What is new single Trophy Girl about? How many instruments you she play? Will she be releasing an EP? Wei Wei sat down with Music Promotions to discuss all that and much more.
Can you tell everyone more about your single ‘Trophy Girl’? Trophy Girl is about the breakup of a long term relationship, I was expected to be this perfect girlfriend and I could never live up to his expectations. I wanted to write about being free from that. Nowadays people are getting married later, you live with your partner before marriage and get a feel of what married life would look like before you actually marry. The song is about the other person seeing the woman’s role in a relationship being very traditional – cooking and cleaning and how a girl should look like as well.
Is this a good indication of the style we can expect to hear more of from you?
I love pop music and electronic music so anything along those parameters will probably be what I end up putting out, that being said, my music is always evolving so that’s not to say I won’t ever put out something different. I am open to that, but pop is the style I am drawn to.
You play violin, guitar and piano which did you find the most difficult to learn? Do you have a preferred instrument you like to play now? I think the Violin was the most difficult to learn, I also think it’s the one I liked to play the least because my mom would watch me rehearse for hours on end and being a rebel, that made me not want to do it despite being pretty decent at it. when you enjoy something, it does become easier. In Chinese culture you are given a choice between Piano and Violin, my mom said ‘you have to play something’ so I was like ‘I will play guitar’ because I can sing pop music with the guitar. It felt more comfortable to me to sing with than piano. That didn’t go over very well but my stepdad is American and allowed me to go in that direction. When I write my music, I write it completely acapella and if I am producing something or working with a producer I will play it on the piano, I think guitar is easiest because it’s the most transportable and I feel it’s the easiest instrument to write with.
Are you currently working towards an EP or album? I wrote a three song Ep and then my team and I decided it would be better to put the music out as singles, I think today people are putting out singles and that strategy seems to work better. When I wrote ‘Trophy Girl’ it was for an Ep I haven’t sorted out if I’ll release the songs as singles or an EP yet. it’s still up in the air but at some point, I will definitely release an EP and an album.
How are you inspired as a songwriter? From life experiences, for me being a songwriter helps me process my emotions, so when I write something it will come from a situation and how I am feeling and that will help understand myself better and sort things out. I am inspired by the chaotic events that’s happen. In the beginning of my songwriting journey, I knew I wanted to sing and writing was a product of that. I didn’t want anyone else to write my music it was difficult initially, I had to push for ideas but then I realized if I was open when ideas came to me and put them down on to a voice memo, the ideas would come from there without having to push and reach for it.
What songwriters and other artists do you look up to? Growing up I was into Britney Spears, Destiny’s Child and Christina Aguilera, they were the first CDs I requested from my parent for Christmas and they definitely inspired me. Britney was one of those people that I looked up to and wanted to be like when I was a kid.
You also work as Business Intelligence Developer at HBO how did you get started in this career? I started my career in technology and management consulting and I went to college for operations and information management and minored in economics, mainly because my parents told me I had to have a real job (laughs) which I am grateful for because the music business can be expensive for getting your songs out there and marketing. I am a analytical person as well as a creative person, I started my career in the “application integration and development group ”, helping clients customize software for their businesses and then my career developed from there and I have been doing it for some time now. I like what I do and I love music, I would love to be able to do music full time but for not my tech career supports that and I enjoy it.
What advice would you give anyone wanting to start a career in music or in business? Do not give up! It can be a rollercoaster, one day you feel really great about yourself and you can do it and then there are other days and you will be like what am I doing? That is totally normal, you hear about trusting the process and that is so true because if anything in life is meant for you it will be there. I also think it can be overwhelming to ask yourself,” how do I get to the point where I am played on the radio and everyone knows my name?” but then you also have to come back to the root of you creating because you are called to it wether you like it or not. Also, if it has been done, that is proof it can be done, so you can do it!
Do you think social media helps with getting your music out there easier? At the end of the day, it’s not an easy business and with social media, the market is extremely saturated but despite that, it is much easier to do it on your own now, whereas back in the day there were certain people that you had to be connected to in order to get your music out, now you can get your music out independently, you just have to figure out how to do it and think outside the box sometimes.
Would you like your own fashion line one day? Down the line I would like to release an album and a clothing line that has the theme of the album kind of like have a ‘runway show’ in conjunction with the album release, I love fashion so much I would love to do that one day.
Any touring plans? I love performing, I miss it so much. I would love to tour my music everywhere but, in the meantime, I perform locally and I love doing it.
What is next for you? I am just going to keep releasing music and performing, more music is coming out this year.
