Rising local star, NYK, recently dropped his latest single “Make It On Me” making this his second single since his debut with "FWB" in 2017.
Borned in Penang, NYK spent most of his years growing up in Subang. Had a steady life even after his secondary school days and even gotten himself a Masters certificate in Economics after his studies in Melbourne.
Making a giant leap, he tackled the music industry in August 2017 with his debut single, “FWB” (Friends With Benefits) which currently gained more than one million streams on Spotify to date.
We from TheHive were able to have a little talk with him recently at The Bee, Publika and got some insights to his latest single, his upcoming projects as well as learning about him as a person.
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| We got to speak with NYK to get some insights of what he’s been up to. |
Make It On Me is actually a prequel to FWB where FWB is about a guy pursuing this girl romantically but the girl didn’t want a long term relationship. Make It On Me is about meeting that girl. FWB was kind of like an inspiration to Make It On Me but most of it actually came from my life experiences.
How would you compare your music compared to other singers, both local and internationally.
Locally, the only thing that stands out is the sound that I make. I’ve been told a bunch of times where people have never heard of this style of music been done by a local artist before. I think that’s the main selling point of my music as well as what I’m trying to prove where in Malaysia, we’re still able to make these kind of international-style sort of music and still create a career out of it.
I guess FWB and Make It On Me wouldn’t stand out internationally as well as the other songs but in the EP that I’m dropping soon the songs that I write have more personality and they’re going to sound quite different from what you hear on the radio. I can’t really describe them right now cause they’re not out yet but you’ll be able to tell the difference when you hear them. It has its own uniqueness.
What do you think of people who misunderstand your music?
I don’t blame them if they do. This gets a bit more real and unfiltered but that’s how I plan my releases. I think songs like these are easier to listen to and it reaches more people in the market but the songs that would be featured in the EP are more focused into emotions and relationships on a deeper note. They’re actually more personal songs and I can’t wait to release them. I felt that this album has the potential to reach the worldwide market. But I do make a point not to objectify woman in my songs. I actively try not to use the word “Bitch” and stuff like that. I like artists like Jaden Smith who does that as well where he specifically makes sure that his music isn’t offensive to women.
What was the point when you thought your music could be huge?
It was when I was writing FWB. I wrote it on accident, I was just playing around and finished it in like 30 minutes and then I realised that the song is pretty nice and then Sony found it. We got this producer named Freddy (Fredrik Haggstam) and he did one of the songs by Chainsmokers and came down to Singapore to work on the song together and once he finished that version of the song and showed it to me, I thought that this could actually go somewhere. That was the pivotal moment.
You’ve recently collaborated with AirFlitz, how did that came about?
We were friends for a while. We had this unofficial deal where I would do a song and he would feature on it and vice versa. Once he starts working on his next album I’m going to be in some of his songs which I am looking forward to.
Are you currently working on anything else besides your current EP?
There’re a lot of songs that aren’t released yet. Just that we handpicked some of the songs that I wrote and worked on it. There are still quite a few songs that aren’t out yet which some of them might be featured in the album or not. Depends on whether they’re good or not. But in the meantime, we’re focusing on releasing another song in May and then one EP in July.
Check out his latest single; “Make It On Me”