“You and Me”

By: Mellissa Ang, Foo Rong En and Nur Ezzaty Bte Hamid

When Westlife’s lead singer Shane Filan released his first debut album – You and Me – on 4 November 2013, fans took to his familiar soothing vocals once again. Shane is currently on a promo tour across Southeast Asia, and stopped over at Singapore for an exclusive AMPed showcase just six days after his album release.

He performed four songs from his new album – including latest single About You and yet-to-be-released Knee Deep in My Heart – in front of a small crowd at Zouk. Shane clearly stuck with the pop genre that he was familiar with for his first solo album, but gave some of the songs a fresh twist of country folk and soul. However, in the end, the song that got the loudest screams was his rendition of Daughtry’s What About Now, which Westlife covered in 2009.

The showcase came to an abrupt end barely 30 minutes after Shane took to the stage, much to the fans’ disappointment. Thankfully, Shane promised that he’ll be back in Singapore within the next year, and maybe even hold a concert here if album sales are good. Those 20- and 30-somethings in the audience evidently missed the Westlife they grew up with, but it remains to be seen whether Shane is able to successfully carve out a solo music career without his three bandmates. One thing’s for sure though, this showcase won’t be the last we hear from Shane Filan.

To hear about Shane Filan’s press conference, read on:

Shane Filan, the charming solo singer is not one to be missed – for his songs are not the typical heartbreaking ballads, instead, they’re all about infusing happiness into life. Shane mentions that creating upbeat songs works as therapy for him.

That’s no different from the message he intends to give through his latest album: to help people feel positive and be contented with life. The inspiration behind many of his songs was his wife , for whom he continues to spring romantic surprises on like getting her bouquets of flowers every now and then.