One of the performers at Majulah Weekender: Schools, a Gen Z-er with songs that touch the hearts of their generation and the boomers (fyi, give ‘STARBEAM’ a listen) and lastly, a singer to watch out for, here, an interview with Leeray themself about their latest single with PravOnTheloose titled ‘Side Eyes’.
Hi Leeray, how’s it going?
Hi Men’s Folio! I’m good!! Thanks so much for having me!
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Can you perhaps, remember your first pop obsession?
Omg wow um, probably Ariana Grande on Victorious and actually just that whole show. I still listen to the songs now and it’s also my comfort show, I’ve probably watched each episode like 10 times.
I also used to go crazy over K-pop, I would Bluetooth everything onto my Sony Ericson when I was like eight.
Did you also perhaps used to perform in front of your family when you were young?
Haha! This is actually super funny because I recently picked up the piano or like, am still trying to pick it up. I learnt how to play ‘champagne problems’ by Taylor Swift and I basically forced my mum and dad to hear me play.
But yeah when I was young, probably like once, as I hardly ever wanted to actually sing in front of people just cause I had (and kinda still have) really bad stage fright.
With STARBEAM being your first single, what were you trying to say about yourself as Leeray, the artist?
I don’t think I thought that far yet when I put that song out. I just wrote that song because I needed so badly to get over this one guy and like nothing was really helping me get it out of my system.
I was definitely not going to tell him so I kinda just word-vomited my feelings into a song and it became ‘STARBEAM’ but when I really tried to make music, I realised writing ‘STARBEAM’ helped push me a lot to just say what I want.
How about X-RAY the album then? Which song do you like the most and why?
Oh no, I’m gonna be such a cliché and say ‘it changes from time to time’ but it really does! Right now, it’s a tie between ‘God Forbid’ and ‘Westmoon Bby’ though because those two songs helped me get out of really bad places that I was in and I really loved the way I emotionally, lyrically and sonically expressed those two specific points in my life. Shoutout to FREMADETHIS).
Making ‘X-RAY’ was way more intentional than ‘STARBEAM’ as I had a storyline I wanted to tell with the EP. I knew what I wanted to say right away: just basically how I grew from heartbreak and how it can change someone entirely.
‘STARBEAM’ was so bitter and ‘Westmoon Bby’ which is literally about the same person is the total opposite: willingly embracing that some people aren’t meant for each other.
How did you come about composing ‘Side Eyes’? Is it a personal story?
‘Side Eyes’ was for Majulah Weekender and I made that song with Prav in literally just two days from scratch. When I came onto the show, I had finished a majority of the EP and I was like honestly wrung out of things to write about which actually became a good thing because ‘having fun’ was something Prav and the entire Majulah crew really pushed for which was super counter-intuitive for me because I’m a very anxious person.
The song became very cheeky and I ended up writing about basically ‘flirting out of boredom’ which is exactly the headspace I was in, hahaha. It’s probably the most light-hearted track I’ve ever made, still sort of dreamy and mellow though cause that’s just me.
Come to think of it, how much of your music is you?
The first thing I fell in deep love with about music was songwriting so I write everything myself. Everything on ‘X-RAY’ is about a certain point in my life that I had a hard time coming out of and so I just always end up using songwriting and music as a vessel.
Of course, I work with a brilliant producer, Fre, who’s also my close friend so that just makes everything more fun.
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Lastly, what’re you the most excited about this year? Besides performing at Majulah Weekender of course.
I’m working on my next project, probably another EP but maybe a few singles before that so I’m super excited about sharing those before I have to go serve the country, haha, but plenty of music for sure.
The Majulah Weekender: Schools episode is available for your viewing pleasure on Instagram TV and YouTube. As for Leeray and PravOnTheLoose’s single, it’s available for streaming on all platforms.
Once you’re done with this interview with Leeray, click here to catch up with our May 2022 issue!
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