Latest news with #WhyLucas
AsiaOne
6 hours ago
- Entertainment
- AsiaOne
Singaporean singer WhyLucas on overcoming challenges in survival show Chuang Asia: 'If I didn't lose myself, I wouldn't have found myself'
For nearly five months, Singaporean singer-songwriter WhyLucas was in Thailand competing for a spot in a boy group on the Asian survival show Chuang Asia Season 2. Though he didn't make the debut, he told AsiaOne in a recent interview that the experience was "life-changing". Filmed in Bangkok, the show started with 60 male contestants from China, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, the US and Canada competing to land a spot in the final seven-member group. A total of 21 trainees made it to the finals, including WhyLucas, who was the only Singaporean on the show. "I feel like my life has changed because I got a lot more confident in my craft and my decision to be a professional musician and singer," said the 22-year-old, who took a semester-long leave of absence from his studies in the National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School to participate in the competition. "I also got added exposure... It's really hard to turn heads over here in Singapore, and I'm quite happy that I managed to do so because of this programme and gain fans overseas." He revealed that he initially didn't want to join the show: "My friend from NUS - his name is Jack - he told me that this programme is quite big in China and to give it a shot. I guess I got motivated by him." After making it through three rounds of auditions, his training officially started on Nov 20, 2024. "Once we reached Bangkok, we started preparing by going for classes every day to drill our fundamental skills. I danced every day ever since I joined the programme, and sang every other day as well, because we have singing lessons too," he said, telling us how it was "daunting" to learn dance from scratch. "When you're in a competition, as much as you're there to learn new stuff, there is the pressure to do well in it... I was afraid I wouldn't be able to keep up with my peers, so I did a lot of extra training myself. I think I danced like seven to 10 hours daily for the first two months of Chuang. Some days it was five, but I tried to occupy myself with as much dance as possible." [embed] Messing up on stage was the last thing he wanted, he said. The "bootcamp" lasted for three to four weeks, and the show aired its first episode on Feb 2, 2025, on WeTV. "When it first started, I was just scared to go home in the first round. I think Singaporeans just want results, and I really wanted results," he said. His confidence kicked in after he was put in the A class - the highest grade - in episode two, where he sung his original song Oh Krissy Baby while playing an electric guitar. The YouTube clip of his performance has received over 45,000 views. [embed] "I was surprised that guitar and singing could take me somewhere... I thought, 'You know what? Maybe this might be for me,' because I was doing something so different [from what I usually do], and I'm actually getting A class among all these other talented trainees," he recalled. 'If I didn't lose myself, I wouldn't have found myself' When asked about difficulties he experienced during the show, WhyLucas talked about having an image to keep up. "There are a lot of times when you have to present your best image. Even though you're not really yourself that day, or you're having a bad day, you still have to do so," he explained. "I think over the few months of doing that constantly - because there are cameras everywhere, even in your rooms - I felt like sometimes I was losing myself a bit. People also told me I'm not as bubbly and charismatic compared to when they first met me." He also mentioned how his "solo artist instincts" occasionally did not translate to group dynamics. As a solo artist, he could do things his way but, in a group, there are bound to be differing opinions and ideas. He brought up a question that one of the mentors on the show, The8 from the K-pop idol group Seventeen, asked. "The8 asked me, 'How do you feel about being in a boy group, because your personal shine might be tamed?' He told me how he sees that my style on the stage is pretty prominent and established. So if I join a boy group, everything has balance and is less dynamic. So how do I feel about that? "And I think that question, throughout the later part of the show, kept reverberating in my head." He then realised being in a boy group might not be the best calling for him. He learned later that "everything happens for a reason": "It's about balance because if I didn't lose myself, I probably wouldn't have found myself. I had to lose myself so that when I found myself, the comeback would be greater." The8's comment wasn't the one that lingered on his mind. He talked about more from two other celebrity mentors. @wetvsingapore Go crazy for WHYLUCAS! 🔥He just grabbed the LAST A for his GRAND AUDITION! Don't miss the judges' feedback and tune in to CHUANG Asia S2 on WeTV! 💫 📺 Watch #CHUANGAsiaS2 every Sunday at 5:50 PM on WeTV 🔗 🗳️ Vote for your favorite! 