Critical Reception
While some of these modern made-to-order patriotic songs have become popular, they have not received universal acclaim. They have been criticized as artificial and propagandistic, "National songs foisted on you from above" as opposed to "Singapore Songs arising from grassroots". A minor controversy also erupted over "There's No Place I'd Rather Be" (2007). Some people queried why the song does not mention Singapore by name, while others commented that the song was "touching" and that they related to it immediately, and that "he spirit of patriotism is woven so well in the song". One correspondent to the Straits Times asked: "How did such a dreadful song become the National Day song?", lambasting the melody as "uninspiring" and the lyrics as "insipid" – "it is quite obvious what the brief to was: Write a song to persuade Singaporeans who have sought greener pastures to come home." The song's composer Jimmy Ye defended it, saying, "There's no need for it to be so in-your-face just because it's a National Day song". He noted that he had submitted the first draft of the song to the National Day Parade song committee, which had returned it with several changes. There was no mention of why "Singapore" got left out: "I guess the committee wanted to have a soft-sell approach too".
Read more about this topic: List Of Singaporean Patriotic Songs
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