INTERVIEW: WANYI on her latest single 'Loved You Once'
Hong Kong based singer-songwriter WANYI launched the latest chapter in her music career earlier this year with the single ‘Meet Me Tonight’ a slick, addictive low-key electropop track. She has since released two further singles, ‘All In’ and ‘Our Escape’ which were also full of shiny pop beats.
At the end of November she released fourth single ‘Loved You Once’. Marking a sonic departure from her previous releases, the song is a lush, moving R&B tinged ballad lamenting lost love. “‘Loved You Once’ is about meeting someone who I used to be close to, and realising that we’ve both grown and drifted apart”, WANYI explains. “Although feelings have changed, I’m still grateful to have met that person. It’s quite nostalgic and bittersweet.”
With a warm, rich voice and a talent for creating music that is honest, human and immediately connects with you, WANYI is one artist to keep a close watch on as she prepares to release her debut EP next year. We recently caught up with her to find out more.
Hey WANYI! Thanks for taking the time to chat to us. 2020 has been quite a year - how is everything in your world at the moment?
Thank you for having me! It’s an honour. Everything’s great, I have been celebrating the release of my latest single ‘Loved You Once’, my fourth release this year. This song means a lot to me and I’m glad that it is finally out so I can share this song with everyone.
On that note, congratulations on the release of ‘Loved You Once’ it is such a beautiful track. Can you talk us through the inspiration behind the track?
‘Loved You Once’ is about meeting someone who I used to be close to, and realising that we’ve both grown and drifted apart. Although feelings have changed, I’m still grateful to have met that person. It’s quite nostalgic and bittersweet.
Can you talk us through a little bit of the creative process for the song? Who you worked with, the writing process etc?
I worked with Nick Sheldon, who produced the song, and Conner Reeves, who co-wrote the song with us. I wanted to keep the production atmospheric and moody to reflect the nostalgia and contemplative emotions in the lyrics. At 0:40 in the first pre-chorus, there was a "sigh" in the original demo that I wanted to keep in the final version.
Being in Hong Kong these past few months has really inspired me too. The city looks so beautiful at night, all glowing in gold and neon lights. I wanted that to be reflected in the song somehow, so I chose to shoot the cover artwork in a taxi because that’s the image I had in my head when I was writing the song - on my way home after meeting this person. I also imagined rain and city lights, and everything being blue and gold. Blue represents sadness and nostalgia, but it’s in the background, symbolising the sad times are over. Gold is the colour of the city at night and represents a different perspective of looking at the past.
The track is from your upcoming debut EP - what can we expect on this EP?
This EP is a snapshot of my world, my innermost thoughts and feelings weaved into pop songs that hopefully make you want to sing along. Musically, I like my lyrics to feel very personal, almost like they’re diary entries. I love using analogue sounds inspired by the 80s and 90s in my music, though I would describe my sound as pop with hints of R&B and electronic inflections.
The EP will be out sometime in February 2021 and there will be 5 songs on it, most of which I wrote in the past year. In these songs, I think there’s an underlying theme of self discovery and choosing love over fear. In almost every song, you can hear me stumbling and falling in love as I figure out who I am in the process.
If we go back to the beginning, what role did music play in your life when you were growing up?
I’ve always been drawn to music, though no one else in my family is a musician. I grew up listening to whatever my parents and my older siblings were listening to. When I was really young I was in a choir and I used to join singing competitions, talent shows, that kind of thing. I played classical piano but I was always more interested in more contemporary styles like pop, R&B, musical theatre and jazz. That naturally developed into playing and singing together, and that turned into making melodies and then songs.
Growing up, I used to feel alone, even when I had people around me. I think I’m quite a sensitive person and I feel things very deeply. When I’m in a room with other people I find that I tend to ‘absorb’ what they’re feeling and their energy. Songwriting helps me process how I’m feeling or what I’m thinking. It makes me feel safe and helps me express myself.
How did your career in music get started?
I studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts on a scholarship, where I majored in songwriting and performance. I graduated from Berklee and in 2018 I moved to Taipei to explore the music scene there (at that time I was also traveling to Shanghai, Beijing, and Chengdu), but I moved back to Hong Kong in 2019 as my family is based here.
I released some music under my old artist name CELINE, mostly collaborations. I wrote the English version of the Chinese song ‘學貓叫’ (‘Learn To Meow’ for TikTok and it went viral, but I felt like it didn’t accurately represent my sound and wasn’t the kind of music that I personally enjoy and listen to. So I decided to change my artist name to WANYI, which comes from my Chinese name 宛儀, (Wan Yi)and released my debut single ‘Meet Me Tonight’ in April 2020. Since then, I’ve been working between Hong Kong and London, as most of my team is in the UK.
Who are the artists that have inspired you, both when you were a kid, and now as a professional musician.
I grew up listening to a lot of pop - Taylor Swift, Christina Aguilera, Backstreet Boys, N’Sync, and Westlife. Now, I love artists like Troye Sivan, Ariana Grande, Zara Larsson and Lauv.
The music industry has traditionally not been hugely respectful of female singers, probably because it has been run by older, straight, white men for so long. What are your thoughts on sexism and gender equality in the music industry?
Things are changing. They’re better than where they were before but nowhere near as good as they should be. It’s 2020 now, we need to see more female players in the industry!
2020 has been a bit of a car crash, we have had the coronavirus pandemic, racism, police brutality, bushfires and everything in between. In amongst all of these horrors, what do you think the positives have been?
I think the world has become a lot more connected and compassionate through technology. People are more sensitive to each other now and more open to talking about mental health and how different issues affected them.
Personally, I have spent more time with loved ones. I’ve also written more songs because of the lockdown. I’ve performed a few virtual shows online, through Instagram and eMusic Live, where I dive into my songwriting process and play stripped back versions of my songs. I love hanging out with my fans and hearing what they think.
What else is on the horizon for you - for the rest of the year and going into next year?
Finishing up my EP, staying healthy, spending time with loved ones, and working on upgrading my studio.
‘Loved You Once’ is out now. You can download on iTunes and stream on Apple Music, Spotify and Soundcloud.
To keep up with all things WANYI you can follow her on Instagram and Facebook.
