Terence Lam

Terence Lam Ka-him (; born 3 September 1991) is a Hong Kong composer, singer-songwriter, and record producer. Lam had a musical interest since a young age, which he started to learn playing the piano when he was four or five years old. He attended the Lingnan University, where he received the Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Contemporary English Studies in 2013. During his university studies, Lam participated in several college singing competitions, where he met the singer-songwriter Chet Lam who brought him into the music industry. In 2014, he became a composer, signing a contract for Warner Chappell Music Hong Kong where at one point he was composing one song a week.

Lam has composed songs for the singers Eason Chan, Jason Chan, Hins Cheung, Pakho Chau, JW, Charmaine Fong, Alfred Hui, Eman Lam, Janice Vidal, Rainie Yang, and Joey Yung. Pakho Chau's 2014 song "About Us" was Lam's first composition to achieve commercial success. Lam's composition of the JW song "A Lifetime of Contradictions" was the first to receive widespread attention. Lam's songs are in the traditional genres of pop music and Cantopop though he puts his own twist on his songs through tempo changes and melody trends.

In 2019, Lam made a career change from being a composer to being a singer-songwriter. In January of that year, he released the song "NEXT" , which hit several charts and became the first song that made him well-known as a singer. The next year, he released "Solitude" , which was broadly praised. In May 2020, he released his debut album, Major in Minor whose name was inspired by how he is an independent musician. Although he writes songs for a record label, he remains an independent singer who is not signed to a label or a talent manager. Lam has received composer, arranger, and singer awards from RTHK, Ultimate 903, and ViuTV. He received the best composer award from RTHK in 2016 and 2017, the best new artist award from Ultimate 903 in 2020, and the best composer, best arranger, and best male singer awards from the ViuTV Chill Club awards in 2021.

Early and personal life Lam was born on 3 September 1991 in Hong Kong. Born to a moderately well-off family, he has three brothers and is the youngest child in the family, one of whom is a grade eight pianist who provides him suggestions when he composes music. which he used the equipment to start recording music covers to share online. Lam attended St Joseph's College, a Catholic boys' secondary school in Hong Kong. He is tall. The reason he studied English in university was due to English being his best performed A-level subject. Prior to entering the music industry, Lam worked at a technology company.

Music career 2014–2019: Start of composing career Lam entered the music industry in 2014 as a songwriter with Chet Lam's help. Lam subsequently signed a contract with Warner Music Group to be a composer, where at one point, he was composing one song a week for the company. "About Us" was Lam's fifth or sixth demo. JW's singing of "A Lifetime of Contradiction", which received over 18 million views, revitalised her previously flagging career. Lam subsequently finished two more songs for JW: "How Many Years" and "Free to Soar" . Lin performed some of Lam's songs which led to the two forming a strong bond. That year, he did a Mandarin duet for a movie theme song with JC of the song "Lost In Love" , which sparked his desire to do more singing. The two songs did not receive as much as attention as "NEXT". The song's music video features four new actors including Rachel Leung and Will Or to accompany Lam in acting various scenes of people being in a "collapsed state". He composed two or three songs that year. "Solitude" , the next song he released, was "widely acclaimed". He had composed the song as an unused demo five or six years prior to its release and reused it for himself to sing. Hong Kong Economic Times reviewer Chan Ka Yin found the song reminded herself as a woman in her 40s to spend more personal time on herself and do more introspection.

In May 2020, Lam released his first extended play titled Major in Minor. Lam spent in the six figures to self-finance the EP. This led to sales on online auction companies to reach several thousand dollars. After he heard from his fans that his songs had many common characteristics, he within a month took his five most recent compositions, added his demo cover of "Solitude", and composed some simple music to connect them together to create the EP. He made an agreement with the music platform Joox to release Major in Minor under its Joox Original project. The song describes how Terence encounters witches and snow beasts upon entering a dream world. The witches tell him that those who exist in the dream world are people who cannot live in a sober world. He sings and parties with the villagers. After waking up, he cannot rediscover the descending stairs that took him to the dream world. He takes out a pen to record the song he had sung with the villagers. The song's theme is regret and it is influenced by a 1980s atmosphere. It received more than a million views in less than half a month. When Lam was at the early stage as a composer, Lam sent his music demos to Chan even though at the time the two were not acquainted. Following an encounter at a private party, they started talking again in 2017.

2021–present: Ultimate Song Chart and Chill Club awards During the 2020 Ultimate Song Chart Awards hosted on 1 January 2021, Lam received the bronze award for best male singer as well as the best composer award. He ranked among the top five in the fan-voted "My Favourite Male Singer" award, which Keung To won. In contrast to most of the other male attendees who wore suits, Lam wore a less formal Mike Amiri "multicolour souvenir patchwork hoodie" and a Paul Smith shirt with colourful striped patterns to match his performance that night of his song "Terence's Adventures in Wonderland", to make it easier to play the guitar, and to make himself more comfortable and relaxed. As an independent artist, he chooses his own outfits to wear at award ceremonies instead of relying on a team to help him with the decisions. In January 2021, three of Lam's songs ranked in KKBox's top 20 ranking of songs streamed on the platform: "Solitude" ranked third, "In a Funk" ranked 13th, and "Quarantine" ranked 14th. In March 2021, while the pro-democracy supporter Ventus Lau was incarcerated at Stanley Prison, Lau listened to Lam's songs and worked on rewriting the songs' lyrics. In April 2021, he rewrote the lyrics of Lam's most recent song, "The Magical Confused Potion" .

At the ViuTV Chill Club Awards ceremony on 18 April 2021, Lam received six awards including for his song "Solitude" as the best song. He also received awards for best composer, best arranger and best male singer. When Lam went on the stage, no one was there to present the award to him, and he said "you get the award yourself, very casual".

Artistry Lam's songs are in the traditional genres of pop music and Cantopop though he puts his own twist on his songs through tempo changes and melody trends.