Just like in a karaoke session, perfection is not the main goal here.

“I can’t sing but I am very confident, so that helps a lot ... I like to believe I am fun to sing with,” said comedian Hirzi, 27, who is known for his popular YouTube channel,

MunahHirziOfficial, with comedic partner-in-crime, Maimunah Bagharib. 

Asked what he likes to sing in his own time, and he reveals that he likes “to do Beyonce runs in a group effort”.

“I believe I’m the extra dimension nobody asked for,” he said.

Music fans may have caught Wee, vocalist and guitarist with the band 53A, performing at Timbre @ Substation and Hive in the past. The 30-year-old and her band also performed the National Day Parade theme song, Tomorrow is Here Today, last year (2016).

Although she’s used to the limelight, she describes herself as a “team player” who is happy to be anyone’s back-up singer.

Rides will be assigned randomly, and passengers won’t know who they’re pooling with until they hop into the vehicle, which will be operated by Grab drivers. 

If there’s one person Wee would like to sing with, it would be De Cotta, one of the people behind music events like Getai Electronica.

Wee says that De Cotta is “ridiculously funny and entertaining”, and that he “can freestyle over everything”.

In fact, De Cotta’s plan of attack is to approach the sing-along session like a “door-to-door salesman”.

He’ll use his trademark charm on passengers.

“I probably won’t stop trying to make the person laugh, (even if) I die a little inside on each try,” said De Cotta, 31.

Guitarist Phua, whose band Stopgap is known for its high-energy indie rock, would love to be teamed up with De Cotta.

The 26-year-old says he and De Cotta have “bonded over bursting out in random song and dance” in the past. The artists do not know who they will be paired with until Sunday.
But even if they’re not a team, either musician would provide an LOL-a-minute ride.

“I think people won’t find anyone else as unreserved, nonsensical and ridiculous as I am,” Phua said. Hon Jing Yi

Book a ride between 1pm to 4pm on Sunday (Feb 19) by tapping on the Bruno Mars: Car-aoke icon within the Grab app. 

Sing along to Bruno Mars songs with the likes of Nathan Hartono, Sara Wee on Grabshare rides