👉 #CHUANGAsia #WeTV #WeTVSG #WeTVSingapore #WeTVAlwaysMore ♬ original sound - WeTV Singapore In episode two, BamBam from the K-pop boy group Got7 cheekily said: "I now know why you're WhyLucas. Because dude, you're good man." WhyLucas said it was a compliment he'll "remember forever". "The fact that someone as established as BamBam said something like that about me, or just the fact that this panel of talented and established judges are caring about me, I think that was a win for me already." The other comment wasn't all positive, but it motivated him to improve himself. Chinese singer Tia Ray had remarked how she felt WhyLucas was "a little weak" when he performs without his guitar. "That was something that triggered something in me to really work towards being not just a guitar guy. Because if I want to be a singer, I can't just keep holding my guitar. It's cool, it's my style. But I think if Tia Ray spotted that without the guitar, I'm less confident, then I feel that it's something that I really have to work on," he said. His favourite memories View this post on Instagram A post shared by HIKARU (@hikaru_v33) Besides getting placed in the A class from episode two, another favourite memory of his was the Trainees Fan Meeting in Malaysia. "It was such a good break from all the practices and waiting time that we had in Chuang. It made me feel really rewarded for the work that I had done, and it was also my first time seeing people queue up to take a picture with me," he recalled, adding he was thankful for the "great experience". He also fondly recalled having hotpot with his roommates Hikaru, Bian and Jackson along with three other trainees, Hikari, Shoya and Liu. "Haidilao (a hotpot restaurant chain) is a supper place you go to in Singapore after you go to parties or hangout with a friend. Having it in Bangkok really made me miss home." When he was eliminated, WhyLucas told us he was sad the experience was done, and he had to part with the other trainees. "I was sad that it was over because it was a very fulfilling programme, and I felt like my life had changed. Whether or not I debuted wasn't the main thing on my mind," he said. "I was just a little sad that I had to say goodbye to my friends and sort of go back to reality because everything felt like a dream. To have this opportunity to perform for this amount of people, and just being overseas and chasing a dream, not a lot of Singaporeans or people in general, get to do that and walk all the way to the end." Despite being countries apart now, he said he still keeps in contact with the friends he made on the show: "We occasionally still talk on WhatsApp, TikTok and Instagram. We join each other's livestreams, to catch up with one another. Sometimes we also plan content with each other." A touching fan letter From having fans book the same flight as him to the Malaysia fanmeet to others sending him off at the airport when he headed home, WhyLucas had some stories to tell about his encounters with his supporters. But one which touched him is a letter from an Indonesian fan that he has placed on his desk in his room. "This person said, 'No matter what happens, please remember you are never alone in this journey. Keep shining, keep making music, keep being the amazing artist that you are.' It's really heartwarming to know that someone actually treats me like an artist, and that's what I want for myself," he shared. He told us how he feels it's surreal that he's gained fans abroad. "If I had a gig before Chuang and I posted about it on my social media, I wouldn't have been sure how many, or if anyone, would come... It's a very enriching experience to know that, 'These are the people that can support me and will support me.'" 'I was a dude' [embed] Being styled and dressed well is a big part of being an idol, and WhyLucas admitted this was something he didn't pay attention to until joining Chuang. "I've learned to care more about the way I present myself. Before Chuang, I was very much a dude - I didn't care about the way I looked," he told us. He recalled being taken aback by his appearance after his first hair and make-up session: "I was like, damn, 'I can look like that.'" As there were occasional shoots with no hair and makeup provided, he gradually learned to carry himself differently. The professional setting, with training managers and structured plans, also led him to taking himself more seriously. "Especially in this journey as a professional musician that I want to walk on, I feel like I have to start viewing everything from a bigger scale of things and not just be trapped in a very close-minded and myopic view," he added. "Back then I was like, 'Oh, small problem, small problem. How do I fix this? How do I fix that?' But I think now, I learned that if you view everything from a top-down angle, and you have your angle in mind, you start to not get affected by small things." We asked if he would participate in a survival show again. "For now, I'm not close off to any options but I really have to evaluate the choices and see what's best for my next step. So, I haven't decided on anything," he said. So, with that comes the question: What's next for solo artiste WhyLucas? "I would love to have a break, but I don't think I would let myself do that because I have to release music as soon as possible as I don't want to let the fans down. So I am working on new stuff. They will be out very, very soon." WhyLucas has signed with Singapore music label Cross Ratio Entertainment and has just released his new single Tiara. He will be performing at the Skechers Sundown Festival on July 4 and Waterbomb Festival on Aug 30.
