LSA100: Rising Ace Gaston Pong can have his birthday cake and eat it, too

When it comes to making music, singer-songwriter and prolific record producer Gaston Pong has long enjoyed the view from behind the scenes — but this year, he is ready for a major artistic breakthrough. This year, the world will see Gaston in his full-fledged form.

There’s a lyric in the song “i luv u, just kidding”, in which Gaston Pong, lamenting a short-lived situationship, sings: “You hate the dictionary; ain’t don’t wanna be defined.” This single tongue-in-cheek line proves prophetic — it would come to be the definitive guide on how he navigates his own career: free, unfettered, and most importantly, without any boundaries.

At 26, Gaston has achieved so much in so little time. He spent the better part of his youth as a child singer. In 2017 he and his sister, JE Pong, formed the musical duo Pong Pong, which went on to dominate the local Chinese music scene. And all the while he’s been writing, composing and producing music for artists across the region. His musical portfolio has surpassed a whopping 70 songs, spanning almost all the quasi-Asian pop music genres, including C-pop and K-pop. This year marks Gaston’s English debut in music, with the release of his two latest singles, “i luv u, just kidding” and “Birthday Cake”. (Fun fact, the latter was a demo track he wrote for Luhan, a former member of K-pop group EXO.)

Gaston’s sound is a pleasant blend of dance pop, R&B and hip hop. Listening to the bulk of his oeuvre, I can’t help juxtaposing him with the likes of musicians-turned-producers Jack Antonoff, FINNEAS, The Weeknd and also Suga (thanks to the strong K-pop influence). His range is all-encompassing, but he has a distinctive style that shines through. For as long as he can remember, Gaston tells me, music has been a huge part of his life. It’s the language he is most fluent in; the ideal form of communication with which he can express himself — and that’s a pretty hefty statement to make for someone who’s actually multilingual, as he is. And he always, always has something to share with the world. It’s plain to see that Gaston is someone whose creative well never runs dry.

He’s a natural storyteller, though you wouldn’t be able to tell at first glance. He cuts an intimidating figure from the moment he shows up to the set of our shoot: there are tattoos lining his arm; hidden beneath a cap are his spiked, bleached hair and eyebrows (“—and balding,” he adds with a laugh, evidently self-aware); and he spends a lot of the afternoon skulking about the studio space, keeping mostly to himself.

On the surface, Gaston may not seem like a man of many words. But as soon as we’re seated and we’re talking music, it’s as if a spool comes unravelling — and I can only listen with rapture.

So, first of all, I have to tell you — I’ve been listening to both your songs on repeat. They’re really, really good!

Oh, thank you!

Let’s rewind a little bit here. How did your interest in music spark in the first place?

My background is actually — well, I was a child star. I had a record label when I was two. My contract lasted till I was ten, so that’s eight years I’ve been in the industry already. I was signed to a local Chinese record label; we were doing nursery rhymes and children’s songs. Then, you know, we all had that rebellious phase when we were teenagers. I remember in high school, I really hated music.

You didn’t want to have anything to do with it?

Yeah. ‘Cause in those eight years we had music video shoots and national tours, going to Sabah and Sarawak, performing shows for audiences of thousands and talking to the press and everything. And as a kid, I just felt sick of it. I thought, ‘Ah! I don’t have my childhood.’ I didn’t really enjoy myself, or have fun. Then when I was 15, I started writing my own music. I taught myself. I used to be a very bad pianist; I never used to pass the exams because I hated reading sheet music notes. But later I realised I had the ability to play songs on the piano by ear. I would just jump onto the piano and hum melodies; that got me into music clubs, and to learn music professionally.

So, you fell in love with music again.

