KUALA LUMPUR: Popular singer-songwriter Faizal Tahir's tune X Missing U has been adapted into an international version by Hong Kong singing sensation Gloria Tang Tsz-Kei, better known by her stage name G.E.M. (an acronym for 'Get Everybody Moving').
The song, written by Faizal, Ja'a, Mage, Mike Chan, Tuju and Yonnyboii, has been retitled as I'll Be Missing You.
The collaboration between Faithful Publishing and G.E.M. marks a turning point in the quality of local productions and a step in exporting Malaysian songs to foreign territories.
Faithful Publishing production director Karim Karam said that the adaptation was an achievement and recognition for local music composers.
"The negotiation process took five months. The success of this project shows a capability to increase the export value of local songs to the international stage.
"This is the first small step by Faithful Publishing to increase the export of local songs to an international market.
"In this new digital age, music composers and publishing companies must have a wider outlook and their works are capable of competing on the global stage," he said in a statement today.
Meanwhile, Faizal did not expect that his song would be adapted and sung by an international artiste.
"Praise be to God, as a composer and producer we would always love our songs to be well-received by listeners. But for it to be sung by a foreign artiste was something I had never expected.
"So of course I was really excited and happy for the offer from the very start when I was informed of it.
"Even more so if it enables opportunities for local artistes like myself to share ideas and collaborate with foreign artistes, which would increase the chances of other composers or producers in Malaysia to do the same," he said.
X Missing U, which was originally performed by Faizal, Dayang Nurfaizah, Yonnyboi and Tuju, was released last year.
Talking about the uniqueness of the track, Faizal said that it was due to the combination of the four distinct vocal performances.
"The voices of Dayang Nurfaizah, Yonnyboi, Tuju and myself are what I think is the strength and uniqueness of the song.
"Each singer brought his or her own individual character with great performances. I think that is what drew attention to the point where a foreign artiste became interested enough to want to perform it," he said.
The new song has been doing well too. Since its recent release, I'll Be Missing You is already sitting at the No.3 spot of new tracks in China's Music 163 playlist which has a 2.4 billion stream capacity.
It's also trending on YouTube at No.3 in Taiwan and No.18 in Hong Kong.
G.E.M., a top-selling artiste in China and Hong Kong, is the first female Mandopop artiste to have over 100 million views for each of her three music videos on YouTube.
She is also the only Chinese pop star to be named on the BBC 100 Women and Forbes 30 Under 30 lists.