Firdhaus has gone through his fair share of phases in his life, but one thing stays constant: his love for a good ballad. “I’ve been a big fan of ballads, and I’ve been writing ballads since I was 12 or 13,” he opens. “So when I started off, it was a natural thing for me because I love ballads. And the reality is, like, people love ballads. When we’re sad, we want to listen to ballads, you know? Sometimes people just want an honest, sincere ballad song.”
Ballads tend to get a bad rap these days but the truth is, making a good ballad song that can actually resonate with everyone is not an easy feat. Yet for Firdhaus, it comes naturally. His big secret? Being honest through his music. Ever since he first gained recognition during the pandemic with his Mandarin-language single “Gulf of Alaska” (which crossed over 410 million views on Douyin), Firdhaus became known for more than just his ability to sing in different languages — his music stems from a place that’s authentic and vulnerable. Even now on the set of our cover shoot, between one cool pose and another, you can see Firdhaus’ true self come out.
“Because I write my own songs, most of the songs are about me and my story,” Firdhaus says to me. “I feel like nowadays the audience is really clever. When you’re being inauthentic or you’re ‘lying’ about the songs, I think that the audience can feel it. So, I feel like when you listen to a singer-songwriter sharing their songs and the story behind their songs, you can feel the honesty and the vulnerability and just the sincerity behind the songs, so that for me is very important.”
Firdhaus has already released four songs in this year alone, all of which will be featured on his upcoming album — his second since Up & Down back in 2022. This album is the culmination of several years of process, writing and rewriting, and finally seeing it to its completion.
Within the past year, Firdhaus has undergone yet another phase in his life — one that taught him an important lesson. “I feel like everything is a gift,” he adds. “I think I will always be scared of losing this, in a way. But I read a quote that really impacted me: ‘Why are you afraid of losing something when nothing in this world truly belongs to you?’ So, I feel like everything is a gift, everything is temporary. That’s what I always keep in mind. Everything that I get from this, the music, the fame, the love, the money… it’s a gift from God. And anytime, anywhere, He can take it back. So I feel like it’s very important for me to stay grounded and not be arrogant, and try to keep myself humble, be grateful for what I have right now and try to live in the moment.”
Venturing outside his comfort zone
Much like the various phases in his life (“the ‘lost’ and ‘trying to find myself’ phases, the ‘achievements and glory and fame’ phase, then the ups and downs”), Firdhaus is taking an experimental route with his album. “There will be some songs in this album that showcase a part of me that maybe people don’t really get to see,” he shares. “Band sounds, a lot of electric guitars and drums. There’s a few things I’m looking forward to, you know, like just letting people see different parts of me, and a different style of music.”
Firdhaus’ latest release, “好好吃飯 (Eat Well)”, came out just a month ago and the track also featured fellow The Z List alumnus Jeryl Lee. The song — in typical ‘Firdhaus ballad’ fashion — is a heartfelt confession in which the singer expresses how much they miss their lover, telling them to “eat well” and admitting that they want nothing more than to be with them “until the very end”. As is with most Firdhaus’ music across his career, the running theme is yearning, but how it’s shown in this album, we’re yet to find out.
“I feel like it’s been a long process for me, because initially we wanted to release the album [at the] end of last year,” he says. “But you know, things happened, so we had to regroup and rethink what type of songs that we wanted to put in this album. What type of story that we wanted to tell. So, there’s a few songs that I’ve written earlier this year that we put in the album. I feel like it’s been too long of a process that I’m not really excited for the album anymore. But I feel like it’s a normal thing, I think.”
Here, Firdhaus laughs. Such is the life of a true artist — when you pour so much love into your work, you’re also pouring out a lot of yourself — and when you’ve grown from it or entered a new phase of your life, you may not be able to recognise who you were before. “I think as a musician, sometimes you spend too long and put too much effort into an album,” he adds. “And because it’s just such a long process. It’s been, like, two years and some of the songs that we’re going to put in that album, I wrote them three or four years ago. So, it’s been a process. I’m just really excited for people to listen to the album, and I’m looking forward for the concert next year.”
The highs and the lows
“It was such a fun night for me,” Firdhaus says when I bring up his recent win at the 8TV Starfluencer Awards held just last month. After a tumultuous year, the turning point for Firdhaus came at the recent 8TV Starfluencer Awards held just last month. Through a mix of judges’ scores as well as public voting, he achieved the coveted ‘Most Outstanding Singer’ award. “I think that was the one I wanted the most, because it was, like, voted internally, with the judges and everything. The other awards were voted online, so that was especially the one that I wanted to get the most and I’m really grateful.