I did, yeah. It slowly got me back into music as a hobby. My career only started when I made the duo with my sister. We started a duo because I had music production knowledge, and JE had already made it; she was part of a girl group. I felt that the music scene was really difficult to penetrate back then, so I told my sister, “Maybe I can be your manager.” And she actually asked me, “Why?” When I told her it was really hard, she said, “We could make a duo together, and we can cover for each other.” So we made songs and toured and everything for four years straight. I thank my sister, ‘cause that’s when my career really skyrocketed. She linked me up with studios, music producers. It’s been six years. I mean, I’m not even a music student, you know? Everything I learned was through YouTube or masterclasses I paid for online. It kinda feels like I’ve been breaking the boundaries in that way.

That’s really amazing! Congrats on coming this far.

Thank you.

Now to fast-forward, how would you describe the past year for you in your career? Especially, you know, with the choice to release your own music? What pushed you to pursue that now?

I feel like I went through phases of trying to fit into the industry’s tastes and the ‘requirements’. I’ve had to follow through with their steps, being told, “You have to do this. You can’t do that.” I was signed on to a Beijing label, so, you know, you kinda have to be a certain way. Be a ‘good boy’. Keep up a good image, look cute and all, like, oh my god. This year I just want to be free and happy, and to be expressive. I feel like I’ve been shutting down my artistic side. I’ve just been writing to fit my label’s expectations or, like, the industry’s ‘trends’. This year, I just want to sing what I want. And to tell my stories through music.

And how did you realise that decision of yours?

Previously, I’ve been doing a lot of bringing new elements to the Chinese music scene. But I feel like I’m just more myself when I do English pop. Because I can be very straightforward when I write. And the two singles I released this year all on my own, I was very surprised with the response. With my first single, I was like, ‘Is anyone even gonna listen to it?’ No one knows who I am. The urban crowd doesn’t really know Gaston. But I thought, ‘Let me just try my luck and see how it’s gonna go.’ And the outcome has been good! They’ve been getting a pretty great number of streams. And it feels good, ‘cause I can just talk about stories without needing to hide or fit into ‘boxes’. In writing “Birthday Cake”, I can say things like, oh shit and f—k as an expression. I think I’ve just become a lot more expressive from when I first stepped into the English music scene.

That’s a really bold step, thanks for sharing! Sounds like it’s been quite an eventful year for you then.

I was just, like, testing the waters. I didn’t know where it would lead me, but it was the kind of situation where one step would lead to another. I never realised it before, especially this year. You know, I’ve been a K-pop fan since I was ten years old, but my background as a Chinese songwriter made me who I am today. And through that too, this year I had a chance to write a song for a South Korean artist, GRASS, for her Chinese single. I never thought I could get that dream of getting into the South Korean music industry and working with South Koreans, or even fathom that I could get there. But one step leads to another.

So, I just want to tell people — you have to trust the process. At times you don’t know where you’re heading to, but sometimes that ‘not knowing’ and exploring gives you the knowledge that you need, to do something you’ve always wanted. So I’m very, very happy this year. I worked on many, many, many songs. I think this year, I sold around 20 to 30 songs. It’s been a crazy year for me.

And it doesn’t seem to stop, right? So, creatively, what are the differences between writing and performing your own songs, versus writing for others?

Very different. I feel like when Gaston writes for Gaston, it’s all about his stories. Like in “i luv u, just kidding”, I talk about a “situationship”. When I was writing it, I realised, ‘Oh! It’s, like, a thing now.’ Everyone’s in situationships these days, undefined relationships. And I don’t think any [local] label would let me write about that. But on my own, I can write whatever I like. Whereas when I write for artists, it’s more of fulfilling their requirements — but it’s fun.

There are artists who went through breakups, divorce and everything; they come to me and they’re like, “I really want to make a song about it. How can you help me put it together in music?” It’s really fun creating with artists and helping them tell their stories. I wrote for Isaac Voo last year, for his debut single — I wrote, composed and produced the whole song for him. That felt like magic. I was sitting in the studio with him, and that was surreal to me, especially as a K-pop fan.

With the songs you make, do you write them first before selling them? How do you decide which songs that you write would fit certain artists? Or in this case, ‘find their owners’? What goes into that process?

