SAM #6: Trio of Favourites

Since the start of SAM, I've been wanting to share my favourite artist's song but stopped short of doing so for fear of flooding this column with his songs. Once I start, I can't stop! 🤣 Post number six is a good time to get started on the songs by JJ Lin - my favourite artist!

I started listening to JJ Lin's songs in Secondary 3 or so. His distinctive voice captivated me and convinced me to become a fan of his. Of course, I like many of his songs, especially the sentimental love songs I loved listening to whenever I was lovesick back then. His songs also accompanied me when I worked hard on my assignments during my poly and uni days. I respected him even more several years later when I learnt that most of his songs are his own compositions.

Today's song I'm about to introduce was composed by JJ Lin, with lyrics written by Ashin from Mayday. I was thrilled when I first heard about it because it was a collaboration between two of my favourite artists, JJ Lin and Mayday! I love Mayday for their uplifting music and meaningful lyrics. Not to mention, they write their own songs too! So, I couldn't be happier to listen to JJ and Ashin (Mayday's vocalist) singing together!

To make things even better, the song is closely tied to the Dark Knight – Batman! Batman is one of my favourite superheroes. Want to make a guess why?

Well, it's because he feels so real in his struggles with the reality of life. Aside from his great wealth, he is very much imperfect: a troubled childhood, grappling with moral dilemmas, sometimes making questionable decisions in dire circumstances etc. I like to see myself being like him. 😆 Not so much of being a superhero, but striving to be a better human amidst all the trying circumstances out there, and hopefully, being able to be a light for somebody else.

My last line pretty much sums up the outro of today's song: a call for us to stand up for what we believe and be the superhero. Other than this meaningful outro, I find several parts of the song's lyrics noteworthy or philosophical:

• 黑夜的黑不是最黑 而在于贪婪找不到底线 (The darkest of darkness isn't the night but bottomless greed.)
• 善恶的分界 不是对立面 (Good and evil aren't always polar opposites) Sometimes, there's only a thin line between good and bad intentions.
• 为什么抓光了贼 多年来更没目击过抢匪 而贫穷还是像潮水 淹没了人们生存的尊严 (Despite catching all the thieves and not witnessing any robbery for many years, why is there still rampant poverty that drowns the dignity of people?)
• 文明最颠峰某天 人们和蝙蝠却住回洞穴 (On a day when civilization is at its peak, yet people and bats are living in the cave again.)
• 那罪行再也看不见 都躲在法律和交易后面 (Crimes are not seen but hidden behind the law and transactions.)
• 善恶的分界 不怕难分辨 只怕每个人 都关上双耳和双眼 都害怕去改变 (What we fear isn't the difficulty to distinguish good from evil, but turning a blind eye and afraid to change things)
• 越来越大的企业 越来越小的公园 (Corporations get bigger, but parks get smaller.)

I hope the above sharing hyped you up for the song! So, here's the song for your enjoyment:

‍