THIS year’s ChildAid show takes place on Tuesday night (Dec 12) at 7.30pm at the University Cultural Centre. If you didn’t manage to get tickets to the concert, you can also watch the live-stream on The Business Times’ and The Straits Times’ respective YouTube channels.

Organised by the two newspapers, the concert has been raising money for underprivileged children for 18 years. This year’s concert, titled All Together Now, promises music from BTS, OneRepublic, Nicky Youre, ABBA, Mozart, Paul & Pasek, Whitney Houston and many more. Here are 10 things to look out for:

Youngest performer

Earlier this year, six-year-old Shalom Shyann-E Ng came in first in Category 1 (ages six and below) of the Amateur Class at the 6th Steinway Youth Piano Competition. She’s set to charm audiences with William Gillock’s classic composition Fountain In The Rain, while seven young acrodancers twist and turn artfully on stage.

Most unusual act

Lim Jing Rui is able to accurately whistle just about any tune you can think of, making him one of the most novel acts in the history of ChildAid. The 13-year-old has given himself the challenge of whistling the musically complex Queen Of The Night aria from Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute. Watch him nail it with perfect pitch.

Self-taught K-pop dancers

Students from Victoria Junior College and Woodlands Ring Secondary School learnt on their own the dance steps of their favourite K-pop idols. They’re set to show their moves during the song I Ain’t Worried by OneRepublic, a breezy Billboard chart-topper that’s been fused with K-pop beats by ChildAid’s music director Evan Low.

ABBA lives

Boomers love ABBA, but most of ChildAid’s Gen Z performers had not heard of the Swedish band until they were introduced to it for the concert. Now, eight girls aged between eight and 14 are set to deliver an infectious medley of Take A Chance and Mamma Mia, arranged by 16-year-old Sathya Nayar from School Of The Arts.

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Most powerful voice

Angelic-voiced Raeanne Wong Chien Yin received some of the loudest applause in last year’s ChildAid for delivering a pitch-perfect rendition of Think Of Me from Phantom Of The Opera. She returns this year to sing Jackie Evancho’s To Believe, a song about finding hope amid despair. She chose the song because of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

BTS babies

K-pop has never looked cuter: Emma Koh, Audrey Foo and sisters Aika and Aili Addicks, all aged between eight and 11, will take to stage to sing BTS’ mega hit Dynamite. When asked why their number is so special, the girls say they will “bring the fire and set the night alight”. (They were quoting the song’s lyrics, of course.)  

Best of the 80s

Gen X-ers will love some of the song selections for the concert. The kids will also be remixing and singing Eurythmics’ Sweet Dreams, Elton John’s I’m Still Standing, Michael Jackson’s Man In The Mirror and Whitney Houston’s I Wanna Dance With Somebody – four of the most iconic tunes of the 1980s.

Excellent live band

ChildAid 2022 has a top-notch live band made up of well-known musicians, including guitarist Leonard Goh Jia Shing, bassist Tim De Cotta, drummer Adam Noel Shah and keyboardist Joel Dunstan Chua. They’re joined by young cellist Lucas Liow and violinist Esther Chiu.

Musical theatre medley

Love Paul and Pasek? The duo behind the songs of hit musicals and movies such as Dear Evan Hansen, The Greatest Showman and La La Land get a tribute of their own, as 10 kids aged 10 to 14 belt out A Million Dreams, Speechless and Never Enough.

Dancing up a storm

No ChildAid concert is complete without the country’s best young dancers. This year, award-winning dancers of Jitterbugs Swingapore will tear up the floor during Houston’s I Wanna Dance With Somebody and BTS’ Black Swan. There are also 17 hip-hop dancers aged nine to 11 from Mini Groovers who will strut their stuff during ChildAid’s special rap-infused rendition of Nick Youre’s Sunroof. 

Catch the ChildAid concert on Tuesday night at 7.30pm on The Business Times’ YouTube channel.