The 21 year-old standout that is Nathanie offers a brilliant verbalization of what she describes as "Malaysian pop". Her voice twinkles over pop songs while incorporating elements of her home of Kuching, Sarawak. She continues to take 2022 by the collar, establishing her presence with a running list of songs, the latest drop being a project. The headway she has made already, for herself and attributions to the beautiful sound that is Malaysian Pop is astounding.
Having begun truly writing at the age of 17, it's only been half a decade almost since Nathanie career, but she's always appreciated music for its core value. "I started writing music much more when I was 17, because I left home to go to college and felt lonely quite often. I’d people watch and make up stories about their lives to feel connected to them." I imagine this is where her knack for storytelling was enhanced and not long after she met a few like-minded musicians who helped her find her way in the industry.
The first release of hers, "Paris", debuted in 2019 and not long after, a personal favorite "Caught Up"--a little ballad of messy love where she graces the song with her range. Nathanie's voice almost raises hair on the back of your neck or gives you goosebumps, boasting an ASMR sort of physical feel. You can take in all aspects of the song from trumpets to her voice and that's an important thing to her: perspective. In only a short time though she has expounded upon her career with social media along with good friends.
Nathanie‘s inspiration is derived through all that finds its way around her. Lauryn Hill is someone she noted and there’s a number of people out there whom she'd fancy working with but she has her sights set on Tyler, The Creator & Ye. Beyond the music, she thoroughly enjoys meeting new people (and she comes off as a very humane person, herself) furthering her perspective as I spoke of.
“I love meeting strangers and learning about their lives! It gets a little creepy when I’m staring at people on the train, but I really just love people and the different perspectives they have.”
Her latest 6 song EP, a self-titled expression, Nathanie Was Here <3, floats right in the perfect middle ground of that pop & indie/alternative progression. It's slow paced and light but can be rather hard hitting.
"I made Nathanie Was Here in June-August of 2021. I made the project as social commentary about how we put up personas and create brands to be remembered. And the question throughout the project is whether that actually leads to fulfillment or just a memory of the shell of who you really are."
Certainly an enticing social experiment and "Yellow" is a standout of this illustrious theme as she proclaims "When It hurts like a fire, won't you let It inspire" and I found that interesting in reference to a response she gave to one of our questions: What advice would you give to your younger self?, to which she replied:
"Nothing! I think she needed to fail and feel pain the way she did. I really would’ve been such a different person if I was just a little wiser at that age, so I’m grateful I had time to be a little ignorant. Gives me a different perspective!"
A wise one she is and we can expect all the more hopefully this Summer, with another project in the works, but in the meantime check out her latest down below and there's an excellent video for "Paper" off of it, directed by Samuel Wong.
Follow her socials:
IG: @Nathaniengu
Twitter: @Nathaniengu
Comments