“I’ll just go and meet friends from PSM”, who also happens to some of the nicest people I know.  “It’ll be good to have a non-routine weekday night” I thought to myself when i received an invitation to Sheila Majid’s launch of her new single “Moving on”, having bought her 40th career anniversary merch t-shirt.  

After all I had not met the PSM faithful this year yet and 8 November (concert day) seems too far away and too near the end of the year suddenly. 

The event info mentioned (nu)disco as the theme.  I had no illusion that I would stand out in this theme so I shopped my closet for the most “appropriate” outfit – and it was also an outfit I had worn to the office before as I planned to shoot off from work to the train station.  It would truly be a hardcore dedicated fan to get a new theme-appropriate outfit with barely 48 hours notice on a weekday. 

Why the train station – some of you may ask – knowing how in love Malaysians are with their cars.  Generally, I am too but my aversion to paying kl mall parking rates overcame my car-love feeling.  I was also familiar with the terrain around the TTDI train station and knew where to park my car safely.  The last thing to do is to change from my office-appropriate flats into my slippers.  I stuffed those flats into my reusable bag to change back into once I got to the event venue at the Pavilion mall 2 stops away at Damansara Heights. I thought I was well prepared when I remembered to check online that the temporary walkway from the station to the mall had been replaced with the proper permanent connection directly from the station into the mall.  How was I to know that the walk from the station to the event proper would be largely through long dark hallways past shuttered storefronts? I shuddered at the thought of having to walk back to the station after the event.  

All thoughts of gruesome death disappeared when I finally found the PSM faithful seated in a cafe next to the launch venue.  Victor, Jaslena, Adam, Meng, Shaliza and Fendi were already there.  Jaslena immediately urged me to order something to drink and she herself ordered some light finger food for everyone to share.   Little did I know that this kindness would ‘save’ me later on.  

And I won’t mention how much later Joey joined.  By the time one of the event staff started ushering the crowd towards a cordoned-off corner, I still didn’t see Joey, whom Victor mentioned earlier should be our PSM event photographer. I hung back a bit and took a video of the crowd to be shared to the PSM group who weren’t there.  All of a sudden, I saw tall and lanky Adam swooping down on me calling my name.  He was afraid I’d be left behind and not know where the PSM gang had gone.  At this point, I sensed the crowd getting restless and impatient to enter the event hall and settle in for the launch event.  Those big spenders who were also entitled to a meet&greet session were already ushered in and as expected, they were seated near the stage around cocktail-type tables.  One lost-looking Chinese auntie asked whether there’s a need to register for the event but I didn’t know if she heard me as I was being pushed along by the crowd while trying to answer her.  Later on, I saw her seated at the right front side of the stage looking like she’s enjoying herself immensely. PSM-recruit opportunity lost ….for now. 

The launch party area had a T-shaped stage which fronted a seated area in the center flanked by cocktail tables paired with 3-4 high stools.  The tables were wrapped in either red or black cloth with the red ones nearer the stage and all the tables were labeled with names like ‘Pavilion Marketing’ – a crime against Sheila Majid fans – tame bodies and expressionless faces watching the stage! Having said that, all of us PSM fans parked ourselves around the tables facing one side of the stage.  Adam actually dressed like he could be one of Pavilion’s marketing staff, as attested by a non-PSM fan who addressed him as such! 

Next to the back wall were 2 tables laden with delicious-looking finger foods, desserts and drinks.  I remembered thinking then “Must hit that later “ Alas, how was I know it was just an aspirational thought then.  Although Adam and I agreed to share a stool, I ended up deserting him to continue taking videos of the happenings around me, to share in our PSM chat groups.  

I was so busy doing this even throughout the highlights of the night happening around me: Sheila Majid being introduced; her new single sung by 3 of Universal Music’s newbies; and playing of the new single’s music video.  I even had time to cut the Q at the food table to sneak in a photo.

And I still didn’t eat….

