100 Malaysians, 100 Milestones – LSA100 fronts the meteoric journey of Claudia Tan. Fresh from the release of her debut album in March and the final volume of her book series only a month later, she is still riding the high of her creative energy. Now, her focus is on finding her rhythm in the world — wherever that may take her.
Claudia Tan is simultaneously very chill and also brimming with energy. She’s lounging about on the sofa in the corner of the studio, observing the bustle happening around her. It is hot outside and unnaturally bright — and perhaps this scene is not all that different from the summer she spent in Los Angeles.
The LA air is still clinging about her. She’s wearing that much-desired sun-kissed tan and her hair is a burnished red, and when I ask her what prompted the trip to the City of Angels she sighs and tells me, “LA was kind of a YOLO move. I think we just wanted a change of scenery, and also we wanted to feel inspired again and obviously to work with peers there, see what the music scene is like. ‘Cause there’s always a tendency to be, like, ‘The grass is greener on the other side.’”
And was the grass really greener on the other side? Here, Claudia laughs. “It’s definitely different, but, uh…” she pauses briefly. “It makes me feel very fortunate to have the opportunities that I have here at home. I always tend to believe that people are more talented there ‘cause maybe they have more music education, or you know, English is their first language so they’re able to write better. But when I went and worked there, I was like, ‘Actually, I can hold my own.’ Which is nice! It’s nice to have that confidence. I love to learn from them, too, but it’s like, ‘We can exchange ideas. We’re, like, in a mutual space, which is nice.”
In March, Claudia released Love, Again, her dreamy, starry-eyed debut album chronicling the perks and plights of romance. All in all, it’s a great debut album. Love, Again stays true to its genre, both musically and thematically. It’s sugary-sweet and a little melodramatic at times, but isn’t that what it feels like to be in love?
But for now, love is taking a back seat in her creative mind. She finally wrapped up her Perfect book series this year with Perfect Redemption, a ‘perfect’ close to her romance run. More recently, Claudia has taken the angsty route, letting loose with her latest singles “Salty” and “Messy Girl”. She calls it her “experimental phase”, and as she goes on about her creative process, I realise she is a true artist: in the sense that she is constantly open to evolving.
Could you share the process of creating your debut album, Love, Again? What was the inspiration? Would you say the album showcased the kind of artist that you are or that you want to be known as?
Yeah, I released my album in March. It was two years in the making I would say. I mostly worked on it with my partner and producer, Irwin — the executive producer of the album. We had the sound very early on, but I guess we didn’t know how to tell the story behind it. And I was going through, you know, my ‘writing era’ and just kind of falling back in love with romance and the genre, and romance books in general. So I just thought, if we wanted to put out an album, what would a ‘Claudia’ album look like? And it was to tell the story of me as not only a singer, but as an author, too. We wanted to plan both aspects together, and yeah, I think it’s like my baby! I wouldn’t say like I would stick to the same sound, like, forever and ever but it’s definitely nice to kind of close that chapter of my life with that album.
What was the biggest takeaway from the two years, and seeing the album to its release?
My biggest takeaway is… don’t be, like, too much of a perfectionist. I think I tend to mull on the slightest details and stuff. Like, maybe this doesn’t sound as ‘good’ or whatever. But to other people, nobody really cares. But to me, it’s like the little things. And I’ve learned to let that go as well. The process of me doing the album — the main thing, for me, was to complete it, too.
What was the response and feedback like for Love, Again — from your peers and also from your listeners?
It was good! I think everybody liked the album, and the solo songs that I put on there as well. And even, like, the little ones that I didn’t really promote as much. And [some] people really hold on to the emotional ones. Like, I’m not the type of artist that tends to make emotional songs, so when I put those on the albums, I was really surprised to see people, you know, really liking it and kind of liking the vulnerability that I put in the album, too. It was really nice and surprising.
Circling back to your trip to LA — were there any particular challenges you faced there?
I think LA is a very interesting place. It tends to be a very transactional place, so sometimes it’d be hard to find people that are there for you, like, authentically, you know what I mean? Because a lot of people are there to do work. Like, they’re there for the industry and things like that. So, their main priority is to find connections within the industry and stuff, and that can tend to be a little hard. To find, and you know, build genuine friendships there. But I’m very thankful that I was able to build, like, a small group of people there that I could depend on whenever I decide to go back.
