U noe National Day should be abbreviated to ND, but all the times I see dat, it just doesn’t look right. I feel like it shld always be NDP, regardless of whether we’re talking specifically abt the Parade or not. Anything abt the day is just NDP to me.
Anyways, National Day is coming and the government’s sure letting us noe abt it. Flags and banners everywhere (some absurdly large sized), $600 CDC vouchers and NDP songs at Burger Kings. Cool stuff, and thank u to our migrant worker friends for putting all those banners up. We noe ur the real MVPs 👍
NDPs always have segments in the show with some kind of story dats supposed to evoke nostalgia or smth. But my favourite “NDP story” is the one from a few years ago, when dat one random guy from India stole our song and claimed it was his. “Count on Me Singapore” unapologetically turned into “We Can Achieve”, a truly authentic piece of Indian work. My friend here literally just changed every mention of Singapore to India, sometimes spicing it up wif Mother India, and thought he’d get away wif it.
Idk wat he was tryna achieve, but I think it gained more popularity in India than he anticipated, which caused it to unfortunately catch the attention of Singaporeans. He appeared to have flown too close to the sun…
The best part was dat he tried doubling down on it, even when every piece of evidence was going against him. “India” just doesn’t rhyme wif the word “more”, u were essentially doomed from the start.
What my man here didn’t realise is dat NDP songs have a special place in all our hearts, even if we dun admit it. Its like a unifying force, but only once a year. The particularly sentimental ones are ingrained into our souls and hit harder. They didn’t have to go dat hard wif In a Heartbeat, but they did so anyway. And dun lie, u noe it gets u a lil bit in the feels too, even if u dun rlly care abt the actual NDP and are in Malaysia on dat day. This makes them more than just songs, and I personally like to go a step further by also using it as a litmus test.
So I’d go around my classes in school like a nincompoop, asking wat ppl’s fav NDP songs are. Then I’ll gauge whether they pass the ‘vibe check’ from it.
If they dun have a fav song then they don’t pass. If they say safe songs like Home & Stand Up for Singapore then theyre cool, I guess. If they say something a lil funky like Reach out for the Skies or the 2006 one, then they’re cool but in a hippie sorta way. Ofc these classifications are limited, but I havent gotten much variety in answers to warrant a need for more at the moment. Btw if they were to say Shine on Me from 2000, then they’d be the ultimate, peak, supreme, alpha, cooliest coolster.
Idk wat to do after these ‘vibe checks’, but I recently thought of smth. I think it’d be cool if each song has their own character traits and meaning, which aligns with the songs’ style and status. U noe like some sort of personality test. So I’ve pulled smth outta my ass and came up wif these so far.
So if u like the NDP song from:
1986 (Count on Me Singapore): As previously mentioned, you are an avid plagiarist, probably an expert ChatGPT user who doesn’t cite your sources.
1998 (Home): You are destined for greatness and en route to achieving GOAT status in whatever you do.
2001 (Where I Belong): You like taking things slow and prefer staying at home, where you belong.
2005 (Reach out For the Skies): You are probably not racist, because the song has a Chinese girl and Malay guy singing together.
2009 (What Do You See): You are ahead of your time in your creative pursuits.
2011 (In A Heartbeat): You are a bit of a sentimental person, but in a good way.
2013 (One Singapore): You are a goofy ass.
2016 (Tomorrow’s Here Today): You’re a bit of a whitewashed fella, but still a proud Singaporean at heart.
2021 (The Road Ahead): You surprise people by being unexpectedly good at things.
Anything else pre-1998 : You are not allowed to feel sad when you get called an uncle or auntie.
and finally…
2000 (Shine On Me): ✨ You have transcended GOAT status and are a legendary figure across all worlds and dimensions. ✨
04.08.2025
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