CNA
6 hours ago
- Entertainment
- CNA
Singer-songwriter WhyLucas aims to blaze a solo trail
Scroll up for the next video X Singer-songwriter WhyLucas aims to blaze a solo trail
CNA
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- CNA
After winning fans on international boy band reality show, singer-songwriter WhyLucas aims to blaze a solo trail
In the quiet of his grey-toned childhood bedroom, 22-year-old Lucas Wang tinkered with original music on his laptop then paused to translate in Hokkien as he introduced me to his grandmother. The second-year business student at the National University of Singapore has slipped back into a familiar rhythm – balancing school and home life with being a singer-songwriter under his stage name, WhyLucas, which is derived from his Chinese name's initials. Just a few months ago, his days were a blur of cameras and choreography under blinding stage lights as a finalist on Chuang Asia, a reality competition show filmed in Thailand where he vied for a spot in an international boy group. Mr Wang competed on the Chinese-Thai show's second season, which follows the 'idol survival show' format popularised by K-Pop. In such shows trainees mostly in their teens and early twenties battle it out in front of celebrity judges and global audiences. Their rankings shift each week based on performance and popularity. One episode of Chuang Asia 2 drew more than 700,000 viewers on a livestream and videos of Mr Wang's performances with fellow contestants have since racked up close to 800,000 views on social media. Mr Wang, the only Singaporean contestant on the show, did not end up debuting in the seven-member group after ranking 18th out of 21 finalists in the final episode, but said the experience has changed his life. The show began with 60 trainees mostly from China, Thailand and Japan. 'Before going to Chuang, I would (always think), 'Can I do this?' But now the way I approach things is, 'Do I want to do this?' And if I want to do this, I'm not going to stop until I get something out of it,' said Mr Wang. Since returning from Thailand, Mr Wang has picked up new fans from around the region, acquired a management team and has been approached to perform at music festivals because of the added exposure. Being on a reality competition show taught him to push himself musically, after being exposed to the 'amazing amount of talent from the world'. Mr Wang grew up loving 2010s pop music, including the likes of Shawn Mendes, Taylor Swift and Adele. After coming across singer-songwriter John Mayer's music in 2020, Mr Wang took influence from a more guitar forward, self-produced style of music and wanted to bring a 'bluesy rock guitar style' to his own songs. 'I would say the music I'm creating now is still pop. But the kind of pop that feels so experimental but you would still add to your playlist not just because it's trending, but because of its ageless, catchy melodies, production and guitar-playing,' he said. Part of training to be a global idol includes learning to greet fans in multiple languages and Mr Wang's self-introduction in Thai, Malay, Mandarin and English still rolls off his tongue with the ease of muscle memory. During our interview, he gamely attempted a more localised version in the Hokkien. Perhaps most Singaporean of all is the way he fumbles with the translation in the Chinese variety before popping out of the room to consult his parents and grandmother. Moments later, he returns with a big smile and a bit more confidence in his greeting of 'Dai gei ho', saying in Hokkien, 'Hi everyone, I'm WhyLucas'. STANDING OUT SOLO Having watched a few such shows, I always thought it would be my worst nightmare having to endure being openly ranked against other talented contestants day in and out. When I saw WhyLucas' first solo performance on the show, I pegged him as someone who must be my polar opposite, or at the very least not nearly as self-conscious or anxious about public critique. After all, there he stood in a muscle tank, playing electric guitar and singing his original song to a pool of professional singers and celebrity judges – a clip of which has 44,000 views on YouTube. It turned out that Mr Wang has plenty of doubts of his own. During our weekday afternoon chat at his home, he said he was conflicted after receiving a direct message from the show's casting agency in June last year, given that the opportunity was far out of his comfort zone. A friend told him that the programme was 'really famous' in China and convinced him to audition for it. Following an online then offline audition, Mr Wang flew to Thailand to prepare for filming by November, which lasted till April this year. Mr Wang is no stranger to being in the limelight as he has spent two years busking at the most lucrative corners of Orchard Road. Aided by that experience, he quickly immersed himself in the competition process which included almost 24/7 filming of his daily life. Each day included round-the-clock filming of their living quarters via CCTV, plus six to eight hours of practice with the remaining hours packed with filming of reality content, advertisements and marketing for the programme. He also had to work in a multilingual environment, though his fluency in Mandarin and English enabled him to play translator in group projects with other contestants. 'When I first came in the programme, I was definitely a little bit intimidated, because I saw a lot of China trainees who felt very professional, and they looked like they knew how to dance, but I just didn't know,' said Mr Wang. Besides being able to dance, some trainees were also familiar with the reality competition format, including how to circumvent filming restrictions such as having to surrender one's mobile phone, he said. 