American singer-songwriter Sam Tsui gave us an unparalleled and beautiful performance that was just quite ineffable.
Sometimes there are artists that touch your soul. Sometimes there are songs that flow through your veins. Giving you that breath of life with each capillary that it flows through, like a swirling osmosis of smoke…
Each sound, colour and texture literally going through you…
Sunday evening’s gig at Capitol Theatre Singapore by American singer-songwriter Sam Tsui was the epitome of that.
The magic of the evening was unparalleled, almost ineffable.
Giving us a melange of lush and coruscating ballads as well as faster numbers, with some very in-synced dance moves, particularly for his cover of ‘Uptown Funk’, Sam Tsui and his touring band (consisting of members Genna Projansky, Jason Pitts and Joel Manduke) melted our hearts, made us cry, made us dance, laugh, smile, and basically, live.
The positivity in his gig was uplifting as it was empowering. He gave us anecdotes and analogies and, in not so many words, embraced us with his songs as his special soul shone brighter than the gold jacket that he was wearing.
Songs like ‘Carousel’ and ‘Clumsy’ will forever be etched in my heart, with the former making me almost tear for its iridescent and sublime lyrical beauty. Textures of that song felt like a silhouette on the skin.
For others, it might have been his heartfelt tribute to the late Christina Grimmie with ‘Just A Dream’.
Or even his beautiful duet with husband Casey Breves, who came on stage to sing a mash-up of Ed Sheeran’s ‘Thinking Out Loud’ and Sam Smith’s ‘I’m Not The Only One’ with his beloved partner. It was quite a moment to see the couple sing together – their love shining through the vocals and making the lyrics of the song seem even more touching and real.
Indeed, the prowess of Sam Tsui voice is quite formidable. The talented, young artist even sang Jay Chou’s ‘Don’t Cry’ in Mandarin, which was actually really good!
Said Tsui, “I actually have the lyrics here,” he said holding his mobile phone and admitting that he has also sung the song in Tagalog and Thai. “So all of the different languages are mixed around in me,” he laughed.
Even his latest single ‘Muscle Memory’ was an œuvre d’art.
Perhaps one of the moments that showcased the intensity of Tsui’s vocals was his medley of songs that were popular on his birthday – May 2nd.
Singing songs from 1989 which was the year that he was born, the medley had hits from Celine Dion to Ed Sheeran, and Tsui’s 7-minute performance was such a sight to watch, not merely for the range of dynamics and vocal range, but also for the unrelenting energy that he gave and the mix of songs in terms of genre.
As the bright young star left us quite elated again with ‘Just For Tonight’ (a song from his 2018 album ‘Trust’), the charismatic artist also embraced us with his uplifting energy, dancing wildly on the entire length of the stage, his beautiful soul like a shining star that dusted the night sky.
Thank you Sam Tsui for all the words, moments and memories that collided through my heart that night…