All of a sudden, I noticed a text informing me that I was nominated as one of the best-dressed ladies of the event! To be honest, my first knee-jerk reaction was that it was a scam but once my over-stimulated brain calmed down a bit I knew it’s unlikely any scammer would know nobody-me was in this event…but…I still texted back ‘Are you sure you got the right person?’  

Thank goodness my idiotic comeback was ignored and my name was announced in due course (although they butchered my first name!).     The male best-dressed nominees paraded first and the first nominee brought his own Sheila Majid vinyl to show off onstage.   Not to be outdone, another dear PSM friend, Victor, offered me his precious pristine Warna vinyl to show off too! 

I quickly accepted his generous offer as in my mind I was only dressed as a middle-aged ‘office lady’ so any extra bit should help elevate my image! But I did not have time for any apprehension come my time to go on stage.  My only thought was to ‘mengharumkan’ the PSM name.  As I passed by the male nominee with his own vinyl, my perverse self could not resist showing him the vinyl I had by bringing it up to his face level! 

As it turned out, I was so busy getting to know the other female nominees on stage that time just flew by.  Even when the voting process started, I didn’t even think about the number of votes I would get. What could easily have been a harrowing experience turned into a game of trying to get more votes for the nominee with the lowest number of votes.  When the best-dressed female name was called, I didn’t realize it was me as they had butchered my name again!  I held Victor’s vinyl up high and strutted to the middle of the stage, pointing and shouting “Planet Sheila Majid!” to the PSM crowd.  Before I forgot myself completely I knew I had to honor the Queen herself, the reason why we were all there.  Feeling very privileged to be in the presence of the queen and her loyal fans, I walked to the end of the stage and blew her a 2-handed kiss and bowed deeply to the audience on the left, center and right of the stage.

The rest of the event was, of course, focused on Sheila Majid’s new single “Moving On”, in celebration of her 40th career anniversary.  The top Universal Music executive in attendance explained that she had to work at persuading Sheila to record it, even bringing in a famed South Korean producer to work with the queen.  Eventually, all the stars must have aligned for Sheila Majid as she not only put out a new single (which is an expensive endeavor) but the single seemed to be slightly out of her usual wheelhouse of melodic R&B big band-type ballads.  It’s beat was of the current generation alpha; its melody disco-ey and it’s vibe almost defiant.  Another notable feature is that the song is entirely in Bahasa Malaysia except the chorus line ‘Keep moving on, I keep moving on’.  It was later that night that Sheila explained that she could hardly sing that line in Bahasa which would have included the line “Mara ke hadapan, saya mara ke hadapan” which did not exactly roll off the tongue – she said tongue-in-cheek!

Moving on…..

During the playing of the new single’s music video, I observed the queen’s reaction and to be honest, she looked rather uncomfortable – in contrast to her enthusiastic reaction to the earlier rendition of the single by 3 Gen-Z singers.   Unknown to us at that time, the music video was not released together with the single after the event as planned.  The organizers even texted all those who attended not to share the videos of the mv that they recorded during the event.  It’s totally understandable that the queen would have higher than her previous (already-high) standards for the release of this new single’s mv.  A new single in celebration of a record-breaking 4 decades music career, a new sound to court a new generation – one cannot blame her for making sure she has given her best to the world.  She emphasized this by saying that even though she tried something new in ‘Moving On’, she only released it because SHE LIKED IT!  Kudos to the queen for staying true to her artistic instincts.  The lyrics to the new single reflected this sentiment perfectly!

Hey,

Do what you want

Hey,

They all don’t know

Hey,

Just run your desire

Keep moving on, I keep moving on …..

After the event, all PSM members hung back to take pictures and the lucky ones (eg. Victor, Jaslena, Affendi) got to attend a Meet & Greet session with the queen in a private lounge in the same building several floors up.  By now, I was feeling both my age and the lows from the night’s highs, so I asked for a ride to my parked car 5km away.   Unsurprisingly, ultra gentleman Galvin, offered and I accepted after ensuring it was indeed on his way home.   By now, my feet were cramping and he noticed then proceeded to remind me to change into my slippers, which I had forgotten was in my bag after the excitement of the night.  I had worn my slippers from my parked car, into the train and through the Pavilion building until we were about to go into the event area.  Right before that, Michael Ong, Sheila’s designer directed a general comment to our group “Nice shoes!” That must have caused Victor to remind me that I still had my slippers on – shock horror! 