“I was really, really happy, I haven’t felt that happy in a while,” he continues, smiling fondly as he recounts the moment. “I feel like that night was a really touching night for me. I think the happiest part for me was not even because I won the award, but just to see, like, my friends in the industry such as Phei Yong, Tomato [Steady Gang] and 3P. Just the way they were even happier than me, I think that’s what made me teared up on the stage that day. Because it’s been a roller coaster, this past year for me. And they were the few friends that have really been through everything with me, like, standing by my side for this past year. So, just seeing them, knowing what I’ve been through, and being very, very happy for me winning the award.”
Back when Lifestyle Asia first spoke with Firdhaus, he was just ashy 22-year-old, riding the high of his success post-“Gulf of Alaska”. He was still in the midst of discovering his sound and showing the world who he was and what he was capable of. These days, he’s still a little reserved, but his confidence truly shines through when he’s performing his own music. Ultimately, it comes down to the fact that he wants to always be true to himself and who he is, and it’s not something he wants to change anytime soon.
“There was a point this year where I didn’t know how to share my emotions, because I felt like it was one of the things that hurt me the most last year,” Firdhaus opens up. “Because I was too vulnerable, and I felt like I could be honest with everyone. And that became something that hurt me. I feel like this year, I lost a bit of that courage to be vulnerable and to be honest. But I’m trying. I’m gaining back the confidence to be honest, because I feel like being vulnerable and brave enough to share the stories and the low points of your life is important for me. You know, life is full of ups and downs and I want to share that, because I feel like a lot of people need it. I want people to see me and you know, maybe learn some things from what I’ve been through and maybe inspire them to be brave and not scared of starting over. When I’m not able to honestly share my story through my songs, I feel a distance between me and my audience. So, for me, that’s the most important thing.”
The thrills of being a performer
Now five years into his music career, Firdhaus has established himself really well in the Mandopop scene. He has a distinguishable discography — pretty much everyone knows the ‘Firdhaus sound’ by now — and he still has a lot of support from his peers since the very beginning. “Because I’m lucky enough to be one of the names that people know in the Mandarin pop circle, I feel like nowadays whenever I perform anywhere, I have a strong group of ‘friend’ fan base,” Firdhaus says.
“I like to call them ‘friends’,” he adds with a laugh. “So, a ‘friend base’ that really supports me anywhere I go. They try their best to go wherever I go, so even if I’m performing in KL — and some of them live in Johor for example — they’ll try their best to come and see me. That makes me a lot more comfortable performing on stage, because I know there’s someone in the crowd that loves my music and they’re here for me. In the early days, it was a bit awkward because there was that feeling of, ‘Oh, nobody knows me and they don’t really care about me.’ So I just wanted to get through with the performance.’ Nowadays, I can really take my time and talk to them, and go through song by song, and just really enjoy the moment. And be confident.”
His latest album is set to drop very soon in mid-September, and while it is going to feature a side of him that we might not have seen before, Firdhaus assures that he is, in his heart of hearts, a lover of ballads. He has had quite a number of hit songs throughout 2024 (among them are “Divorce in Ghana”, “Eternal Friendship” and “Hello Again”) and this year his album has been quietly brewing, so we’re only going to be seeing bigger things from him henceforth.
“I think I’m very lucky I have a few hit songs now so that I have the leeway to try and experiment things,” Firdhaus muses. “I feel like that’s also important for a musician. You have to really think through your career, what type of music that you want to do. You know, accumulating the hit songs earlier, and then after a few years you can try your own things in another way. I feel like that’s also one way you can look at it.”
The album’s release will mark a busy time for Firdhaus all the way to 2026. He’s got a lot of things planned for himself: private shows in Taiwan and Malaysia within the next month, and then next year he’ll be kicking off a new tour.
“And maybe also a new project before we kick off the new tour, because I’ll still have, like, around one year [until the tour]. My hope is to release an EP before the tour starts. Just one at least, because I’m over this album already.” He laughs. “I want to keep myself busy with a new project that excites me. Actually, I’m already writing the songs for the new project. That’s what I’m looking forward to. I hope that my fans — my friends — are also looking forward to it as well.”
