Questions

Contradictions

On one hand, the state might be able to use the top down approach of providing the NDP songs but on the receiving end, whether or not the public accepts the information wholeheartedly is another issue. Singaporeans might be brainwashed by the political message that the government is trying to put across. However, there are possibilities of sites for contestations.
Ambivalences

While people can be highly patriotic and sing their hearts out during the National Day Singing Medley, it might not translate in their actions towards contributing to the state ideology. More often than not, it is a short outburst of emotions and a sudden feeling of excitement. Also, these songs are often initiated by the government and genre that one would listen for entertainment. As such, the effectiveness of the conveying and transmitting the state ideology via NDP songs is not as effective as what the state expects.

Changes and Important Trends

In the recent years, there has been a growing phenomenon of using parodies to criticize the National Day Songs, some with sarcasm. Also, there are also innovative videos created to illustrate the history and happenings in Singapore in a highly comical and light-hearted manner. Although they may be laced with political mockery, they are still highly informative. In fact, with the aid of farce and humour, it debunks the stereotypical image of history being dull and boring, turning it to something highly engaging and interesting.
Below are popular examples of parody that we found on Youtube.com:

“Count on him, PM Lee” sung by Dick Lee



"我的家就在这里" sung by Yes 933FM radio deejays



“We Live in Singapura” sung by Hossan Leong



The creation of “Not The Singapore Song Book” is another attempt to use songs to question the government. Kong (1994) stated that ‘lyrics contained in Not The Singapore Song Book reflect how popular music can be a form of subtle cultural resistance as well”. Many of the songs inside aim to address the issues of controversial government policies such as Ong Cheng Tat's “Count! Mummies of Singapore”. It follows the popular National Day Song, “Count On Me Singapore”. The original song was to encourage and exhort Singaporean to support Singapore, the parody sets to urge women to reproduce:

We have the ova in our bodies,

We can conceive,We can conceive.

We have a role for Singapore,

We must receive,We must receive.

There's a spirit in the air,Telling us to pair!

We're going to get our hubbies, start a family...

We must conceive,We must conceive!

Therefore, the plan for Singapore government to use technology to propagate ideology through popular music and video has backfired because of the composition of parody songs. However, one may question whether this phenomenon would threaten the politics in Singapore because a bulk of the parody songs remain online and unknown to most Singaporeans.