Usually, there are two processes in this industry. It’s either the artist that comes to you (the producer) to tailor-make a song for them from scratch. There’s also a second option where the label would ask publishers or agencies, “Is there a song for my artist?” That’s more like a submission process. I wrote a song back then, for a friend who committed suicide, called “Spark(花火)”. But because I never really wanted to pursue my Chinese career, I put it in my vault. And there’s this artist, Janice Yan — the voice of The Little Mermaid in Taiwan. I thought, ‘Maybe I should give it a shot and see if she likes the song.’ And her label really loved it, and published it. I was wowed. Janice resonates with the story, ‘cause she’s also an advocate for mental health. It makes me very, very happy when the songs I write from my own personal stories have an impact on other artists, and the audience. And when the song came out, there were a lot of comments saying, “This song really helped me.”

That’s very beautiful. The writing process can get quite personal, and no doubt you draw inspiration from your own life and experiences — whether you’re writing for yourself or for others. So as an artist, do you try to evoke certain emotional responses from your audience with your songs, or would you rather leave them up to their own interpretation?

I feel like it depends. Mmm, that’s a tough question. (Laughs) It’s like, do I want to suggest the emotions for them? Or do I just let them be the judge, right? I feel like, to me, it’s about being genuine to your own emotions. Because when you try to hide it, or you don’t express it fully, people won’t feel it, you know? Like with my song “Birthday Cake”, I talk about my heartbreak. I talk about losing that last chance of seeing somebody, and being disappointed in yourself because you messed up your relationship. And with that song, a lot of people resonated with it. I think people resonate with that sadness.

Yeah, definitely. I feel like heartbreak is quite a universal feeling, right?

Yes, that heartbreak. And sometimes the feeling that you really messed up — I think people can really resonate with it. No matter what. Like, whether I’m wanting them to feel something or whatever, I feel like if the process is genuine and it expresses your emotions fully, I think people would feel it. You just have to stay true to what you feel.

On the topic of creative expression, do you think it’s good to give so much of that personal side of you to the public, or do you feel that there should be some kind of compartmentalisation between the personal and the professional?

I’ve spoken to people and they’re like, “My public or Instagram ‘image’ doesn’t have to be me.” And to me, that’s half-true. I’m quite low-key. I don’t really post much about my life on social media besides work. It’s also about me feeling comfortable with it, because I don’t wanna care about what people say about me online. There’s a lot of toxicity. For me, when the comments come in, I wanna think, ‘Oh, that’s just part of work.’ So that’s how I dissociate. But if we’re talking about making music, my emotions are really my fuel. I can’t write out of nothing. Music is like a diary for me, and writing songs helps me give closure to myself. It helps me process my emotions and move on from my hardships. But what I don’t like is, when I release the song, I have to tap back into the emotions. It’s like, ‘Okay, now I have to tell everyone that I’m in my heartbreak era.’ Or, ‘I have to let everyone know that I’m in a situationship.’ (laughs) But I love writing about human stories. Because people can always resonate with that.

And it always feels so good. Like when you’ve written it, and you put it out there and you get that closure — it feels so good, right?

Yeah! And it feels so good because you realise that people do feel this way, too. It’s like, you’re not alone in this. It gives me more ‘closure’ too, to know that other people can understand and share in the same feeling.

When it comes to your style, mixing dance pop, R&B and hip-hop — have you always wanted to delve into this particular genre? How did you pick it up?

To be honest, I’ve been more of a pop guy from day one. I like melodies that are catchy. I want to make a pop hit one day, maybe write a hit song for K-pop or Hollywood, right? But — and this is quite a cute story — I dated a rapper and started to appreciate rap music more. We were driving to rap music every day, we would freestyle together during our date nights and all. So, I’m really thankful we met, I guess! She actually pushed me to audition for The Rap of China. I got into the finals locally, to go for the auditions to China. I didn’t make it, but having that background got me to where I am.

