GROWING up, Lil Asian Thiccie has always wanted to do music, but she never considered it a full-time option until her smashing single with fellow local rapper Zamaera, Get Munni, was released in June early this year.
The SonaOne-produced song, with a boppin’ music video directed by ATG, even earned her a slot at #GVF2019.
According to the accidental rapper with a love for R&B: “I think if I had to go back in time and tell myself when I was six that [I] would be doing music ... [it] would be so surreal cause the opportunity is right there for me. It’s so close. I just have to work harder.”
How were you inspired to pursue music and songwriting?
“It’s really weird, because when I was little, I always wanted to do music. I always wanted to be a singer but I am so shy about singing. Like I can talk, I can talk to anybody.
“I’m really terrified, I’m terrified. I thought that I would never do it. I’ve always known people in the music industry and it’s just like wow, I wish I could do this, you know, I wish I could be where they’re at. I used to hang out with the underground people, Hoax Vision and basically, the way they make music was, just take out a mic, just do anything and they wouldn’t judge.
“That really encouraged me. They were rappers, so I was like, you know, I can do this. Rapping is so easy [laughs].
“So at 2am on a Monday night, my friend and her boyfriend were in my room and we recorded a song on like an Apple mic and this really old ass laptop. We uploaded it up on SoundCloud at 4am. I woke up at 1pm the next day, and everyone’s texting my phone, asking me if I’m a rapper. And I was like, what? I didn’t send the song at all to anyone. In one week, the song (called hiao ft. Nyonya Business) got 10,000 plays.”
The video for Get Munni looks like such fun. Do you have a favourite memory from the set?
“I think my favourite part was the last scene. I was so nervous because our first scene shooting was Zamaera’s solo, and she was amazing. Then when it got to me I was so nervous.
“I was so close to crying. Zamaera had to sit me down: ‘You know what, it’s okay, stop comparing yourself. I’ve been doing this for, like, this long, don’t compare yourself’. So after that I just let it happen.
“In the last scene, I was wearing somebody’s boots that were two sizes too big, and they were heels. They hurt so bad, and I remember once Atong (the director) said: ‘Cut!’, I literally like fell flat like a plank on the ground.
“I think that [was] my favourite part, that [the video] was going to come out but I was so freaking sad because all the people – makeup artist, the photographers, the videographers and the director – weren’t going to be there anymore.
“I wouldn’t [be able to] wake up and see them every day. And I really wanted that.”
What has been your favourite response to your music so far?
“I actually anticipated ... to get hate, because you know, we’re not exactly the most conservative-looking people, and most of the time Malaysians don’t have a good response to females doing it like this.
“I was, like, really surprised that people kept [saying it was of an] international standard, because I would really like Malaysian music to reach that point.
“I think it’s nice that overall a lot of people liked it. I liked that people liked the aesthetics of it.”
If you had more hours in a day, what would you spend it on?
“I want to be able to write a song every day, as well as juggle seeing my friends. It’s really hard.
“I think that’s something they don’t tell you about when you’re an artist because a lot of the time, the people you meet in the industry, some of them might be your friends, some of them might just be people that you meet and work with.
“I will put a lot of time and effort into making music, but it means I will have to compromise a lot on seeing my friends and I really enjoy seeing my friends. I really enjoy like having time with them. I cherish them a lot.”
