During her participation in Sao Mai, a prestigious professional music festival, Nui was considered a mature contestant, with a stable performance, a wide range of sounds, rare sharp notes, and a very smart way of choosing songs. She also had a very confident style of competition, competing like acting, meaning she was very into her role, very invested but not concerned about winning or losing. "I also did not think I would win the championship, but I competed with the most comfortable feeling, any award was not important. Later, when I look back, I always think that it was a milestone of my youth, a mark of my acting career."
No one would have thought that the singer with such a handsome face and stage-ready body was once a professional player of the U17 SLNA tournament. Nui said: "I came to football with a burning passion, always dreaming of becoming a professional player, playing in the main team. And every time I go on the field, I forget all the fatigue, only knowing the ball." Nui joined the SLNA youth team since he was 11-12 years old, eating football and sleeping football since then. Every 2 pm in winter and summer, blazing sun and storms, Nui regularly goes on the field with the spirit of a boy carrying the career of shorts and numbered shirt. "My mother felt sorry for me when she saw me practicing in the sun and rain, but when I have a passion, it is extremely difficult to stop." Then, with the annual training, Nui was selected to join the U17 SLNA and thought for sure that he would stick with this path.
Mother Nui, an actor at the Provincial Center for Traditional Arts, although she discovered her son had musical talent since he was a child, she could not persuade him to pursue an artistic career, even though she knew he would become famous. “Seeing my son’s passion for football, I felt sorry for him, because he had to endure many hardships due to physical injuries and worries about his future. And then when I saw that my son had artistic talent, I did not dare to discuss changing his career path, because I thought he was not destined enough.” But then, after a long-term injury, Nui decided to quit football, much to the regret and disappointment of his teammates and even himself.
“When my son decided to quit football in 10th grade, I discussed with him that he should try his hand at singing. If he didn’t succeed, it was okay. I didn’t expect him to be the valedictorian of the Military University of Culture and Arts, to my extreme joy and his surprise,” said singer Trinh Van Nui’s mother.
“Having to say goodbye to football made me very regretful and sad, but singing is also my second passion, so after deciding on the path I would take and dedicating myself to it, I felt relieved and gradually got used to the thought that I would become a professional singer, not a professional player anymore,” Trinh Van Nui said.
Since childhood, Nui has been a good singer and the center of attention of the crowd whenever he holds the mic. Nui covers trendy songs intelligently but simply with his own thoughts and feelings.
The transition from football to music normally only meets the criteria of a talented amateur student, but with the highest score of the class, Nui has surprised his family and friends. "Of course, being the valedictorian has many advantages when entering the path of studying music, but I also have to try very hard to be able to participate in the best way." And the memories of the music student begin with the difficulties of training. "Having chosen it and committed to it, of course, the love for the profession is increasingly multiplied. But to stand with the profession, new music students must always strive to practice from vocal techniques to stage collisions. I remember most the day I was able to go on stage but had to use crutches because I unfortunately broke my leg."
It is impossible to describe all the difficulties and confusion that a provincial music student had to experience, because when entering the profession, one must have enough perseverance and breakthrough of each individual. And then, when finishing his studies at school, Nui was recruited directly into the Military Region 7 Art Troupe. He was highly appreciated by the troupe leaders, friends, and colleagues and had high expectations for the upcoming journey.
“Then, with the encouragement of my teachers and also wanting to test myself, I researched prestigious vocal competitions. And the goals set for each stage of the journey in the competitions began again.” In the first competition, The Voice Kid of Da Nang, I “won the championship right away” to my own surprise. Although my voice was commented to have a wide, bright range and an expressive resonance in the central area, the most important thing in the competition is still the expressiveness in the way of emphasizing, in creativity, and in transforming into the character of the work that I intend to convey.
Coming to Sao Mai by chance, by thinking, competing to gain experience, she only had a short time to inform her family and received encouragement from her mother. "Parents do not have much to prepare for their children, only spiritual companionship and encouragement that the competition is a big stage, competing to test one's abilities and not to focus on winning or losing", said singer Trinh Van Nui's mother. So she entered the competition with the utmost confidence, as a singer singing for fun on a big stage.
However, to stand on the big stage, players like me must be alert and have a very strict level of training. From choosing songs to entering a piece, there must be advice from experts, as well as the right choice of myself. The songs that were carefully edited with good arrangements such as: Too long (Vinh Khuat), End of the day (The Flood), Pray to heaven (Do Trung Dung), Sunset month 8 (Pham Toan Thang) were all performed by me with the real concentration and emotion of a mature artist. These are also the works that brought me memorable milestones in the rounds from the regional to the national finals.
“I especially like the song “Pray to God” because it is a song about social issues, the flood that just passed with heavy damage, and “Pray to God” is also the feeling of a child who is far away, longing for his motherland like me. So I sing this song with all the heart of a child from the Central region. Maybe that is why I touched the emotions of the judges and the song brought me to the pinnacle of glory in the final ranking night”, Nui said.
A singer who comes from the countryside and is not well-off or trained since childhood, Trinh Van Nui believes that to have this glory is fate, this fate is like when you are passionate and dedicated to football, it makes you sublimate, to be yourself. So when asked if football and singing have anything in common, Nui replied, they also have something in common, which is to find your own identity, and never waver from the path you have chosen.
Just like its name, each milestone and destination are mountains to overcome, arduous but also glorious and happy.