To be honest, it’s all different backgrounds of me. I feel like a lot of the time, we’re discovering ourselves. Started singing, didn’t make it. Tried rapping, didn’t make it. I was even signed on to debut in a boy band but because of COVID-19, we didn’t make it. And it’s been all this disappointment and confusion and loss, like, ‘Where am I going? What’s the meaning of all this?’ Some people just put it aside and get a day job. But for me, I was very happy to find songwriting because it’s like everything makes sense. I got to a place of putting all of my knowledge and skills together. So, I just want to tell people — don’t ever doubt yourself. Don’t stop yourself from exploring different things even if you don’t ‘make it’. It’s okay.

Exactly! All of those skills you learn can one day contribute to what you’re meant to do. And with writing, who would you say are some of your biggest musical inspirations?

I really like The Weeknd. I like how he brings retro synth wave music, synth music, dance music and even disco into the current scene. I feel like he has very good taste in music. And also GEMINI(제미나이), he’s a South Korean R&B artist. He writes very sexy melodies, and they’re really good. (Laughs) He’s really cool.

You were also recently nominated for the TikTok Rising Star of the Year award at the TikTok Awards Malaysia 2023. How has your journey in online content creation been, and has it made an impact in your career in music?

Mm-hmm, yes. I went through a phase where I was a very active TikToker. I feel like the whole ‘trying to make it as a TikTok creator’ process can be worth it. I was doing a lot of multilingual song covers. I was signed on to a company in China and they told me, “You, as a foreigner who can speak fluent Mandarin, are something special.” So they suggested I do that as my content pillar. It was enjoyable, I learned a lot from doing covers and I interacted with people all over the world because it tapped me into many different audiences globally. But it became more of a chore. Very robotic. So I put that aside, tried other things like writing my own verses in trending songs. And I realised it didn’t work.

At first I thought, ‘Oh shit, does that mean my songwriting is not good enough?’ There’s a lot of mental adaptation to it. I told myself: “You are still a ‘baby’ in writing English songs right now. It’s okay if people don’t like it, because you’re still a ‘baby’. These songs have massive audiences. And you don’t have ‘it’ yet — that’s okay.” I’m very grateful that through that process of learning, I get to pick up different genres. I pick up different patterns in the latest songs. I study how certain kinds of words can make it or not. So making song covers actually improves my songwriting, and brings me closer to the things that I wanna do.

And also with content creation, and TikTok especially, there’s a lot of trial and error that goes into it. So, it’s not like one thing will work for everyone. Something that might work for you isn’t necessarily going to work for someone else.

So true. The key is to keep making and keep trying.

So, finally, what’s next for you? What are your expectations for next year? Any upcoming projects that you want to tell us about?

I’ve been working with songwriters overseas for K-pop, and I can’t wait for everyone to hear that. And at the same time, I’m writing my own album. I’m also growing my company, PONG ENT. We’ve signed on a new artist, so that’s coming out really soon. Working on their debut, songwriting for them and watching them grow as an artist — I feel like there’s a different sense of fulfilment that comes from it.

LSA100: 100 Malaysians, 100 Milestones

Lifestyle Asia KL presents LSA100, an annual list that recognises Malaysia’s most influential names and celebrates their talents, contributions, successes and milestones. As the bellwethers of style, travel, design, entertainment, business, sports, and more, these 100 Malaysians represent the next generation of go-getters who are paving the way for sharing their know-hows with the world through the power of digital media. LSA100 comprises five categories namely The Rising Aces, The Trailblazers, The Disruptors, The Navigators and The Tastemakers. Find out more about LSA100 Class of 2023 HERE.

editor-in-chief & creative direction MARTIN TEO | interview PUTERI YASMIN SURAYA | assisted by RONN TAN & MALLIE MARAN | photography ERIC CHOW (BLINK STUDIO) | videography POR JIA JUN | makeup SHIYO JOO using YSL BEAUTY | hair CODY CHUA | stylist AZZA ARIF | wardrobe SUPERDRY