Why LA? Is it because it’s Hollywood?
Oh my God! That’s what everyone says and, like, honestly, if everyone in the world collectively decided that they wanted to move the industry elsewhere, we would all go to that other place. You know what I mean? Like, LA as a place is nothing special. I think it’s just where everybody congregates.
I totally get what you mean. But, also recent and huge: the collab (and mentorship!) with Anderson.Paak. Tell us about it! The whole shebang with Jameson, making the song and recording with Kaiit.
It was really fun! And I was fortunate enough to go to Ireland and be mentored by Anderson.Paak, so we were doing a lot of workshops, a lot of seminars. I got partnered up with a really cool Australian soul artist, Kaiit, and we made a track together. It’s very much out of my comfort zone. It was, like, a soul track, which is not really me. Like, I’m a pop girlie. But I really liked it though! I like how it ended up. I think it really pushed me a little bit.
It was nice to get advice from the man [Anderson.Paak] himself. Like he has so much experience in the industry, so it was nice to learn from him. You know, he was telling us the story about how he came out of his struggles and things like that. He was, like, couch surfing for the first five or six years of his career, which is, like, crazy. But yeah, he was really good at mentoring us and helping us take the track where we needed it to go.
What did the mentorship taught you, that you can carry with you in your own mindset?
I think I reflected a lot about my career and what is important. He really stressed the idea of, like, being really good live and showing that talent physically rather than focusing on, you know, the digital aspects of promoting your music on Spotify and things like that. So, that was kind of nice. He puts talents first, and he thinks that when you’re good at what you do live, the followers and fans would surely come, you know? And I feel like people these days take that for granted.
You’ve mentioned that you’ve finally finished your book and everything, so how was that? How do you feel about that part of your career?
It was nice! I mean, I feel very bittersweet about finishing the whole book series. It was, like, a big chunk of my life! I think it was about eight years of my life, and I was very happy that I was able to complete it that way, the way I wanted it to. And, like, to wrap it up with a movie adaptation as well, so I’m happy about that, like, I’m just very happy that the chapter has closed.
Now that you’re putting your 100% music, do you think you’ll get back to writing books? Or are you channelling your writing skills into music for now?
I’m always open to it! I think when I have an idea for a novel, I wouldn’t mind jumping back into it. I think that’s the beauty about writing, like, you can just jump back into it anytime you want. But right now, I’m kind of out of ideas for novels, so we’ll focus on music for a while.
I’m currently obsessed with your new tracks, especially “Salty” and “Messy Girl”. “Salty” is such a great track, and “Messy Girl” is sonically so different from your songs on Love, Again. What’s the inspiration behind it? Are we smelling a new album soon?
I won’t say that there will be an album anytime soon. I’m definitely in my experimental phase. I think I want to unleash my full pop star potential in a way. So, I’m just trying to figure out what that next sound is. But I definitely try to stay authentic to, like, my songwriting and the lyrics itself. And hopefully that shines enough that it doesn’t feel so different. I just wanted to go, like, party girl vibes, you know? Like, I just wanted to let loose a little bit.
So, with “Messy Girl” I just wanted to have fun with it. I wanted to detail this, like, crazy night out with your besties! But for “Salty” it was a bit more honest. “Salty” is about struggling in the music industry and finding your place in it, and kind of being envious of when other people, you know, find success ‘bigger’ than you or earlier than you. And I can’t help to, like, reflect on why am I feeling so insecure about these things, and maybe I have to learn how to let that go. It’s actually the most honest song that I’ve made, even though it’s, like, fun. In hindsight, it’s, like, a fun song but it actually also has these lyrics that I’m very attached to.
What’s next? What have you planned since you’ve come back from LA? Are you thinking of going anywhere else soon?
I don’t know yet. I mean, if anything, maybe I’ll do more trips abroad to work on music with other peers and stuff. And I’m definitely crossing my fingers on doing, like, a tour soon, next year. You know, like a Southeast Asia tour with another artist maybe. I really wanna focus on live shows, because I find that I really like being on stage and entertaining people. I really want to get that feeling back!
