Ming Bridges snagged two big awards

Ming Bridges snagged two big awards

Ming Bridges is a rising young star on a mission.

Eyebrows were raised when the fresh-faced 20-year-old local singer-songwriter snagged two coveted awards - Best Local Singer and Best Local Album - at the Singapore Entertainment Awards 2013 organised by Singapore Press Holdings, in May.

After all, compared with veteran local crooners A-do and JJ Lin, Bridges, born to a British dad and Chinese Singaporean mum, is a showbiz rookie.

She has only two albums to her name - an English studio effort, Who Knows, and a Mandarin release, Ming Day.

"When I won (both awards), I was totally blown away," she recalled in a phone interview with LOUD last week to promote the upcoming telecast of her MTV Sessions showcase.

"I'm such a new artiste and to be mentioned in the same breath as so many other big names in the industry, it's a great honour."

She is aware that her victories were greeted with a certain amount of scepticism and stressed that such comments only serve as motivation for her to "work even harder" and "keep getting better" at her craft.

"I just have to prove to my fans and critics that I'm worthy of these awards," said Bridges in British-accented English.

With a chuckle, she added: "I must say that the Singapore Entertainment Awards 2013 helped to boost my (profile) regionally.

"Shortly after I won, my album, Ming Day, shot to number one on the Malaysian pop charts."

MTV Sessions

Now, Bridges has made history.

She is the first Singaporean artist to be featured in popular live music series MTV Sessions produced by music cable channel MTV, which previously featured performances by Australian indie rockers The Temper Trap, as well as US singers Kyle Patrick and Greyson Chance.

Last Thursday night, the doe-eyed beauty played an intimate acoustic set in front of 200 fans at Waterfront Studio, Resorts World Sentosa. The gig featured many of her self-penned numbers like Under The Stars, Some Guys, Miss Thinkalot and a cover of Selena Gomez's chart-topping smash hit Love You Like a Love Song.

MTV Sessions: Ming Bridges will premiere on MTV SEA (StarHub Ch 533/ SingTel mio TV Ch 350) on Oct 12 at 1pm. "I grew up watching MTV, it was my main source of music," she said.

"So when I got the invitation to perform at MTV Sessions, I was absolutely excited and over the moon. I definitely want to make Singapore proud."

No stranger to television - she once starred in local teen detective series R.E.M.

The Next Generation on okto and Channel 8's weekly talk show It's A Small World III - Bridges will be appearing next in Channel U's reality TV series Date A Star II, which sends unlikely celebrity pairings on dates.

Bridges was paired with China-born Singapore-based actor Xu Bin. Other pairings include actress Jayley Woo with singer-host Huang Jinglun, and actor Romeo Tan with singer-actress Cheryl Wee.

The series is slated to air in December.

Her date was "interesting", said Bridges.

"Xu Bin's English is not so good, while my Mandarin is rather weak, which made the whole experience more fun.

"But it went well and we became great friends! Unfortunately I can't tell you more, you'll have to watch the show to find out."

keeyunt@sph.com.sg


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