Charlie Lim Announces Live Session Video for "The Hardest Thing" Featuring Tamzene – Recorded Live at The Mews in London

Award-winning Singaporean singer-songwriter Charlie Lim announces a special live session video for “The Hardest Thing”, his stirring duet with rising Scottish singer-songwriter Tamzene. The intimate performance, recorded live at The Mews in London, premieres on YouTube 4th July 2026, celebrating the overwhelming response to the single’s release (25th June 2026).

The Live Session: Two Voices, One Piano

Following a positive reception across Asia, “The Hardest Thing” has secured support from both Spotify and Apple Music, with the track finding a home on playlists and editorial features across the region.

The video captures “The Hardest Thing” stripped to its emotional essence — just two voices, one piano, and the song as honestly as it can be played. Filmed by Olivia Sofia Ferrara and recorded at The Mews in London on Adam Lee’s beautiful upright piano, the intimate arrangement focuses attention entirely on vocal performance and emotional communication.

“One week on from the release of The Hardest Thing, we’re incredibly grateful for all the love it’s received,” Charlie reflects. “Thank you for listening, sharing it with friends, and helping it find a home on so many playlists around the world. To celebrate the first week, we’re sharing a special live performance of the song, filmed by Olivia Sofia Ferrara and recorded at The Mews in London by Adam Lee on his beautiful upright piano. Just two voices, one piano, and the song as honestly as we could play it. Hope you enjoy this version. 🤍”

The intimate live arrangement showcases the raw vulnerability at the heart of the composition, with the piano providing gentle harmonic support. It’s a version that honors the song’s core simplicity whilst highlighting the depth of feeling Charlie and Tamzene bring to every performance.

Watch the live session on YouTube.

The Original Single: “The Hardest Thing”

Released 25th June 2026, “The Hardest Thing” serves as the lead single and emotional centrepiece from Charlie’s forthcoming third album DAYDREAM. Written during Lim’s time in London in 2024, the track emerged from a writing session between two friends navigating similar questions about love, loss, and the narratives we tell ourselves to make sense of them.

“I think most of us accept that all relationships require work, compromise and sacrifice,” explains Charlie. “I don’t think it’s a bed of roses. But at some point you wonder whether it really has to be this difficult. The song doesn’t try to answer that question but tries to sit with it.”

The duet explores a tender and devastating meditation on a relationship that has reached its breaking point — and a simple question at its centre: navigating love isn’t meant to be easy, but does it have to be the hardest thing we ever fight for?

A Collaboration Born from Friendship

For Tamzene, the Scottish singer-songwriter known for her soulful vocals and emotionally direct lyricism, the song became a way of processing heartbreak through friendship and collaboration. “It’s always a joy to work with talented friends, and writing this song with Charlie was therapy for us both,” she says. “The risk we take in giving love is big, and the fallout can be brutal. So this song is for the heartbroken, in hopes they softly find their way again.”

The musical chemistry between Charlie and Tamzene carries the emotional weight of the composition — two voices intertwining in recognition of shared vulnerability and understanding.

Production & Arrangement

“The Hardest Thing” is co-produced by acclaimed Singaporean ambient artist Kin Leonn, whose textured and cinematic sonic palette provides a delicate backdrop for the song’s emotional resonance. Further elevating the studio arrangement is a performance by Ng Pei-Sian, Principal Cellist of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, whose expressive cello lines weave through the song’s moments of longing and reflection.

DAYDREAM: A Return to Emotional Essentials

“The Hardest Thing” offers a glimpse into Lim’s most introspective body of work to date. As the lead single from DAYDREAM, it positions the album’s broader thematic territory: exploring themes of memory, longing and regret, the album reflects on the tension between the lives we dream of and the realities we eventually learn to live with.

Following the album’s first single “Nobody’s Home” (3rd April 2026) — a track that emerged during one of Charlie’s most difficult periods, written and recorded in a single session in Devon — “The Hardest Thing” continues the emotional journey of DAYDREAM. The album marks a return to Charlie’s signature singer-songwriter melancholy, now refined by years of lived experience and creative rupture.

Across its songs, DAYDREAM examines what remains after certainty fades, finding beauty in ambiguity rather than resolution — a quiet yet deliberate evolution shaped by personal rupture, artistic renewal, and a renewed commitment to truth over spectacle.

Live Session Video: “The Hardest Thing” featuring Tamzene
Video Premiere Date: 4th July 2026 (YouTube)
Recording Location: The Mews, London
Filmed by: Olivia Sofia Ferrara
Piano: Adam Lee’s upright piano
Original Single: “The Hardest Thing” featuring Tamzene
Single Release Date: 25th June 2026

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