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What took Nathan Hartono so long to debut in China?

The Singaporean singer explains why he did not wish to capitalise on his Sing! China fame to debut in the Chinese music scene

What took Nathan Hartono so long to debut in China?
Video: Goh Wen KaiIt has been more than a year since Nathan Hartono made waves for being the
first Singaporean finalist in Chinese reality singing competition, Sing! China, and the 28-year-old is finally ready to take on the mammoth music scene in China with his debut Mandarin EP, set for an April or May release.

In the lead up to his highly-anticipated debut, he released his first Mandarin track, a remake rendition of ‘Electricity’, a few weeks ago and followed up on the hype by dropping two music videos shot by Tokyo-based photographer Leslie Kee.

Between now and then, it was as if Nathan’s singing career took a backseat as he went on to spearhead several campaigns (he is the Chinese Language Learning ambassador and is one of the new faces fronting the Singapore Tourism Board’s ‘Passion Made Possible’ rebranding campaign), did a theatre show (The Great Wall) and acted in a web series for DBS Sparks. Meanwhile, the China reality TV show had a second successful run with more representation from Singapore - most notably jazz singer Joanna Dong who flew our nation’s flag high by coming in third in the finals last year.

Explaining why he did not “strike while the iron’s hot” to debut in China, following the hype around his participation on the programme, Nathan said, “I wanted to make sure I work with people who are interested in carrying out an actual musical career in their journey as opposed to [working with people who see it as an opportunity on] how-can-we-capitalise-on-Sing! China.”

Explaining the eclectic concept of his 'Electricity' music video, Nathan shared: "We wanted something different and less conventional, something that’s not the traditional idea of what beauty or love would look like." (Photo: Leslie Kee)



He received plenty of offers from Chinese music labels keen to take him under their wings, but their “cookie cutter template” and “formulaic” plans did not appeal to him.

That and the thought of relegating creative control over his “music, videos and photoshoots” which he has had since the start of his singing career in 2009, plus the idea of being tied down to a contract for “9 to 10 years minimum” was unattractive to say the least.

So he did what had to be done and opened his own company, which he co-owns with a few partners and investors, in China and will be working with Warner Music in terms of distribution and licensing his music in the market.

“It basically ensures that I’m not trapped in a contract for too long with no control whatsoever,” he explained. “Because I’ve been doing this (music) for a while and I don’t want to spend the next few years in China back in square one as well… being stuck in the weird kind of nowhere land that the entertainment scene can sometimes be. So, yeah, I just wanted to make sure we’re covering all our bases.”

Navigating his way around the Chinese market with no prior experience or “connections” (‘guan xi’ as they call it in China) can be an uphill task, but Nathan expressed faith in his partners, one of them has been working in the music industry for many years and has experience in the music scene in China as well as Japan.

“Definitely, with every kind of industry, connections help. But at the end of the day, it’s really just [about] figuring out where I sit in that scene and what I can bring to the table. You can only rely on connections for so long and at some point it becomes about what you do, what is your music, and what do you have to offer,” he quipped, during his interview with Toggle.

(Continued on next page: Nathan approached 'Electricity' bearing Jay Chou's advice in mind)



Jay Chou, his mentor on Sing! China, we learned, had zero input in Nathan’s debut Mandarin EP too, in fact, when asked if they are still in contact right now, Nathan replied, with a wry smile, “No… we’re just like hi-bye friends, you know?”Still, he approached the Mandarin edition of ‘Electricity’ with
Jay’s advice in mind when the latter gave him input about the song during their first meeting.

“He was very honest with me and very casual with letting me know the parts that he thought worked [and] can be improved, and I kept a few of those in mind,” he shared.

All five songs on Nathan’s Mandarin EP are original compositions – two of which are previously released tracks which will feature alongside three brand new songs. For now, the singer says he still needs help with his songs’ lyrics which he works on with a lyricist, but he is dead set on doing his own songwriting in the near future.

Heading into uncharted waters and with his Mandarin-speaking abilities still a work-in-progress, Nathan acknowledged that it is “a risk” to pursue a career in China, but he isn’t going to let the ‘what ifs’ intimidate or define him.

They say having the right mindset is half the battle won and Nathan’s biggest strength perhaps lies in his matured mentality and grounded approach towards this possibly life-changing career move.

Nathan's music video was shot in La Cittadella entertainment center in Tokyo. (Photo: Leslie Kee)



The singer-songwriter is ready to conquer the market with aplomb and a carpe diem approach, and will base himself in Beijing for a good part of 2018 to work on his debut which may either succeed or—in his words—“totally flop and be dead on arrival”.

“I’m not super concerned [about not making it] because I think what’s kept me fairly stable over the years is, despite high and low points, success and failure, attention or no attention, media hype or no media hype, I think I’ve always been fairly stable in knowing my own ability and talent, and knowing what I’m good at and how to do it. So there’s always been a security [knowing] that I’ll be alright,” the singer said with aplomb.

“I don’t really base too much of my personal value on success, but more so on how I feel about the music I put out, if it’s something I can be proud of…I’m not ashamed of that, I’m happy it’s out in the world, and I’m happy people heard it. That is what I base my self-worth on.”

WATCH: Did Jay Chou give Nathan any guidance on his new album?

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