 |
Current mood:  adventurous
With a readership of over one million per month, Oryx Magazine is the award-winning inflight magazine of Qatar Airlines, a leader in luxury airlines.
I was lucky enough to land a feature in the February issue, and its probably my favourite article yet - the journalist did a superb job....Mr Feel Good
Words: Alexandria Gouveia
Photos: Victoria Zschommler
Yeo Hann Choong is turning the world’s attention to the antipodeanmusic scene with his sweet and soulful sound.
Life isn’t a set of train tracks that you’re put on when you were born. If you don’t want to do something, don’t do it, even if everyone else is doing it,” says 22-year-old Yeo Hann Choong in a manner reminiscent of Forrest Gump. But far from being like the film’s simpleton, Yeo, as he is commonly known, is one of the rare new kids on the block with a brain; no mass marketing cogs are forcing him to churn out mediocre tunes.
A former masters student in audiology – he quit the course to concentrate on music – Yeo has an uncanny mathematical precision when it comes to his lyrics and sound. His debut album Trouble Being Yourself exposes this talent as well as his undeniable vocal similarities to Jaime Cullum and N.E.R.D. Fusing hip hop, pop and jazz, it’s difficult to determine who inspires Yeo.
“Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo, Timbaland, Scott Storch, Andre 3000,” he reels off. But just as I try to label him a hip hop act he fervently continues: “I also love superstar performers like Michael Jackson and Justin Timberlake who really have an amazing sound and stage presence; Lauryn Hill teaches me so much about music and human nature.
“Nothing makes me happier than funk, soul and Motown – Stevie Wonder, Al Green, Curtis Mayfield – and there are a few modern artists doing their own take on it – Amy Winehouse, Jamie Lidell. I give huge respect to Daft Punk. I have a selection of garden variety guitar-driven rock bands from Nirvana to Led Zeppelin, to Rage Against The Machine and Queens of the Stone Age…”
Stopping him before he lists every musician known to mankind, it’s clear Yeo cannot be pigeonholed. Hisn eclectic taste results in a sound that’s something of a musical casserole with an amalgamation of sweet, sour and soulful tunes coated by thick vocals that, when heated, emulate the sound of a powerful 10-piece band. From ballads to old-school funk beats and rock, Yeo hopes to appeal to the wider audiences by offering a sample of everything.
“I want to keep surprising people,” he enthuses.His lyrics are devised to make people happy. “I want my lyrics to express that, at the end of the day, we’re all doing our best to get along with everyone else. If we can understand that, then honest mistakes aren’t such a heavy blow and we realise that staying angry achieves nothing,” he says idealistically. It’s this philosophical attitude that could see him equal fellow Aussie Sam Sparro’s global success.
“I think Sam Sparro has a great voice and brilliant penmanship. To crack the UK and the US, I would probably have a bigger chance by doing the opposite of Mr Sparro,” the singer half jokes. “I need to be everywhere, but not necessarily all at once because that can really damage your audience before you’ve won them over; a strong multifaceted viral marketing campaign that grows organically to the point where opinions on my music are difficult to ignore because of word of mouth.” With Australia now out on the big screen and Hugh Jackman recently voted the world’s sexiest man, the spotlight is on the continent, making it an ideal time for new artists to launch their careers. “Attention towards Australia is growing. The closed minds of the population are opening up,”confirms Yeo, who is making the most of this by working on six new EP tracks and touring Australia with his band, The Fresh Goods. Unable to play all of his instruments when he performs live, Yeo put the band together. The Fresh Goods consist of a keyboarder, a trumpeter, a bassist, a drummer and Yeo on lead vocals, alternating between guitar and synthesizer.
Ever sagacious, baby-faced Yeo is aware of how his image plays a role, but rather than go down the clean, tailored Jonas Brothers route, he opts for T-shirts and jeans. “Nothing too flashy. I’m that quiet kid who wanted to be your friend, so I lent you a toy in kindergarten,” he says, becoming a potential favourite for mums and nans. “The music should speak for itself without visuals getting in the way.
”Despite his innocent exterior, Yeo’s adamant he won’t be ripped off by managers. But, having nicknamed himself “Mr Feel Good”, one can’t help but think he’s too nice (or too cheesy) for this cutthroat industry. “I’m not at all prepared for fame,”he admits, adding demurely, “I don’t even consider that it might be coming.”
Yet with his first album gaining avid attention, fame could be just around the corner for Yeo. Modest but not without ambition, on his future he muses: “Hopefully I’ll be alive, somewhere overseas, touring and writing on a tour bus with my closest friends. I really hope to have improved my singing voice and be so well practiced that I can effortlessly play a perfect set to thousands of people with a hot band.”
10:27 AM
Powered by  | | English | | Albanian | | Arabic | | Bulgarian | | Catalan | | Chinese | | Croatian | | Czech | | Danish | | Dutch | | Estonian | | Filipino | | Finnish | | French | | Galician | | German | | Greek | | Hebrew | | Hindi | | Hungarian | | Indonesian | | Italian | | Japanese | | Korean | | Latvian | | Lithuanian | | Maltese | | Norwegian | | Polish | | Portuguese | | Romanian | | Russian | | Serbian | | Slovak | | Slovenian | | Spanish | | Swedish | | Thai | | Turkish | | Ukrainian | | Vietnamese |
|