Confessions Of A Tragic Music Lover

Yes, this is a story that’s partly about a discovery, a revelation, the coming-out-of-the-closet equivalent of confessions from a tragic music lover. People, I’m 22 years old and I still love V.E as much as the first time I heard those voices in “Just A Friend”. As hard as I try to stay away from that fact, I still not-so-secretly listen to their songs everyday. Yes, I probably need to grow up and only listen to Thelonious Monk, Outlandish or Raul Midon by now but I seriously cannot leave the playlist I call “Malaysia’s Best” alone.

If you think Extreme Pleasure is one the best albums ever produced in Malaysia for its time, please look to your left and right first before enthusiastically raising your hands. I think neither V.E nor Ruffedge managed to again capture the magic from that album into their works thereafter. I mean, who can forget the bouncy and crazeeee “Creep” or the sweet but cheeky “Touch, Kiss, Hug, Love”? Not to mention the song that never fails to make my day- Yes, Ayu.. the song that made me cut classes when I was in Form 5 so that I can catch the video on NTV7 at 10am and 12pm. It’s like a magic potion, always continues to mark the top of my various top 10s themed charts.Maybe it's because the person who wrote this song was my personal favourite or maybe because the song is so melodically light that it hardly touches a riff when it touches your heart. For me, it mysteriously seems to fit under the “Top Ten Inspirational Songs”, “Top Ten Jiwa Berbunga Songs”, “Top Ten Songs I Want To Remembered By” (cewah.. nyampaaah.. perasan kan?), “Top Ten Songs My Husband Needs To Master”... I assure you that the list goes on and on.

I don’t know why but when I hear to that album, I often feel "young" and giggly again (haha! 22 years old is old). I can still remember the date I bought the album, 28th December 2002. That was around two months after my dad passed away. Besides my mother, siblings and my then-bf, that album managed to make me smile again. I know that seems like a huge statement but it did... Apparently, it took four men to sing to make me feel something again. At that time of life, almost nobody ever heard about V.E. They've just released that album in August and didn't really achieve the real limelight until probably when "Khayalan" (which was really only borderline good) was included into Extreme Pleasure Extra

After that, things just got from good to better in many frontiers for the now five piece group even when it meant they were to find their way independently. All the more, they did everything from scratch and reached what they've aspired for after quite a long wait. They didn't catapult to stardom just like that as assumed by many. Their journey was one of gradual achievements in musical endeavours and I see it from afar as someone keen enough to give attention, someone positive enough to accept a few disappointments, someone brave enough to continue expressing my interest (hehe..). "V.E For You" was V.E's first album and it did set a different vibe to them although it was a very safe release with most songs sounding like how V.E should be when I wished it was something of what they could be. Still, they bagged the best vocals at AIM which was a darn big thing and I still talk about it until today!

And because of this interest, I've also happened to know some of the wackiest people in town... People, we know who we are and don't try to deny it... hahahahahaha. The friendship we've built was based on this but I guess it bloomed into many more things. I'm glad I have got the chance to know you people and continue to learn new things with all of you.

So when the whole world starts bumping to the new sounds of discovery, I think I have been, still am and will probably still will be pretty content listening to V.E singing me Good Morning during the sunrise and finishing my day off with a lullaby telling me how it's gonna be a Good Night... regardless of whether it's 4 or 5 or 3.