'Most people brought extra phones. But for me, I was actually very naive. I was like, I'm not gonna bring my phone, I got to focus. Then when I went there, everybody brought phones. Some people brought tablets, someone even brought five phones,' he said with a laugh. Unlike other contestants, Mr Wang did not have a management team helping him garner votes but became popular among other contestants and drew fans from all around Asia. One highlight was the first meeting between contestants, where each trainee got three stickers to place on other contestants with whom they would like to work. Mr Wang, the only Singaporean, managed to get the most stickers from the other trainees after his solo performance. 'Along the way, I felt like because I came from a busking and singer-songwriter background, I stood out a bit more and that let me be a bit more confident in being the person I am,' he said. Scattered around his room are souvenirs from the show, including a box filled with handwritten notes and pinned up banners from fans who would swarm the hotel entrances where contestants were housed. Despite not making it to debut in the group, he models the custom bedazzled jacket he received for being a finalist with no small amount of pride. 'So amazing, look at the details. It feels like an army jacket, but only finalists get this detailing,' said Mr Wang. Besides the memorabilia, one important takeaway he got from the show was his confidence in his future as a solo performing artist. 'The last performance was just a tear jerker, it was the last performance that I'd do in Chuang and probably in a boy band, because at heart, I am a solo artist, so I'm not sure if I'm ever gonna dabble in that ever again.' But to his fans who knew him from the show, he promised to have a lot more up his sleeve: 'That was pre-season WhyLucas. This is now WhyLucas WhyLucas.' MAKING GRANDMA PROUD His introduction to music at six years old happened when his father brought a guitar home from a work trip to the Philippines. Sensing his interest, his parents enrolled him in guitar lessons but it was only years later during the COVID-19 pandemic, when he was 17, that he took a serious interest in music and started to produce music on Garageband, an online music platform. 'I started busking in 2022 and busked for about two years. Deep down, I probably realised it's not going anywhere, but I always thought that maybe busking could be my route to fulfilling my dream of becoming Ed Sheeran, who started as a busker.'' He joined Chuang Asia 2 at a time when he felt like his music career was 'stagnating', but the show has given him a newfound confidence in treading the less-conventional path of a musician. Mr Wang said his parents had been somewhat sceptical about him pursuing music, but became more open after seeing their son hold his own among the pool of trainees on the reality competition show. In the months since the competition, he has been working on new music, with an upbeat single called 'Tiara' launched on Friday (Jun 27). All his songs are produced in his bedroom. 'I always start out with a guitar, then I'll track my guitars. A lot of things go into the production, like guitar loops, then I'll do my own drums, though I can't really play drums,' said Mr Wang. Perhaps inevitably, school is on the back burner as he prioritises a career in music. He took a leave of absence to attend the competition and is looking to extend his leave of absence again to be around for upcoming or potential gigs. In early July, he will be on the lineup for the Sundown Festival, and he is set to perform at another music festival Waterbomb Singapore in August. Even though it has been a while since he has set foot in a classroom or lecture hall, Mr Wang said a Chinese professor from his university saw his appearance on Chuang Asia 2 and messaged him over his school email to connect. 'We ended up having lunch and I learnt so much from him although we're both in different fields. I guess it's also times like this that really warm my heart and keep me going because the professor said 'I believe in you' and it really affirms my work,' said Mr Wang. When I ask what's next for him, it seems there are so many possibilities: completing his degree, launching new music, gigs that are lined up and even the potential of joining a competition show again. 'I'm not closed off to any of it. Ultimately I want to be the best, be it in Asia or internationally in a few years' time. I just want to be recognised as someone who's really good at what he's doing,' said Mr Wang. He has also participated in two Mediacorp shows, The Battle of the Buskers and I Can See Your Voice – filming an episode of the latter one day before flying to Thailand to take part in Chuang Asia. 'I think being in a creative industry, really, I've got to be my own boss, so you can't really sit on your laurels and be like, 'Oh my god, is this gonna work'? I mean, doubt is important, but I think I am still trying to forget that side of me,' said Mr Wang. Career ambitions aside, his music is clearly personal and rooted in experiences close to his heart. When asked if this personal approach means his musical output might offer hints at someone special in his life right now, Mr Wang playfully laughed it off. But he suggested that his upcoming music releases might provide an answer to that question. Even as life is not quite as hectic as when throngs of fans would swarm around him on the street, Mr Wang said the highlight of the experience was realising that he had the strong support of friends and family to rely on. 'I definitely wanted to talk to my family, my grandma. If you asked me who I missed the most out of those four months, it's probably my grandma,' he said. Mr Wang's grandma, who is 90 years old and lives in a flat next door to his childhood home, is very supportive of his singer-songwriter career and even occasionally features in his TikTok content. He even teased a 'Grandma Version' of an upcoming song that is more in the vein of Mandopop, which he said will be a version she can 'understand better'.
