She has been living in Los Angeles (LA) since 1999, but home-grown singer-songwriter Corrinne May is still very much a Singaporean at heart.

Speaking to My Paper over the phone last week, the 40-year-old peppered her replies with Mandarin and Malay terms like "jaga", which means to watch over, and talked about her love for durians.

She recently bought a house in Singapore, and returns here with her husband, music producer Kavin Hoo, 38, and daughter Claire, four, for about a month at least once a year.

"Our family is in Singapore, so we are quite rooted here... I want Claire to have some time with her family here, to foster that sense of family bonding and community," May said.

But she admitted that her daughter "talks like an 'ang moh' (Caucasian)" and doesn't speak Singlish. Thankfully, Claire is picking up some Mandarin and loves local food such as "dou nai" (soya-bean drink) and "yi mi shui" (barley water), May added.

The songbird, who is known for her soaring and emotive tunes, said it is "really hard balancing these two worlds" as LA is their creative home while Singapore is their community home.

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