Moving on….

Nevertheless, my slippers saved me after the event.  After I slipped my feet into them, the cramps subsided.  I realized then that I must be dehydrated and lacking electrolytes.  However, by that time of the night there was no electrolytes water to be had; so again gentleman Galvin provided his arm support.  When we returned to the event hall, we met Kayda and her new husband, both of whom graciously stopped to chat and take photos with the PSM group.

While I was still sitting around waiting for my feet to finish cramping for good, upon Galvin’s advice, a young man suddenly appeared by my side and asked me to go to the private lounge where Sheila Majid’s entourage were hanging out for the queen to sign any items I might want her to sign.  I silently thanked my lucky stars that I had heeded Galvin’s advice and i quickly asked the young man if I could bring Galvin along as I needed help walking.  And that was how we finally met Victor and Jaslena in the same lounge.  The official Meet & Greet had ended and Sheila had left to attend the press conference so we were to wait till she came back.  We made ourselves comfortable and found ourselves in the company of the DJ who played the event – DJ Jemput Dengar.

He turned out to be a personable and handsome young man underneath that ‘helmet’; strangely, he reminded me of a Lebanese although I don’t remember ever meeting an actual Lebanese.

Before long, who should come sauntering coolly into the lounge but our event photographer himself, Joey!  And suddenly, like ESP, Adam called me and asked if Victor was with me.  He told me the trains were no longer running and asked me to ask Victor if Victor could drop him home.  Victor nodded emphatically and after telling Adam so, I quickly asked him to come join us in the lounge, a decision I didn’t think much of at the time but boy I was glad I did!  

A few minutes later, Joey had to go out to get him as the lounge was not visible from the public common area outside.  Adam joined us bringing with him 2 other fans – Faiz (another best-dressed nominee) and his friend, Hakeem.  We were milling around getting to know each other when Sheila Majid returned with her entourage and that’s when the real action began.  Sheila greeted everyone one by one, calling each by name if she knew them, and she knew almost everyone by name.  Those like me that she’s speaking to properly for the first time, she very politely asked for my name and made an obvious effort to remember my name.  

I took out my gigantic 4XL merch t-shirt which I had won as the best-dressed female for the queen to sign.  She insisted that the t-shirt be laid out on the table, pulling it tautly carefully and mindfully before signing it.  I couldn’t help but feel touched by such graceful attention even while I helped (with other willing hands) her – that she would go to such trouble for a fan she had met for the first time just hours before.

Now I know why she has such loyal and hard core fans! She obliges each one with autographs and even recorded a personal video message to John (one of our PSM founding members). 

This time with Sheila after all her event commitments had ended saw her and her entourage at their most relaxed.  Sheila even obliged us with another group photo. 

I was thoroughly enjoying myself even though I was still cramping and limping on and off, embarrassingly caught on camera. 

Out of the blue, I heard an exclamation “So this is the legendary Adam!”  So I nearly got whiplash turning around so quickly to see who uttered those words!  It turns out it was Dato’ Acis, the king to our queen.  As I turned around, Adam was already in front of Dato Acis grinning from ear to ear.  The delight on both their faces was a sight to behold.  Finally, Adam’s encyclopedic knowledge of all things Sheila was recognized in public by the person closest to Sheila, while Sheila was recording her personal video message to John.  Adam’s detailed articles  showcasing his deep and wide-ranging knowledge on Sheila in the PSM website finally paid off! 

The evening mingling had to end when a staff informed us that the lounge will have to close soon.  We said our goodbyes and as we left, it still hadn’t hit me that I had had one of the most memorable nights of my life. To think that I had to live past middle age to experience it.  

And all this because I clicked on a Chinese podcast a few years ago….

But that’s a story for another time.