Samantha Lee's death: Singapore Idol contestant posted these songs the day before she died

Former Singapore Idol contestant Samantha Lee died on Dec 22, but her voice and singing lives on.

On Dec 21, she uploaded two videos to her YouTube account. One looks like an old video audition for the Channel 5 reality singing competition The Final 1, where she sang Say Something by A Great Big World.

The second is a lyric music video (MV) of a song she and her brother had written, titled Why Goodbye.

"The song that my brother and I wrote five years ago finally has a lyric MV! Support local music full version on YouTube," the freelance singer wrote in a Facebook post at 4am on Dec 22.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTGPk0ZVaNw[/embed]

On that same day at 6pm, Samantha made another Facebook post, one that was in stark contrast in mood to the previous.

"To whom it may concern, I know all of you cared for me. Thanks to all of you who have helped me, I managed to last till now," Samantha wrote.

"But you couldn't understand my depression because for you to really understand it, you have to go through it, which I will not wish upon anyone. I do not blame you for that, but I will blame you if you let my release affect your happiness."

Samantha, who had listed in her Facebook account that she was married, also posted an open letter encouraging victims of domestic violence and mental health issues to seek help.

Later that night, a sombre post on the same Facebook page revealed Samantha had died. Her wake was held on Dec 23 and her ashes would be "scattered to the sea to be a mermaid as she wished".

Samantha came into the public eye when she was 18 years old, as one of the Top 12 contestants in the third season of Singapore Idol in 2009. The competition was won by Sezairi Sezali.

[embed]https://youtu.be/Aw5C366nkYk[/embed]

Her soothing jazzy song Why Goodbye has now clocked more than 3,000 views, while Say Something has more than 2,700 views.

Netizen WiseGuy99 commented on YouTube: "Good voice. Regret to not know her existence before. RIP."

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFD7Wz6WetQ[/embed]

kwokkarpeng@asiaone.com