Emerging Singaporean artists Regina Song and WHYLUCAS gave credit to social media for helping their songs, the cutest pair and Fall, gain listeners in the international scene during an exclusive interview with The STAR on the sidelines of “DISTRICT M: A Marina Central Festival.”
The young musicians, who are both in their early 20s, were among the homegrown artists featured in the second edition of the music festival held in Singapore on Oct. 4 and 5.
“Having social media is wonderful. Honestly, it’s actually a skillset. I feel like nowadays being a musician encompasses being a social media marketer as well, so it is definitely something that comes along with the job. But I feel that it has helped me in the sense where I can promote my music without leaving my bedroom much as compared to back then when you had to go around selling CDs,” WHYLUCAS, whose real name is Lucas Wang, said.
“Nowadays, you just upload a clip of a video with your audio clip and chances are if the song is catchy, it may blow up. And if it doesn’t, you always have another song to market.”
Fall and Lonely People were among the songs that gained traction on TikTok. He said that creating content with his grandmother greatly helped his music. “She actually helped me market, she made the videos very funny. She’s always very spotting, so it boosted my Lonely People and Fall to numbers that I wouldn’t have expected a few years ago.”
Meanwhile, Regina got candid about the challenges of content creation. “I think the biggest challenge is creating content that resonates with fans. Because I had to do a lot of brainstorming, a lot of research on how to maybe help people get to know my music better and how to reach bigger audiences. And it’s always about trying to engage the fans, so definitely engaging the fans with a captivating story would be one of the challenges.”
The 20-year-old singer-songwriter is known to create songs that encapsulate the experiences of a teenage girl. Apart from having her track go viral on TikTok, it was connecting with fans that sent her to cloud nine. “I’m definitely very flattered and very happy that so many fans around the world like my song. It started out as a really cute, simple song that I wrote to confess to my crush. And I kind of encouraged my fans to use the song to confess to their crushes as well.”
When The STAR asked for her reaction to having Filipino fans, the student-musician expressed her interest in holding a concert in the Philippines.
“Mostly they’re in my comments and I see like ‘Love from Philippines.’ Ever since my career started, I have lots of fans from Philippines. And I would really love to go over one day to play a show, meet the fans.”
Regina said that she is open to collaborating with Filipino-Australian music artist grentperez, whom she opened for during his show in Singapore. “I would love to collaborate with him. I think it’ll be a nice jazzy song. Probably a nice jazzy song about my favorite love trope called mutual pining.”
Lucas, on the other hand, had interactions with Filipinos during his busking days along Orchard Road. “I used to busk a lot on Orchard Road. So, I meet people from the Philippines here and there. But I’m actually very excited to perform my music to such a big crowd in the Philippines.”
He also praised Filipinos for having a “natural” talent for singing. “I know that the Philippines has great singers. I feel like anyone in the Philippines can sing better than me. I’m just a Singaporean dude trying to make music here.”
If the 22-year-old student-musician were given the chance to collaborate with a Filipino artist, Lola Amour would be his top choice.
“One day, if I’m very fortunate enough to meet them, I will definitely try to get to know them. And wonder how they’re so good. Lola Amour with Raining in Manila just blew my mind off. I really dug deep into the production of the song because I really like the way and how funky it sounds a little bit. It’s such a bop.”
Cementing their names in the international music scene has always been the goal for the Singaporean artists. Regina and Lucas consider “DISTRICT M” as their stepping stone in achieving this dream.
“It feels like an honor for sure because a lot of artists that I really like performed (in) the first one. So exciting to be performing for this year’s ‘DISTRICT M.’ I’m really happy that I get to take part in this year’s show,” she quipped.
“I’m honestly very stoked and amazed to even have this chance because I’ve always dreamed of playing with a full band at a slightly bigger stage than my usual school events. I’m surrounded by very great musicians, so very excited to connect as well as just showcase my music,” he added.
For the second time, The STAR was able to experience “DISTRICT M” unfold, including watching the two budding homegrown artists at Suntec Plaza last Oct. 5.