XTIE TALKS NEW CLASSIC

Interviewed by Culture Coast Talks editor Daniel John. Interview transcripts might have been edited for length and clarity.

What is ‘New Classic’?

'New Classic' is a pop-anthem, that I want everyone to feel like they are a super-model while listing to it. It is also inspired by my identity as an Asian female producer in the music industry and empowers a new and unconventional adventure. In previous XTIE’s tracks, I usually write and produce everything on my own, this time I am delighted to be able to collaborate with songwriter friends I know for years online, whom I never met in person, we have worked for other projects together in the past two years since the pandemic. The song is co-produced with a Japanese female producer Tomoko Ida, we fuse organic sounds and instruments from our culture into the song, for example Shakuhazhi, Guzheng, Cantonese Opera-sound and more. It’s more celebrating our heritage. My vision to the song when I produced it, is a more KPOP Top 40 song-touch, so I invited Alawn, who has great hits in KPOP, like NCT, Loona, IVE and so on, to help do the mixing and mastering. I was thinking about the all-time pop icons such as Beyonce, Lady Gaga, and Taylor Swift, Rihanna, and Madonna! 'New Classic' is a venture into the new age of female empowerment and I hope while listening to 'New Classic' you feel inspired to walk confidently like you’re walking down a fashion runway. Everyone deserves to be confident in their own runway.

Did you always walk like a boss in the runway that is your artistry?

I think it’s more about the self-confidence. Trusting yourself is so hard, but once we start to trust ourselves we will be much happier than we was before, feeling that we have the power and energy to deal with all the challenges and opportunities ahead. Also, most importantly, “walking like a boss” also means that you are hopeful and are feeling amazing!

Your music is a unique reflection of who you are and how you see the world. Once you share it, though, it takes on meaning for everyone who listens. What do you hope that'll meaning be?

As a female and Asian music producer, I always feel I'm one of the odds because women in music is underrepresented in this industry. Music has a organic power to bring human connections. As an artist, I believe we have the power to heal, and to nurture self-confidence among audience. 'Skin' and 'New Classic' are two of my recent releases, that carry the message of body positivity and women empowerment. I felt like my music is not just to heal my audience but also me myself as a person as well. The interaction of the music, me, my listeners are not just one plus one plus one equals three, but it feels like this is a better world I’m building, at least we feel safe to channel out our insecurities and that we are able to love ourselves even more.

I think it is often underestimated how much an audience actually means for an artist. As you took your first steps into your artistry, when was the first time you kinda felt heard. When was it that you actually realised that we were listening?

That is very true. As an artist who made her debut during the year of the pandemic, I couldn’t get a lot of live concerts and due to social media algorithm I always struggled to get more presence as an independent artist, without label, self-funded and everything you see is me. I think I recently felt heard. When I did my first solo concert at Soho House Hong Kong and it sold out within a day and I had to release more tickets. And also, recently I performed at a local music festival as a headliner and I was so stunned that people would actually know how to sing some of my songs.

When do you first remember wanting to be an artist?

Since I was six, I guess. I always wanted to sing and then I performed at some local musical-theatres and choirs. Then as a typical Hong Kong family it was like that each kid has to pick up at least one instrument. So my mom sent me to learn the piano. I didn’t like it back then, but now I am quite thankful that I am able to play the piano. During my teenage years I was deeply influenced by a lot of western artists that sing while playing their instrument, like Taylor Swift and Demi Lovato, so I started to play pop on the piano and sing. And then I realized just a piano and my vocal felt like it was not enough for me to express myself, therefore during my university I used my free time to learn music production myself on YouTube and do trial and errors. This was how I found my identity as an artist, someone who can write, produce and perform all by myself, I still love to collaborate, but I am proud of this as this is not as an necessity but more of an artistic choice.

You seem to have quite a mixture of different influences. Are there any Nordic artists among them?

I always feel that Nordic artists are a hub that create really interesting music and pioneer in the pop music-industry. I love the records of Max Martin and my early influences are songs written and produced by Nordic musicians! But due to my background, I am from Hong Kong where mostly I also listened to Cantopop and also music from Taiwan, Japan and also KPOP, so I feel like a third-culture kid when it comes to “music upbringing” (laughs). Apart from my own independent artist project, I also write for KPOP artists, and through that I've made some good writer friends from Finland, Denmark and Sweden.

Any Nordic artists you'd love to collaborate with someday?

Zara Larsson is my all time idol! When it comes to overall artistry, I always look up to her and she has been my favorite idol. Some of my publicist friends always joke that my music can be marketed as an Asian version of Zara Larrson crossed with Rihanna with a bit of KPOP touch. I am actually preparing a collab single with Anniina Timonen, she is my best friend and a great artist from Finland. I also really love Sigrid, and Shy Martin.

I heard, last year I believe, that you would be releasing an album pretty much now?

I am releasing a EP before this summer. It sums up my debuting journey of my own sound “cosmic pop” in the past two years. It will include most of my previous releases, currently I am also still writing the debut full-length album, and 'New Classic' is actually a pre-release single. The track titles are stylized according to an oxymoron in literature, juxtaposing concepts and ideas, and showcasing my uniqueness by encapsulating the embodiment of many different contradictory qualities within one single person. I'm currently writing and producing this debut album with friends, most of whom are women! I'm also performing on Focus Wales, my first festival gig outside Hong Kong, on May 6!