A letter to my Westlife
Author: Phạm Thị Minh Hà
Entry for the Westlife Fan Contest organized during the Gravity Tour 2011 preparation.
Dear Westlife,
One day with a lot of pressure ended. And now I'm sitting here to write to you a letter with plenty of my love, gratefulness and hope. Love for all of your music, all of your songs. And hope for the fact that this letter can be sent to all of you one day.
I know that in your long singing career, you've received a lot of letters from your fans like that and my letter from Vietnam may be not the only one but nothing can stop me from writing right now because my love is flowing strongly through my heart and I can't hold it inside, you know? It's like a singer can't hold the emotions inside so he bursts all of this into music.
I have approached to Westlife music since I was a little girl with little English vocabulary. Although at that time I couldn't understand what you sang and what the song meant, I still liked the rhythms that all songs brought to me: So smooth like "Flying without wings"! When I've grown up, your music came to me by the different ways. With each songs, I experienced different emotions which were so meaningful in each parts of my life.
One day with a lot of pressure ended. And now I'm sitting here to write to you a letter with plenty of my love, gratefulness and hope. Love for all of your music, all of your songs. And hope for the fact that this letter can be sent to all of you one day.
I know that in your long singing career, you've received a lot of letters from your fans like that and my letter from Vietnam may be not the only one but nothing can stop me from writing right now because my love is flowing strongly through my heart and I can't hold it inside, you know? It's like a singer can't hold the emotions inside so he bursts all of this into music.
I have approached to Westlife music since I was a little girl with little English vocabulary. Although at that time I couldn't understand what you sang and what the song meant, I still liked the rhythms that all songs brought to me: So smooth like "Flying without wings"! When I've grown up, your music came to me by the different ways. With each songs, I experienced different emotions which were so meaningful in each parts of my life.
I still remember it was the first time I've ever felt the great meaning of the family in my life. At that time, my father and I were not in good relationship. I always felt annoyed when my father aside. I thought I would never sympathize with a man that never cared about his family. But when I saw the video clip "You raise me up", can you imagine? I bursted into cry. What I imagined was the image of my father who had told me the fairy tales when I was a little girl - a little girl had to live far away from her mother who was always busy in working. I wouldn't have overcome the loneliness if it hadn't been for my father at that time:
"You raise me up so I can stand the mountain You raise me up to walk on stormy seas I am strong when I am on your shoulder You raise me up... To more than I can be"
I had always thought that I was so strong, so confident to overcome everything without any help but now I wouldn't be strong enough without my father. I knew I had had faults with my family and if the time'd gone back, I would have said "Sorry!" to my Daddy. But it was quite late because at that time, I was far far away from home:
"May be surrounded by a million people I still feel alone, I just want to go home I miss you, you know And I've keeping all the letters that I wrote to you Each one a line or two, I'm fine baby how are you Well I would send them But I know it's just not enough, the words were cold and flat And you deserve more than that"
Westlife, you know? You're right! You made me know that if I had come back home, my Daddy would have stood in the airport waiting for me, hugged me tightly in spite of how I had thought he was. And wherever I go, my family will follow me, support me to succeed. The time's gone by, now I'm happy enough to stay at home, live with the concern of all people around me. Do you know? I'm now learning to sympathize with other people, concern about everyone and appreciate what I have. That's what I learned from the time living far away from home with the help of you and your meaningful songs.
Now I'm quite a successful student at university. Happy, proud of but a lot of pressure.
I remember it was the first time I had ever taken part in a music competition. I was so confident but the result wasn't up to my expectation - I can't attend to the Final Round. What I was thinking at that time was why I was so fool to attend a competition that was not suitable for me, why I didn't realize that I didn't have any abilities in music. I was so depressed and disappointed for my abilities for quite a long time till one day I open my list of old songs in my MP3:
"So impossible as they may seem You've got to fight for every dream Cause who's to know which one you let go Would have made you complete"
At that time, I seemed to be breathless, my breath seemed to be held inside. I was like a computer and your song "Flying without wings" like the F5 to refresh all my thoughts and release me from the binding of victory. Now I still attend every singing contest that I like whatever I can win or not. I can stand confidently at the stage in front of a lot of people without any care about awards. I know that nothing is as worth as having chances to chase my own pursuits in music and fighting for my dream coming true. That's enough! And I think you'll be happy if you know that your songs have changed me a lot, right?
I get accustomed to listening to your songs every night before sleeping because I feel quite safe beside you. I feel I'm happy enough to have a peace soul thanks to your music. I wish this letter can be sent to you although there are a lot of letters like that exist. You always help the people all over the world have peace places to live by your music. I know your music can "Heal the World"! Wish you would have a nice concert in Vietnam!